Last post you may have seen that I was impressed by young Peter Renwick of Irish Boiler Services – good customer service was my conclusion. Now let me tell you that this young man has that golden touch. So much so that I wasn’t entirely convinced that his actual technical work would be up to much – I mean, if the guy was so good at customer service could he also be a good engineer/technician?
Let me tell you a little story:
Year 2000 we gutted our new house and got a new plumbing system installed.
Year 2000 we discovered that the plumbing was, em, crap.
Years 2000 – 2008 we stuggled along… by late 2007 I could only ever have either a lukewarm shower or a shower with rotten pressure. I was miserable.
Years 2002 – 2006 we spent a small fortune replacing parts in the gas central heating boiler that had been destroyed by the leaking pipes. That fortune went to boiler repair men (Robert loved the name the Gas Man so much that he insisted on using them).
Last week when the boiler went puff the Gas Man didn’t answer his phone (for what is a fairly large company, a bit below par to still have the out of office hours message on the phone up to 9.45). I rang two other companies found in the golden pages. Company 1 told me it was unlikely that an engineer would be able to ring me back to make an appointment or discuss anything with me until after lunch and I’d be better to try someone else (hallo???). Company 2 – nice gentleman answered the phone, discussed the issues and told me that Peter would call me back within a half hour to see if he could help. Peter rang me back within a half hour and after discussing said he’d pop over in his lunch hour to see could he help.
Over he popped, took a look, hoped that a simple fuse change would work and re-arranged a few things for the afternoon to go find one and come back. Came back (with his brother Barry, an electrician) and discovered it didn’t actually help. We had a confab. He treated me like a human being, had great pride in his work, but offered to help however it was going to work best for us.
He gave me quotes for a) patching up the old boiler and repairing the pipe work (and I would have had a serious problem paying him as little as he was asking for) and b) replacing the pipework and the boiler with one that he could personally stand over. He said if we wanted to do a) we could get it done on Friday, but he’d reallly recommend b) and would need to give over all of Monday for it.
Tempting as it was to go with the Friday option – it’s a little chilly without central heating and limited hot water – we went for b). I trusted him as a professional – but still wondered if he could possibly also be as good technically as he was with customer service.
Peter and Barry came when they said they would on Monday morning, laid straight into fitting the new boiler in an impossible space. All done with great attitude, attention to detail, pride in their work and humanity. This evening, I came home pretty tired and a bit cold from getting tomorrows conference finalised – went to take a shower, stood under it and had to turn the heat setting down for the first time in 12 months and I’m telling you – I said out loud – Peter Renwick, I love you.
You got the point eh? He was there when I needed him (well, his company was). He treated me like an intelligent human being. He came over to me in his lunch hour and then re-arranged a few things to try and help. He was straight and honest. He did what he said he’d do. He even made sure to clean up all the debris and dust! He was human… And he was every bit as good technically as he was with customer service. If you need a plumber or a boiler man, I wholeheartedly recommend Irish Boiler Services. They don’t have a website, but you’ll get them on:
Tell them Sarah Says that they’re brilliant.
Sarah Says 
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