batmansspider:

This clause is in the current Terms & Conditions....

37. We reserve the right to charge for work required to rectify blockages, removal of airlocks or the removal of asbestos.

I don't think a reasonable interpretation of that is that they can immediately withdraw cover, rather the reverse, though there are also clauses which seem to indicate a decision to continue cover may be made during or after the annual inspection.

As suggested in my previous post in this thread, this issue has been known about since at least 2004. As suggested in my reply to your other post, go through your Terms and Conditions with a fine tooth comb to see if you have been fairly treated.

Up to you to challenge Hydro-Electric to substantiate which clause in the Terms & Conditions they have envoked. If they can't, demand compensation. A full refund all all fees paid plus distress and inconvenience (D&I) might be appropriate, as their actions indicate they haven't actually been providing any cover.

Hi, thanks for the reply, Hydro Electric are insisting that they only knew about this from April 2009. The list they have is massive and they decided not to write to customers who had boilers on the list as not to create a panic. There policy is that they would provide cover until the annual service, then on the visit they would inform the customer. This way they are not obliged to continue another contract. Their reason for doing so is they will not put their engineers at risk! What the puzzle is they would put them at risk to do repairs until the contract comes to an end. They also do not have trained engineers to deal with asbestos and are not willing to pay for a training course for them. I insisted they send a trained engineer to repair 2 faulty radiators which just happened 2 week before my service (I chose to wait as my service was booked and save them a call out) they gave me his name and he had to come from another area as he was the only engineer with asbestos qualification. I then explained to the Hydro i was going to check on his qualifications with the gas safety register. Ten minutes later the hydro called me back and admitted that the engineer was NOT asbestos trained but he would call and fix my radiators but not touch the boiler. He did indeed call and couldn't fix the radiators as he insisted my radiators were too close to the water tanks hence causing them to heat up even when the haeting was off. The radiators have been in the same position since 1986 when the house was built and i have know had an independent engineer in who found that a suitcase was resting on a valve. The Hydro is rubbish and so is their ability to fix problems even when they send "one of their best" I am continuing to raise awarness about this issue as it is comming into the winter and many elderly people and others are in for a nasty shock. I am confident many boilers on the list DO NOT contain asbestos and i have proved mine doesn't but to no avail.

batmansspider:

My boiler is on the list but it does NOT contain asbestos. My boiler is old and i suspect Hydro have made a decision to remove as many old boilers as possible from their plans by any means possible

Not really clear what is the exact point you are wanting to make. In fact between the lines I think you are saying that the service contract is not being renewed but this happens all the time for "non-asbestos" reasons.

The maintainer says your boiler contains asbestos. You say the boiler "is on the list" but "does NOT contain asbestos". You could be right, you could be wrong. If your boiler is less than 25 years old you are probably right. If your boiler is older than 25 years old you could be wrong.

But if your boiler is that old I say it's time to replace it for other reasons.

So what is your boiler model, how old is it and how can you be sure it doesn't contain asbestos?

There is a scandal of maintainers walking away from systems that they can't (or don't want to) repair. In the case of the current Hydro-Electric contract, a boiler 7 or less years old would be replaced but they could walk away from a older boiler.

You are right to highlight that scandal but not the "asbestos issue" which is no longer that common.

My boiler is 23 years old, it is an ideal mexico and the manufacturer confirmed it does not have asbestos (there are 3 series of this boiler). Ideal mexico stopped boilers containing asbestos in 1980, my house was built in 1986 which was 6 years after they stopped. Also, as far as i can tell it was illegal to install boilers containing asbestos from 1985. My point is Hydro Electric have only decided to stop working on the offending boilers since April 2009 and are telling customers that is due to a new national safety alert whch has just been announced. It is totally untrue and customers are being lied to and have not been informed. Having checked various sources on the internet you are right this issue is old news but not to me and Hydro customers, many are unaware of Hydro's decision. If engineers are not trained to work on asbestos, how can hydro expect engineers to carry out repairs. My boiler is in perfect working order and i was with the gas board for 13 years before the hydro. I do realise i will at some point have to replace my boiler but as yet it is great. I don't want a combination boiler if i can avoid it i will. All the time with gas board i got letters telling me parts were either going to be difficult or impossible to source but at least i was informed, i also got hard sell from the engineers who called. The hard sell started about 10 years ago and 10 years later my boiler is still going strong.

Hydro - Electric obviously have an associated cost they incur in maintaining and servicing your boiler. Unfortunately logically speaking the older the boiler the harder it will be to obtain parts, the harder it is to obtain parts the more they cost. When that cost exceeds the income they recieve for providing this service, they are now making a loss. I'm sure you can understand what will happen if a company runs at a loss for too long.

Your provider is only doing the sensible thing, albeit not in the best way. They are using a loophole to help extricate themselves from this contract. But i'm sure looking through your T&C's there'll be any number of other conditions on which your contract can be terminated and some of these may also apply.

They are also giving you quite good advice. A new boiler will not only be easier to maintain, it'll also be cheaper for you overall. Older boilers regarxless of maintenance are less efficient than the newer models - infact they're doing themselves out of business by advising you replace your boiler. As for 2/3/5 years it'll be covered by the manufacturers warranty meaning that you'll have no need of their cover in the meantime, (so long as your boiler manufacturer is also serviing it annualy to maintain the warranty).