ECO4 - It is great but beware!!

Lesley107

I had Smartway energy out to fit my new boiler and insulation over the weekend. To cut a very long story short they were unable to do it as the surveyor who came out the week before didn't do his job properly and failed to notice that the gas pipe coming in was the incorrect size! Anyway they came back as I complained and scoped for the boiler to be put on another wall. They are saying that they can now come out next Saturday.  I feel so uneasy about the company despite the good review on trustpilot.  Only one out of the 5 engineers that came spoke English and he spoke very little broken English.  I am wondering how they have credentials from the UK and passed all exams?  I don't want this to come across a being racist as I am not AT ALL, but I am worried about the language barrier as they didn't understand a work I was saying.  I am wondering as I have been approved the grant, can I get my own company out?  

wrf12345

Ask them for their GasSafe card and check on the GasSafe website (they have photos on the card and website of the engineer), illegal for anyone else to take money for gas work (unless supervised apprentice, I guess)...

QrizB

Lesley107 said:

I am wondering as I have been approved the grant, can I get my own company out?  

I think you'd need your company (whoever they are) to make their own application on your behalf. It sounds like they'd succeed, but they'll still need to go through the motions.

Bellathefluffycat

I had these to do my mums  boiler upgrade with loft insulation too,  great work to fit boiler but unfortunately i had items taken from my home my childs bedroom which were there before they came but discovered after they had gone.
Was told basically its never happend till my home so my word against theres.
But i know they had taken them as i did not lie about these two items 

infj

And this is why the government (of all colours) are on a highway to nowhere on getting UK housing stock moved to greener energy. There are just too many horror stories about companies taking the p**s and leaving things worse.

Chrysalis

infj said:

And this is why the government (of all colours) are on a highway to nowhere on getting UK housing stock moved to greener energy. There are just too many horror stories about companies taking the p**s and leaving things worse.

Even worse all the homes that dont even qualify with vulnerable occupiers, no double glazing part of the scheme either.

wrf12345

I made the "mistake" of increasing roof insulation and fitting a modern boiler (nearly six years ago) which according to the ECO4 Flex agent would take my prior EPC from a low E to a high D and would make it difficult for them to fund a heat pump/solar install without some serious top-up money from me (five grand) but will have to get an updated EPC and see where I am. Also have Warm Homes Local grants coming in April "via councils" which seems to be a similar deal to ECO4 Flex. Looks like the agents are trying to max out the profits so you have to be in the lower EPC's so they can max out the grants (he sounded miffed that I had done the insulation myself as that is easy money for them, also talked about replacing gas with storage heaters which I rejected). Most of my heat disappears out of two huge north facing bay windows fitted with dodgy, pre-Fensa double glazing but the system does not recognise that as being deficient (nor my removable insulation boards) - maybe I should retro-fit some single glazing!

carla40

What are your thoughts on this pipework? I had my new boiler fitted last week  and this is how it was fitted, with the water pipe so close to the plug sockets, i am now waiting for an engineer to come and look at it. Not very happy at all 

FreeBear

Some boilers come fitted with a filling loop so that you don't need a bit of flexi-pipe hanging down. With a little bit of thought, it wouldn't have been that difficult for the plumber to install a shorter bit of pipe.

Grwndibwndi1

I am in a dispute with Consumer Energy Solutions for nearly two years!! Worst company I have ever dealt with. Seems to be a lot of complaints about them. Is there a forum or anything similar where we can get together and complain? I have Ofgem, NICEIC, MCS, Trustmark, Ecohelp, Ecosecurity and my MP involved in my dispute. This company is ruining peoples lives and property. Strength in numbers. How would we go about it? Anyone have any ideas please?