Warm Front - Lets Make Them Accountable

dustoff

10 month ago- was assessed and approved for central heating.
Kept being told it would be fitted in 6 weeks...
Eventually a surveyor was sent around- he condemned our non working back boiler and whole system said we would need new boiler and radiators.
2 weeks later, another surveyor was sent - they claimed they had no knowledge of first survey...same conclusions...
one week later- third surveyor came out...he said it was too expensive to fit new radiators but they would do the boiler.

A guy was eventually sent, who admitted he was unsure of what he was doing...he waited 5 hrs for his boss to come round and give him directions.
He got going in the end.
He then asked us if he could take a plug off our electric heater as he had not been given a plug to fit the boiler...
A few hrs later he informed us that while my daughter had come down from her room for lunch- that he had taken the fuse out of her laptop (whithout asking) to use - as he didn't have a fuse with him. She was in the middle of exams and hours of her work were lost...

The guy from eaga left a huge mess around our home and ripped up fitted carpets fraying them instead of undoing door bars.
He has broken a floor board, left another one wobbly, left a hole the size of a grapefruit from inside our home straight to the outside and the bath now takes an hour to half fill...

The safety people came out after two weeks to check the boiler and job- they condemned it as unsafe and turned it off, assuring me someone would contact me later that day to put things right.
We have no heat and no hot water.

No one contacted me. Where the fitter pulled the plumbing around under our bath - we now have a leak.

This leak started Sunday- no one in the office at warm front, eaga no emergency numbers to call.

Emailed them detailing problems Sunday.
Got on the phone Monday 9am.
Spent the best part of the day on the phone- got no where.
At about 5 pm a manager from eaga called me- assured me he would get someone right out to fix the leak and gave me a mobile number where he said I could contact him any time.
No one turned up to fix the leak, then at 8.30 pm I got a call from another company eaga had outsourced to who said that they would send someone out at 11pm - ish to fix the leak. I had to say no as my daughter has exams today, the leak is right by her bedroom and she was already in bed.

I've tried again today, have emailed and phoned in again. The number the manager gave me (he said call any-time) has been on answer phone since 5 pm yesterday and he is not replying to messages left.

Warm Front - have just said they will get someone to call me back..
It's now 12.30 and I have had a leak since Sunday (at least), no heat or hot water since Friday when the new boiler was condemned and nothing is getting done. Its now Tuesday afternoon.

The whole thing has been appalling. I've complained to Eaga, Warm Front and now I'm out of ideas. Has anyone had any luck complaining anywhere else?

Thanks

pixieland

We have just got our letter from warm front saying that they will be out to see if we can get a grant.[think we do].We have a central haeting system which works even though its twenty five years old.Do we bother?Reading what other people have been through i might forget it.I am with british gas and a nice man came round and said we could get a grant for our loft they are coming out in july,so thats one job done.

pixieland

we have just had a phone call from warm front saying someone will be round monday afternoon to see if we can get a grant etc etc.

alshaw

dustoff wrote: »

The whole thing has been appalling. I've complained to Eaga, Warm Front and now I'm out of ideas. Has anyone had any luck complaining anywhere else?

Thanks

Yes, I put a complaint into the DECC ( Department of Energy and Climate Change ) and there is now an ongoing investigation into our case ( I shall update my post above shortly with the final saga ). They kicked !!!! and chewed gum and now we've had our new system installed although bit's of it don't work and we've had no hot water for nearly a week now. After kicking more EagaHeat backside today, we are finally getting and electrician out.
Also put a written or emailed complaint into Warmfront, they have to investigate and resolve the problem as complaints are monitored by the DECC ( or so i'm told ).

jestyenot

Last November our existing boiler, we have had it for 12 years, developed pressure problems, I had the boiler manufacture come out, they re-pressurised the boiler but told us we will be lucky if it lasts the winter.

Having been told this we applied for the Warm Front Grant the same week, that was Nov. last year, a week later a guy from Warm Front came and assessed the boiler, he printed the results of the survey out and said we would get the grant and that they would be in touch later. As of to-date, all we have had is 3 letters saying they have not forgotten us and they will inform us when our claim is updated.

I am seriously thinking of cancelling the grant, we are both pensioners and do not want to be without heating this winter, I have been ringing their freephone number for the last few days and cannot get to speak to anyone.

