Warm Front 'grants' (and 'excess' payments)

stugall

Hello all.

I wanted to enquire, on behalf of my father, a pensioner, whether anyone else has had a similar problem with Warm Front.

He qualified by letter for a £2,700 Warm Front grant from the 'government',
and, after quite a long period, a 'surveyor' (or 'assesser') came out and very efficiently did a survey.

While he was there, I set a recorder in motion to record the conversation.

My father is 81 and has a tendency to take conversations at 'face value' and see the best in everything and everyone and believe things are true.

We specifically asked for a 'local' company who could do the job 'within' or 'close to' the £2700 budget, and we requested that the 'costs' be itemised in black and white for parts and labour.

The company that was 'local' (we live in the Midlands) was Fenhams of Newcastle. The required 'items' were listed but 'not costed'.

My father took a 'recorded' note of the conversation, and was informed by the Fenham's 'representative' that the £2,700 grant, as he had requested, would indeed cover the cost of a replacement boiler and a set number of radiators.... with one exception.

The one 'exception' was an extra £180 to cover a 'recommended extra radiator' - and 'we would have to pay the extra by cheque to Fenhams Contracts before work could be started and parts ordered...' (says the tape recorder...)

As his son, I sent an immediate cheque to the contractor (Fenhams in Newcastle) and received a prompt receipt from 'Eaga Excess Payments' saying 'received with thanks' and quoting an order number '15763014'...

A quick (recorded) call to them said they would now 'order the parts' and according to the tape recorder work would start 'within 4-6 weeks' and they 'would be in touch with a start date.'

"We can't give you a date but someone will be in touch with you'' said a lady at Fenhams, "normally you'll get seven days notice, they'll be in touch...." (end of recording...)

Today, by surprise, expecting a start installation date in a letter, we instead received a letter, dated October 7th 2008, from Warm Front Eaga plc, saying, that they were 'pleased to tell' my father that he qualified for the grant but quoting:

"When our assessor visited your property he made you aware that it was likely that you would have to pay a customer contribution."

As my father understands it, the 'customer contribution' was paid (by me) - £180 for the extra radiator - and the cheque cashed by 'Eaga Excess Payments' Department.

The letter continued:

"If you would like the work to go ahead, you will have to make a payment of £837.97 to the installer in order to cover the difference between the cost of the work and the grant value."

Previous Grant paid including light bulbs 58.57
Contractors quotation 2236.88
Cost of materials 1153.37
Total cost of work recommended 3448.82
Grant value available 2700.00
Your contribution 837.97

Am I the only one who has been led up the garden path or duped on this?

The whole point, as I understand it, was that upon payment of the 'excess' for the 'extra radiator', which I paid, work would start once parts had been ordered.

A 'recorded' assurance that work would be kept within the £2700 budget (subject to that £180 excess radiator) has actually beeen broken.

What are my rights here? And has anyone else had a similar experience? Is this another 'government quango'?

On a similar matter, Fenhams Contracts has effectively cashed a cheque for a radiator which we had led to believe was the excess, but in fact is saying that we need to send an extra £837.97 before work starts.

I would welcome anyone's comments as I intend to take legal advice on this matter.

Many thanks
Stuart Gallacher

sooty&sweep

Hi

I'd suggest that you contact your Local Authority and find the relevant person that is involved with this. If they don't have a centralised customer first centre. I'd suggest you start their Housing Department. They should be able to confirm exactly what your father is entitled to and therefore whether this company is trying it on or someone hasn't told you the full story regarding this grant.

Trading Standards could also possibly help.

Best Wishes

Jen

roysmissus

Hi
Sorry to hear your having trouble with warm front my mums situation with warm front isnt quite the same in 2002 she got wall heaters off warm front after being assured that once she turned 60 she would get central heating but when she did turn 60 no central heating because she had the wall heaters she still has 2500 left of the grant so i asked if they could install a boiler her hot water runs from an immersion heater at the moment and guess what the remaining money is for repairs if the wall heaters break down Sorry i couldnt help im sure others will be along soon who can help you but wanted to let you no your not alone trying to get something sorted with warm front

Good Luck

callow

Warmfront charge a lot more than if you went privately.

I had a private quote for a new boiler and 2 extra radiators for £2,400.

When Warmfront came I used almost all the £2,700 allocated on a boiler alone.

Luckily I didn't have to pay anything.

Someone is making a killing on these Warmfront contracts.

stargirl73

Just to add my twopenneth!

We had a bloke come to assess our combi-boiler which is a bit dicky but not inoperable. I'm sure it wouldn't cost much to repair it but the man said, "I think we'll just replace it yeah?" He didn't even check that it wasn't working properly. Naturally -we were somewhat delighted as a "free" combi boiler would be great.

The man that came said it was going to be a "nice, quick, easy job" and said he hoped he'd get that job.

Any way, we got a client contribution letter saying we had to pay £150 towards it. OK, so I don't know what it involves swapping one boiler for another, but does it really cost £2850 to fit a new boiler? It says that costs are about £650 which means their labour is costing £2200 for a job that the bloke said was going to take an hour or so. That doesn't seem right to me.

I don't mind paying the £150 because I know if I were to pay privately it would cost me a lot more and I'm not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, but as someone else said, someone is making a killing out of the scheme.

Doesn't help the OP but that's my story!

MarkyMarkD

Stargirl

I think it's a bit sad that rather than paying £100 or so to get your perfectly good boiler repaired, you'd let the government (i.e. taxpayers, i.e. you and me) get done for £2,700 for basically nothing.

fatpiggy

The Warmfront scheme is a good idea which has been completely taken for a ride and ruined by the greedy fitters involved. It was a subject on Watchdog a while ago as people were being charged vast sums compared to the independent quotes they were being given, and finding they just couldn't afford to make up the difference. When my combi-boiler conked out in December 2004, I used a local chap who fitted a new one with a 2 year guarantee for just over £700. At the time I asked him about the new standards for boilers and he advised to stick to existing technology, and told me that while you save money in that the new ones are more efficient, they have to be serviced twice as often, so actually could be more expensive overall. In fact, he told me he certainly wasn't fitting one in his own home any time soon!!