Warm Front - Lets Make Them Accountable

pampam

I too have problems with my boiler installation.
Wont bore you with the details but suffice to say ongoing since December still not solved.
I have found out today that Warmfront, Iguana and Ideal boilers are all based in the same building and owned by the same company.
How is then that when you phone any of the 3 the messages never get passed on to the relevant department?
ie, Ideal technician condemned the installation but Iguana and Warmfront did not receive the report.
I have some great pictures of the mess left behind if anyone is interested.
However, I will say this, the firm tat actually did the work were a local company that that had been contracted by Iguana!
On Iguana's website it states they do not use contractors.
Well that's my moan for today.
Pam

krissy08

i also had problems with my boiler after it was fitted it didn't come on and I kept getting pushed around about an engineer coming over. I emailed Gordon Angus, the chief exec whos email add. I googled and within minutes he replied me appologising,I got phonecalls from 2 managers and an engineer turned up and sorted it out, all within 3 hours, wish I had done that earlier. Try it, it certainly worked for me.

pampam

krissy08 wrote: »

i also had problems with my boiler after it was fitted it didn't come on and I kept getting pushed around about an engineer coming over. I emailed Gordon Angus, the chief exec whos email add. I googled and within minutes he replied me appologising,I got phonecalls from 2 managers and an engineer turned up and sorted it out, all within 3 hours, wish I had done that earlier. Try it, it certainly worked for me.

Thanks for that.
Can you send me the email address as I cant locate it on the net.
Is Gordon Angus Chief Exec for all areas?
Thanks again
Pam

zzzLazyDaisy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

:mad: I have just had a boiler fitted in my bungalow through Warm Front. The devastation their contractors have left in their wake has been awful. I wish I had simply paid for a new boiler myself.

After the workmen went the boiler would not keep pressure - I was having to re-pressurise it 2/3 times a day. I was also constantly having to bleed the radiators. On the second day I phoned the company and was told to leave it to settle down over the Easter Weekend and contact them again if it was still doing it. On Easter saturday a damp patch appeared on my bedroom ceiling. Investigation showed that a nut had been loosened on the attic radiator and water was pouring out. The carpet and boards were soaked.

Of course the contractors were closed for the weekend, thankfully a neighbour came and tightened the nut for me. Immediately the boiler stopped losing pressure and once bled again, the radiators were fine.

But there is now a huge brown stain on my ceiling which is still drying out and the water has run down the wall behind the fitted wardrobes, bringing the paper off.

They investigated and the manager who visited accepted responsibility, told me to get a quote and assured me there would be be no problem. Today I have had a letter from the company saying their workers did not go in the attic room (they did, twice) and that the leak must have been caused by the person who fitted the new thermostat on the attic radiator (I have lived here 4 years, and the radiators and theromstats were fitted by the rpevious people - the bedroom was decorated a year ago, including stripping off the old ceiling paper and wallpaper back to plaster and completely starting again - to suggest that the leak has been going on for over 4 years, but only showed through the ceiling 4 days after the boiler was fitted is ridiculous!

Oh, AND they failed to tighten a nut in the boiler causing a gas leak, AND they left a water leak under the boiler causing me to have to rip out the carpet in the lobby as the foam back got totally ruined from the resulting flood!

I was going to write to Warm Front and ask them to intervene, but seems from this thread that propably isn't going to help much.

I can't do much now as I am going on holiday on Monday - but I will be raising the roof when I get back.... :mad:

Just to update - I put in a formal complaint by phone to warm front - explaining all the above. I was told that it would be passed to their complaints department and someone would contact me for further information.

I have had a letter today from the complaints department saying ' We have contacted the contractor who tell us that they do not fit that type of radiator valve. We have now closed our file on this complaint'..........

Unbelievable!!

If you have an elderly, frail, or disabled relative who is having work carried out by Warm Front, make sure someone is there to oversee it and check everything is okay before they leave - the stress and cost of clearing up the damage could well outweigh the benefit of the grant. Personally I wish I'd never heard of Warm Front.

wearside_2

Having read all the previous posts and other threads regarding Warm Front, my wife and I are extremely concerned that having applied on 1 April 2008 (is this date significant), we qualify for a grant. We seem to be floating through the process rather quickly, too quickly acording to what I have read:rolleyes:.

