Warm Front Grant saved me a fortune!

Elhall_2

Hi all. Glad that things are on the move.

Ok, when the inspector comes around be sure to mention all your problems. Make a list of the problems that you've had and having. The list helps everybody. Again, it will come to timelines, they will have 28 days to complete any remedials. If you haven't already I would contact WF and ask for the inspector to come out. It let's them know that there are a few problems without actually raising a complaint at this point.
The rads that they replaced, you said that they were smaller? Has there style changed as well, are they now doubles?

2nd note: Installers HAVE to have insurance to work on WF. If they damage your property or contents either while they are there or because their work leaks then they are lible. Do not be affraid to claim. Accidents happen, but it doesn't mean that you should pay for them!

Lady_K

Margaretclare

Really pleased your getting it done is it in time for your Anniversary party? Hope it all goes well

On another note, the other day when I mentioned here I hadnt got contents insurance I am so sad I never got it because on Friday night my daughter, shes a student nurse was broken into in her private student accom and has lost everything... shes devastated and so am I and I feel totally awful learning now that if I had cover for my house contents it would have covered her over there we cant replace the stuff yet and everything is just completely up in the air. She needs mostly a pc or laptop to do her work. Her shift hours at different hospitals and uni make it impossible for her to do it at the library and this pc I have is no use to her because its 8 yrs old and win98. She has to have winxp and certain applications in order to do work and connect up to things at the university and her tutors. We feel really sick about this and I feel terribly guilty

Poppycat

This site is also good for sourcing grants

http://www.est.org.uk/myhome/gid/


Sorry to hear of that lady_k.

margaretclare

Hi all

Everything is going OK so far, nice pair of young guys, telling us now that they should be finished in the one day. We're just back from the dental appointment - DH didn't need to come with me but it was warmer in the car!! Dental repair took literally 2 minutes, £25 which I claim back from HSA - as we're in a new year I should get it back within days.

Lady_K, I am a great believer in having the relevant insurance. I was once talked into having only 'third party fire and theft' on an old car and I ended up being left without transport because I wasn't covered for hiring a replacement. Since then I've always had fully comprehensive car insurance regardless of age of car. Same with home - we had a house fire back in 1986 and everything was replaced on a 'new for old' basis, I don't know what we'd have done if we hadn't had contents insurance as well as buildings. When I was away on teacher training, living in a hall of residence, I was covered for any loss from my home insurance as Lady_K says. It's all very well saving money, but you can 'save money' on the wrong things and end up not being covered, it's what my mother would have called a 'false economy'.

HSA covers us for all kinds of things as well as dental and I really wouldn't be without it. If we stopped it we couldn't join again at our age.

I was surprised that the guys have taken the hot water tank and header tank out and it's in the back of their van, I thought they would drain it down and leave it where it was, but it's gone. They didn't seem to have any difficulty getting it down the ladder out of the loft. The copper can be reclaimed, apparently. They've isolated the gas supply to the existing back boiler and left the gas to the little gas fire in front which was what we wanted - they've had no difficulty doing exactly what we asked.

The anniversary party isn't here - we're away for a party both weekend days. DH's daughter's 40th party Saturday evening, then on Sunday a family lunch party here http://www.realpubpeople.co.uk/swan/default.asp My half-brother as well as my daughter and SIL, both DH's children and their spouses plus his 2 GDs - it should be a lovely occasion.

Best wishes

Margaret

Lady_K

They sound like they are doing a good job for you over there With that water tank gone you will have more room for storage which is great I wouldnt want to go back to a tank again. Having instant hot water day and night is really great and I forget about it till someone tells me they are waiting for the water to heat up.

As far as the insurance is concerned... Well I've learned my lesson to the expense of my daughter which is the most hardest to take, we may have the loan of a laptop to get her through till we can get one. Same thing happened to my daughter with her car and third party fire and theft after an accident she was left without a temp car till things were sorted, big upst big mess. She now has fully comp since then. I'm getting quotes from insurance companies for my contents now

margaretclare

Hi all

After reading some of the horror stories from other people, I have to say - I am seriously, seriously delighted with the work that has been done here today.

Between 9 am and 4.30 pm today we've had one of Interglow's 2-man teams and they did it all. Everything we wanted, everything just as we asked them to do. The house is now warm again!! We've been shown how the little wireless control works and we're happy with it. We can shut the whole thing down when we go away e.g. at the weekend and it stays at 5 C until we need it again.

Given that this type of boiler is reckoned to save 1/3rd of fuel costs, our gas bills should tumble, which will be a fantastic bonus - given that gas costs escalated during last year, from £28 a month to £56 a month. That should go down to £37.40 and we will certainly keep an eye on it.

Lady_K, try Churchill for home insurance. We got a good deal from them - £120.75 one annual payment last March, buildings and contents.

Thanks to all for information, and I hope everyone gets their heating sorted out as smoothly as we've done. Lee and John from Interglow will be doing the same for someone else tomorrow and we couldn't be more pleased with all that they've done.

