A rogue who may make your blood boil(er).
RCM Facilities Ltd, trading as RCM Services and based in Stevenage (not to be confused with any other company) claim to be good at lots of things.
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They provide all kinds of services including heating, plumbing, electrics, drains, carpentry, glazing, locks and building work. The list is impressive - and so is RCM's CV.
Last year they appeared on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ series the 'Cowboy Trap' after putting right a bathroom job that another company had bodged.
However, we've since heard of two areas where their expertise is definitely lacking - boilers and plumbing.
We've spoken to Nick Pearson who called RCM when his 69 year old mum had a blocked shower drain in her flat. RCM's engineer came out to fix the problem, but after a couple of hours, the blockage was still not resolved. The RCM engineer informed Nick that the blockage was not located in his mother's flat, and that it was in fact a problem in the building. So Nick paid RCM Services £352.45 and contacted the Housing Association, who manage the flats. The Housing Association sent another company out to look at the problem. This time, the contractor fixed the problem. The blockage did turn out to be in Nick's mother's flat, and the engineer even told us that it was a 'bread & butter' job. So RCM should have been able to fix it after all.
But that's not all - we've found out there is much worse...
Boiler expert, Mike Griffin was called out by an oil boiler manufacturer to inspect one of RCM's boiler installations after it stopped working. We caught up with Mike, who saw first hand just how dangerous RCM's work can be.
When Mike arrived at the customer's home, he says the boiler itself wasn't firing properly. Mike tried to fire up the boiler himself to see what was going on. After about 5 minutes of trying to test the operation of the boiler, Mike started to get a headache so he turned the boiler off immediately. Mike then used a flue gas analyser, which as he approached the boiler from outside, showed a carbon monoxide reading of 648 parts per million. This is an enormous and deadly amount - a normal house should have fewer than 10 parts of carbon monoxide per million.
Not only is this dangerous for Mike, but also for the homeowners as carbon monoxide can be lethal.
And it got worse. When Mike put the flue gas analyser into the boiler the reading showed the amount of carbon monoxide was over 1,000 parts per million. That's with the boiler still turned off. Mike believes this boiler was producing carbon monoxide because the combustion levels were set incorrectly. The homeowner's adamant that no-one touched the boiler between the time RCM carried out the installation, and Mike's inspection four months later.
We decided it was time for the Rogue Traders team to take a look at this company. Cue an intricate sting operation...
Our undercover researcher Anna is posing as a homeowner in our rented house in West London. Expert plumber Mike Griffin is also at our house checking over Anna's boiler to make sure it's working nicely. Once he's confirmed it's in good working condition he sets about creating a simple fault on the gas valve which means the valve can't be controlled in the normal way. Gas fitters should recognise it easily and it should cost around £300 to fix, which includes the cost of a new valve.
Everything set, we call RCM. They send us gas engineer Graham Charles, which is a coincidence as Graham is the same engineer who fitted the dangerous oil boiler that Mike Griffin told us about. This should be very interesting.
Anna invites Graham in and explains the boiler isn't firing up. He sets to work,and after about 20 minutes he finds our dodgy gas valve - all he has to do now is track down a replacement gas valve from a local supplier.
Graham calls a local trade centre but fails to mention the full details of the boiler. He then tells Anna that he can fix the problem but it's not going to be cheap. He quotes us £280 for the part plus VAT and we will also have to pay extra for his time. All in all we're looking at roughly £500. As the part should actually have only cost around £130 including VAT, the total cost for his work should be considerably less (about £300).
But there's something else...and it's far more worrying. As Graham is about to go out and get our part, Anna asks him a couple of times to make sure that the gas is definitely turned off. Despite Graham telling us it is all safe and switched off and despite the fact he's Gas Safe Registered so he should really know better, he has actually only switched the electricity supply off and left the pilot light on. He has also failed to turn the gas off at the boiler, meaning the situation is immediately dangerous. Thankfully, Mike was on hand to make the boiler safe.
Graham returns to the house 45 minutes later with some interesting news. He tells Anna that the part she needed was now obsolete, and that our boiler is unusable. In fact, he told Anna "you can't use it at all, it's immediately dangerous and if you try to use it, you stand a great chance of blowing yourself up". Suddenly Graham is expressing safety worries, he didn't seem all that bothered earlier. Anna questions Graham on the obsolete part and Graham reveals that actually you can get hold of the gas valve but it's a newer version, so you'd need to change the electric supply to it and that bit is obsolete.
This is just not true. Mike later called the same supplier Graham visited and confirmed they had seven of the gas valves required in stock, which you did not need to change the electrical supply to. He later went there and bought one to repair Anna's boiler. It seems Graham may have gone after the wrong part, and all this confusion could have been avoided if he'd quoted the Gas Council number - clearly visible on the boiler - to any parts supplier.
Graham charges us £189.60, for needlessly condemning our boiler. He then goes on to give Anna a quote for a new boiler at £2,350 plus VAT. This simple job should have cost approximately £300, instead we're left with no hot water or heating and a potential bill of more than £2,800.
We asked another expert to look over our findings, as Mike had brought us the story. Henry Eldred confirmed Anna did not need a new boiler, and the gas valves needed are readily available. He went further and said "All gas valves, in fact any part on the boiler, is identified by the Gas Council number and the first thing he should have done is taken that number from the boiler and given it to the merchant. That's how you trace parts. When he left to get the part [he] also left the boiler in a dangerous condition. He should never have left the boiler in that state."
So now, not only have we heard about an oil boiler Graham fitted dangerously, but when he came to do our job he left our boiler leaking gas when he went to get a part. We've identified someone who is potentially dangerous and when dealing with issues of the gas variety you need to act fast so we call out Graham, and Matt puts our allegations to him.
Matt presents Graham with the correct part for the boiler, the one Graham failed to find. Graham says he was told by the local supplier that the part needed was obsolete and he can only go by what they told him. Matt also informs Graham that he left our boiler in a dangerous state as he left the pilot light on and failed to turn off the gas supply when he went to get the part. Graham responds by stating that he did turn off the electricity and he did not realise there was a gas leak.
RCM Facilities Ltd Response:
The company have told us they do not condone the actions of any technicians who try to deceive customers into spending money - and deny this is the case with Graham Charles.
They also deny he failed to find the correct part. But do accept that he needs further Gas-related training - and have refunded the money we paid him.
They say they might have also refunded Nick Pearson - If he'd provided them with another professional report or invoice.
RCM Services of Stevenage don't believe we provided them with sufficient information and don't consider themselves to be rogue traders. They add they'll continue to give customers the quality professional service they always have.