Boiler Engineer Question: Is My Mum Getting Scammed?

[Jackrabbit82]

Is my mum getting scammed? She called a Combi-boiler repair person. She read out the error code and he said "I've just googled it and it says.. etc" He came out and repaired it replacing a gas valve (£250ish). It then turned off again.
She she called again he said “Can i call you back in 10mins”. He then called back and said “I’ve just called vaillant (the boiler manufacturer) and they said it’s defiantly this other part. It’s £350.”

Now, i’ve told her to not call him back as i believe he’s a scam artist but shes adamant he’s not.

1: If he’s a gas boiler engineer why does he have to google error codes? He then came out and replaced it without even checking anything else
2: How on earth would the manufacture know what part is needed without looking at the boiler or knowing an error code?

[Old_Geezer]

I would suspect he doesn't commit to memory every boiler error code for every make. Looking it up via the Net seems sensible.

Although it is unfortunate he couldn't ascertain the issue from the symptoms. Maybe it is all trust in codes these days.

Is he going to refund the cost of the part he said was needed but seemingly wasn't ?

Trouble is, unless one is an expert oneself, it's difficult to know what one can expect.

[Jackrabbit82]

@old geezer.
Thank you for the reply :)

Lol i guess That is true about memorising the codes but it is a very common boiler and brand and all the error codes for that brand are the same (according to the manufacturers website). According to their website there is about 20 error codes for their boilers. As a person who works in I.T I personally remember about 100-150 error codes off by heart as im working with them everyday and im learning new ones everyday. For the ones i can't i put them into a spreadsheet for quick access. Maybe im just OCD for keeping track of error codes?

He said to my mother he'd been a boiler engineer for 15 years and this brand of boilers have been around for 20+ years. I'd also hope he'd have a handbook/notebook rather than relying on a quick google search and instantly saying this part would solve the problem before even looking at the boiler.

My mum asked if he'd be refunding some of the money but He flat out refused and said "of course not. It must have needed this part as well. It WILL fix it though"

[pastafreak]

Does your mum not have a service contract with her utility supplier? This repair might have cost less...or nothing depending on cover.

[Tuvok]

https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer-or-check-the-register/