Best wishes

Margaret

missdpd

Hi all,

I have been reading the thread with interest and must say i am not in the least bit happy at all with Warmfront/Eaga. I applied for a grant for repairs to my boiler which was 3 yrs old and was granted this and was told a surveyor would be out from the company to assess. A gentleman arrived and as the boiler was located in the attic (i live in a bungalow) and my loft ladders were unsafe, he was unable to go up and look at the boiler but he said he would put it down for repair. The next morning i received a call from the same guy asking me to turn off my gas supply in the cupboard as he has called Transco out. He never gave a reason but did ask me to call back with a job number. Transco arrived and asked about the gas leak!?? I told them i didnt know what they were on about but did explain to them that it was a company called Iguana that had called them. As they couldnt get into the attic (they had no ladders even though the surveyor i spoke to assured me they would) they had no option but to disalow me from turning my gas back on. Bad news for me as my only other source of heating was via a gas fire in the living room. I phoned the surveyor back as requested but there was no reply so left a voicemail. I gave him a few hours to come back to me and when he didnt i kept on trying to call him (the date was 21st Dec) i tried all day on the 22nd December with no success either and then finally at 5pm i got a message saying all offices were now closed til 2nd Jan 2007! 2nd of Jan i called first thing, spoke to a lady and told her i wasnt happy being left with no gas all over christmas with a young child and an oap in the house as well, whom were both ill at the time. The lady said she would look into this and call me back. She never. I called again the following day and spoke to another lady who told me she would speak with someone whilst i was on phone. She came back to me after 5 mins and said that an engineer was booked to come out on the 5th! hooray! 5th Jan, an engineer turns up, tells him its in the loft and he tells me he has no ladders!! and wasnt told he needed any! He said he would come back on Monday 8th Jan! Monday 8th Jan, 1pm no engineer, phoned Iguana, sorry madam we have no record of an engineer having been out to your property nor booked in for today! They did say they would get someone to call me back and yep! no one did! To say i am very very angry is an understatement! I can understand that they might not be able to get an engineer to fix the boiler straight away, but all i wanted was, at least, for my gas to be turned on so i could at least use my gas fire, but they couldnt do this until a CORGI registered engineer has been out. So i am sitting here wrapped up as it is very cold and i cant wait til the end of the week when they have forcasted snow!

If anyone can tell me how i can help this company from losing stuff on their computer system and get it through to their thick heads that i need my gas turned back on instead of an apology please tell me.

Lady_K

margaretclare

How did they leave your house? I just wondered seeing as it took me over a week to clean up after my installation. People coming round to my house were amazed at the mess they left, it really got me down and I should have been over the moon about getting new heating. If it hadnt been for my grandaughter who came to help me I could not have cleared this kind if mess up myself. I got bad, careless, messy installers, they may not all be the same that work for that company but these 2 were bad. It was mainly the one in charge, the other one a young lad really I think was ok but he just did what the one in charge told him to do. They were good representatives of that company

margaretclare

Hi Lady_K

How did Lee and John leave this house? Just about the same as they found it in the morning. There was no mess at all.

As I said, reading some of the horror stories on this board - and the delay - did not actually fill me with confidence, but we're both really pleased with what has been done. Even when they went into the sitting-room to blank off the gas-supply to the back boiler but leave it to the gas-fire in front, they had a dust-sheet which was carefully laid down while they worked and then rolled up again and put back in the van, so there weren't even any dirty footprints. They asked for an old towel in case there were any drips and we provided one.

I really couldn't fault them at all but then, every time we've had any work done in this house whether it was plasterers, electricians or whoever, they have always cleared up after themselves and never left a mess behind.

If I were you I would have been straight on the phone to complain. Please don't ever sign anything to say that you are satisfied with the work done, not until you really ARE satisfied! In our case, I was happy to sign that I was satisfied with the work done. DH gave John a £10 note on his way out the door and said 'if you stop anywhere on the way home, have a drink on us and thank you'.

Re misspd's horror story above, nowadays the regulations are such that they CANNOT go into your loft unless there's a properly-installed loft ladder (Elhall will probably verify that this is true). Having said that, I sympathise most deeply because it's very similar to the situation I was in back in December 1992 when I returned from working in the Middle East to a condemned boiler and no heat or hot water, and not much help from anybody.

Margaret

Elhall_2

Indeed, unless there is a proper ladder into the attic they can't work there. However, that said our surveyors all had ladders so that they could survey and then if you need the loft upgrading so that it could be worked in safely we would provide a quote (usually £150 - £200)

If the survey thought that the boiler needed cutting off because he couldn't reach then he should have done it himself.

My advise: Phone WF, tell them that you are not happy, that you have been cut off and have no heating because of this company. Because you are only at the survey stage I would REALLY recommend that you ask to change installers. This is not a good start and only foretells of badness in the future.

Question: If he had to cut off your boiler and had heating before how did you get the installer to come out in the first place? If you have heating you shouldn't qualify for a heating repair/installion. Is it an intermitant fault? You said that the boiler was only 3 years old?