Warm Front advice

jellymid

My Mum has been told she is eligible for a Warm Front grant. The assessor told her that she could have 5 radiators and a gas combi boiler in her 3 bed semi. She currently has just 3 storage heaters. She asked if she could pay the extra to have radiators put in the other 2 bedrooms and the assessor said yes. He told her that she could also pay extra to have the pipes put behind the skirting boards and the radiators placed in more convenient positions. She was happy with this. However, the 'surveyor' came to see her at very short notice (10mins) and my brother could not get there to be with her. The surveyor told her that there was no longer the option to have extra radiators at extra cost. He told her that the pipes to her lounge would have to come from upstairs and run down the wall in conduit. She wasn't happy, but he implied that they had to help as many people as possible and she should be grateful for what she was getting. It sounds as if he was very abrupt, and Mum was a bit intimidated. He says all the work will be done in one day and she would have to get any changes done herself afterwards. Has anyone had any experience of the scheme or 'paying extra' for extra work? We would be very grateful for any advice.

consultant31

jellymid wrote: »

He told her that the pipes to her lounge would have to come from upstairs and run down the wall in conduit. She wasn't happy, but he implied that they had to help as many people as possible and she should be grateful for what she was getting. It sounds as if he was very abrupt, and Mum was a bit intimidated. quote]

They tried this with my elderly Mum and Dad a couple of years ago - the chap said they'd run the pipes close to the window so's the curtains would hide them :eek: . Fortunately my Mum isn't easily intimidated and told them to get stuffed. They eventually put them under the floorboards as any normal person would expect.

Give the firm a ring and tell them no way are you having pipes running down the walls - what on earth would it look like??? (Steptoe's house springs to mind).

Mum and Dad did pay for a couple of extra radiators and it was all done in a day but make sure someone strong-minded is there to see they get what they want.

Savvy_Sue

Before getting too excited about this, what kind of floors does the OP's mum have? When we installed CH in our second house, we had solid concrete floors downstairs. We COULD have had the pipes put in these, but it was an awful lot less work to run them down from upstairs. Once painted, and in the corners, I don't think it looked that bad!

jellymid

Thanks for your replies. My Mum does have concrete floors downstairs but I understand that the inital assessor from warm front advised her that it would be possible to hide them behind the skirting board in this case. After a bit of investigation it seems that the surveyor who visited her yesterday actually works for the independent fitters that would be doing the job not for Warm Front. He hadn't made this clear. Alarm bells were going off, so I rang Warm Front direct. They were very helpful and have withdrawn their request for this company to deal with Mum's grant. She was very worried as she had signed about 5 forms, but I was reassured that there would be no problems. She will now be allocated another firm - may mean another wait, but probably worth it in the long run. Warm Front said that they will make sure the next company will be happy to do the extra work. Thanks for your advice. I shall make sure that she has someone with her next time.

hochepooch

hi just like to say a few things about warm front if your lucky to get the grant and the installer is a company called (iguana heating) be careful you get what you are entitled to inguana will fit boilers for the full cost of your grant but will not give any radiators even when your radiators might be leaky and very old. this is because warm front own iguana heating. other installers will fit boiler and five radiators for the cost of the same grant. I live in the cleveland area and this is happening all the time with Iguana heating.

angela6834

hochepooch wrote: »

hi just like to say a few things about warm front if your lucky to get the grant and the installer is a company called (iguana heating) be careful you get what you are entitled to inguana will fit boilers for the full cost of your grant but will not give any radiators even when your radiators might be leaky and very old. this is because warm front own iguana heating. other installers will fit boiler and five radiators for the cost of the same grant. I live in the cleveland area and this is happening all the time with Iguana heating.

This is not the case. I used to work for warm front and if you already have a central heating system in place...the grant only covers to replace the boiler. As the OP said, they have electric storage heater so a new full CH system will be installed ( inc radiators)

Just make sure the installers know exactly what you want done and what you are prepared to pay for yourselves and you should have no bother

hochepooch

two of my friends qualified for the grant £2700 they installer said the grant covers boiler and five radiators. and thats what they got. by the way they already had radiators in the property one of them had to pay £25 extra but that was all

Call_That_Music?!?

Hi,
we were told that we qualified for a 5 radiators and boiler and would get grant of 4k. The guy came out and there were no problems at all. We got a letter saying that cost of work was 6k+ and we would have to pay 2k difference. Now warm front and the installers are blaming each other and we're no further forward. Lengthy conversations where neither party could satisfy points i made ( and realised it) - is the whole thing a huge con? we were advised to ask cab if we could get financial help anywhere! Does it really cost 6k?
help gratefully received as electric bill is huge in winter (no central heating in at all)
thanks

jellymid

Thanks everyone. My Mum has had a surveyor visit this week from another company. He was much better, though I was glad that my brother and I were there to deal with him. They are happy to put 3 extra radiators in, although they charge a flat rate of £ 240 per radiator fitted. Although this sounds a lot, a couple of them are a long way from the boiler and are going to take a while to fit. My only concern now is that they want to fit an IDEAL ISAR 24 boiler, which doesn't seem to get very good reviews. I'm currently trying to choose a different boiler, to try to get them to quote for an 'upgrade'. They did however seem reluctant to go down this route. With the £2700 grant my Mum will get a full gas central heating system for £750 which doesn't seem too bad at all, especially considering she doesn't even have a gas supply to her has currently! Fingers crossed all goes well now. Thanks again, Al

Call_That_Music?!?

Thanks for the reply, Margaret. We have a back boiler which heats water behind the coal fire. We were given a choice of new boiler or run radiators off the back boiler. We didn't want to lose the back boiler because of power cuts in winter. We've been without power for 2 weeks at a time (not in the last four years, granted). So we were quoted for radiators and linking everything up -and assured that the work would be completed within the grant awarded. It was a bit of a shock to discover that they wanted the 2k+ and neither side would break down the cost for us - just labour £2k and parts 2k. . I am going to ring a local guy (who actually grew up in our house) for advice.

We thought that the scheme sounded great and had told widowed M-i-L about it - however the unhelpful attitude of both Warm Front and their 'contractor' has put us off - we only wanted to know what their quote covered but it's all (quote) 'commercially sensitive' information. We have to pay 2k and not ask questions... ? (quote) 'erm, yes'...

I'm glad that it all went well for you Margaret - maybe it's just a 'Personnel' problem we're having,lol.

Regards

Call_That_Music?!?

Glad you've sorted things out, jellymid! I apologise if I've 'hijacked' your thread - not quite sure what the etiquette is. Try to keep subjects together or start your own thread??
Hope your mother has a Warm Winter!