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What a Bad Heat Pump Installation Looks Like

 
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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)
Last Post by JamesPa 8 minutes ago
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Steelbadger
 Steelbadger
(@steelbadger)
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Joined: 2 months ago
Posts: 24
08/12/2025 8:16 am  

Posted by: @jamespa
↑

We have strong consumer protection but sadly the human race throws up some scum who will always find a way to exploit.

My experience with 'strong consumer protection' is that in many cases it's worth nothing.

We moved into a new build flat with a poorly installed and essentially uncommissioned heating system which was far more expensive that it should have been, and which was incapable of providing ample hot water while the heating was needed and we went through nearly every avenue available to us and still came up empty.

  • SOP for complaints across much of the corporate world now is to do nothing. Put the customer in a loop of rejection and 'you need to talk to those other people' with no actual pathway to getting your grievances corrected.
  • Escalating to c-suite contacts is simply ignored.
  • MPs/MSPs are similarly ignored or talked around (in our case, no action was taken on the issues, but the builder immediately jumped on the contact as a marketing opportunity).
  • New Build Ombudsman services are opt-in for builders. Your builder hasn't opted in (a fair few of the big builders are not)? Sorry, you need to ask someone else (dunno who).
  • Go after seller's solicitor for allowing them to sell something not as described via the legal ombudsman? Sorry, you should talk to the new build ombudsman. Oh, they're not signed up? I didn't realise they needed to be. Oh well. Still not our problem.
  • Contact building standards to raise clear issue of falsified commissioning documentation. Well, that's terrible, but we don't actually have any enforcement power once the completion certificate is granted. Sorry.
  • Contact trading standards. They just log your complaint and might give the company a slap on the wrist in 10 years if enough other people complain.
  • Actual legal action? I hope you have a big ol' heap of money available to finance the action.

In the end, it was cheaper and less stressful to fix the issue ourselves, and while it annoys me that that's exactly what these companies are banking on, we had to do what was best for us.



   
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 JamesPa
(@jamespa)
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Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 3659
08/12/2025 8:51 am  

Posted by: @steelbadger
↑

Actual legal action? I hope you have a big ol' heap of money available to finance the action.

Small claims court is pretty cheap and sometimes the threat is sufficient to do the job.  The law is on your side and they know it.

 

Posted by: @steelbadger
↑

In the end, it was cheaper and less stressful to fix the issue ourselves, and while it annoys me that that's exactly what these companies are banking on, we had to do what was best for us

Indeed and it's what I would often advise people.  

 

Unfortunately the human race throws up some scumbags and no law can stop that, only deal with the consequences!

 


4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.


   
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