Anyone used the Mark Group?

euang

I got attic insulation and cavity wall insulation done through Mark Group.

At first I thought 'good job'. They turned up when expected and rattled through the job. I came home and everything looked fine.

A week later however, when I started to move the stuff in the attic back to their original position I noticed at the back wall of my house there had been leakage of cavity wall insulation. The right hand side corner of my loft is covered in three inches of foam pellets.

In my mind it's not a huge problem, as there has been no permanent damage done, however it's going to take ages to clean up and I'm not sure how effective the insulation that was put into that wall will be as most of it is now in my attic.

I've now phoned up Mark Group three times. Each time I've been informed that they will get my local office (Glasgow) to give me a call. As yet I've heard nothing.

To top it off I recently received a guarantee certificate informing me how successful my cavity wall insulation had been (that prompted my third phone call). The certificate even informed me that after careful inspection of the job (including attic) they had confirmed everything had been done satisfactorily.

I'm not betting on getting anyone out to clean the mess up, and as I need to get into the attic to use it I've resigned myself to doing it myself. Hopefully this review will help someone else make an informed decision about whether to use them or not.

I look back now and think that Mark Group are more interested in making a quick buck and if everything goes smoothly great. The minute something goes wrong however that's where they fall down badly in their customer service.

I won't be using them again and will definitely not be recommending them.

SouthseaBob

I've had multiple survey's, the first person being very friendly but a bit of a numpty.
Turned up with what I would call a toy drill, Non SDS un branded 240v with two extension leads that he had to connect together. Then I stopped him drilling through my damp course, then he got the drill bit stuck and was unaware what the hammer action was for. I ended up doing it for him, then gave him a pair of safety specs because he didn't have any.

The survey said I was eligible for the free hard to treat Cavity wall 45mm or less ( I measured 55mm)
I will need a air vent in the front from because of the open fire.
I also have weird air vents/ bricks in the front of house that will difficult to screen from the beads.

I confirmed this to Mark Group local office yesterday and they said it wouldn't be a problem.
I'm the third job today so lets see what happens:

lemontree

My friend has a tenanted house.
The Tenant rang as the person from Mark Group had been in the house for an hour promising wall and loft insulation.
I told the caller that the loft had already been done and by law any house built from 1987 had to have the walls insulated.
The caller said I was wrong and they had insulated several similar houses.
I told them to leave the house as the tenant was upset.
The house and the similar houses they spoke of were built in 1993.
I have found lots of complaints regarding the work done by Mark Group.
On Monday I will report them to Trading Standards!!

SouthseaBob

Hi I have a fully insulated house now from the Mark Group and am pretty happy with them.
They turned up on time (early actually) they explained the job moaned about the surveyor not assessing the job correctly.
However the two technicians who turned up one normally does pellets the other normally does another insulation type.
They drilled all the holes, and worked out ways to access the cavity from the ends where they didn't have side access.
When they chopped out the air bricks he immediately noted there was no hole in the inside wall opposite sub floor, he stopped and rang up his supervisor who told him to remove the brick opposite it air brick to ensure the flow was maintained.
I don't think the existing air bricks were doing much anyway as the brick dust old mortar hand blocked them up.
I was impressed because he stopped and asked and wasn't gung ho informed me all the way through what he was doing.
He used the brushes to screen off the vents, replaced all the air bricks and filled the cavity with beads doing a good job.

They didn't have their normal van, and their kit wasn't fantastically maintained I'm an engineer myself and fixed there compressed airline with a jubilee clip and there compressor regulator kit. If i didn't have odds and sods in my shed the would have had to come back or wait for a colleague to repair it.
So I've had the house fully insulated for £0, plus the cost of a couple of jubilee clips.
The technicians who did it were friendly helpful blokes, who took advice before they didn't anything.
However as with most things the job is only as good as the person doing it, I'm sure some less diligent person would have just put brushes in and filled, not worrying too much on the underfloor airflow and possible giving me issues in the future.

lemontree

Just spoken to a friend and she had Mark Group insulate her home.
Her house was built in 1995 so how could it need the work?
Strange to say the least!!!!!!

Suzyplums

Start of rant >

Last week a man came to offer us all in the CH44 & CH45 areas loft insulation, internal/external wall insulation and double glazing. He told us he was from the Mark Group and the big 6 energy firms would be paying for it all.

I just rang the Mark Group over the dates for my loft and asked about the cladding & double glazing. The advisor said they don't offer wall cladding they are only offering roof insulation.

He eve mentioned that a neighbour had signed up for it. In fact the Mark Group satiated that this neighbour hasn't signed up at all.

Cladding & double glazing is only offered via the Government's Green Deal and that is paid back via your electric meter.

The company who is cold calling with lies is called APPCO. I feel I have been misled by this company, they even lied to my landlord (landlords like freebies) keep away from them

The Mark Group are a respectable business employing unofficial sales people. You can get free loft insulation depending on benefits not restricted to postcode.

I'll let you know how things progress < end of rant

System

I'm happy with the cavity wall insulation they did on my house.

Aces_grandad

Just had a rep from the March Group at my house (19/6/13). She actually popped by yesterday. The reason they come door to door is they can see if houses are already have cavity wall insulation. I told her that I'd had a survey done by British Gas a few months ago and that according to them it was insulated. She checked the wall and spotted the survey hole that was plugged. She asked if she could stick her camera in just to measure the cavity depth. When she did she asked me to take a look. The cavity wasn't insulated at all! The insulation is free as its part of the governments drive to lower carbon emissions. They have booked me a date to get this done the form says £0.00! I'm just intrigued as to why I was told by the British gas surveyor that it was already done?!?!

maninthestreet

How old is your house?

Brummie71

lemontree wrote: »

Just spoken to a friend and she had Mark Group insulate her home.
Her house was built in 1995 so how could it need the work?
Strange to say the least!!!!!!

Not unusual.

Building regs and techniques have changed over time, so it isn't unusual to find a 1990s era home with little loft insulation and an unfilled cavity. Most of these have been caught by now, as the installers hammered the 70-90s build estates as easy low hanging fruit for insulation, back when CERT paid for it.

They are as good or bad as any other company.

Do remember that they people knocking the door are contractors paid to deliver leads, not directly employed by Mark Group, so have to achieve targets set by their bosses.