Octopus yanking us around for a year. (GBIS - Great British Insulation Scheme)

laughingcuzimsavingforanoverdraft

Hoping that someone might be able to help me on this one.

We applied for the GBIS (Great British Insulation Scheme) in February 2024 and since then we've had nothing but the run around with Octopus about when we can get the work carried out.  We were sent and email in the summer saying that it had been accepted and we needed to fill out a form before quickly being sent and email entitled "FYI: Correct Update -Your application is with and installer" naturally we were happy and were informed that we would be contacted within 4 weeks.  Well the summer passed and I suddenly realised we hadn't been contacted so I chased them to which we were told we needed to fill out a form we were sent in the summer.  I was narked because the update email read like the email with the form was unnecessary, so I filled it out and after a lot more chasing eventually in October someone came out, drilled holes and said it would go back to Octopus and they would organise the next step.  Well it's now April 2025 and despite emails every week or so chasing and several irate phone calls including today and raising of complaints we are still no further forward.

For a company that advertises it's "Award winning Customer Service" so proudly, I've yet to see it.

I'm at a loss right now, I feel like this should be something that I could make a big stink about on some public platform but wouldn't know where to start.

Does anyone have any advice?

Tom

debitcardmayhem

Maybe the Daily Fail, or the Grauniad, or even the Torygraph… you obviously didn’t realise that 4 weeks from February doesn’t end in the summer. If you feel so bad and need the subsidy you should have chased it during those 4 weeks. Now you want to “make a big stink” by now after 14 months you feel hard done by , sorry for your problems but some of them are of your own making.

JJforever

I applied for this scheme in September and then followed up with an email to Octopus in March. They were actually very good and said that the installer would be in touch.  I was then sent an email by this company who then sent out a surveyor who came out a few weeks later.  They said I qualified for loft insulation but they want me to contribute £800 plus towards it?  Doesn't loft insulation cost roughly this amount anyway?  I thought I would hopefully get a discount? 

They also mentioned that this scheme is coming to an end in September?

In your case who was the person who came to your property?   Which email address are you using?  I used this eco.enquiries@octoes.com.

Yorkie006

I found them completely rubbish too. Applied in May 2024, got email saying that I'm almost at top of the list in August 2024, received a questionnaire to fill in + added photos they asked for in September 2024. Then not heard anything back. Tried to get some updated from Octopus in November 2024 only to be told installers are too busy and nothing will get done until after New year. January came and heard nothing, tried to chase it up by email in March 2025 - no reply. Tried again in June and got response that it's with their trusted partner who will be in touch in 10-14 days. Nobody got in touch so tried to chase it up again in early August - no response again. I was hoping to get this done before last winter (since during the application it mentioned 13 weeks) but at this rate, it won't be done before this winter either. Not even had the initial in-person survey done. It looks like no progress has been made since September last year and Octopus are either lying regarding the update (ei someone will be in touch in 10-14 days) or not responding at all. Either way, what was supposed to take 13 weeks to complete has now been dragging on for 15 months (with no progress made in the last 12 months)... Makes me wonder how many people apply and then decide to do the work themselves/pay someone to do it outside of the scheme because of the huge delays. Don't know if this is a regional issue with not enough installers in some areas etc but if that was the case, why not say it instead of making promises they know they can't keep.