MSE News: Warning over boiler scrappage incentives

Dave_save

potogold wrote: »

RE Boiler Scrappage scheme: I have been trying to take advantage of this this week by getting quotes done. Trouble is, the bigger firms cannot offer to come and give a quote for some 2-3 weeks...too late, I suspect to send off and get one of the vouchers as there are only 125k available. Smaller companies have been round in the past 2 days, so ,hopefully will be ok. I do feel rather rushed into making a decision though...what has anyone else found?

I wouldn't worry too much. the prices will be dictated by demand. If you could get 3 quotes from good local recommended companies, even without the voucher, my guess is that your end price will be much the same. Companies are going to bump up prices if they have full order books, particularly if they know you're going to get a £400 voucher.

On the face of it this sounds like a good deal. I'd like to see what some quotes are coming in at, using this voucher system.

ILW

The cost of a decent branded boiler is about £800. Even a fairly complicated exchange with alterations to pipework etc, should take a competant fitter no more than a day. Therefore on a £2500 quote the guy has earned £1700 for a days work. I think BG charge about £4000!!!

kippen_noedel

A decent boiler can be had from between 600 & 800, the trick then is getting an "engineer" to do the connection on a day rate basis.

Pincher

As far as I know, you are only registering right now.

The website gives you a badly formatted text document to fill in. You supply your current boiler's brand and model, yours and the installer's contact details, and the type of boiler recommended, not a quote.
You only have to send this as an e-mail to register. There is no way of sending a quotation.

It's obviously put together by a total IT illiterate, who has no idea how to deal with sizable amount of data. It's bound to be oversubscribed. How on earth are they going to process a million e-mails that has no formatting? They should have set up a website to capture the data automatically.

Assuming they read and enter the information manually into a database, and that it takes 3 minutes to enter one e-mail,
that is 20 an hour, and 140 per person per day. So, if they allocate ten dataprocessors, they can process 1,400 e-mails a day. 125,000 e-mails will take 90 days to enter. So I expect them to send out 1,400 vouchers a day from 18th January, and it will take them 90 days to send out 125,000 vouchers.

It makes perfect sense to spread out the vouchers over time, otherwise all the vouchers will return at the same time for redemption.

If they care, they can do some sample checking, as well as no address gets more than one voucher. The only option they have is to send 125,000 vouchers to the first 125,000 registering e-mails, and store the rest. As vouchers expire, because it's far too rushed (not enough boilers in stock, not enough enigineers to fit them), they can go down the list of e-mails and send out more vouchers. Those holding expired vouchers have no chance of getting another one, because the queue will be a million long.

The admin overhead is ridiculous, if they did serious checking.
The only choice for householders is to register as soon as possible,
and get the quotation later. Write down a plumber you know, and get the quotation when you can.

We need to make a fuss now, to extend the 12 week limit, because it's insane to force people to replace their boiler in the middle of winter.

carolyn2456

boiler discount seems a bit of a goverment con! only nominated suppliers can get it for customer, my partner gas safe registered fitter and cos not nominated will not be able to pass so called discount but he supplies and fits boilers for a lot less than british gas etc so advice to all who need new boilers shop arround carefully and check gas safe register for fitter

carolyn2456

ILW wrote: »

The cost of a decent branded boiler is about £800. Even a fairly complicated exchange with alterations to pipework etc, should take a competant fitter no more than a day. Therefore on a £2500 quote the guy has earned £1700 for a days work. I think BG charge about £4000!!!

I think you may have forgot materials such as pipes are needed or are you running it dry and with no gas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

studentjames

My boiler is about 15 years old and it isnt going to last much longer so the scrappage scheme seemed like a good idea to get rid of it. I have a friend who is a gas engineer so he said he would charge me for the boiler what it cost him, and he is charging £350 labour costs (about 1 days worth of work he said). A good cheap A-rated boiler we are getting is called 'pro' and it will cost £500, so after we get our £400 back from the government, it will cost us £450 to replace our boiler, which is pretty good i think, especially as we should start saving on the gas bill now.

ILW

carolyn2456 wrote: »

I think you may have forgot materials such as pipes are needed or are you running it dry and with no gas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

OK then, assuming its a replacement in the same location, allow absolute max £50 for pipes and fittings. Still £1650 profit for a days work.

C_Mababejive

Premier wrote: »

No!

No one is allowed to work on gas appliances as part of their employment unless they are gas-safe registered. The fitter must be gas-safe registered, not just some paper ticking clerk afterwards to approve the work.

http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

Dohhh..that isnt quite right but anyway..I wouldnt involve myself in "inspecting" or connecting anyone elses work.

Also being GSR registered is not a guarantee of competency or quality of work.

Premier_2

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Dohhh..that isnt quite right but anyway....

Feel free to explain what isn't "quite right"

Please provide sources where appropriate to back up anything that is not "quite right"

Here's a good example of a link
http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/advice/gas_safety_in_the_home.aspx

Top tips for gas safety

1. Always use a Gas Safe registered engineer to install, repair and service your gas appliances, including your:
   • gas boiler
   • gas fire, gas cooker or hob
   • central heating system, radiators or your hot water system, if they are connected to either a Natural Gas or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) supply
2. Always ask for the card. Gas Safe registered engineers all carry a Gas Safe Register ID card. It shows you what they look like and what gas work they are qualified to do. It also gives you a unique licence number that you can use to check they are still on the register.
   
   Only allow an engineer to work on your gas appliances after you have checked their Gas Safe Register ID card. If you have any doubts call 0800 408 5500 and quote the unique licence number on your engineer’s ID card.
   
   If you suspect an engineer is not registered and working illegally, you should report it to Gas Safe Register using the 'Report an illegal engineer' service.
3. Check that your engineer is qualified to work on your gas appliance.
   Not all engineers are qualified to carry out all types of gas work. Make sure you check the qualifications on the back of their ID card to make sure they are competent to work on your appliance. You can also check them on this website by using the 'Check an engineer' service in the right hand panel of this page.
   
   If you have a complaint about work carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, then let us know by using our complaints form.

...

Here's another one

...The register is there to protect consumers from unsafe gas work. Your status as a registered engineer is evidence that you are working legally and you are competent and safe to work with gas...

https://engineers.gassaferegister.co.uk/About.aspx