Warm Front - Lets Make Them Accountable

Rooster_Norwich

You are not the only one who thinks this stinks of extortion and getting ripped off.

I've been approved the grant for my 3 bed house, first the contractors ( Kershaws in this case ) said I was only eligible for 4 radiators. Main bedroom, Hall, Lounge and bathroom. We need the extra rads as the two kids bedrooms have no heating at all and we have to use small electric flat rads to warm their rooms.

I checked with WF who said I was eligible 6 rads.

Kershaws confirmed this saying I could have 5 rads ( huh..?) until i pointed out that WF said I was eleigible 6. Then it changed to 6...hmmmm

To cut a very very long story short I made sure that Kershaws sent me a detailed list of all the parts that they needed to order. The sub - sub contractor who would be doing the work ( Ward and Rooney Ltd ) said that I needed scaffolding for putting in the flue...dunno how true or necessary this is. We have good loft access and currently have a very inefficient Gas Warm Air system.

We got the pricing through today from WF...

Total cost £ 4,081.23

Cost of materials: £1186.30

Wait for this...

Labour: £2886.88

They also want a £1581.95 contribution from me?:rotfl:

The whole reason I got the grant is because I am on a low income. How can I afford that extra?

Basically my grant has gone to pay the labour charges.

The rads supplied are very basic SINGLE rads, yet most rads fitted are the double kind.

In fact I got another quote from a local installer and for the same price I could have better equipment and more radiators.

I also had the quote checked by another independant Central Heating company who confirmed it was at LEAST £1000 over budget!

If I have been allocated the grant of £2700, why on earth can't I use it to pay a contractor of MY choice? If an Insurance company settles a claim, they can ADVISE you to use one of their repair contractors, but ultimately you do not have to use the company they recommend.


Would love some advice?

Twinkly

I've done a bit of googling and come up with some info people may find interesting. Warm front are currently being investigated by the National Audit Office for - amongst other things - their pricing levels.

One source: http://www.crosbyherald.co.uk/news/crosby-news/2008/12/31/crosby-mp-confirms-the-warm-front-heating-investment-programme-is-under-review-after-complaints-of-inflated-quotes-for-plumbing-jobs-68459-22578589/

Two source:http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/work_in_progress/the_warm_front_scheme.aspx

There are two ways to complain too apparently.

One way: Mr. Malcolm Pirks
Head of Customer Management
eaga plc
Freepost NEA12054
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE2 1BR

Tel: 0800 408 0392

Two way: Response Team at Eaga House
Archbold Terrace
Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 1DB

This is a work in progress so if I find anything else useful I will post back

You should inform your local MP of any concerns regarding Warm Front too. Since the government is overhauling them right now it can't hurt to put your two penn'orth in and add yet another complaint to the list of thousands they have already received. Your quotes are valid for 12 months from the date of issue so once they are dealt with by the government I should think you may be eligible to have that quote reviewed .

wisecobandit

Only found this after doing a warmfront search after having probs with them.The bbc one show has 400 complaints on there website about warmfront btw!

My other half is disabled and having an old back boiler central heating system that packed we applied for the warm front grant and in august we where visited and told we where eligible and would qualify for a central heating system (5 rads) and loft/wall/cavity insulation.
We recieved a letter a few weeks later saying we would have to pay £650 to iguana for the work to be carried out which we did.
Shortly after i recieved 4 energy saving lights bulbs which cost £8 odd (homebase have 5 for a quid at the mo) which where totally useless to us as we have all screw in fittings not bayonet type.I rung warmfront to say they wherent needed as they where no use only to be told "not our problem as its the government that insist we give them to you"
So going back to the money we paid we where quoted on there letter that "work would be completed within 28 days on payment" - that was some 3 months ago and still nothing!
I have rung both iguana and warmfront up on a weekly basis since payment to atleast get a date for installation but it seems banging your head against a brick wall would get you nearer to achiveing something!
Since ive been ringing ive now be told we no longer qualify for and wall/loft/cavity insulation as the government has changed its views on the subject???
Then alongside that fact we where told by iguana that an electrician is now required to run 1 wire from the fusebox to the bathroom at a cost of £200 to ourselves! I then told them politely where to put there services as i wasnt going to pay a further £200 when upto now a) i had recieved no service from them despite them having £650 of mine, b) i hadnt even had an installation date 3 months on c)they where making a mockery of me and i wasnt the only one.I then rang warmfront and "politely let off steam" to which the lady on the phone rang iguana on another phone and after a 3 way convo iguana agreed to foot the £200 bill of the electrician.Iguana also agreed to ring me by the end of today with an installation date-have they rung??? NO!
What have i done?-well ive rung my credit card company and opened a dispute and they have said without fail i will get my money back due to the fact ive got a letter stating it would be done within 28 days.
Have i let iguana and warmfront know ive cancelled??-nope they havent made 1 phonecall to us yet so maybe it may "drive" them into ringing me for once instead of me waiting 15 minutes for an answer each time i ring them and have to listen to some music in there queueing system!

