Kathie, It is the same situation with Warm Front in Nottingham area. They do not give a very good service and are extremely slow. It is normal to have to pay extra. Keep looking at the grants etc available.

I have not had personal experience but know of people who have had dealings with them.

Sounds to me like you just need a replacement boiler. Have a look at your gas supplier's website for discounts etc and your local council website which will give lots of info on this.

 

Regards,

 

Bart.

Hi Margaret - forgot to reply regarding the blowing of the electrics ... there were around 3 workmen in the house all using or charging their electric drills via my sockets - they also had radios plugged into my sockets - caused an overload and all the fuses went !!  I have now written briefly to my local MP and am ready to send a letter once again to the installers - which I shall pay for and then they will have to sign for it so I will know they have received it! ......  Val

We had a new Combi boiler (Ideal) fitted through the WarmFront Scheme last October. Although the installation went well and we were not asked to pay any surcharge, we would give anything to have our old boiler back.

Within 7 days of the installation, the boiler was spraying water all over the kitchen. After three engineer-visits, it took 8 days of no heating or hot water before it was fixed. (Also we had a record of 47 minutes on hold waiting to get through on the "Customer Service" number. All this during the coldest part of November 2007.

Last Monday, 11th Feb, the boiler made several loud explosive noises and started to smoke! As of today, WarmSure, the service company, still cannot tell us when they will have the replacement parts to fix it! Apparently, they have run out of stock of the cable they need and it is made specially for them in Italy. They cannot book the engineer to visit until they get a delivery of the cables!

The earliest they expect this is Monday, then they need to ship it to an engineer (Tuesday?), then they need to confirm he has received it (Wednesday?), then they will book an appointment (who knows, but Thursday at the earliest)! Probably 11 days without heating or hot water this time.

Bring back our old Worcester Boiler!

Does anyone have any suggestions as to who we could complain to? We have already sent a letter to our MP and requested a WarmSure manager to call us (not happened yet).

We would be grateful for any thoughts.

Andy

Hi, sorry to leave so many messages at once, but I had to reply to this thread.

We were accepted for a WarmFront grant for gas central heating (boiler and four radiators) and that was last October. Come Christmas nothing had happened and I phoned Warm Front to be told by a girl that "sending a letter does often take a while" (!) but that it said on our account that we have £1,700 to pay before work could begin.

What?

I asked for a breakdown of figures, and although they promised a couple of times to send it, it never arrived. On the phone I was only told that it related to the Gas supply, which we knew had to be piped to the door. (We got an independent quote for that which was the standard £550, and a free meter, so we don't understand where the extra money would be going.)

Anyway, there was no way we could afford it, so we had to cancel. We have still not received ANY communication from Warm Front at all.

Further to that, I enquired if perhaps they could assess us for, instead, replacement storage heaters and was told, yes, we will get an installer to call.

Since then - nothing.

I'm getting wary of the whole thing, especially after reading these comments.
Tricia

I am also getting real fed up with the lot of them. I wrote to our local MP and got an immediate reply from him saying he was passing representations onto WarmFront on our behalf....  not heard anything from WarmFront ! I sent a letter to the installers complete with copies of letters to MP and WarmFront and sent it so it had to be signed for. That was last Wednesday 13th ... checked with RoyalMail to see if it had been signed for and was told letter had not been delivered yet as there was a backlog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everytime I have phoned WarmFront I cannot be put through to any inspectors or anyone with any clout - just the callcentre staff as that is all they are, the ones answering the phones I mean  .... however at one point last year I phoned Ideal Boilers and opted for the 'technical advice' bit on their automated call thing ... what a difference - very polite and helpfull and one of their engineers came out within three days and changed something for us - he was not surprised when I told him who the installers were and said he had been called out a few times to put right their shabby work !  ... Val

I have just found out that EAGA have also been selected to help with the digital changeover !!!!!

http://www.eaga.com/media_centre/press/feb08/03_eaga_wins_dso_contract.htm

They can't get most of these heating things right so it will be fascinating to see how they muck up this changeover - good luck to anyone who isn't already digital ...

