For me this isn't just cultural inevitability... it's a fixable manufacturer failure amplified by weak enforcement. We vote with our wallets too. By sharing these stories and pushing installers to favour brands with proven UK stock we force change faster than waiting for Westminster.

Definitely agree with that.  If it's to their commercial advantage, manufacturers will do it whether or not mandated by regulation.  Free market philosophy says that is (largely) all we need because competition ensures improvement, hence small government.

The difference here is that heat pumps sit in a weird regulatory grey zone... they're pushed hard as green essentials via government grants and net-zero targets, yet treated as niche consumer goods when things go wrong due to smallish install numbers. That mismatch creates a perfect storm where manufacturers like NIBE can afford to under-stock UK warehouses because the political pressure to fix systemic delays isn't matching the sales push.

IMO, we shouldn't accept "that's just how it is" as the endgame. The CRA's "reasonable time without significant inconvenience" clause is deliberately flexible for a reason because it lets courts/ombudsmen tailor it to context. For an installed heating system in winter, especially a warranted 4-year-old unit, "reasonable" should mean diagnosis within 48-72 hours and full repair (or adequate interim fix) within 5-7 days max.

For me, anything longer without compelling justification (genuinely rare parts, not routine fan motors, etc.) starts looking like a breach, opening doors to compensation claims for extra energy costs and inconvenience. 

@majordennisbloodnok, you're right that clearer statutory timelines would help enormously (ideally sector-specific for heating), but until we get them, the leverage lies in collective public noise and escalation. Homeowners documenting losses (energy bills, temp logs) and citing CRA in every email to NIBE or other manufacturers creates pressure, especially if they're also publicly logged on forums like ours. If enough cases cluster, it tips toward Trading Standards investigations or class-like complaints that manufacturers and multinational companies hate more than individual small claims. 

For me this isn't just cultural inevitability... it's a fixable manufacturer failure amplified by weak enforcement. We vote with our wallets too. By sharing these stories and pushing installers to favour brands with proven UK stock we force change faster than waiting for Westminster.

@hughmark, if NIBE's next response is still vague, loop in Citizens Advice early... they can mediate and often get movement where direct chasing stalls. 

The issue I am raising is that if a manufacturer doesn’t have stock for a warranty repair then the householder can only be described as marooned.

Totally agree.

However the manufacturers know that few people will sue, and the UK electorate has predominantly voted for light touch regulation - our democratically elected government has been ideologically inclined to small government, light regulation for 53 out of 80 years since WW2 and has not made any secret of that position.  Hence commercial considerations are the only real concern for the manufacturer.

We get what we vote for, alternatively you are at liberty to sue.  Of course the latter may take some time due to backlog in the courts, again a result of choices made by the electorate.

I'm neither defending nor criticising the position, just saying that it's the culture we collectively chose and (some argue) one of the reasons organisations are still keen to invest in the UK.   Of course this culture doesn't just apply to heating!

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Personally, I find it difficult to accept that if you’re buying from a major manufacturer (Daikin, NIBE, Mitsubishi Electric, Vaillant, etc.) there isn’t sufficient spare parts stock in place to resolve common failures within a few days.

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In fairness, @editor, I'm not sure you even need to accept it. I'm sure there will be a legal answer to all this; some form of definition of what is a reasonable delay for any given warranty issue to be resolved, and what the consequences are of going beyond that timeframe. A warranty is, after all, a contract. I'm quite prepared to accept that it would not be reasonable to expect the same resolution time for all components - some are easier to source than others - but I would fully expect any definitions to cover that variability.

The issue I am raising is that if a manufacturer doesn’t have stock for a warranty repair then the householder can only be described as marooned. 

Absolutely.

Last winter (2024/25) there was a problem affecting some new Daikin units that I was made aware of (and something the company initially didn’t acknowledge) which required a component replacement for the systems to operate properly. From memory it took six to eight weeks before enough parts arrived in the UK for installers to start resolving the issue for most affected homeowners. That’s an extraordinary length of time, and many of those households were effectively left without proper heating in the middle of winter.

Personally, I find it difficult to accept that if you’re buying from a major manufacturer (Daikin, NIBE, Mitsubishi Electric, Vaillant, etc.) there isn’t sufficient spare parts stock in place to resolve common failures within a few days. That's what you're essentially paying the big bucks for.

At the end of the day, these companies sell heating systems so there’s a responsibility on manufacturers to maintain adequate parts availability to support the products they put into people’s homes, whether those systems are under warranty or not.

Two weeks seems a long time to get an emergency repair in place. 

I think this is another area that needs rapid improvement because far too many homeowners are abandoned for prolonged periods due to lack of parts, which I feel is unacceptable given that these are massive companies with hundreds if not thousands of units installed around the country.