Warm Front advice

Hi, my parents qualify for the £2700 grant but have received a quote from Iguana of £3044. I believe they are definately overcharging for the work to be done (a friend recently had their boiler moved into a different room with all the extras, etc and it came to less than £3000 by B. Gas). The letter that accompanied the quote gives a list of possible reasons for any excess costs but not one is applicable. The work form left with my parents says standard boiler and everything is ticked 'no'. The boiler is being fitted in the same place with no extra pipes or anything with controls being fitted in the same position too. I am also concerned that they are being given a standard boiler when everyone on here seems to be talking about combi boilers. Is it possible to go back to warm front and complain, the letter they received says any questions to contact the installers but then goes on to say they will not discuss the cost or amend it! Any help appreciated as to what to do next.
Mandy

Hi, well, thought I'd phone Iguana first just to confirm what exactly my parents were having done before contacting Warmfront. After being told it was Warmfront that actually did the costing and quote and not Iguana she went on to say that Iguana had already decided we were being charged too much and the extra cost was being waived. I asked if confirmation of this had or would be sent through the post and she said no we would just get a phone call arranging fitting. So, if I hadn't phoned, my parents may have sent off the extra funds to Iguana because they wouldn't have known it was being waived! Of course what she told me was rubbish, it was obviously being waived because I phoned to complain! Also surely it was Iguana who quoted for the work and not Warmfront. All I can say is if you do get a quote over the grant phone and enquire why. I didn't rant or anything just asked if they could confirm what was being done as I felt the quote was excessive and immediately she blamed warmfront and waived the charge.
Mandy

What is the purpose of Warm Front? To help vulnerable people keep warm and to do it in an energy efficient way.

What is actually happening is that Eaga who run Warm Front are insisting on using their own select group of chosen installers and it is they who quote the costs, not the installation firm.

We got the £4000 grant last year and had a quote in July this year for £5248.60, of which £2807 was labour costs. When we told Warm Front that we could not afford to pay the excess they sent another firm and this week we received a quote for £5637.93, £3038 of which is labour costs!! When I phoned Warm Front they told me that the costs were set by DEFRA and when I phoned DEFRA to check this I was given a "dedicated" phone number to ring for "enquiries such as these". When I finally got through on this number I was told that I needed to be transferred and guess where they transferred my call? To Warm Front!!! I ended up speaking to the same call centre I'd telephoned in the first place. I got quite angry and am now awaiting a call back on Monday from a team manager.

I then phoned the firm who gave the latest quote and they told me that all they do is tell Warm Front what work is needed and Warm Front decide how much to charge.

So, it seems that Warm Front deliberately charge more than the grant amount (This is decreasing each time we have someone out as it costs around £50-60 each time). They won't use local Corgi approved firms who charge about half this amount (we've had a couple of quotes) so it was a complete waste of time and money sending out another firm when we couldn't afford the first quote!

I have contacted Watchdog and written to my MP and also the Minister for the Environment. I am aware that questions have been asked in Parliament in March this year about the practice of not using local labour and of charging much higher than the going rate but I have yet to read about any action being taken and I think it is disgraceful!! Someone is making money at the expense of vulnerable old age pensioners like us.:mad:

sylviesinc wrote: »

Oh, and, by the way, we were told that we must have a combi boiler if one of these can be fitted

I'm not sure that can be blamed on WarmFront: I thought that was energy saving legislation. could be wrong, of course ...

My MIL has been told that she is entitled to a Warmfront grant of £2,700 if her back boiler fails. It still warms the radiators but will no longer heat the water so she is now using the electric immersion heater. I believe that she should now be able to access the grant to replace her 25 year old back boiler/central heating system as it no longer functions as it should. Any advice on how we should proceed on this will be welcome.
Thanks.