Warm Front - Lets Make Them Accountable

zzzLazyDaisy

I waited a week for the electrician to come (I was told they would contact me to make arrangements). When I heard nothing I phoned only to find out that I was not logged on the system. When the electrician turned up he found that the engineers had only left the timer and not the thermostat, so they had to go away and get the part.

Fiasco! Keep on at them!

chocolatechipcookies

I thought you meant the weather! I was ready to post about how I didn't wear a coat today. I always wear a coat. It's so lovely out! :money:

wearside_2

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I waited a week for the electrician to come (I was told they would contact me to make arrangements). When I heard nothing I phoned only to find out that I was not logged on the system. When the electrician turned up he found that the engineers had only left the timer and not the thermostat, so they had to go away and get the part.

Fiasco! Keep on at them!

The electrician is coming next Monday. The engineers have not left anything, should I worry or assume that he will fetch everything

MyRubyRed

Guys, my 74 yr old mum had a boiler and 2 radiators (with thermostats) fitted via WarmFront Grant in April. Since then there have been ongoing problems with the pressure dropping and one radiator that just will not heat properly. I have had to bleed radiatiors bi-weekly to get rid of air and top up pressure almost daily now. Engineers have been out on 4 occasions to date (another due tomorrow). Initially they said a tap was dripping (not), then they said it was a leak and injected leak detector/sealant (still no difference). One radiator now heating at top but then cooling down almost straight away. Thermostat on that is fitted ti incoming flow and I can feel the red hot water in the incoming supply but it just doesn't seem to reach the radiator itself. Could the fault be on the thermostat/valve/radiator?
She's had combi boilers for years and never had any problems until this new one (ideal h30) was fitted. At wits end as she's constantly sitting in the cold and getting no where with Warmfront
Any help appreciated

babsnut

I have been accepted for oil fired central heating as i only have a wood burner to heat my house. So far i have had a letter from a central heating contractor who is due to carry out an inspection and another to carry out cavity wall insulation (which i don't think I can do as no cavity!) I am very concerned about the number of complaints I have been reading on this and other consumer websites. Is there any thing I can do in advance to check the contractor's credentials? I have NO money for anything above the grant and am terrified of landing myself in trouble with debts BUT really need some heating. I have seen some very good reports of the workmanship carried out butr most seem to be bad.

hapeni

Does anyone have experience of this company? They have been allocated to replace my boiler, and I am obviously anxious about what is going to happen, given the horror stories that I have read here and in the media. It would put my mind at rest to hear some good reports of them, or if anyone has had bad experiences with them I would also be very interested to hear about it.

I am worried about how the scheme works - for instance they are asking for my contribution up front, whereas I would never pay for work up front usually, that is my insurance against bad workmanship. It seems that a company has nothing to lose by doing a bad job.

So far, I have found warm front to be helpful when I have spoken to them on the phone. They volunteered the information that they pay their contractors set prices for work, which are standard "across the EU" ??? this seems bizarre to me. The prices quoted always seem to be way over the odds. Ecgs are charging over £2100 labour costs for a days' work, less however much the "support programme" costs - they haven't supplied that information.

In fact the cost breakdown is minimal: £xxx cost of materials, and £xxxx contractor's labour cost, (which ends in an odd 86pence ?????????) - it just doesn't look right.

Warm front employee told me that the clients' contribution will have VAT added, though this hasn't been made clear on the letter, and VAT is charged at the full rate on the client's contribution, but only 5% on the main bill.

