Waiting for Warmfront :(

crystaltips_68

My initial assessment was done on the 1st of December 2009. As of today i have heard nothing, except their standard letter that they havent forgotten me. I thought the work was supposed to have been started within 6 months, which is up on June 1st, so i rang up today to see if anything was happening. The chap told me that the 6 months time period was from allocation of the job, not from original assessment. My job hasnt yet been allocated (and there is no sign of it being anytime soon), so i potentially face another winter with no heating .

How long did you wait??

Thanks!

crystaltips_68

Thanks.

Anyone else??

suejb2

Hi.We applied in September '09 the job was allocated in November '09 and completed in February '10 that seemed like a long time and in the winter we just had it felt lke a really cold long time but believe me it was well worth the wait ,if you can hold tight ,Regards Sue

crystaltips_68

Thanks Sue. My job hasnt even been allocated yet, after 6 months. Yours was allocated after 2 months and done 3 months later. I cant understand why mine hasnt even been allocated, and the phone advisors are none the wiser

LisaLou1982

Hi Crystal Tips

The reason for your wait is due to excessive work loads - mainly due to increased demand down to the recession. Almost 200,000 extra people applied in 2009.

Dont worry - you will be seen. There are some people who are lucky enough to get seen, but generally this is due to a cancellation of work in their area by people who have decided that they dont want to wait and make other arrangements.

Hold tight - there are clients that i saw back in October that havent been seen yet. The customer centre arent being deliberately unhelpful to you - they just cant tell you anything that they cant guarantee. In my experience, usually once a client has been contacted by the installers (where heating is concerned) then it usually isnt that long until they have the work carried out. (subject to any delays caused by landlords etc if applicable)

Hope that helps

Crabman

Is there any reason they can't use local installers to work through the backlog?

Some local firms could really do with the work at the moment and it seems a little odd for Warm Front to only use a select few installers when there is so much demand.

crystaltips_68

Thanks Lisa, have no choice but to wait anyway, it's just i hate having such a big electricity bill, with emersion heating for water and ancient storage heaters. Hopefully it wont be too long

LisaLou1982

Crabman wrote: »

Is there any reason they can't use local installers to work through the backlog?

Some local firms could really do with the work at the moment and it seems a little odd for Warm Front to only use a select few installers when there is so much demand.

They dont only use a select few - there are many firms who are registered to do warmfronts work. However supply and demand applies and since there are so many people requiring help, then its simply a case of seeing everyone as quickly as possible.

The reason that a person cannot choose their local installer to do the work for them is because government money is being spent to provide people with heating and therefore has to be carried out by an approved installer. If people were able to get their local plumbers etc to do the work then we would have no control over who carries out what work, and therefore there would be no comeback if the work was not carried out to standard.

Hope this helps

LisaLou1982

crystaltips_68 wrote: »

Thanks Lisa, have no choice but to wait anyway, it's just i hate having such a big electricity bill, with emersion heating for water and ancient storage heaters. Hopefully it wont be too long

I do sympathise as i know what its like. My mum had her heating done through the warmfront scheme this year and its been a god send to her. She had no heating except for 2 gas fires and all water was heated by her immersion heater. I put her application forward in July 2009 and her heating work was carried out in March 2010 so she had to suffer the snow over the winter. On the bright side though - when the installers come to do the work, all of the doors will be open all day as they'll be going in and out so its actually better to have the heating done later in the year as (in theory!) it wont be so cold!!

PM me if you need any help with anything or any other questions answering

crystaltips_68

Yes, i hope the system gets installed over the warmer months .

I heard today that an 80 year old woman in my town applied in December and had a full system installed in April.:( Is it done on age?? I need a full system too.

LisaLou1982

Nope afraid not....theres no priority list with warmfront. Its first come, first served. As i said before, its simply a case of waiting. Sometimes there are cases whereby someone close by to you might cancel the install at short notice and so the installers will look at who is waiting close to where that job is and call the client. If you get a call with a cancellation, take it!! My mum got one in November, but was on holiday that week......so she had to wait til March