Warm Front Grant

Nicky321

Please move this thread if it is not in the right forum cheers.

My parents applied for a Warm Front Grant and were approved.

On Monday 20th Nov the plumber arrived with an apprentice and began work, they worked Monday and Tuesday they worked from 10am – 4pm, on Wednesday 11.30 – 1.30pm and were called to another job. Thursday they worked 9am – 4pm and Friday 9am – 7pm. The apprentice only accompanied the plumber on about 3 days and didn’t do much apart from supposedly observe and do labour work! On Saturday 25th November the plumber arrived with a colleague unannounced at approximately 12pm and worked until about 8pm. Monday 27th the plumber arrived at 10am and finished 7pm heating installation was complete. The plumber informed them that the electrician would be coming within a week to complete the timer switch for the boiler. Shortly after they noticed the bathroom radiator valve had not been sealed properly and this resulted in water escaping. On Monday 4th December my parents rang to notify them that now there was at least 3 leaks on different radiators and the person who he spoke to tried to put them through to the right department but it was busy and told them they would ring back….. They didn’t. My parents rang again and was told they had been very busy and unable to ring back, anyway a plumber was notified and came that afternoon to stop the leaks, and informed my parents that an electrician would be coming on Thursday 7th. The plumber rang his boss and told them that my parents were going to put in a complaint and he then passed on the number of his boss over to them. My parents rang this number and it went through to an answer phone and they left a message for him to contact them as soon as possible, this call was never returned. On the morning of the 7th, they received a phone call to say the electrician was off work ill and they would have to reschedule for Tuesday 12th December.

The plumber who came on 4th was amazed at the way my parents home had been left, there was black oily water marks, and solder left on the carpets, they had emptied the radiators over their paved front garden leaving the white and pink paving stones black! (which my parents have tried to clean to no avail). Carpets had been put back over debris caused by their drilling (they didn’t sweep up). The pipes in the lounge where left uncovered because they would have to order the pipe cover material, they had been left with no heat apart from a gas fire (which was no use as the workers constantly left all the doors open), and they were left without hot water for over 9 days.

It is now 18 days since this work was started and it is still not complete.

This has caused them considerable distress and inconvenience which they can do without, as they are pensioners and not in the best of health.

My questions? Is there a letter anywhere that I can copy to put in their complaint? Has anyone else had similar problems with these schemes?

crispeater

omg thats awful!!
my parents have just applied for this warm front grant

emilyt

My neighbour applied for the warm front grant.She was approved
She asked me to be with her when the man came out to tell her where he would be putting radiators e.c.t. He talked about ripping tiles off bathroom wall. Cutting carpet along the wardrobes to save having to move them out. Wanted to take the tongue and grouve off the side of her bath. All the carpets would have to be re laid. There would only be a radiator in one of her 3 bedrooms. The radiators were so oversized the rooms would end up smaller. When she voiced her concerns to the man he said i think i know your problem you have been watching too many programmes on workmen from hell. I thought yes and that is exactly what you remind me off. He was totally un professional and continually answered his phone to so called different 'birds' as he put it.
We were relieved when he went. I rang the warm front grant team and cancelled the work being done. Thank god i did if this is how your parents were treated Nicky.I a so sorry they have been treated this way.

Turning_into_scrooge

I applied for the warm front grant and all I qualified for was 2 gas wall heaters. They wouldn't put full heating in because i had replaced my boiler 4 years ago and have 1 radiator in the kitchen. They wanted to put a wall heater in my living room, i have a gas fire in there, and the other was to go in only one of the bedrooms. I had previously phoned trading standards to ask if the company was OK but they couldn't say much due to data protection but when i explained i am disabled she said its not as simple as they say. I cancelled it, even with the new rules i still cannot get heating and the cold affects my disability. Tough for me.

Nicky321

Thanks for your words and help, will pass them on and see what action they want to take.

DORA_THE_EXPLORER_2

Hi i used to work for EAGA partnership in Newcastle, they run the warm front grant on behalf of the government. if you want to complain try John Clough who is the Chief Executive or Annette Rowe who is head of Service excellence. The switchboard number for Newcastle is 0191 2473800. https://www.eagagroup.com if you get no joy involve your MP and they will bend over backwards to sort you out. x

DORA_THE_EXPLORER_2

p.s forgot to say the grant is a really good idea unfortuanetely some of the contractors are not up to scratch and eaga should deal with them.. They get paid well over the odds. All workmen should leave the house clean and tidy and all rubbish should be taken away, also the work should have been done all together none of this working for a couple hours and then disapearing the grant is meant to improve peoples lives not make them a nightmare...

WarmFrontFan

dear Dora, thanks for that, ill be using that number. as well as various other faults, the warmfront installers included a couple of deadly ones in the system. all this after waiting almost a year for the installation.

Valley's_girl

What a nightmare I would take some form of action on these at least to stop it happening to anyone else.
Oh and congratulations on your grandchild:T
Ally xx

lilac_lady

Tphotographs and go and see your local trading standards person. The plumbers are getting paid anyhow so they're not caring about the quality of the job. If several people register complaints, the plumbers may lose the contract.

Nicky321

lilac_lady wrote: »

Tphotographs and go and see your local trading standards person. The plumbers are getting paid anyhow so they're not caring about the quality of the job. If several people register complaints, the plumbers may lose the contract.

It looks like things are changing....They now have different contractors working for them and the surveyors are from a different company also.