Today was the day that the gas central heating had to have it's annual check. The combi-boiler and all the radiators had to be checked by a man from the company that the council sub-contract the job to, and he apparently came, did what he needed to, pronounced it all in perfect working order, and left just before 5pm.
A while later Mum realised there was no hot water, checked the boiler, and found the LCD panel saying "F1 error", so she rang the council, who said they'd try and get hold of the engineer who had been here, or failing that, his boss. I came home at 8:45pm from work, and the boss rang a short while later. When Mum told him the message on the boiler, he said that usually means there's no gas supply to the boiler, and were we on a key meter? Mum said yes, and got told that the problem was most likely that the credit had run out. Erm, no ... over £30 in it, and we only use about £5 a week! He said he'd get someone out in the morning, but then another guy rang about ten minutes later. After Mum checked a few handles and switches in the airing cupboard, he sent her out to the gas meter on the balcony, and that's when it became clear what had happened.
Turns out the engineer had turned the handle that cuts off the mains gas supply to the meter, received a phone call, closed the meter cabinet and left ... without turning the gas back on. We can't move the handle, so someone has now got to come back out (and they're not a local company!) tomorrow morning, *just* to turn the gas back on. Meanwhile, we have no hot water, no heating, and since my 87 year old nan is staying with us we've been having it on low, and I can't have a bath or wash my hair before work tomorrow. I *so* hope it's the same guy who gets sent back here! Or maybe I hope it's a colleague who gives the original guy what for!
4 comments:
I had to laugh at this although it's not funny... my parents had to have a new part fitted the other week on there heating in there rented property… the guy turned up two hours later with his trainee in tow…. Fitted the new part and left… only because he had drained the radiators he didn’t fill them all back up again and the downstairs where stone cold! I called back at 3.15pm on a Friday to be told they had all gone home someone will come back tomorrow… my mum suffers with the cold but I agreed and eventually someone came back on Saturday afternoon! Grrrrrrrrr it’s not the first time this has happened when they repair something we usually have to get them back out!
Oh dear Alison, you can't even trust a repairman nowadays!
They sent the same guy back at 9am this morning - most apologetic, and rather embarrassed! And he'd had a hard time getting through the morning traffic into Lewes, so I guess karma had it's way after all!
God, this is a story that could be repeated all over this country I reckon!
What a farce!
Still, at least you got the same guy back to fix it and he was at least apologetic.
Was he able to fix it in time before you had to leave for work?
I hope everything continues to run smoothly from here on in....
Hugs,
Lins xx
Hi Lins,
Yes, he was here at 9am, and I started work at 11:30, so in good time, thankfully!
K
xx
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