I was worried by the surveyor's attitude when I expressed my concern about the reports of overcharging. He said "well you're only paying a fraction of what you'd pay for a private contractor". This is insulting - it's more or less admitting that they'll charge what they like and that I should only be concerned about my own finances and not about private companies ripping off the taxpayer. :mad:

trisontana

It looks as though things might be changing at Warmfront, as this article shows :-

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2009/01/government-vows-warm-front-sha.html

Twinkly

Having had a boiler replaced and various parts of my ancient central heating repaired about 5 years ago under this scheme, some loft insulation and draughtproofing of my old front and back doors I recently emailed Warm Front to see if anything could be done about the boiler that now takes twice as long to heat water. I had only used around £1,100 of a total £2,700 grant so they said no problem and sent someone round. The guy was a young lad who sat playing with my cat, mumbled a bit, told me I could have a replacement boiler and took a telephone call. Apparently he had screwed up another order and the call was a reprimand. He sat there shaking his head laughing and said 'I f*** up so often they would get rid of me but they don't cos I make em laugh.' Hmm.

I got a letter today telling me I would need to pay £1,528 towards a total cost of £2,780. Even I know a boiler does not cost that much. :rolleyes: In seemingly full explanation as to why I must pay on top there is a very ambiguous letter that only states I MAY need the flue and boiler resited and I MAY need a new gas supply.....hmm.

I have rung and asked for a full breakdown of exactly what I am supposed to be paying for and have been told I can have a breakdown of parts but not costs. Now....how many reputable firms do you know that will not tell what you are paying for and how much ? I asked if I can use my own local firm to get an estimate and submit it to them but no...they only use their own installers....hmmm.

The whole thing smacks of extortion. Taxpayers and the government are being taken for a ride and the losers are genuinely disadvataged by such a scheme. There will be many many customers who can not afford to pay high rates on top of the grant. I said as much, thanked the lady for her time and put the phone down. I decided to check my fave site MSE to see if there were any comments about Warm Front and I am glad I did. Thanks to you all for sharing the experiences ...as they say forewarned is forearmed ! Cheers :beer:

hapeni

I wouldn't normally give anyone money for a job without seeing a contract - who would? So I gave Warmfront a ring. The advisor seemed very confused, first she stated the contract is between me and the installer, then that it's between Warmfront and the installer, but no, they couldn't send me a copy. I don't think she understood the concept of a contract to be honest. I have to say she was trying her best to be helpful and polite, but it obviously wasn't a question she'd been trained to answer.

When I asked what my guarantee is of a good job to a specified standard, all she could offer is that they only use reputable firms :rolleyes:

So we are expected to let people into our homes purely on trust with no written guarantees etc. No wonder some of the firms get away with a bad job. Even a reputable company will sometimes have an accident.

On the plus side I have discovered that my local council has a budget for topping up the client contribution if it isn't too high, so I'd advise other mse-er's to look into that too - I expect it varies from one authority to another, but they all have targets to bring their housing stock up to certain energy standards so it's worth looking into. Good Luck everyone!

tattoed_bum

ok where do i start we applied for the grant in jan 2007
everything was ok and we were awarded the grant

after many promises of assesments being done on the house they eventually came out in aug 07 deemed my old boiler unsafe and cut me off then and there no water no heating

we were then told the company would be out the following week to start the work ,
the week came and went and then the next week and the next week,

we contacted warm front again only to be told the company who were supposed to fit the boiler had gone bust:eek:

so now we had to start over again and have the house reassessed by another company,

so another few months went by and no-one appeared ,phone them again to be told that having no water or heating was not a priority and that we would just have to wait our turn .
in this time i was having to stand my 5 yr old son in the bath and sponge him down every evening whilst doing this one evening my son slipped and fell in the bath impalling himself on the taps of the bath :eek: it just happened so fast we had no time to catch him and he was dangling from the tap by his arm,
the tap had gone all the way through his arm into the bone ,and because he has a history of heart problems they couldnt anestitise him to stitch it up so bless him he had to have it stitch internally and extenally on only gas and air.
resulting now in a huge 8 in scar running across his arm.

after many phone calls later to warm sure they did actually start work in march 08 it took 4 weeks to complete ,

Now the delightful bunch fitted a worcester bosch boiler which either decides not to come on at all because they freeze up or it comes on for less that an hour and then cuts off,

all in all we have now all forgotten what it feels like to have a warm and comfortable house as the heating never gets up to temp.
sorry about the big long rant but you did ask for anyone with problems lol