Under the Sale of Goods Act, responsibility lies with the plumber who installed the system
In April 2011 I had a new Worcester Bosch Greenstar Junior boiler installed by my local plumber. Three months out of the two-year warranty it stopped working properly.
The plumber who installed it says he doesn't do boilers any more and doesn't want to know. I found a good local plumber who changed the temperature gauge, but that didn't solve the problem. He then realised it was the diverter valve. He said both parts were faulty and should have lasted 10 years, not just the two years when they functioned.
He also said a power flush would resolve the problem. Once the parts were included his bill came to £560.
I chose a Worcester Bosch boiler because they are meant to be the best and feel extremely aggrieved that I had to pay £200 for parts that should have lasted much longer than two years. Worcester Bosch doesn't want to know as it says the boiler is out of warranty. It says I should have taken out an extended warranty. I wonder if it knew its parts were going to fail after two years.
The Guardian's many articles about extended warranties have emphasised these policies should not be required. MM, London
You have come up against an often-experienced problem – trying to get a small independent trader to honour his obligations. The Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) makes the retailer, rather than the manufacturer, responsible for an item – which, in this case, is the plumber who says he is no longer "doing" boilers.
SOGA will come to your aid if you buy from a large company, but is difficult to enforce against small traders. Even if you win in the small claims court, some simply don't pay up.
That said, we agree with you when you say that a Worcester Bosch boiler should last more than two years. We asked the manufacturer to comment on your case, and it put your problems down to the fact that your system was not power flushed before the boiler was installed.
"Our boilers are designed to last for between 12 and 15 years and the failure of durable components after just two years is normally down to outside influences. We highly recommend [a flush] is carried out. Where cleansing is not undertaken, any sludge or magnetite present in the water will continue to circulate around the heating system, possibly giving rise to problems with boiler operation at a later date."
The company says it advises installers of this point. However, as a gesture of goodwill it has agreed to refund you the cost of replacing the diverter valve, which is better than nothing.
To answer your point about extended warranties, we suspect that if you add up the premiums you have saved, and compare that to the bills you have paid, you will still be better off in the long term by not buying cover. Of course, it may not feel like that right now in your case.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
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