Official Free Boilers and Insulation guide discussion

Hi does anyone know if there are any schemes out there for those of us who do not seem to qualify for the free boiler scheme??? My boiler is broken and i have some very old night storage heaters as my only heating but everything i try to apply for is refused??? I live alone in a privately rented flat, am 51, and get housing/council tax benefit as well as incapacity benefit and d.l.a. As my annual income is only £7,920 i was sure i would be entitled to some help but keep drawing a blank. I would be grateful for any advice anyone has before the winter arrives.

Just a quick update, my parents have their new boiler installed on Monday. Slight hitch with the electrician not being available to finish off that night but its all been done and working properly now.

The guys installing it were so nice they've kept their details and will certainly be using them again for any future work the house needs.

Guy turned up on my doorstep about two weeks ago and told me that if I'm on any of several benefits I qualify to have my walls insulated - unless I had a central heating boiler? When I said that I did he said that if it was more than 10 years old I could get it replaced for free with a Vaillant condensing one. Since he had a folder under his arm I asked if he could leave me a leaflet or something, but he said he didn't have any with him. He had a lanyard around his neck with a laminated ID tag but I didn't get a look at it.

I asked him in to discuss matters further and he took a photo of my boiler and asked for the letter I should have received confirming my Pension Credit. Wife looked for it but couldn't find it, so he left his phone number on a Post-it note and said to call him when we found it. We found it almost immediately he'd left so called him and he said he would return the next day to get it as he was with somebody else just then.

I expected him to take a copy of it but he insisted on taking the original which would be returned within a couple of days.

Next day I had a phone call from someone wanting to survey my property on behalf of the company - he arrived armed with a digital camera and a laser rangefinder, took a photo of the front and one of the back of the house, measured it front to back and side to side with the range-finder and left (wouldn't mind a job like that myself . . . ) I asked for ID before I let him in this time and took a note of his car registration number too.

We then heard nothing until Monday evening - Pension Credit letter still not returned - saying that their assessor and surveyor would be coming Tuesday (yesterday) to do a technical survey.

We had a phone call yesterday morning to say that they would be with us shortly, but I was in the garden so my wife took the call. She told me they wanted to copy the deeds to the house, my driving licence and passport, and a utility bill.

This started bells ringing in my head, so before they arrived I phoned Trading Standards, who referred me to the Information Commissioner. I explained the situation to them, but they weren't aware of the boiler replacement scheme so could only advise me in general terms. The young lady I spoke to said that she wouldn't be happy giving all that personal information out. She asked who the company were and whether I knew their postcode - as it happened I got the name of the company from the first 'surveyor' and the area code of the number they called me from told me where they were located so I was able to look them up on Google. When I told her the postcode she did a database search and told me that no company in that postcode was registered under Data Protection - even more alarm bells in my head!

When they turned up, I explained my misgivings about letting them photograph all my personal documents, and asked what would happen to my information. I pointed out that he was asking for access to information which allow all kinds of fraud up to an including identity theft - and this to a company who hadn't even shown me any identification or a leaflet . . . (and still haven't)

He said that the photos would be transferred from his phone to the computer and kept there for 15 years. They would be deleted from his phone after they were transferred.

As it happens, I don't have the deeds to my house since they are held by Santander under their Deedsafe scheme even though the mortgage is all paid off, so I couldn't have let him see them if I wanted to, so his visit was in vain. He left his phone number on a bit of paper and left, saying that if I wanted to go ahead I should get the deeds and contact him.

I notice that someone else here has expressed concern over giving out so much personal information to a company who don't even have a leaflet - they would basically have NI number, driving licence number, passport details and the deeds to the house. Any self-respecting scammer would be delighted to have that much.

So what does anybody else make of these demands - is it reasonable or not? Or am I just un-naturally suspicious?

I'm now on Day 6 of having no hot water or central heating despite submitting an official complaint through British Gas.

Going to contact my MP tomorrow.

gilders wrote: »

Filled the online pre-assessment out on nPower's website and received an email stating they'd be in touch within 5 days.
Waited a week and heard nothing, so phoned them up. They asked for 3 days dates, from about 2 weeks in the future, that I would be available for the house survey. I gave them the 3 dates and they said the assessor would phone me to confirm my actual date. The day before my earliest choice date I had still not heard from them. I phoned them up again and they said nothing had been booked. I again gave 3 more dates and waited. AGAIN nobody phoned me to confirm a date. I contacted them again and told them I didn't want to give 3 dates only to be let down again, I wanted an actual definite date, This time they transferred my call to the assessment team and we agree on a date.
The lady came on the date and said that our benefits and house/boiler qualified. I asked what do we do now?
She said another assessor will come to see what boiler is required and we should wait for a phone call in the next few days for this assessment date.
I explained that just getting her to visit has taken a great effort and said could this be because I'm not a nPower customer. She said that she couldn't say that they put their own customers forward first, but didn't deny it. She did say that I do need to keep on thier backs as "only those that shout loudest get anywhere".

Obviously I still haven't received a date for the next assessment.
I regret using nPower, as previous posts seem to have had boilers via BG/Scottish Gas done quite quickly and less complicated (except 1 post that had a faulty boiler).

Can I apply to more than 1 company?

I also signed on an iPad. There was no visible T&Cs on the screen, so can't see that I'm tied in to any contract with nPower.

I'll update with my progress.

I'm with Npower and the first assessment was done 3 weeks ago and I've heard nothing since, so they are the same with everyone I think.