Official Free Boilers and Insulation guide discussion

captainhindsight_2

benniebert wrote: »

I'm naturally very suspicious of a 'good deal'!


I contacted npower about 8 weeks ago about a new boiler and after having one of their agents come along followed by Vibrant Energy Matters a few weeks later I am told that I can have a new boiler fitted FOC. Wow, then the doubts set in. Everything has been carried out over the phone, so I asked for written confirmation together with the terms & conditions. Nothing has yet arrived.


I'm probably paranoid but you do hear of these scams although I was assured that it will not cost me a penny.


Green Deal keeps being mentioned, but ECO is the one I am told is actually involved.


Have I got anything to worry about? Or am I being set up to be scammed?

ECO is a part of Green Deal.

Ferris

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

It's not a scam. It's just overly complicated which almost inevitably leads to mistakes, small print, back doors, unforeseen consequences and so on.

But the upshot of this is that there is really no such thing as a "free" boiler through this scheme. From my dealings with companies involved, it is a marketing exercise to enable contractors to get as much cash on top of the grant as possible from vulnerable people.

Smiley_Dan

Yep, I don't disagree! But it's unlikely to be a scam, which implies some sort of central organisation and intention.

It's just poor, naive design by too many 'stakeholders'.

clarmstrong

March 4 2015 had a letter from the council saying I could be eligible for a free boiler so I rang The Warm Up North number and answered a few questions and was told I did qualify for a free boiler. I asked if there was any other cost and was told no it was totally free. They said they would ring back within a couple of weeks to book an appointment for someone to do a survey.


On March 19 I called saying I had heard nothing from them making an appointment for a survey. I was told that there had been delays because of so many people applying. I was also told that the survey team would be given my details to make an appointment.


Today 13 April I had a call from Warm Up North asking me for all the details they had originally been asked because my details needed to be sent to the survey team. I was also told that there would be a minimum charge of £200 pounds as they found that was what most people had to pay because of their circumstances. After taking all my details again they said that I would probably have to pay £352. I asked why and they said that 2 weeks ago they decided for the reasons above there is should be a minimum charge of £200 based on what the average person had to pay.


I am a pensioner on pension credit and was originally told that was why I was entitled to a free boiler.


I asked to speak to a supervisor but was told that there was a policy of a call back only after 24 hours from this call.


No appointment was made for a surveyor. They said that they called to confirm my details as they had not been passed to the survey team on my previous calls.


Really rather miffed to say the least. Wondering whether they messed up on purpose because the rules were changing and trying to register my interest as a new claim from todays date.

lindalou88

Hi
My tenant has applied for a free boiler and a company called Fusion Energy in Rotherham accepted her application last summer (2014). More phone calls and emails than I can remember have been exchanged and finally a couple of weeks ago (March 2015) a survey of the property was done. The outcome is that the property is 'too well insulated' to qualify for a 100% free boiler and I, as the landlord, must pay £800 up front. The company will not invoice me, instead they want me to pay by card over the phone and they seem reluctant to confirm in writing exactly what I am paying for e.g. model of boiler, guarantees on the appliance and the installation etc. I have been trying to find a list of approved installers or any proof that they are a bonafide company. Ofgem block all attempts to be contacted by phone! Has anybody used Fusion Energy or can you advise me how to check their credentials?

adonis

lindalou88 everything tells me you should not deal with this company if they are not putting things in writing, you could end up out of pocket and no boiler.
Thats why I went with EON as the company they used (Dyson) were upfront with paperwork and costs.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Glad you had a good experience adonis and thanks for commenting.

Malc

bwoyrough

Follow up to my earlier post.... (not good news! i found it cheaper to buy a boiler than take the grant!:huh:.... i applied via heatthehome knowing i qualified under their terms and had this confirmed by them, i read into the info on how these companies are funded by the government and saw that there was a tier 1 and tier 2 funding period, tier 2 starting after 1st April 2015, i applied before then but they didn't come to the house until maybe 3rd April so i was in the Tier 2 bracket which i heard was going to be better funded than tier 1 as it works by an energy guy working out how much you can save per year, they basically measure the area of your home in sq. ft and work out the sums and see if you have cavity insulation etc. then the government pays X amount per kilowatt you save as per having a new boiler, that's what i made from the official government guidelines.
So the energy man said it would be 3-4 weeks, the lady at heatthehome told me it would be 3-4 weeks from the time they processed my original application to the time the boiler would be fitted! all this time i have been without a boiler, it broke down waiting for them..
So the first man came(he checked the boiler and setup and said you'll soon have a new free boiler! great i thought), the next man came (the energy assessor) and he seemed to think that me having cavity wall insulation should in theory should give me a better grant amount as it would save more money installing a boiler into an energy efficient home with good insulation, so i was very hopeful, so i wait and wait... no contact, i called them up and they gave me my results which shocked me when i did a quick google search to check how much it would cost me to pay a local gas safe registered person to do the same job.
They said i will have to pay approx £1,150+ contribution EEK! (the energy man told me he'd not heard of anyone paying more than £500 so i was surprised), the quote is for an Ideal Logic Combi 24 (A Rated Boiler) so i do a quick google and realize there are gas safe people all over offering to sell and fit these things with 7yrs warranty for £1,190 that was my first search, i'm sure i'll find cheaper if i look a little more, so what on earth was all this grant business about i wonder to myself.
(*Update: I called them back and this time they told me how much the grant was for which was around £650, it's EON who apparently supply the boiler or the company involved via the agency, still not sure what to make of it all but i see the same boiler on ebay advertized as fitted by gas safe engineer with 7yr warranty for £1,190 which includes 3hrs labor, system flush, parts etc.)

All i can say is what a waste of time! I've been sat freezing for the last few months sat next to a electric fan heater with my electric meter whizzing round and bills sky high, i wish i never applied to be honest.

System

Just to save readers some time, effort and disappointment...

If your property was built after 1990, you will not be eligible for free insulation from British Gas. Even if there is zero insulation at present.

I don't understand why this isn't published on British Gas or MSE websites. The only explanation I can think of is that they want to harvest as many personal details as possible for marketing purposes.

Ken68

Yes Rikesh, then probably gets sold on to governments, not necessarily the UK.