Misleading / deceitful heating firm, lost out on about £20,000

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

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Norwich
hi, what are my options here?

we went out to tender for a ground source heat pump system. we are owner - occupiers for a new self build house and wanted to take advantage of the RHI scheme.

we got 3 quotes for a GSHP system and the heating firm we selected assured us they had fitted dozens of such systems. The RHI was discussed right from the start, verbally and formed part of email conversations which I have kept.

the firm even gave us a projected RHI calculation, ie how much heat energy we can generate, and also an RHI application guidance pack.

the installation has now been completed, and together with the boreholes (done by a different firm) the overall investment has cost us about £48,000.
with the RHI scheme we expected a payback of about half that cost over 7 years.

It turns out that the firm is not MCS accredited, so their installation is ineligible for an RHI application.

The installer is belligerent, stating that the RHI was never part of the contract, and can't / won't be helping us any further.
He even stated that, as a favour(!), he could try and see if a mate of his, who has MCS accreditation, can sign off our system.

Needless to say this was months ago, and nothing is happening.

Aaargh!! :mad:
 
As macca points out, what does the contract stipulate.

That's a legally binding document, so if they've breached it, then that should be a nice easy win in court.
 
Just out of interest how does the scheme work, if its cost you £48k to fit, how does that work out value for money, for me that would take over 100 years to get my money back.
 
robj20 said:
Just out of interest how does the scheme work, if its cost you £48k to fit, how does that work out value for money, for me that would take over 100 years to get my money back.
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the RHI is basically grant money to encourage you to make the investment
in itself the RHI pays directly for a good proportion of the installation over 7 years

but running a GSHP system is cheaper than gas / oil / electric, for example we expect to pay £700-£900 less per year at current energy prices
 
bazaarboy said:
the RHI is basically grant money to encourage you to make the investment
in itself the RHI pays directly for a good proportion of the installation over 7 years

but running a GSHP system is cheaper than gas / oil / electric, for example we expect to pay £700-£900 less per year at current energy prices
Click to expand...

I love the idea of it, seems you need to be using insane amounts of gas to make it worth it. Gas & Elec for us is only £38 a month so would take an insane amount of time to pay it back.
 
robj20 said:
I love the idea of it, seems you need to be using insane amounts of gas to make it worth it. Gas & Elec for us is only £38 a month so would take an insane amount of time to pay it back.
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well I guess it depends on the property size - we're heating 600 sqm of detached house.
the heat pump is also a fairly bullet proof bit of kit (just a fridge in reverse), has a 25 year warranty and once you have the external collector system (1200m of MDPE pipe, rated for 50+ years lifespan) you only need to service or change one machine
 
I'm sorry to say this but i would say you are screwed.

Gather all paper work/letters and see what is mentioned by them regarding the RHI scheme and what they where/have installed for you.

For that sort of money I would have expected the RHI application to have been part of the deal/project. I took one look at my commercial application form and decided someone else needed to fill that in for me due to it's complexity and importance of being correct.

The RHI brought out a whole bunch of sharks looking to make a quick killing on people's naivety.
 
They live in a 600sqm house. That is massive by normal standards, around 3-4x the size of a traditional 4 bed family home.
 
wilber said:
I'm sorry to say this but i would say you are screwed.

Gather all paper work/letters and see what is mentioned by them regarding the RHI scheme and what they where/have installed for you.

For that sort of money I would have expected the RHI application to have been part of the deal/project. I took one look at my commercial application form and decided someone else needed to fill that in for me due to it's complexity and importance of being correct.

The RHI brought out a whole bunch of sharks looking to make a quick killing on people's naivety.
Click to expand...

yup, I feel quite silly - but you do sometimes place your trust in the so-called professionals. I believed then, as I do now, that I was clear enough in explaining that we wanted to pursue the RHI, and in turn this company appeared to confirm this both verbally and in writing.

why would they send a breakdown of projected RHI earnings if they didn't acknowledge it was part of the deal?

I spoke with a solicitor for some impartial advice. This was one of these pay as you go legal advice helplines. They don't normally take on case representations, just give bare advice based on what you tell them.

The solicitor said that in a business transaction there is always a contract - even if a written one is not present. Verbal contracts are just as binding but harder to accurately define.
He felt that enough written communication is present in this case to demonstrate that the RHI was part of the deal and that the heating firm acted unreasonably in not disclosing their lack of accreditation.

He advised that a breach of contract had taken place, and the best way to proceed is firstly write a formal letter outlining our grievance and giving the firm 14 days to make things right.
Then take steps to mitigate the loss - for example if I can find an MCS qualified firm and ask them to inspect the installation and certify it themselves (for a fee of course), then the loss is reduced.

I'd be out of pocket but less than before - this smaller loss can then be taken to small claims court. Overall I think this was good advice by the solicitor.

The problem is finding a heating firm willing to take this mess on...
:rolleyes:
 
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