Where do I stand?

[gregs1959]

Hello
Apologies if I chose the wrong forum...

I bought a new cast iron radiator. It's a large one and was delivered in 2 parts . I then paid a heating engineer to come (2 lads) and commission the radiator. The process involves joining the 2 parts . All good.

Then at the evening time when I put the central heating on after a while noticed small pool if water in the floor. The heating engineer called round next day and said the radiator is leaking. Captured it on video.

E mailed the company and told them the problem and they repl they'd contact the manufacturer.

They've offered a repair or a replacement saying the quickest resolution would be to send a replacement section which would allow the issue to be resolved with minimum delay or send new radiator.

I've told them I don't want to be having to pay for the heating engineers to return and remove the damaged radiator and then either fit new section or new radiator.

They've said any costs are down to me . I've told them thats not good enough as it's not my fault they've sent a damaged radiator and I shouldn't have to be paying the engineers a second time ...
Apologies for long post and I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks Mark

[98elise]

Unfortunately as they have just supplied parts its unlikely they would be on the hook for any installation cost. It will be in their T&C's.

[redstar1]

For all they know you damaged it trying to install it yourself.

[shtu]

Where you stand is paying the fitters twice.

You chose to source the radiator and fitting separately.

The radiator supplier upheld their end - supply of a radiator, and replacement under warranty when it turned out to be damaged.
The fitters upheld their end - fitted the radiator supplied to them by you.

Two separate contracts. You took the risk of being the middleman, and unfortunately it hasn't paid off. This is why contractors who supply and fit charge a higher price to supply the item, to cover the time and cost of sourcing, dealing with deliveries, handling problems, etc.

If you'd asked your fitters to supply and fit you'd be covered, but that does cost more. It's also the case that a few smaller trades can't be bothered with the hassle of supply & fit.

Someone will doubtless be along to suggest you take it to the High Court and demand consequential losses or something, but it's a radiator where the replacement is now even easier than the original fitting, as all the pipework and bracketry are done. It's not exactly a big deal, usually you'd have come out ahead.

[Tony_T]

Yeah that's rubbish. The best you could do is probably some sort of goodwill gesture towards costs.

[alscar]

Unfortunately it sounds like 2 entirely separate transactions.
I think your only way of cost mitigation is to speak nicely to the chaps that fitted it and hope you can negotiate a lower price for the hopefully quicker second install.

[fat80b]

gregs1959 said:

Hello
I've told them I don't want to be having to pay for the heating engineers to return and remove the damaged radiator and then either fit new section or new radiator.

I wouldn't either but unfortunately, that is the way it is with sourcing plumbing parts - the install is a separate transaction and if something goes wrong, it can be very hard to attribute blame to either the part or the installation process.

Put yourself in the shoes of the radiator vendor - it's probably more than likely that some ham fisted plumber buggered up the install rather than the part passed inspection but was actually duff....

[Mr Overheads]

Suppose it depends where the leak is. Is the leak at the point where the join is, which might suggest a fitting fault. But if radiator company have said it's not fitting and it's the radiator that's faulty then as above, you'll need to pay fitters again.