Warmfront Grant

Billobel

Thanks to this site I have found out that I am intitled to a Warmfront Grant to replace my boiler. My MAJOR concern is that I have heard some really BAD stories about the work that has been carried out by the fitters across the country, e.g leaving holes in the roof, boilers blowing up the day after they were fitted. Having to wait weeks for replacement parts without ANY HOT WATER or HEATING during that time. Some people say that they can never get through to the customer helpline, or that when they do, nobody seems to be able to help them. HAS ANYBODY had a positive experience with their dealings with Warmfront?????????

prettypennies

They fitted my central heating two years ago and the fitters were brilliant. They worked hard to ensure as many pipes as possible were concealed. We assisted by making sure everywhere was accessible (moving furniture beforehand, removing the kickboards under the untis etc). The fitters had to travel from their base at Grimsby to do our fit (around 2.5 hours away). So we made sure we kept them well fed and watered.
They were surprised that we offered to get them a bite to eat.
They told me that the last house they had been to, the guy had just laid on the sofa all day and didn't move anything out of their way and didn't offer them so much as a glass of water.

Our house is ex-council and the walls are engineering brick, so not the easiest to cut through to say the least!

The only downside was the amount of pipes that come out of the boiler itself. I was a bit gutted about how the boiler looked at first. However, we managed to get a joiner friend to build a cupboard round it to match the kitchen units. Now you wouldn't even know it was there.

So please don't be put off by horror stories, some of the fitters are really good guys.

mouseymousey99

They fitted my new boiler this year. Very happy with it and all they did, hope that helps.

chelleybelley

hi i have warmfront out now to do initial check up of house plus putting in cavity wall and checking heating systems... they have been very proffessional,always easily contactable and very thorough...we have always had the warmfront from brum attend our house and we have no complaints whatsoever... give them a call...if ur unsure make sure that u or someone you know watches over their work that they do for you.
good luck

mcspanna

We've had a couple of problems but overall I would still recommend them... It really seems to depend on the actual workman (/person not meaning to be sexist!) who does the job, we had a miserable fart fit the boiler initially and apparently he rammed one of the pipes on too hard which caused an almost instand problem, however this was rectified very quickly and professionally by a great guy who we felt made up for the shortcomings of his colleague.

Last week the pump went on the boiler (ironically the same day that the letter arrived asking us to arrange the first service:rotfl: ) we were frustrated at the time because it stopped working on the monday (late afternoon/evening) and no-one came out til wednesday but it was then sorted within that day. Overall we have saved a vast amount of money going with warmfront and although they appear to be a very busy company under a lot of pressure (from more customers than they can deal with) I'm not convinced that it would be any different if you were paying out of your own pocket.

At the end of the day there will always be good and bad people in any company. All I would say is make sure you have a fan heater or something because their standard 'emergency' call out seems to be upto 48hrs if something goes wrong and this is despite our best efforts to explain that we are both disabled etc etc! With the initial problem after it was first fitted they were back out to us the same night (late in the evening). Just for the record, when we had the pump problem last week, we phoned british gas to see how long it would take them to come out to us (at our own cost) and it would've taken them two days longer than warmfront!

Swings and roundabouts...

Billobel

Thank you so much for that. I was really starting to get worried about having the boiler fitted. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks once again.

Midas2U

I had a new boiler fitted by a Greenwich based Company a year ago under a Warmfront grant. An absolute disaster! Cost grant + £400. I costed the materials at around £800 so the labour was getting on for £2400. It took them a month for the boiler, new controls, pump and cylinder. I got an undersized boiler and hot water cylinder. They replaced the cylinder but not the boiler. The guy who replaced the cylinder did a minimal amount of pipework as result the ceiling collapsed since outlet/expansion pipe had moved 2 inches and was pushing against it. The fitters chopped out a one foot square hole to allow the 2 inch dia boiler flue to go through the wall which stayed like that for two weeks. Finally when everyone had finished they left the immersion switched on and I did not find this out for 2 weeks or more. They fitted the isolating switch such that there was no visible indication of the "on" position. The electrical installation by their NICEIC registered electricians didn't comply with the wiring regulations and had to be remedied. I am knowledgeable in this area, most people would not have realised that the installation failed to comply. In fact this company seemed to be such that they if they needed to write a letter they would have one guy to provide the paper, one to supply the pen, one dictate the contents, another to write it, someone else to put it in the envelope and another guy to lick the flap and post it. In fact I had people ringing me up out of the blue saying were coming to flush the system and will be with you in 30 minutes. In fact most of the people involved gave very little notice as to when they were coming to do a job. The complete lack of communication was a headache.

A complete trauma! This scheme although well intended seems to be used by unscrupulous plumbers to milk the taxpayer. The only plus side is that it’s cheaper than paying the full price. Whether it’s worth the hassle and stress is debatable

A final tip is if they offer to replace the hot water cylinder don’t let them take the old copper one away I got £40.00 for it as scrap

Lakelady_2

Can I ask if those of you who have got their boiler replaced - was it still working?
Warmfront visited us two years ago and as our boiler is still working - just -they said it couldn`t be replaced. Its about 25 years old and very inefficient, the service men say there aren`t parts available for it any more and there aren`t radiators in the kitchen or living room.
I`m wondering if we should be reassessed?

mouseymousey99

Hello Lakelady - I would def ask for a reassesment. Mine was still working (it was about 7 years old) and they said it wouldn't be worth replacing parts and replaced it with a much more fuel efficent boiler.
Best wishes

Lakelady_2

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

Hello Lakelady - I would def ask for a reassesment. Mine was still working (it was about 7 years old) and they said it wouldn't be worth replacing parts and replaced it with a much more fuel efficent boiler.
Best wishes

I`ll be on the phone tomorrow! I was surprised when they said they couldn`t help last time. Many thanks for that.

purplecatlover

i had no probelms what so ever with them. i had to push to get a combi boiler, i originally had a hot water tank and they wanted to fit similar, but i got my combi in the end.

i too have heard horror stories, my sister had seen the results in one of her neighbours houses and was worried i would end up with pipes in the middle of the wall etc, but they kept them to the corners and covered them with plastic stuff in most cases.

they kept track of when my service was due, and arranged ot come and do it, and will do next year too.

i think it depends on what company they contract to do the work, for me it was a good company not cowboys. but that is a risk with any kind of work, if your unfortunate enough to choose a bad company its crap.

lakelady mine was still working, but was over 20 years old, i had had to have the hot water tank drained due to a leak (thus had no access to hot water at all).