choosing a warm front contactor

[sammyboyblue]

Hi my father has been approved for a grant for new central heating and has had a letter of the contractor who has been approved for the installation. We have heard rather worrying things off friends and neighbours regarding this particular contractor and the question I would like to ask is can we ask for a different or request a different eaga approved contractor to carry out the works or are we more or less told who we can have.

By the way it is not the main contractors Iguana.

cheers

 

[simond]

EAGA own a whole raft of central heating contractors, only one of them is branded Iguana.

And guess what, they've all met the confidential criteria to become a Warmfront installer. And who sets the confidential criteria - yes, it's EAGA!

Together their companies turn over £30M of taxpayer money per annum, but they are meant to be the 'contractor of last resort'.

This scam has been going on under the taxpayers' noses for the last 5 years, a few people are making fortunes out of the needy and the rate ratepayer.

EAGA haven't seen a recession yet, they have their hands in everyone's pockets.

 

[sammyboyblue]

Thanks for the reply, checking on the Eaga website this particular contractor is not listed unless they are subbies for them. At present my father is only on a modest pension and cannot really afford a new system so at the moment eaga are the only ones that can help.

cheers

 

[bengasman]

Do a search on the forum for warmfront, iguana, aega, and you will get a fair idea of what to expect. Get a bottle of anti-depressants first, or a large bottle of strong spirits of some kind, you will need it; the complaints about this scam are many thousands and that is only counting the officially logged written complaints.
Poor quality materials, and poor quality workmanship are keywords here.

 

[Boilerman2]

Gewt a Quote from a reliable independent, you might find it is cheaper than warmfront

 

[David937]

There were two Iguana installers on my street today, from what I could see one of the houses had an Ideal fitted.

Are all Iguana installations grant ones?

 

[bengasman]

With the prices they charge and the quality you get for it, I don't see them getting a lot of private work.

 

[Boilerman2]

Are they using Ideal Now? oh god ! you used to get a Vaillant which could be re-installed properly so you ended up with a reasonable system!

 

[bengasman]

Last thing I heard was that they prefer ideal. At 3500 quid, plus own contribution, you would expect at least a decent boiler.

 

[sammyboyblue]

Just looking through some of the posts and through google and it is grim reading. At present he has no choice but to go through for the grant, obviously if they want top ups then we will have to look else where. We can only go with our own experience we know 4 people who have had the warmfront installation which 2 have been installed to a very good standard, one had a vaillant turbomax about 7 years ago which is still going strong and not had anyone out to it and another who around the same time had a ravenheat combi which was also installed to a decent standard(to my amateur eyes) but in the last 12 months has started to go terribly wrong.
Of the other 2, these were installed by the same contractor who has been in touch with my father and these have been nothing short of abysmal one had a leak so bad it brought half the ceiling down in the kitchen and then took over 6 months to rectify the damage. The other although not as bad have had faults, small leaks on old pipework and something to do with the boiler vent arrangements which they are still waiting to be sorted. These 2 installations only had a boiler swap and both had to contribute extra money even though they had the full grant. This is the reason we ask if it is possible to ask for a different contractor.

cheers

 

[Boilerman2]

Seriously GET A QUOTE FROM A LOCAL INDEPENDENT!!!

Warmfront are not as cheap as they claim

 

[bengasman]

The whole thing is a scam where a few people are absolutely raking it in. They sub the work out to people who are willing to work for next to nothing. Even if you did manage to get someone else to do it, it would still be a case of a monkey working for peanuts.
Are you absolutely sure that the jobs from 7 years ago were done through warmfront? I am not sure it has been around that long, and have never heard of them using ravenheats.

 

[bengasman]

If you can't find a way to pay for a new boiler, your father would probably be better off getting the old one repaired. Even if he doesn't have to pay for the installation, the repair bills will all be his.

 

[sammyboyblue]

Defo 7 years ago coming up to eight.One was for my brothers girlfriend and it is a ravenheat in the last 12 months or so the fan went and it started leaking but these were fixed by warmsure, then the diverter valve went but the warranty had run out and he had to get it fixed himself.
He has an old floor standing vulcan boiler which an old gas fitter friend of his said was kaput something to do with the gas valve, some of the radiators have gone they are all over 30 years old and were installed when we were kids. So i think the time has come now anyway for a new system and depending on the quote off warmfront we may look for a local independent, its pity my old mans mate has retired.

cheers

 

[bengasman]

Defo 7 years ago coming up to eight.

7 years, 8, fine. How come you are so sure it was a warmfront install?