I can't believe this....

Howjado.
Our son works for British Gas and they are trained to work on all boilers on the market, they have a resource centre which gives them a print-out to any model on the market.
I’m not suggesting you sign up to BG. I’m just saying a competent engineer should be able to work on any boiler.

I would do as Jalima suggested and deduct the price of charging his car from his bill and tell him you have done so.

If anyone asked if they could charge their car here, I would say, "No, electricity doesn't grown on trees, you know." If he really could not drive home without re-charging the car, he should have asked and offered to pay for the electricity.

I would also ring other plumbers and ask what they charge for servicing a boiler, as I wouldn't want to go back to this one.

Howjado.
Does your plumber provide you an invoice showing the reason for his charges ie what he has carried out in the time he was there , does he have to replace any parts.?
I am not aware of how old your boiler is or what make
and as they don't last for ever without the need for parts to be replaced I would want to know 'what's going on' and what is involved in this £100 charge.
Plumbers /heating engineers are used to working in out buildings in extremes of cold weather.
Why not contact the manufacturers of your boiler asking for information possibly a brochure giving you an idea as to its age and maybe a list of service engineers used to dealing with your type of boiler.
Disregard that it may not have been necessary, say's who ? to have the size of your present boiler so unless you are prepared to change it then why mend what isn't broken.
As for having to leave your door open to allow this guy access to a power supply ?has he not heard of an extension lead. These can go through even the smallest opening maybe you have a window in your utility ?which would save leaving a door open.
This guy is certainly on to a good thing. Time for changes before the next service.????.

Cheeky fellow. I hope you told him where to get off. I think that £100.00 is excessive for a boiler service anyway, I paid £50 last year.

Yes, £100 is excessive, plus the brass neck of the plumber! I would definitely deduct £3 from his bill and look for someone else, preferably one who is recommended, and cheaper!

I would type out an invoice for the cost of the electricity and tell him you've deducted that amount from the bill - just to make it all fair and square!

£3 Is a commercial price. 1 charge of our electric plug in hybrid is about £1. Of course it depends on the capacity of the car's battery. He ought to be applauded for not going around in a diesel van like most plumbers.

Howjado, for the time being if you don't want to loose this engineer, could you just mark his card by saying something like 'I really don't mind you charging the van whilst your here, but could you let me know in future?'

Then follow driverann's advice and check up on other engineers availability and capability.

I know we have tried to get plumbers in to service or repair our boiler which is oil fire, and found it particularly hard, ie the majority don't work on oil boilers locally, and the few that do don't seem to be very reliable.
We found one who doesn't stick to a normal timetable but does actually turn up.....eventually!! He's also a bit tetchy too, but we have cultivated him over time, and he always helps out in a crisis now!

I wouldn’t say anything at all to the plumber but I wouldn’t have him back again. We don’t pay that much more than £100 per year for a comprehensive service plan which includes both service and repairs.

Servicing a boiler isn’t a difficult or complicated job.

No she should not say she doesnt mind because she does infact we all do ...

My plumber says the going rate for a boiler service is £40 and that is what we pay.
My last combi boiler gave up the ghost after five years so I am hoping this one will last a little longer.

The plumber is charging a commercial price (and how!) for servicing the boiler, so why should he not pay a commercial price to charge his van? If he wants to charge it from a domestic supply, he can do it from his own power point or the one at his depot.

Doing it without asking permission can be compared to him seeing something to eat lying in the kitchen and eating it without asking first. How about him seeing £3 lying around and pocketing it? It would have been reasonable for her to be unhappy with either of those, so why should she accept him using £3 worth of her electricity without checking first that it was OK.

Charging his vehicle is part of his overheads, which he has no doubt already taken into account when costing the job, and he certainly doesn't seem to be doing the work at a cut price. Cheeky bugger is the right name for him.

Namsnanny As you have an oil fired boiler,me too, then clearly you need a supply of oil? Suppliers of your oil will have/ should have their own servicing engineers.Or look on the net /yellow pages.I would NOT use a 'plumber' to service an oil fired boiler.

If no one else says anything they will always try it again. So give him short shrift and get someone else pronto

Howjado
Sorry but he is chancing his arm.ditch him .you will always find someone better.price around.

I pay an insurance of approx £25 a month which includes a full annual service and also pays for ALL parts and labour including the radiators when things go wrong. It has been well worth the money. I have 13 rads and a Potterton boiler but find its always the valves or pump that need replacing.

Too much to pay for the boiler service to begin with, I pay £35. You could jokingly? ask if he reduces the bill for the elctricity charge, its worth a try.

If the boiler service had been cheaper, the free electricity might not have seemed such a cheek.

tell him you going to deduct £20 for charging his car up.as over a £100 is blooming expensive. tell him you be looking else where next time......blooming cheek.

I hope you took a photo of his car on charge and I don't care how little it costs, it's the principle of stealing YOUR electricity.

I wonder if those who so casually dismiss it as acceptable because a car charge doesn't cost much would be as happy if someone walked into their house and took £3 worth of stuff from their fridge for lunch, without asking?

@driverann

You weren’t there either!

To conclude; when it came time to pay the plumber I did not ask how much as I usually do but pre wrote the cheque for last years amount. I thought if he says that not enough, then I would say my piece about him using my electricity to run his BMW! He accepted the cheque and said he will see me next year. Not if I can find some body else you won't!
Thanks for all your comments and advice ladies.

Is he very young? I am sure my sons thought electricity was free until they had to pay their own bills.

Grammaretto, no he is not young. Late 50's, early 60's. Works for himself

You must have an electric charging point at you property for him to charge up his van or car.