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Comments:
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!
I got away with *only* losing £73 for the ten minutes it took the engineer to diagnose the problem.
I subsequently lost two days holiday waiting for the engineer and chasing for an update. Blaggers is absolutely the right word - from the usual - "he'll be there in an hour" to "his doctor has advised him not to work today" - I even had someone with a brummy accent claiming to be the engineer (who is a londoner). In the end, I gave up and cancelled the job.
I only wished I'd done some more investigation on the company before I made the mistake of going with them originally.
At 3pm on Saturday afternoon I managed to put a chisel through a radiator pipe - with a significant flow of water. I turned water off, drained system and worked on damage limitation. At 3.15 my wife got the yellow pages and called Reactfast who offered 24 hour service, with OAP rates. They replied promptly and said some would phone back very soon. We had to chase at 4pm, but where told someone would be with us between 5 and 7pm. In the mean time, my small local plumber did return our call (he does not do 24 hour service) and we declined his offer. Come 7pm, we called again, and were told that they had nobody, and so it would be tomorrow. (We were getting cold now). I was furious - but not threatening as the operator implied. I called the head office who appologised, but could not help.
We contacted our local plumber again, who agreed to assist (as long as I gave him a lift - he had had a glass of wine!) and all was sorted out very quickly. Reactfast claim a 24 hour service - in my experience this is rubbish.
I rang React Fast when the central heating boiler broke down on a Saturday evening.I was told that no-one could come out until Monday morning at 10.30. I agreed to this, and was told that the engineer would ring half an hour before arriving. At 12.30 when no-one had arrived I rang, to be told that the engineer was stuck in a job in Deptford and would be across at around 2.00. At 4.30 I rang to be told that the job had been cancelled. When I asked by whom, I was told that they don't have any engineers in the area and are recruitng and therefore they had cancelled the job. I asked if anyone would be coming the following day and and was told no, they don't have anyone. They had no answer when I asked if they had planned to let me know that they weren't coming.
I had cancelled a whole days work for this, and it was obvious that they didn't care at all. It was not possible to get through to a manager to complain, and in fact, to add insult to injury, you have to ring a premium number to make a complaint.
However, having read some of the other comments, perhaps I was lucky that they didn't turn up. A dreadful company.
Phoned react fast at about 8.30am about boiler breakdown. They said an engineer would be out between 12.00 and 2.00pm. They also tried very hard to sell boiler insurance , being very pushy about asking for bank details or credit card details. I refused to give this info. No engineer arrived . I phoned and they said within the next hour, they again tried to sell insurance. Said I would get 10% discount on bill if I took the insurance before plumber arrived,but not after! I refused. This continued numerous times until about 5.00pm. This time they said the engineer would call in the morning. Some 24 hr plumbers this lot are. I asked for compensation but was basically told tough luck. They would not pass me to a manager but gave me an 0870 number to ring some local depot or other. They obviously have no control over any plumbers and probably just ring a local plumber themselves. They were rude, ignorant and incompetent. A whole day wasted on these people. Next day a local guy fixed it. Glad I didn't take insurance off these fixers, I doubt if they would turn up in the future anyway.
On Fri 16 Nov my gas boiler stopped working. I rang around a few companies and got quotes and timings. React Fast were competitive and stated that they could have an engineer around in a couple of hours. An appointment slot was made for 12pm-1pm. At 1.30pm, React Fast Operations called to say the engineer was running late. Another appointment was made for 3.30pm-4pm. At 3.30pm React Fast Operations phoned to say the engineer was on their way. It took until 7pm for the engineer to arrive.
To give the engineer credit, he diagnosed and identified the problem in 15mins. For this I had to pay £81.07. The engineer said that he would return as soon as he had the part. The engineer phoned on Staurday to say that the part had been ordered and would be ready to fit on Monday. On Monday, at the appointed time the engineer returned, fitted and got the boiler working.
React Fast charged an extra hours labour (an additional £81.07) for the 20mins for the engineer's work, and an extra £177(!) for a simple part. On investigation I found the part only cost between £80-105 (depending on supplier). This is a minimum 2/3 mark-up (although React Fast wont disclose their mark up to me).
When the call centre were confronted with the arguments regarding 2hrs labour cahrge for 35mins work, and an extortionate mark-up, I was told to pay up or have a debt collector sent round for the money (very menacing).