 

should have added to last post .......  I also 'googled' for WarmFront complaints forums and found lots more apart from this forum  .... I think I will be another 'customer' who wished they had their old boiler back and also my gas fire which they just took !! Now if our central heating goes off we have no other form of heating ...  I have written to the installers asking for my fire back or a replacement or I will make a claim through the small claims court but still waiting for them to contact me .... just a load of cowboys ... if anyone else is in my area (North East ) beware of A & N Evans from Billingham ... Val

good for you Alan I dont know where Margaret Clare is coming from.  maybe not a oap yet being robbed left right and centre, or maybe just one of the lucky ones. We shouldnt have to fight for what is legally ours and if we are being hoodwinked along the way, then yes we must all do something about it. This is an never ending subject. It is not about who it is for but who is going to make the most out of it... and it is the get rich quick Bentley drivers, because it certainly isnt us, the ones who it was meant for.  Going back to warm frnt, I got onto the Deaprtment of environment and agriculture who are actually responsible for assessing these grants for heating. The Guy at the other end was not at all suprised, and admitted that they had loads of complaints. He advised me 'to have second thoughts about having it done' and reading between the lines and his thoughts, He knew whose Front was Staying Warm!!!  We all know what should be done but political correctness stands in the way

Where I am coming from....well, I am retired, 72 now coming up to 73, I live on retirement pensions but I do NOT call myself an OAP - horrible term. What else do you want to know about 'where I am coming from'? Worked all my life, mainly in the NHS, was widowed coincidental with redundancy in 1992, know all about poverty, grew up in it, then experienced it again 1992-97, did all kinds of menial jobs just to keep the roof over my head and pay the mortgage. Happily remarried, thank God! I qualified for WarmFront because I receive Attendance Allowance for various disabilities, none of which affect my brain, so I'm quite capable of fighting my own corner, and long may that continue.

We had very little problem with the WarmFront installation, particularly when the 2 heating engineers actually arrived on site.  We were very impressed with their standard of work, politeness and efficiency, the fact that they were able to do it all in one day so that we weren't cold, the fact that it has all worked brilliantly and kept us warm, with all the hot water we ever need with about half the gas costs from the previous boiler.  The company is called Interglow, an East Anglian company, and I have no idea whether any of their staff or directors drive Bentleys (we see very few Bentleys in this corner of south Essex!) but in any case, ranting about driving Bentleys is useless rhetoric and does not solve anyone's problem.

Re 'political correctness', I belong to a political party, the English Democrats,  which has voted to ignore 'political correctness' in favour of the good old English habit of calling a spade a spade.  However, it's better to stick to facts and not go off into a useless rant, that 'butters nobody's parsnips'.

There MUST be other satisfied customers out there!

Margaret

I would like to know how you get a warm front grant,it would appear that you have to have extra cash from the state in addition to your normal pension.I have my daugter living with me and due to her illness has been on incapacity benefit for 15 years +,she was refured to warm front,reply sorry you dont meet the critiria apply foe additional benefit,sorry you are not ill enough to meet the critiria,It is no good me appling as I dont meet the critiria i.e sponging off the state

Have a look at this:

http://www.warmfrontgrants.co.uk/warmfrontgrants.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm

You can see that people on Disability Living Allowance are included in that list, not simply incapacity benefit.  It might be a good idea for your daughter to think about applying for DLA.

I got my WarmFront grant because of Attendance Allowance, the last on the list in the link quoted.  I am sorry you feel that those of us who qualified are 'sponging off the state'. I can assure you that that is far from being the case.

sorry if you took offence,I have no problem with genuine cases but you must admit that a lot get things for nowt she did apply for dla and was turned down by a jobsworth.she listed the 3 hospital consultant she is seen by who have more medical knowledge that someone with a check sheet against the questions asked.and yes I am bitter

Brummie, I would suggest that you and your daughter go to CAB and ask to see a Benefits Adviser.  There are ways of wording the responses to these questions on the forms, and she could get some help in doing this.  She's entitled to appeal against the decision but she's more likely to be successful if she has someone to help her with it.  When I applied for AA I enclosed 2 consultants' letters with my application, and that certainly helped.

I didn't take offence, just that I qualified for WarmFront because of AA, not because I'm poor, but many people misunderstand that.

Best of luck, Margaret

As for  'sponging off the state'   I can assure you most of us have not done that !  I personally am in my sixties and still working, having done so for many many years and in those years paid my taxes to support those unable or unwilling to work  ... my husband recently retired after a lifetime of work and is left with disabilities - we therefore qualify..... someone did remark that I shouldn't complain as I 'got it for free' - but after us both working for so many years  -  I think NOT ....  Val

I agree with you, Val. I got mine through disabilities (AA) not through low income, but I still reckon all those decades at work have to count for something. I'd rather someone got a heating grant than that the Speaker's wife had more free taxi-rides!!
   Hope you get yours sorted out.
   Margaret