loft insulation and cavity wall grants, are they are scam ?

timmy_toad

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I think everyone has had a phone call from a "company" trying to GIVE them FREE Loft Insulation and Cavity Wall insulation.

They seem to ring several times a week, i would imagine, that they must be making a lot of money out of this to be so regular and insistent to be GIVING you something for FREE.

These grants are financed by the government, i.e.. "US".

Not everyone, me included, takes these persistent individuals up on there generous offer, I have had both of these Insulation methods installed many years ago.

SO WHAT HAPPENS to the many, many people who dont take up this generous offer, DO THESE "companies" claim the money off of the government regardless off them actually doing the JOB ? Does anyone from the goverment bother to checkup IF all the money they must pay out IS for genuine JOBS.

Does anyone know for sure ?

Tim

Yorkie1

There are a lot of genuine offers / grants out there but you don't have to take up the phone call ones.

People should contact the energy saving trust, or their fuel supplier, for details.

timmy_toad

I agree people SHOULD "contact the energy saving trust, or their fuel supplier, for details."

but DO THEY ?.

TIM

Ganga

The offers are genuine,the Goverment pays the bills.I also had the loft insulated,it allready had a small amount of insulation but contacted the Energy Saving Trust who said there was a grant available to have the loft and the walls done in the area that we live ( north east) the chap came out and carriedout an inspection,drilled a small hole in the outside wall and inspected with a camera on a thin tube,confirmed the walls had been done by the builder,inspected the loft and confirmed it needed more insulation,the cost was only about £40.00,i stripped out all the old insulation and the "team" came a few days later and fitted the new thicker insulation,good job done.The only down side was the same people who did the loft came back to our estate a few months later and said to my wife " would you like the loft insulated for free? " as the local council was paying for it, my wife said would you like to come back later and upset my husband when he comes in from work as we have just paid to have it done!
But honestly it was money well spent as the house is much warmer and the cost was that much,anybody who has not had there loft done should contact the Energy Saving Trust or similar as the offers are too good to be true!

timmy_toad

ok ok, so what is there to stop these Phone Calling Sales People from CLAIMING from the Government, this Grant Money for Homes that dont want or need the "work" being done ?

How does anybody know that they dont do this all ready, AND is there anybody in the government department who pays out this money, to give random addresses a ring to check they are happy with the "work".

Furthermore, the people that DO ring, are all displayed on my phone as "Out of Area" which is i believe a tag put on phone numbers from abroad, if they were genuine numbers from genuine british companies i would see there numbers wouldnt I !, which makes me think that they are doing it to make MONEY out of the Government !! ILLEGALLY !!!.

I dont doubt there are genuine companies out there, but what is done about these dodgy callers ?

Tim

Yorkie1

Frankly I think you are seeing conspiracy theory where none exists.

Phone calls from switchboard phones in the UK do not always display the number either.

timmy_toad

Well maybe i am being a bit TOO suspicious, but these nuisance phone call people sound as though they live in a foreign country (NOY UK) and sound to be the same people who ring ME up about PPI and Insurance compensation claims.

Tim

phill99

Tim: I think I know three things about you.

1) you're not married
2) you don't have many friends
3) You don't get out much.

Am I right?

timmy_toad

phill99 wrote: »

Tim: I think I know three things about you.

1) you're not married
2) you don't have many friends
3) You don't get out much.

Am I right?

Hi Phil, do you know what Phil, i like you, notta lot, but i do like you LOL.

You are actually wrong on all three !!!!.

I am a very sad old fella who goes round reporting all the cars who arent displaying current tax disc's, parked on double yellow lines, only got one headlight, disobeying keep left signs and parked in a disabled badge bay without a badge etc. etc. yes i am pretty sad i admit.

But despite all that, i am happily married, i do have a few buddies and i do get out a bit, notta a lot, but i do get out.

Ok, so perhaps i am making too much of a fuss about these foreigners phoning me up who seem to be overly concerned about my Insulation requirements, so much so they must be on a fiddle somewhere.

Look at Jimmy Saville he got away with it for many many years and only got caught when he was DEAD !.

I am saying no more about this subject now, ok. in fact the MSE forum now has one less member as of now. So i wont even be able to read the reactions i get from this post.

tim

prowla

Anyway, we had our cavity wall insulation done via British Gas.
It didn't cost us a penny.

paulmapp8306

Had mine done too.

the government ONLY pays for the work, when they received a copy of the work docket signed by the owner of the property when the work is complete.

I believe a % of these owners are contacted after the even to confirm workl was carried out as claimed, and to a suitable standard. i had a call from the local council about 3 weeks after our insulation was fitted to confirm everything was OK.

Actually it wast. There were a lot of "boards" down in our loft and at the inspection stage the company said it didnt matter - they could insulate over the boards and there was no need to pull them up - just tape off any area we didnt want doing (walkway and a storage area) and they would leave that. I checked and its fine to do so, as long as the area left isnt more than 10% of the total loft area id doesnt affect the overall performance of the insulation that much.

Anyway - when they had gone I went to look - and the areas without boards had two layers of insulation (as i had been led to ecpect) - one between the joists, and another overlayed at 90 deg to the first. Unfortunately when they had insulted over the boards they had only put a single layer - so the top surface was uniform - BUT it meant in those areas the insulation was only half what it should have been.

No issue - the company were sent back in to put the correct depth of insulation over the boarded area - which they did. It loks a little odd, as there now two heights of insulation in the loft BUT it works fine - and your not exactly looking in there that often. We have a much toastier houes, some loft storage areas/walkways and all for free, despite us being owners and earning over £40k per year.