In all, the engineer was very helpful but the call centre and Operations centre were mis-leading, rude, insincere and threatening.
My advice is find a local plumber (hopefully on a recommendation) and use them.
I am very grateful to the engineer who attended a fault with my Bolier this morning. This was the second time this particular engineer has attended my house for work on my boiler .
This fault today (not related to his previous visit) proved to be particulary tricky in solving as the engineer, and indeed the Ideal Bolier techincal helpdesk had not heard of it before. However the engineer worked methodically in working out what the problem was and rectified the fault within 2hours, which included getting a replacement part..
Being in a field service role myself , I am well aware that engineers such as the one who visited me do not get enough praise in the way they carry out their work .
It was refreshing to see someone who was proffesional, courteous , very helpful and actually knew what they were doing and was also willing to answer all of the questions I put to him.
I was highly dissappointed with the service from react fast. We contacted them to fix our central heating and after waiting in all of Saturday and all of Sunday, and after a myriad of calls claiming they were on their way, the repair man arrived at the only time we had said that we would be out the house.
I can't understand how they continue to do business when they seem to be uncapably of any scheduling.
If you want a fast reaction, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere.
On three different occasions, they promised to call at my house. each time i was left waiting for hours, even though they kept saying that the plumber was on his way. i took many hours off work to wait for them and they lied to me. no apology offered and only vague apology offered in response to my letter of complaint.
do not use these plumbers
Watch out when using the locksmith side of the business as they will fit their more expensive locks after being specifically asked to fit their cheapest. The after sales service in relation to such a dispute is awful. I would never use them again.
I am still waiting for my boiler to be fixed 2 days after the engineer first turned up and they dont know whether I will be able to claim any of the money back I paid £102.22!!!!
Been fobbed off so many times about when the engineer will be coming out, 9.00am Wed, then 3.30pm Wed, then 5.30pm Wed, then Thurs 1.00pm.
I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy never mind a friend!!
I have just moved into a new house that has several challenges and I discovered the need for a qualified CORGI engineer, I thought lets try your service out.
Your engineer Stuart has attended my home today in essence to connect the gas appliances to the gas supply. Unfortunately for me I seem to have bought the house from hell and Stuart immediately picked up on several important issues with regard to the installation of the boiler, gas fires and cooker. He explained in simple terms the problems and made me aware of everything that he was doing and offered me competent advice where he could.
The reports he has provided me with are easy to understand and will allow me to pursue the individuals who have clearly done an incompetent, unprofessional and dangerous job.
Stuart is an absolute credit to your company as well as being a genuinely nice guy and if his colleagues with other skill sets are anywhere near his level you’ll have no issues in continuing to grow your business.
From a personal point of view I am happy and safe in the knowledge that when I need other work undertaken in areas that you cover I will without hesitation be calling your organisation first and I shall also recommend you to anyone that asks.
Thanks very much, please can you pass on my thanks to Stuart.
called out reactfast29/04/2006 no hot water from my combi boiler(vokera excell sp80). engineer arrived at 10.59 i suggested that it could be the diaphram has the same fault had occurred before, he looked at me as if to say look i am the plumber let me get on with it all he did was increase the flow rate hot water was on left at 11.24 with me now £92.83 lighter soon has he had left tried hot water again guess what no hot water contacted their call centre ? who infrormed me via the engineer? that a diverter valve or flow switch would be required no mention of this whilst engineer was on site complained about this and got absolutly nowhere they then wanted to charge me another £92.83 plus cost of part definatly now a flow switch at £40 vat with no guarantee of it working but pretty confident declined their kind offer and got another plumber to change knackered diaphram cost of part £2.61 vat they might react fast but do they know anything when they get there they must work on the principle we will get it right eventually should be renamed on a wing and a prayer
Initially had a problem with mixer valve on Shower which REACTFAST came and fixed out of hours - took 50 MINUTES and COST £90.00 ! Fair enough it had to be done. Following their advice, 48 hours later, I purchased a new mixer valve and called them to refit it. The called was made at 11.30am, throughout rest of the day they kept calling to say they were on the way. At 9.00pm (that is NINE and ONE HALF HOUR LATER)they called and said THEY COULD NOT MAKE IT until the following day. When I complained that this was not good enough as I had taken the whole day off work and cancelled an appointment they were wholly UNSYMPATHETIC. When I demanded compensation, they REFUSED when I told them I would be contacting a SOLICITOR THEY HUNG UP. When I called their Head Office to explain and complain they hung up too. I will now be pursuing them through legal channels for loss of a day's salary. I would advise anyone who needs a plumber in the West Midlands to look elsewhere as REACTFAST quite clearly ARE NOT.
