Oh, here we go again with another set of cowboys jumping on a Government bandwagon. I just got a leaflet through the door saying our area has been selected to be one of the first...
I get sick of companies phoning to 'do a survey' about our loft and cavity wall insulation. We've had the survey done, there's nothing more they can do for us as the house is old and does not have cavity walls and the entrance to the loft is too small for them to be able to do any work, apart from which we already have quite a good layer of insulation up there. I've been up, years ago now, and checked it myself.
Now they've launched Green Deal - BEWARE, it may not be all it's cracked up to be.
For a start, the people doing the local assessments are NOT working for the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). They could be from an energy company, a DIY store or even a local tradesman who's registered to be an assessor. They may charge for coming to see you. The leaflet I just had says that for a limited period they will do this for free, instead of the usual £149 they would charge. Hmmm, the DECC are giving an incentive of £150 to each household who take part - how hollow does that 'free' service sound...?
So what are these people doing? They are surveying your property to make sure that you're not losing heat through poor cavity wall and loft insulation, they're looking at solar panels (if your house faces the right way), they'll tackle draught proofing and check to make sure your boiler is energy efficient.
They are also checking for double glazing, if you don't have it then they may be able to arrange installation. I'm sure I've had umpteen companies trying to do that for years, despite the fact we have double glazing already!
They are also looking at wall insulation, internal and external, for older houses like ours. There has been a test scheme with an entire row of terrace houses elsewhere in our town being clad with the stuff. You have to get everyone in the street to do it, or it will just look a mess if there are any missing.
As much as I would love to have central heating put in, we can't afford it. That's one thing I may have considered, but it's not within this new scheme it seems.
What we are being told is that we do not have to pay for the work upfront, if the assessor (remember, they don't work for the government, so have a vested interest in selling whatever they can!) says you need work doing, they will come and do it and you'll repay the cost via your electricity bill over so many years. That's based on the energy savings you will make, so they say.
I have signs on the door to say 'no cold callers', the area I live in is designated as a 'no cold calling zone'. I'm looking forward to giving the dog a bit of exercise if they come bothering me with this.
If I want work doing I will look for a suitable contractor myself, perhaps obtaining several quotes. I would never give the job to any Tom, Dick or Harry who knocks on my door, no matter what they say about Government backing. Can't say I've seen many Tom's or Harry's, they always seem to be the other guy who calls.
With this Green Deal, you have no idea if someone else could do the work cheaper, you're stuck with their price. They arrange for the cost to be repaid via your electricity bill. Obviously the energy companies are being paid something to set up and handle this, but they're not telling us that. The assessor and his company are being paid to call on us, on top of any training and set-up costs they've had.
They'll be all smiles and promises, but I'm looking at the effect on my pocket and how I could well be stuck with a charge on my energy bill for years to come that is simply not cost effective.
I'm just warning that this is being launched all over the country. Each assessor company is supposed to be checked out and trained but otherwise are in it for what they can get out of it of course.
They're salesmen...
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Gordon57
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The energy companies are making money hand over fist already and it is frightening how many people will think this next stint will be a money saver. Everybody laughs at me when I say they're "all in it thigether" but I've lived longer than most and don't think I am deluded well maybe sometimes................
We can't have cavity wall insulation because the house is timber framed, but we have had the loft insulated free of charge.
We have also had a stair lift and the bathroom converted to a wet room we paid £900 towards this because we had some savings.
We had the old warm air central heating replaced by radiators, we did not have to pay anything for this
We just applied to our social services for the stair lift and bathroom and all was finished in about 6 weeks. The heating was through a government warm front scheme and cost us nothing.
We had our loft insulated free of charge, The Green Deal sounded like a good idea. Take a look at Which? on-line. You can sign up for a £1 to start with.
We are in need of window replacements and the Bottom line is: ask around family and neighbours who do they recommend.
A lot of people go for a well know brand and others for a smaller firm which seem to come out better on occasions as the service can be better. I am thinking of doing this next year. so very interested to see your comment Gordon57.
At the end of the day: get at least 3 quotes not estimates! That goes for any trades person..
We had our loft insulated free of charge, The Green Deal sounded like a good idea. Take a look at Which? on-line. You can sign up for a £1 to start with.
We are in need of window replacements and the Bottom line is: ask around family and neighbours who do they recommend.
A lot of people go for a well know brand and others for a smaller firm which seem to come out better on occasions as the service can be better. I am thinking of doing this next year. so very interested to see your comment Gordon57.
