British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

[sylvieb]

SHAME on BRITISH GAS - last November I applied for the FREE FOR ALL cavity wall insulation from British Gas, in time for Government subsidy. Although British Gas website stipulated that to qualify, the work needed to be carried out before end of December 2012, they gave me an appointment for the engineer to come and check my house in February. They said they were very busy but would still honour the offer despite the time frame. Then came February, the engineer came, said that the cavity was 40mm, too small and therefore didn't qualify for the deal where the cavity wall has to be 50mm minimum. But I could change my boiler as they had a special offer. There's absolutely nothing wrong with my boiler. Not very old, works perfectly well.
Following his visit, I was bombarded by marketing calls from British Gas.

A couple of weeks later I had some building work done in the house, exposed the cavity… and found out that it is in fact about 55mm. Three builders have confirmed so and also said that it was obvious from the thickness of the wall where the extension was built anyway.

I called British Gas who said they would contact the engineer, call me back and still honour the offer. They never called back. I called again and they said that my case was closed and they could not honour the deal because the offer was no longer existing. As I complained, they said they would call the engineer to re-open the case and call me back. 10 mins later they called back, said the case had to be re-opened by finance and that they would call me back within 5 days. 10 days on and I haven't heard anything. Ombudsman said they can only deal with new 'green' government grants but not the old offer. Next step is Citizen Advice Bureau, Watchdog and all the press I will be able to gather so British Gas stop taking the ****. I missed on the government big subsidy and new offers now are only loans, for which I don't qualify anyway. I missed on energy savings I could have already made if the work had been carried out.

This is a clear case of deceipt and fraud in order to get into my house and sell me a boiler. I'm not going to give up on this.

Any suggestion where I can post this is welcome. And if anyone has had a similar experience, do get in touch. Thank you.

[bluebottle]

Re: British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

Hi and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Well, you're on the right path by going to CAB, BBC TV's Watchdog programme and the Press. You could also speak to Trading Standards and OFGEM.

[enquirer]

Re: British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

This is a clear case of deceipt and fraud in order to get into my house and sell me a boiler.

British Gas has a lot of form for this sort of thing. Personally, I would never deal with them under any circumstances.

Bluebottle's suggestions are the way to go. You could also post your experience on CAG and MoneySavingExpert.

[dogtired]

Re: British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

And I bet they told you that if you did not take up this offer the price would be going up, they did to us.
Not got gas any more!

[Goucho]

Re: British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

[QUOTE=sylvieb;327605]SHAME on BRITISH GAS

Very interesting stuff and I will be using that but you may have had a near miss.

I have just joined this forum so I do not know if it is permitted to post URLs. However I set up a website myself (no forum) in response to a British Gas issue which you may wish to know about: www.britishgasinsulation.co.uk

I will ask one of my colleagues if he has found any 40mm cavity walls. He has been inspecting a lot of social housing to check which have had cavity wall insulation carried out and if they are suitable. I personally have never heard of 40mm. They tend to get bigger than the planned 50mm rather than less.

My apologies to admin if URLs are not permitted but this is a very, very interesting posting by sylvieb and that needs to be spread far and wide. I suggest you also contact the Energy Saving Trust and perhaps trade magazines which I will supply a list of if anyone is interested. I am registered at CAG and write on CORGI issues.

Well done sylvieb.

[Goucho]

Re: British Gas lied about size of cavity wall for insulation

[QUOTE=sylvieb;327605]SHAME on BRITISH GAS

Obviously it would be helpful if you have anything in writing with regard to proving you had contact with BG, time-scales and any mention of the 40mm. I once nailed BG to the barn door in a case working pro bono where a couple of pensioners were being ripped off. Key to their destruction, the lady maintained a stunningly detailed ledger/diary/contemporaneous record of events. They made the bullets and I fired them.

If you are determined enough and live in the right sort of area with neighbourly contact, you could check if others in similar homes have had the work done. More interesting, if any had work done by BG. The insect-brains that are sent out are simply doing what they are told by the controlling minds. I have found myself under the same sort of pressures in the past but fortunately I was not and am not, economically subjugated.

As this was an official scheme, you could easily argue BG has a duty-of-care and have failed in that duty by maladministration and deceit. In those circumstances I would be pursuing a claim for negligence with a view to BG paying someone else to survey and do the work. You will need to demonstrate that in all other respects you and your property would have qualified.

Talking of which, contact other companies for quotations and ask them to check the property is suitable for cavity wall insulation. Those quotations must specify having checked the cavity and could be used in the county court.

NB: I once accidentally stumbled into a situation where BG were trying to flog someone a boiler on the grounds that a boiler’s smoke-hood gasket needed replacing and could not be obtained as the boiler was old. I produced the original official manual and there was no such gasket on that particular boiler. The follow-up sales rep appeared by chance and I invited him to check my information. He tried to castigate the customer but when I jumped in he just legged it fast without another word. Animals they are.

My name is Les_Gradwell. I never post anonymously, never have and never will. But this forum would not accept my real name as my username. It is possible I have registered in the dim and distant past if admin want to check.