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
I got away with *only* losing £73 for the ten minutes it took the engineer to diagnose the problem.
I subsequently lost two days holiday waiting for the engineer and chasing for an update. Blaggers is absolutely the right word - from the usual - "he'll be there in an hour" to "his doctor has advised him not to work today" - I even had someone with a brummy accent claiming to be the engineer (who is a londoner). In the end, I gave up and cancelled the job.
I only wished I'd done some more investigation on the company before I made the mistake of going with them originally.
We contacted our local plumber again, who agreed to assist (as long as I gave him a lift - he had had a glass of wine!) and all was sorted out very quickly. Reactfast claim a 24 hour service - in my experience this is rubbish.
I had cancelled a whole days work for this, and it was obvious that they didn't care at all. It was not possible to get through to a manager to complain, and in fact, to add insult to injury, you have to ring a premium number to make a complaint.
However, having read some of the other comments, perhaps I was lucky that they didn't turn up. A dreadful company.
To give the engineer credit, he diagnosed and identified the problem in 15mins. For this I had to pay £81.07. The engineer said that he would return as soon as he had the part. The engineer phoned on Staurday to say that the part had been ordered and would be ready to fit on Monday. On Monday, at the appointed time the engineer returned, fitted and got the boiler working.
React Fast charged an extra hours labour (an additional £81.07) for the 20mins for the engineer's work, and an extra £177(!) for a simple part. On investigation I found the part only cost between £80-105 (depending on supplier). This is a minimum 2/3 mark-up (although React Fast wont disclose their mark up to me).
When the call centre were confronted with the arguments regarding 2hrs labour cahrge for 35mins work, and an extortionate mark-up, I was told to pay up or have a debt collector sent round for the money (very menacing).
In all, the engineer was very helpful but the call centre and Operations centre were mis-leading, rude, insincere and threatening.
My advice is find a local plumber (hopefully on a recommendation) and use them.
This fault today (not related to his previous visit) proved to be particulary tricky in solving as the engineer, and indeed the Ideal Bolier techincal helpdesk had not heard of it before. However the engineer worked methodically in working out what the problem was and rectified the fault within 2hours, which included getting a replacement part..
Being in a field service role myself , I am well aware that engineers such as the one who visited me do not get enough praise in the way they carry out their work .
It was refreshing to see someone who was proffesional, courteous , very helpful and actually knew what they were doing and was also willing to answer all of the questions I put to him.
Paul Robbins
St Albans
24/10/06
I can't understand how they continue to do business when they seem to be uncapably of any scheduling.
If you want a fast reaction, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere.
do not use these plumbers
I am still waiting for my boiler to be fixed 2 days after the engineer first turned up and they dont know whether I will be able to claim any of the money back I paid £102.22!!!!
Been fobbed off so many times about when the engineer will be coming out, 9.00am Wed, then 3.30pm Wed, then 5.30pm Wed, then Thurs 1.00pm.
I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy never mind a friend!!
Your engineer Stuart has attended my home today in essence to connect the gas appliances to the gas supply. Unfortunately for me I seem to have bought the house from hell and Stuart immediately picked up on several important issues with regard to the installation of the boiler, gas fires and cooker. He explained in simple terms the problems and made me aware of everything that he was doing and offered me competent advice where he could.
The reports he has provided me with are easy to understand and will allow me to pursue the individuals who have clearly done an incompetent, unprofessional and dangerous job.
Stuart is an absolute credit to your company as well as being a genuinely nice guy and if his colleagues with other skill sets are anywhere near his level you’ll have no issues in continuing to grow your business.
From a personal point of view I am happy and safe in the knowledge that when I need other work undertaken in areas that you cover I will without hesitation be calling your organisation first and I shall also recommend you to anyone that asks.
Thanks very much, please can you pass on my thanks to Stuart.
B Perry - Manchester
Mrs O - Rugby
Mr G - Stockton-On-Tees
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