There is one thing I would like to ask anyone who has had a new boiler installed under the grant, that is, can you pick the brand of boiler that you would like as I have heard some bad reports of their own that they fit. If I can't choose the make, then I will definateley cancel.

pixieland

we can get a grant from warm front,but we still dont know what to do?Every one we know is saying "oh my god dont do it".Trouble is we have just blown our boiler money on a kitchen[we havent really got a kitchen]and a new fuse board.OH says it cant really be a bad winter we have the gas fire and woolly jumpers,we will get some quotes and start saving.OH is thinking of growing veg next year,but thats another thread?

adamskrat1

we had a boiler fitted by warmfront we have had 12 callouts in two years as it was nt fitted right last night it blew up again and they said we would have to wait 5 days before they could restore our hot water there is talk of the the boiler beeing a right off and the may fit a new one so we have to go through all that crap again,we are currently in talks with my solicitor as the service terrible and my previous boiler worked fine they said it was obsolete bit like there contractors that do the work they left the boiler leaking one night and in the morning the landing ceiling had fell down, they were not intrested, stay away you have been warned:mad::mad::mad:

Lisa62

My elderly parents applied for a Warmfront grant in Sept 2008 for a new boiler. Finally it was fitted in March 2009 after Douglas Carswell, MP, contacted John Clough, Chief Executive of Eaga who "made things happen". I won't bore you with the details of the previous six months but the level of "service" was appalling. and the quote was ridiculously expensive which I questioned as it was tax payers money!!! Eaga provided my parents with a two year guarantee. However, because of the poor level of service from Eaga, my parents took out a British Gas contract to cover their central heating system after it had been installed – an unnecessary expensive you would think…..

This week, October 2010, the boiler broke down. British Gas informed my parents that it was a poor installation and the “flue” had been incorrectly fitted which had caused the boiler to breakdown !! Today British Gas have arrived for the 3rd time in a week and told them that the flue is not covered by the service contact and to contact Eaga !!

I feel we are about to go back to no one answering the phone or taking ownership of the problem. I will copy the MP again as he certainly made things happen last time, and I have copied the DECC.:mad::mad:

tiamaria

Going way back to 2004 my mum had a new boiler fitted by warmfront. I did complain big time on her behalf but I wished I'd pushed it more as the devastation was unbelievable.

This was our list of complaints,well the ones I remember.

1. They drilled through her house,over the party wall and into next door's bathroom!

2. The twin copper pipes were fitted all around horizontally at the top of the dining room wall and vertically in the dining room and the lounge, complete with burn marks at every pipe join. They are a real eyesore & I reckon it's knocked a lot off the price of the property.

3.Very large holes were drilled in the walls, not concreted up, just left there.

4. Large white pipe not fitted correctly from the boiler to outside (slanted & only partially cemented)

5. The old boiler was ripped off the bathroom walls, breaking adjacent tiles with some cement slapped on but not in such a way the tiles could be replaced.

6.The mess, dust, concrete left behind was everywhere, looked like a bomb site. Not all elderly people have family or friends to help them, how they could leave an OAP to sort this out is beyond belief.

7.Despite all this, the boiler has frequently gone wrong or stopped working altogether, we've had a number of plumbers look at it who have pointed out that one of the pipes is upside down. Right now we've been told that it should be totally replaced as it's broken beyond permanent repair, shame she can't afford a new one:(

So basically, they all but ruined the house and she still has no heating! Don't touch them with a bargepole!

Oh and I forgot to say, when we complained they insisted on sending the same contractor to sort it out, even though we asked for someone else.

He said "Please don't complain to warmfront, I'll give you £50)!!

gasmansteve_2

as a ex eaga installer, i thought i would put my input in.

ive been a gas engineer for 20 years and fit approx 60-100 boilers a year i have been on most courses and am fully registered and qualified.

ive worked for a warm front contractor and have seen the problems which i will list.

warm front is a service to provide BASIC heating and hot water, to people who cant afford to pay for it themselves. many applicants try to use the grant to improve the value of their home.

when warm front pay their contractors to do a job they want the quickest easiest route for pipework, which means if its easier to run pipes on the surface then thats where they will go.

when i was self employed i would allow 2 days to do a boiler swap, first day to remove old boiler and refit new and get it running, second day to make good any holes etc from old boiler and to powerflush the system. i would charge between 800 and 1000 for this (this is a standard charge amoungst decent gas engineers)

with warm front they would expect it all done in a day and pay £120 a job. this causes a problem, firstly being the only engineers who are inexperienced and incompentent will work for 120 a day because nobody else will employ them and secondly they will cut corners to get in and out to the next job.

warm fornt should make they critia more differcult, so they do less installations but spend more time on them and get the job done right by pros not rejects.

ideal boilers are not good boilers, again most decent engineers only fit vaillant worcester or glowworm boilers. Why is this ? because as a self employed engineer i dont want to be returning on jobs repairing a boiler after a year a decent boiler will keep going for years without repair just a service.