After applying, we were visited on 11 April by a nice man who came round and checked our old faulty boiler and looked in the loft and at all the radiators in the house. He confirmed our entitlement and told us that we would qualify for something and that a surveyor would call. On 17 April the surveyor came. A rather scary man and rather blunt:eek:. I would imagine that he could scare some elderly people. He looked at the boiler, noting the make and model. He completed paperwork and told me that I would qualify for a new boiler (Ideal Icos 24), a complete flush out (ouch:D), a new timer/thermostat and a pump. I would retain the hot water cylinder as that made the boiler more efficient. He said that I would be advised how much my contribution would be within the week.

On 18 April having heard nothing, I telephoned Warm Front and was told that there was a letter being prepared at that moment (how convienent;)). The asistant could not tell me the contents or how much I was required to contribute due to legal reasons. He did however say that my contribution would be very very small:D

Yesterday 1 May, I received a phone call stating that there was a cancellation and asking if it was alright for the fitters from Worksop to come and fit the new boiler on the 2nd (today:eek:) and would be with us first thing (whatever that means). I explained that I had not received any paperwork and did not know what contribution I was being asked to make. He told me that according to his paperwork, there was no contribution required:D. He aded that it would just be a straight boiler exchange, new pump, complete flush out (ouch again:D) and new valves on the radiators. He said that an electrician had to do the electrical work (phew:rolleyes:) and this would be done later (whatever later means). He confirmed that I would still have a working central heating system as they would only be replacing like for like.

I now wonder if this is going too smoothly. I seem to have gone from reading about the grant on MSE to having a new boiler fitted within one month. I know I could be waiting months for the electrical work to be done but I will reserve judgement on that.

Does anyone have any experience of the Worksop workmen, an Ideal Icos 24 Boiler and of keeping their hot water cylinder?

wearside_2

Following on from my previous post, we have had the boiler installed and all the radiators are very very hot:eek:. The workmen started at 07.45 and were clean and tidy but have left a pile of rubbish, including the old boiler, in the front garden to await collection. We did not have to pay them anything as they were replacing like for like, although we still have not received anything in writing I have tried to book the electrician for the week after next as we are away all next week:D . This seems to have caused a problem as I was told that they would have to ring me back. Obviously they have not done so:mad:

I must say that I am very pleased by the goods, the quality of the work and the speedy instalation:D

ic

Just wanted to add my experience. Both sets of grandparents are on benefits and I put them forward for the scheme. From start to finish it took about five months, but all my grandparents now have toasty warm homes with minimal fuss - the fitting took about three days in each case, and they left cleaning up behind them. Sorry its not gone well for so many others.

wearside_2

An up to date report about my experience:eek: Since having the new boiler, we have not had any hot water:mad:. Not a single drop, not even on the immersion heater that previously worked perfectly:mad:. I telephoned the free 0800 number yesterday and spoke to a man and heard a lot of background noise. I said that the office was very noisy:rolleyes: to which he replied that he was at a football match:rotfl:but would get someone to me within the hour. Needless to say no one turned up:mad: and a second phone call was made. This time the match was over and all was quiet:rolleyes:. He apologised saying that he forgot to phone me to say he could not get anyone out to me, but hoped that someone would be able to call on Monday. Meanwhile its cold showers, just like schooldays. Surely thay have someone on call 24/7

zzzLazyDaisy

Please do not make the mistake of dealing directly with the contractor. If my experience is anything to go by, they will be friendly, fob you off, and then deny the conversations! If you phone warm front, one of the options is a number to press to report a system breakdown. At least if you report it to them, there will be a record of your call and someone should put pressure on the contractor. Having said that, my experience of trying to get sense out of WF isn't great either.

The other thing is that the work has to be passed by the WF inspector, otherwise the contractor doesn't get paid. So if you have difficulty getting the problem sorted, you could insist on having the inspector to come out - s/he should refuse to pass the work and instruct the contractor to go back out.

A friend of mine had a boiler installed under WF and had no hot water afterwards - turned out they'd connected pipe for the hot water to the cold outlet and vice versa!

wearside_2

I finally spoke to WF yesterday to be told that there was no one available and that they do not have people on call 24/7! After a bit of a Hoo Hah, I was told that they would try and contact someone. Eventually a plumber phoned and told me to move a lever on a return valve. This would override the automatic settings, as these would not work until the electrician fittted the controls and did the wireing. We now have hot water but life would have been less stressful, if the fitters had explained that things would not work as they should etc. :mad:

It seems obvious to me, but shouldnt the electricians do their work the day after the plumbers install the new systems? This make far more sense than having to telephone WF to make a booking.