At the end of the day: get at least 3 quotes not estimates! That goes for any trades person..
Very interested to see your comments on the Green deal.
,The Green Deal sounded like a good idea. Take a look at Which? on-line. You can sign up for a £1 to start with.This is what I found out basically;
the Bottom line is: ask around family and neighbours who do they recommend.
A lot of people go for a well know brand and others for a smaller firm which seem to come out better /on occasions as the service may be better. I am thinking of doing this next year. so very interested to see your comments about the Green deal.
At the end of the day: get at least 3 quotes not estimates! That goes for any trades person.
- lots of information there on what this new scheme is supposed to do. In particular, the 'assessor' has to tell you if they are receiving any fee or commission for selling you products.
As a couple of people have already mentioned it, this is NOT the same scheme as 'Warm Front'.
I read Warm Front is ending in 2013 - to be replaced by Green deal :
I'm knocking it because it's a glorified sales push, not a scheme like Warm Front was in providing grants to those who needed it. Having said that, I didn't qualify.
The Green Deal is available to anyone, but is full of hidden issues like problems selling your home later, because the buyer would have to take on the repayments. It's a loan not a grant, with interest payable, you pay it back via your electricity bill. It is not the same sort of thing at all.
I've already checked out the company who left their leaflet, and their are not listed on the Green Deal Assessors register. The assessors will often be working for the same companies who will carry out the installations, so it seems feasible that they will try and include as much as possible in their assessment to give you the biggest benefits (aka the biggest cost).
By all means read more about it and decide for yourself, I'm quite alarmed that this sort of thing is being backed by a Government department. The assessors and energy companies have been given a license to print money for themselves.
They are all bogus salespeople, that was my point. They are selling, not providing something under a grant. The whole scheme is about selling this Green Deal, the gov.uk website and others confirm this. I've not had a visit as yet, just a leaflet, which got me digging into the facts.
I have checked, it is a registered limited company, I have the owners name and address from their registering the domain name they use, the phone number is legit. They are using the Green Deal name to sell their products, no two ways about it.
Yes, they are looking to provide insulation solutions to try and save the homeowner money, but it's being sold, you have to pay the investment back, with interest.
Your home may be insulated, but many are not because they didn't qualify for whatever grants were available or their home cannot be insulated for some reason. People will be conned into buying into this new scheme without realising how big a hole they are digging for themselves. I said myself that I could have been interested in central heating, but that is not part of this.
My home is freezing, we can't have cavity wall insulation as there is no cavity. We only have gas fires or wall heaters, no central heating. I cannot afford to be buying anything, even if it will save energy in the long term.
I can say "Sorry, but I do not want to buy anything," but these beggers will now think they have permission to pester me and others to push their own company products.
There is no help towards heating costs in the Green Deal, all Green Deal is doing is selling products that may help reduce bills. I've had enough door to door salesmen trying to do that already, without them getting government backing to do it and annoy me even more.
It is nothing like Warm Front. It has nothing to do with benefits or grants. Anyone accepting this scheme will be lumbered with repayments, via their electricity bill, for years.
TPS are useless, I've been registered for years and they can do nothing about 'surveys', which is what the callers say they are doing now - answer a few questions and you then get the sales calls, which they claim you agreed to by doing the 'survey'.
Feel sorry for you if all your fears materialise. Just don't answer the door or just say No Gordon. Don't forget Age UK or the police who provide no cold callers stickers for your door.
these sales types certainly aren't worth your time or worth getting stressed over.
I have the 'no cold callers' stickers on the door. It's not me to feel sorry for, I'm aware of the potential hassle this could cause. I was trying to alert people to this latest government backed scheme that is nothing more than cold calling and selling and not, as some suggest, a replacement for Warm Front or any other grants. Remember who tried to warn you when they call...
I own a double glazing company and we where signed up two years ago for free training to be approved green deal installers and they still don't have a clue on how it is all going to work or who is going to fund it, they want to take pictures of me measuring a window so they can tick their box and I get an NVQ3 that says can do the job I have been doing for 25 years,it is all bit of a joke to be frank, why you would want to put a load of money on your utility bills at as yet an unknown cost is beyond me. Still e wry now and then they ring up, I send ina few photos and one day enough boxes will have been ticked and we will be approved and the box ticker has earned a few grand from HM Gov.
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Cold calling.
New Green Deal Scheme is launched.
....COLONOSCOPY????????????? Hee HEE
