Cavity Wall Survey - Possible Scam?

garlik_bread

We had cavity wall insulation put in a few years back, on one of the free government subsidised schemes. It was the bonded bead type insulation, and since then we've had no problems other than a few spots of mould in poorly ventilated areas.

Today, we were cold called from a company called Liberty who claimed to be part of another government scheme to clean up after dodgy cavity wall insulation. And that they think our "damp problems" are due to the poorly installed insulation.

To cut a long story short, they offered us up to £25k of repair work including re-plastering, re-rendering etc. under the CIGA guarantee, and all we had to do was to get a surveyor round to assess the property, which happens to incur a a £299 charge - which would all be fully reimbursed at a later date.

He wanted us to pay over the phone, suggesting credit card for maximum protection, or PayPal.

Alarm bells were ringing for me, so wanted to do some digging. The website looked fairly legit, but neither the number on there or the one he called me from went anywhere, and a whois shows the website has been live for only a few months. And also I can't find anything on the web about any government schemes doing this.

Anyone else have any experience with this?

Sorry for the essay! :rotfl:

ManAtHome

If it was a government scheme they wouldn't be asking for cash. Anyway, if you've no problems, nothing to fix.

garlik_bread

That's what I figured, he was trying to tell me that it would get worse over time blah blah.

Is it worth putting their details on here for the benefit of others? Or is that against the rules?

ManAtHome

You've already put their name up - I suspect they won't be the only outfit doing the rounds. Most of us on here take the view that cold-callers are more interested in theor own pockets than ours...

Welcome to MSE by the way - stick around and save some some dosh and/or have a few laughs.

Furts

I do not know where "Liberty" got your contact details from unless it was cold calling and you got sucked into admitting this? But a couple of the big national CWI companies went bust, so who knows where their customer lists ended up. I know one big name was run as a "dodgy" company so anything is possible.

But it is certainly a scam. If a consumer has a problem with CWI they contact CIGA who will investigate FOC. There is no need to pay the £299 to instigate this.

I often ponder why many of the scammers do not get a proper job. Do something worthwhile rather than fleece innocent folks.

System

The only problem with CIGA is that they don't bother getting back to you - I've tried several times to establish whether the cwi in a property I have purchased is covered by them as it needs to come out and they literally never get back to you!!

Even the companies that do remove the stuff don't charge to come and have a look - I've had quotes from two separate companies and haven't yet had to pay a survey fee

garlik_bread

Thanks for the replies, glad to have my suspicions confirmed!

They had said that the company that did our CWI is no longer operating, whether that is true or not is another thing.

Furts

garlik_bread wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, glad to have my suspicions confirmed!

They had said that the company that did our CWI is no longer operating, whether that is true or not is another thing.

Domestic and General Insulation were a big one that went bust around late 2013/4, and Mark Group were a big one going bust last year. Was it one of these who did your insulation?

The DGI location in Worcester is selling the same product, and the same work, but under a different name now. Even had the same Directors until there was a fall out. Read into that what you will, but be wary if you ever come across the name "Thermobead".

KazB14

Hiya.... I can answer honestly as this is my job. Don't pay anyone anything is my first point !! Your guarantee needs to be checked with ciga and the installers and product identified. There is a body starting investigations into this, however, it is in its infancy. Each case has to be proven beyond doubt and that ain't straight forward. I agree that mineral fibre is problematic but if you changed your doors or windows or boiler etc or even didn't repoint an area that they will search for then the liability is back on you. If you are Midlands based I can look for you but pay no one nothing and don't sign a thing xx

Furts

KazB14 wrote: »

Your guarantee needs to be checked with ciga and the installers and product identified. There is a body starting investigations into this, however, it is in its infancy. Each case has to be proven beyond doubt and that ain't straight forward.

Is it really "in its infancy" or is this the start of another national scam like endowment mortgage claims, PPI claims investigation, alleged whiplash injuries and the list goes on.

The reality is there are few people with a valid ciga guarantee if one is thorough with making a claim. Starting before CWI was ever installed nobody will have checked their home for suitability for CWI installation, nobody will have checked their postcode and exposure, nobody will have cleaned out their cavities and nobody will have repointed before CWI was undertaken. Here to give anecdotal evidence I have only ever come across one consumer who followed this ethos, but even they then got shafted by the CWI company.

Countless consumers will have made the decision to invalidate their ciga guarantees there after by undertaking building work, or DIY, or having an extension built, or having new windows fitted, or having new external doors fitted. To give one anecdotal example - I have never come across any double glazing company rep, or sales person, warn the consumer that fitting their windows and doors will invalidate their ciga guarantee. Why is this? A combination of ignorance and an over whelming desire to take peoples money over any form of sound advice.

Other consumers will not have maintained their homes and allowed defective lead flashings, leaking gutters and all sorts to cause problems.

These are all simple items. It does not take a new generation of ambulance chasers to jump on the band wagon to start scamming consumers out of their hard earned cash.

Kiran

Furts wrote: »

To give one anecdotal example - I have never come across any double glazing company rep, or sales person, warn the consumer that fitting their windows and doors will invalidate their ciga guarantee. Why is this? A combination of ignorance and an over whelming desire to take peoples money over any form of sound advice.

I am genuinely curious about this and I hadn't heard it before. How would installing new windows invalidate your CIGA guarantee when the windows are fitted to the external skin and (unless installed by cowboys) never breach the cavity? Or is this to do with newer windows being thermally efficient and allowing less air flow etc?


Thanks