Nationwide Energy Services

TBagpuss · 19 March 2011 at 5:56PM

I had a cold-call this afternoon from this company, claiming that I was entitled to an 80% grant for loft insulation.
Im aware government grants are available, but I'm a bit suspicious at being cold-called, and at being told I'm entitled to such a high % with no checks as to my finances.
Does anyone have any information about this company?

Yorkie1 · 19 March 2011 at 7:25PM

Anyone is entitled to that sort of discount without being means-tested. It's free if you qualify as a result of certain benefits etc.

I haven't heard of this company but many are relatively local.

If you haven't had your property surveyed for its energy efficiency then I'd recommend doing a free energy survey on the energy saving trust website. They do you a report and either email or post it to you. Have a look at it, there will be phone number contacts on it, and ring them to be given details of / referred to an approved supplier at the best price.

TBagpuss · 29 March 2011 at 1:34PM

Thanks.

I was particulalry sceptical as I didn't see how they could claim to know what discount I'd be entitled to without knowing anything about my means.

I'm not on any benefits and would not expect to qualify for anything which is means tested.

I will look at getting a survey - I'm sure the house could do with insulation.

emsp1 · 30 March 2011 at 12:07PM

I have just had a call from the same company telling me that as I earn less than 16k a year I qualified for free insulation. I can't believe this because I am a stay at home mum by choice, married to someone that earns reasonably well, we are not on nor entitled to any benefits and the girl on the phone was being really pushy - which made me uncomfortable. Did you get any further with this company? Would love to know

Ogre_San · 11 June 2012 at 6:18PM

I worked for this company for 3 months last year. (I resigned the day my probation ended). We were taught that the energy companies have to put a certain amount of money into a communal pot to pay towards home insulation in the UK.

Nationwide are paid from this pot when someone has insulation and signs off on the work done. Now a lot of the time if a person living at the address (not just the home owner) is on some form of benefit, then the installation is indeed free. The installation team, the surveyor, Nationwide and the guy on the phone are all paid from the pot.

The drawback is of course, if you don't go for the installation, no one gets paid. So the pressure is on the person on the phone to get as many appointments as possible.

I was putting through 4 confirmed leads per shift, where the householder was glad to get insulation. However, that wasn't making the firm enough profit. On being encouraged to put any rubbish through I walked.

DBPaul · 12 June 2012 at 5:23PM

I had a salesman at the door today from Nationwide Energy Services, who told me that anyone can currently get Loft and Cavity Wall Insulation completely free, even if you are not on any benefits.

Can anybody confirm if this is true or if they are just trying to get in the door before adding additional charges?

Thanks

twinspeed · 28 June 2012 at 8:53AM

I had a salesman at the door today from Nationwide Energy Services, who told me that he needed to look at my 79 years old step fathers loft insulation. I answered the door as my mother had died 6 days previously and i was caring for my step father who has great difficulty moving very far or fast.
When i told the salesman i was not interested he told me i had no choice as it was a legal requirement. I told him i cant believe it a legal requirement and to show me proof and he wasnt gaining access to the loft . He went on to tell me he would return again until he did get access, with a warrant if needed. If i still refused to allow access a fine would be imposed. I again refused and he then spoke quite agressively to stress he would return again every day until he did look at the loft. At this point i told him to leave my doorstep but he refused at which point i stressed my point agressively and finally he got the message . .
If my step father opened the door he would have let them in and signed up or paid what ever was asked. I feel the selling techinique was over the top and many people who can be intimidated would have given access.
I called the police who attended and spoke to all 4 sales persons in the street and took their details . After this the sales team left the area

macman · 28 June 2012 at 10:15AM

Of course it is not a legal requirement! It sounds more like a scam to gain access. Though there is a company registered in this name and shown as trading since 2005.

jayship · 28 June 2012 at 3:58PM

I rang BG and they sent a surveyor round. The visit lasted 5 minutes. He said we could have it done for free. No questions asked?

Jagofeb · 15 August 2012 at 9:58PM

It's only free because of CERT (carbon omission reduction target). There is a pot of money available for maybe another 9 months. It may run out sooner. Like with solar once it's gone it's gone. This means that all qualifying homes irrespective of age and income is now eligible for free insulation. My advice is get it while you can.

stecast · 21 August 2012 at 8:57PM

Just found this post about Nationwide Energy Services,

Will give you a brief account of what happened to my elderly parents and this company.

About 2-3 years since now they had there loft insulated for free, don't know the company who did the job but it needed doing as it was about 10 years since when it was last done and everything went fine and a good job was done.

About 3 weeks since they got a knock on the door from a representative from Nationwide and said they were eligible for free loft insulation, my mother answers and told them it was only done 2 years since but the bloke told her he would check to see if it needed doing again and surprise surprise he said it would need doing again so they made arrangements for it to be done.

Today the contractors turned up to do the job, took one look at the loft and said who told you it needed doing as the loft was already well insulated.

They went away not doing the job as it did not need doing, but they did say this is becoming more common with this company, the sales man gets paid for getting the work and he will say it needs doing again whether it does or not, i'm also wondering now does the contractors get paid for doing a job that they did not do.

My parents did not loose any money out of this but somewhere along the line somebody has got paid for a job not being done .

Nationwide Energy Services

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