I wouldnt recommend my worst enemy to go to warmfront or iguana!

Twinkly

Wisecobandit just a word of advice - never ever ring anyone always always in writing. I would at the very least email them and put down a full complaint in writing cancelling any and all arrangements - just so you are covered.

Rooster_Norwich

Contact your local council as well, often if you meet certain criteria, they have funds available to pay any excess that may be on your quotation. I know my local council will fund an excess up to £3000 on top of the £2700 grant so it is worth checking out.

My £8.50 was also taken off my grant of £2700 for the FREE light bulbs. I asked for this to be reviewed and they sent me a new letter and it had jumped to £72.00...huhh..

I'm sure these guys just pluck figures out of the air..

jbatista

Hi all I have had the assesor out BGC Gas and the quote has come back as follows
Replace Boiler,
Fit new controls and Thermostat
Replace Cylinder
Full System Flush

Prev work carried out £588.64
Installation Costs £2,412.21
Material costs £742.22
Total cost of work £3,743.00
Your contribution Required is £1,142.44
What do you think?

xdaisyx

Lip_Stick wrote: »

My parents got their heating updated through Warm Front. They wanted radiators put in but was told they could only have their central heating updated. This is a blow heater in a couple of places downstairs, so there is no heating whatsoever upstairs. After the work had been completed they discovered they could infact have had radiators. I think it's terrible that an eldery couple don't have heating in their bedroom because some idiot got his facts wrong. :mad:

they did similar to my parents, it was a fully heated 3 bedroom house, due to health problems my mum and dad have seperate bedrooms, anyway, WF would only allow them to have a radiator in one bedroom or pay £400 for an additional radiator...why when they already had a radiator there to start off with???
my dad, who is turned 70 now has no heating in his bedroom

SambaRamba

I have completely given up on warmfront my application has been a joke from the start. I applied in December 2006. Around 6 months after the initial visit when I was told i'd be eligible for central heating, I still hadn't heard anything so called them. They said all I was entitled to were a few energy saving lightbulbs---???

Anyway, after discussing the situation in my home, which has a gas fire in the living room and a gas wall heater in the hallway. I was told I can have a gas wall heater in my dining area. They sent someone out to do a survey in the August and in the October 2007 the contractors arrived with my new fire...which couldn't be fitted because it was illegal and the survey had been done wrong!

I was told by the contractors i'd hear from them within a couple of weeks to arrange a new survey.

Those weeks came and went! After many months of phonecalls I got a new survey in April 2008. And after more phone calls the contractors finally arrived with another gas wall heater in November 2008.

Again, i'd taken up my carpet to prevent damage and moved all the furniture as advised.

In comes the contractor with the gas fire and starts knocking a hole through my newly plastered wall, and drilling here and their.

Great, i'm finally after 2 years getting the heater! WRONG!

Guess what, the survey has been conducted wrong yet again...and again, they have brought the wrong heater!


So off he goes and their I am sat with a hole the size of a dinner plate and looking out into the garden, blowing freezing cold air into my dining area at the end of my living room.

I called the contractors (BCG) to get the wall bricked up (and trust me, I was very polite and kept my tone down) but they were so disgustingly rude about it...

e.g What's the problem, you've hardly got a big hole in your wall!

...that I ended up telling Warmfront I will make do without the heater.

Eventually, the contractors did send someone round to brick the hole up (after making me wait) and my wall is now a complete mess. I haven't bothered to complain about the state of it as to be honest the whole process has just been a complete farce from start to end. I don't know who is managing the project but I bet they are getting a huge salary for wasting peoples time and making a mess of peoples houses!

I wouldn't ever bother dealing with them again. I might not earn much but I will buy my own heater and have installed by someone who knows what they are doing!

TOMASMAC80

Warm front what a joke .It's a way for some sharp merchants are making a killing,not doing much for pensioners.I had a boiler installed on 19 Feb 2009 it's been nothing but trouble.The boiler is leaking ,and there is two electric plugs underneat,it's an accident waiting to happen ,do eaga care,they keep promising to send engineer but they never arrive .I wish I had never heard of warm front it's a disaster.Never mind increasing the grant ,it's too much now for the work thats been done.Enfield pensioner.

rudders

hi there i had a new boiler installed under 2yrs ago have had trouble with it either no hot water or no c/h or both engineer came out last dec and said we needed new heat exchanger he got it going it lasted a short time and went wrong again i rang them and they said part was on order they sent out another engineer he did bodge up job to get it going i went into hospital when i came out no hot water so i rang them & asked when they would come and repair boiler they said several weeks so i explained to them i had a 5 year old little one & i had just come out of hospital after major surgery & needed hot water to keep clean there reply was go see my GP & get booked back into hospital