"Up to 100%* funding towards energy saving measures to your home"

After I received the quote, I wanted extra work to be done.

As the bathroom extension is a cavity wall and the rest of the house will be external wall insulation with a snazzy render, the house would end up two different colours.

The old 'mushroom beige' for the bathroom with little silicone filled holes where they injected the insulation and a pale yellow cream colour for the externally insulated house.

So, two Tuesdays ago (pay day), I rang them up - the girl I first spoke to thought she understood the question and told me she'd get back to me.

She then rang me back and told me that the house would be externally insulated and the bathroom would be cavity filled.

I KNEW THAT! :mad:

So I asked again. Could I have the cavity wall filled bathroom be rendered to match the rest of my house?

She'd get back to me.

This time I received a 'phone call from a 'site manager' who told me that he'd have to come out to measure the bathroom for the quote for the render.

LIKE THE TWO SURVEYORS HAD ALREADY DONE :mad:

Okay. I told him that I'm at work all day, could he come on Saturday - He told me that was no problem.

Friday 29th June, he calls me again. Overtime has been cut and he can't make the Saturday appointment. Could I manage Monday?

Explaining to him that I'm out at work all day and that I can't just take a day off 'just like that', I said that I could make 5pm.

I did. With seconds to spare after leaving at 3:30pm.

He then measures my bathroom extension. Just like the other two surveyors did. And he told me that he'd have to get back to the office to prepare the quote.

And I'm still waiting. :mad:

Today, I receive a 'phone call from another 'site manager'. If I don't agree to the quote and pay up by Friday, then I won't be a part of the scheme.

Cue 'phone call to E.On's 0800 number (which I'm charged for on my mobile) to hear the less than reassuring news that the guy who called me is talking rubbish AND their system hasn't been updated so they still can't send out the revised quote.

It's been the better part of two weeks :mad:

I'm also hamstrung by the fact that as it's a rolling programme across the whole area, I must be ready to take annual leave to suit them - I can't dictate when they work on my house.

In the middle of the Summer.

So in short, all this could be a waste of time. Even if they include me in the works, I may not get the bathroom works I want AND work is going to be a total nightmare if I need to take leave at short notice - it's the middle of the summer FGS.

Gingernutty wrote: »

I don't need to watch them, but they do need access to the back of my house.

Although there is a communal path which runs behind all the houses, each house has a lockable back gate which must be opened for the workmen.

This isn't half the problem I thought it would be.

With all the rain, the wood has swollen and and it's possible to shut the gate and have it stick there. It takes some effort to push or pull it open.

Gingernutty wrote: »

The external wall insulation consists of what looks like giant foam sponges bolted onto the outside of the house

This.

This has been the bane of my life thus far.

The E.On workmen have started down my street with scaffolding (forcing us to walk in the road or imitate the pole section of the dog obedience routines) and work started on my house nearly three weeks ago.

That was fun, being woken up, one Saturday, by two workmen standing on scaffolding outside my first floor bedroom, pneumatically drilling the front detail off my house to 'flatten' it in preparation for the foam. :eek:

Aaaaaanyways, I suffer from asthma and, like everybody else, have come down with a pretty nasty cold that's hospitalised a large number of people.

When I called in sick on Thursday 11th - no problem. I was wheezing like a pair of punctured bellows and couldn't do much at all. I finished some Maths homework and watched some stuff online.

Friday 12th - nope. Still had to call in sick. I picked up the 'phone beside my bed to find the line was dead.

My side of the road is a dead zone for mobiles. To make a call, I had to get up, dress warmly, close the front door behind me, cross the road and walk up and down until I had enough bars to make a 'phone call.

Apparently, I sounded dreadful.

Further investigation found that some n u m b n u t s had driven a bolt for the beading through my telegraph wire believing it to be redundant. :mad:

'Coz, all the houses are on Sky or Virgin, innit? :mad:

I texted the E.On Community Liaison Officer, who promised me that if I had to pay for the repairs, they would reimburse me.

Oh, well. That's all right then. :mad:

So now I had to call Talk Talk on an expensive 0845 number to fix my 'phone line.

After going through the automated switchboard, Talk Talk then cut me off and started communicating by text. Telling me there was no need to contact them again as they were running automated tests on my line.

BUT I KNEW WHAT WAS WRONG!! JUST LET ME TALK TO SOMEONE!!!! :mad:

Nope.

By 11:44 on Friday, they had identified an issue with my line.

Two days later on the 14th, an engineer had been despatched to complete the tests.

Later that day, I was invited by text to pick a day for the engineer to call.

I was unable to get the phone to respond (text and calls only), so I had to call them up again, at work the following day, after I had asked for a day off at short notice.

They're in India. Who knew? What could possibly go wrong?

I was given a time slot of 16th October AM. No show. :mad: Not from the scheduled 08:00 - 13:00 time slot or the 13:00 - 18:00 time slot.

And no. All the call centre staff could do was helplessly parrot what was on their screen, with noisy backgrounds and thick accents (did I mention I'm slightly hard of hearing?) and with no hope of them calling BT Opereach. They only have email access.

All this on the pavement opposite my house, with passers-by, scrap vans and cars with loud stereos trolling past me.

I'm still without Internet and 'phone. I have no television anyway which is just as well, as the workmen had buried the satellite cable under the foam blocks at the back of the house. :mad:

After I had specifically asked one of the E.On surveyors who came round for that not to happen.

Now.

After the shockingly bad day I had on Friday 12th, I had an even worse day on Saturday 13th.

I was still rough, wheezing and off work (yep, the one Saturday a month that I work and it was that one).

I had to try and find some internet.

So, I put on some washing, waddled to the library and got 20mins of email access before waddling home again.

To find my kitchen floor was a paddling pool. :mad:

Yup.

The n u m b n u t s that had disconnected my 'phone and internet and buried the satellite cable had also pulled the washing machine outlet loosening the seal causing a leak. :mad:

I mopped the floor, pulled up the lino, pulled out the washing machine (crikey, they're heavy :eek:) and set about fixing the pipe.

There wasn't enough of the connecting pipe left inside the house to get enough purchase to pull it back in, so I opened the kitchen door to go outside.

To find a dead magpie belly up on the kitchen doorstep. :eek:

Onr for sorrow and all that.....

With the scaffolding in the way, there's no way it could just fall out the sky. :huh:

I went to the kitchen cupboard to unravel the last two bin bags on the roll.

One had a great long split up the side, the last had a large collection of holes.

Luckily, I had a roll of rubble sacks. The first one of those I pulled off had no bottom seal, it was just a tube.

The second one was fine.

So with umpteen layers of plastic, I got the magpie safely sealed up in the bags and shoved it in the bin only to have its ultra sharp beak pierce its way through all the layers of plastic and scare the bejings out of me. :eek:

I finished with the pipe. Brought a chair into the kitchen and watched the next washing machine load like a hawk.

I couldn't get the washing machine back into its corner, so now it's half in but at least the pipe is still accessible in case there's a repeat performance when the workmen come around with the render.

I finished the day bawling my eyes out.

I understand that work like this will cause some disruption. I understand it will be dusty, noisy and inconvenient.

However, I'm now starting my second week with no 'phone and no internet.

I hate E.On, I hate BT and I hate Talk Talk who have proved worse than useless at effecting repairs.

And the work still isn't finished........:eek: :mad:

PS. I'm allowed to use the internet at my desk after I've finished all the work and signed out.......