@ashp-bobba what area do you cover?

@tim441 Hi Tim, we are in Kent and mostly covering the south east part of Kent only at the moment, so Maidstone, Folkestone, Canterbury and so on.

@editor I had my second ‘Annual Service’ carried out by Daikin yesterday, time taken by the engineer was a little under an hour and most of that time was with his head in the airing cupboard or on his mobile phone. The monobloc unit outside had the Y strainer removed, shaken declared clean and re-fitted. No covers were removed, nothing else was done at all to the external equipment.

Time in the airing cupboard must be being spent on the ‘gubbins’ not contained within the exterrnal monobloc casing. I was informed the magnetic filter was only lightly soiled. I had asked the service engineer to check the inhibitor strength as the system had (unbeknownst to me) drained down in early April in the early hours (following a warm day) when the OAT dropped to 4 degrees as confirmed when I consulted my Homely Dashboard data. (This I topped up the following evening when I found the system refused to start up after a warm day had cooled off.) He checked settings but told me he is unable to test inhibitor level nor did he have any way to top it up.

I’ll just add that the first annual service was a similar experience with regard to time taken and apparatus checked and not a casing screw of the monobloc was disturbed then either.

If any RHH readers have any service engineer friends willing to comment on this matter, I would be pleased to hear what they have to say please.

Regards, Toodles.

@toodles that’s really disappointing to hear. Does the contract or any official documentation specify what a Daikin service should include?

@editor Unfortunately not☹️.

@toodles was it actually Daikin and not a Daikin agent badged as Daikin?

@ashp-bobba The service contract is with Daikin Service Dept., Midlands and Western Region and I communicate via a ‘bristolservice@daikin.co.uk email address. I have no way of knowing whether it is a subcontractor, though there is no trade name on the van… Regards, Toodles.

@toodles I will definitely look into this one, because something doesn't add up. 

Posted by: @editor

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@toodles I will definitely look into this one, because something doesn't add up. 

Maybe you could do a video on it please? Ask all the main manufacturers - Daikin, Vailent, Mitsi, etc., to comment? That would be so helpful. 

@lucia great idea, but it’s unlikely they’d agree to appear on the same show recording… several manufacturers have stopped engaging with me after I challenged their approaches. That said, most are still willing to reply to written questions, so I could definitely put together an article on this instead.

I posted before about minimum standards. Look, all works completed in the construction industry are as good as the engineer is willing to do or is capable of doing, I don't think a badge or company name gives you any standard of quality outside of the manufacturing process. I have been part of industry boards, lobby groups and standard committees, I even just filled out and submitted a review on the new consultation for the BUS changes with Ofgem. All I seem to write about for the last 20 years is standards, quality and training this is mostly what needs to change in our industry. 

My View is, if they don't do the maintenance correctly, challenge them, ask for a refund and find someone better. Please feel free to copy my post about the checks which cover most standard services and send to Daikin, ask them why they did not make these checks, if you do, please let me know what they say.

@ashp-bobba Thank you for that advice; I will challenge Daikin on their service checks and come back with their reply. Regards, Toodles.