Anyone used the Mark Group?

Mrs_Ryan

We had our insulation and cavity wall done by Mark Group through our council... We had it done free as our council paid although OH is on DLA. They were fine... They did a decent job.n

sunshine53_2

I have also reported the Mark Group to the police who will be coming to see my father and myself in the next couple of days regarding their sales tatics. My father has a notice on his front door saying that he does not want doorstep callers. This did not stop the Mark Group Representative. My father is 83 and has dementia - the representative from Mark Group informed my father that he was from the gas board. Some of the information that the representative has written on the form could not have been supplied by my father. I can only assume that they have gone through his private papers. The representative has also stated that my father will be clearing the loft, amazing for someone who has difficulties walking and is incapable of climbing a ladder. I cannot comment on the standard of work provided by Mark Group although when checking other links lots of people appear to be able to do so.
What I would ask you to think about is this...... do you want people that use these type of tatics in your home?

BargainHunter7

I have recently had the loft insulated via The Mark Group. I have no problems with the standard of the work or the installers, nor of the rep who cold called and "won" the business.

What confuses me is .. How much does it cost? I signed up to pay £69 which I thought worthwhile. I now read that I could have got the job done for nothing through my energy supplier. A friend referred to the government web site and was visited by..The Mark Group who have done the job for free.

I received the invoice this morning and, yes, I signed up to pay this but is it simply a case of Mark Gp over-egging their take on this? I contacted The Energy Saving Trust and they didn't know what the costs should be, they referred me to the National Insulation Organisation who have an answer phone. So, over to the forum

Thanks in advance

Tony

stevehim3

zaksmum wrote: »

Just had a young man turned up at my door, with a folding ladder under his arm, offering free loft insulation, saying he was from the Mark Group. He asked to check out our loft and O/H allowed him in to do so, obviously keeping an eye on him.

He said there was no charge whatsoever but didn't ask if anyone was on benefits etc.

After asking who our energy providers were - why was this relevant? - he gave us a date to have the loft insulation done, stipulating there's no charge. O/H signed his form which stated that we agreed to pay the installation team on completion of the work, but the "Amount Due" figure was zero. The man said it was a free summer offer.

Bit worried now though - I always thought these government based schemes were conditional on certain benefits? There were other young men in the road knocking at neighbours' doors, and I did check the ID of the one who came here...it just hard to take anyone at face value these days, especially when they're cold calling.

So has anyone used the Mark group and are they a reputable company?

: DO NOT USE MARK GROUP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. to say they let me down would be a justice to them. its a long story but I will keep it short. they sent a virtual teenager to do a survey who assured me they could do all the work for about £300 to include cavity wall insulation, extra loft insulation and an air vent in the lounge. I had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment for the work. I took a very valuable day off. At 8.30 am they phoned to say their tradesmen had gone sick!!!I said what all of them and she said yes!!!! Alarm bells start to sound. I was obviously not happy having waited 6 weeks and taken a day off, so I went into work late. I then received a call to say they had had a cancellation and they would send someone to the loft insulation only by midday. Joy I thought and had to arrange for my disabled 80 year old mother to allow them access. She managed to get to my house to be told by the single trades person they sent that the job was not possible to be done as my attic was too big and he could fall through the ceiling!!!!!! Weird that s ive been up there over a 100 times and arent attics mostly the same you walk on the beams!!!! Useless especially as an alleged surveyor had said it was perfectly possible..... he left and my mother trudged home in the rain. i then received a second someone call to say they had found who could do my cavity wall so all was not lost. I rang my mother and she was insistant on helping so after a rest and a cup of tea she trudged back to my house in the rain to meet the new trades person who was again alone. He looked at the job and yes you ve guessed it he said i cant do it its too big!!!!! WHAT!!! Too big your surveyor spent ages measuring every inch and charging me for it. Then 6 weeks of waiting, being told all employees were sick, sending my disabled mother on 2 wild goose chases to meet 2 inept tradesman to be told my attic was too big and so were my walls!!! I phoned the MARK group and spoke to a lovely Irish lady who asked if i wanted to re book an appointment for 6 weeks or so!!!! In my own kind of way i said no..... DO NOT USE THE MARK GROUP YOU WILL BE LET DOWN.

patman99

The question is, why pay £300 for a load of cheap Rockwool insulation to be laid when you can do the job yourself using the more effecciant foil cover stuff ?. Costs about 1.5 x the cost of the rockwool but is thin-enough to actually put boards down on top to make the loft a good useful storage space.

catz747

One of their representatives with very cleverly worded patter just tried to have me believe that due to recent changes to the regulations concerning the thickness of loft insulation, which my energy supplier should have written to me about within the past couple of weeks, I need thicker insulation and that this is not optional.

I can't say that he actually said anything wrong as I don't know about regulations and things but the way he said it and how he worded it was very clever and clearly designed to extract as much information from me as possible and have me believe that he was there in an official capacity to ensure I was complying with these regulations.

Littleoldme

We have just had our loft done today by Mark Group for free and I have no complaints. BF answered the door to their saleswomen one night a few weeks ago and cause our insulation was less than a certain depth we qualified for it to be done for free. No questions asked about benefits (both of us work full time and above any threshold for anything "free")

The team that turned up to do it today were professional and made a clean tidy job of the work.

timehastoldme

I am a bit disappointed with the mark group - they convinced my mother to sign up for loft insulation, promised her it was free two months ago, and today have turned up and told her it will cost £70 to have the loft insulation fitted. It feels a bit scammy to me

sjlou

We had Mark Group do ours.

I too was dubious when I got the knock on the door. Although to be fair she was pretty thorough with the survey she did (was there almost an hour measuring up etc) and talked it all through well.

The guys who came and fitted the loft insulation were very quick and efficient and not at all disruptive.
The cavity wall installation was a little different, whilst the guys were great (even hosing down the drive way/cars that had got some dust on) there was a lot of dust. Although I think that's just the nature of the job. Just don't expect to be able to concentrate on anything whilst they are drilling (not ideal when trying to work from home)!

The certificate was posted through a few weeks later. Fab service.

Edited to say it was free, and we are no way entitled to any benefits.
This was back in September I think, just after we moved in.

mel48rose

I had loft insulation done a few years ago. Very efficient and left no mess at all.