|
Are consumers being hit by
cavity wall insulation mis-selling and is it turning into a scandal?
Photo with thanks to
Cavity Claims North
West.
IN an email sent to our news room from
Ubiquity PR said that a local Skelmersdale firm "has uncovered what it
believes is a mis-selling scandal on a mass scale after vulnerable consumers in
Southport and surrounding areas." in the email they also reported that:-
"homes had become damp and mouldy following the injection of insulation material
into their cavity walls."
The firm, Cavity Claims North
West, says
it is run by Blue Sky Claims Limited, on its website. It also says that is is
a:- "Company that specialises in seeking compensation on behalf of our
clients to seek redress for damage occurring to their property following
wrongful or badly installed cavity wall insulation or cavity wall insulation
problems."
Cavity Claims North West maintain that they have already unveiled hundreds of
cases of people whose homes have been blighted by this ill advised practice.
"There seems to be a pattern in the vast majority of these cases in the way that
cavity wall insulation has been presented to people with doorstepping and cold
calling salesman describing this as being government backed or funded. This is
not the case. The process is almost always funded by one of the major energy
suppliers who have been given targets by the Government to insulate homes, and
if they miss those targets, they can be fined by the energy regulator Ofgem so
there is pressure to install as much cavity wall insulation as possible. Even
though this has arisen via government policy, it is neither controlled nor
overseen by the Government so now that things have gone horribly wrong with
potentially thousands of homes in Southport affected, the Government can deny
responsibility. Another pattern that all cases appear to have in common is the
role of the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA), which issues 25 year
guarantees. We have been told that salesman have been describing these as:-
'Government guarantees', which they are not. 7 of CIGA's 11 current directors
are also directors of firms that either make or install insulation, or of trade
associations that represent the interests of installers. We are not surprised
that CIGA has done its best to deny the installer's or its own responsibility
when approached. We have also been helping many householders like for example,
Mrs. Navin from Crossens who complained of dampness following a cavity wall
insulation saying:- 'I'm really upset about the whole
episode.' My main concern is how other families also on a low income like
us will become victims given that most of the general public won't have any
expertise in what is being sold to them. Ultimately, I now have extreme damp and
wet walls in my house following the completely inappropriate works undertaken.
It has also exacerbated my disability. I'm determined to tell as many others to
be very mindful of any firms offering this service." said Cavity Claims'
operational support specialist Mark Harrison, in the email.
Cavity Claims North West have told us in the press release that:- "Many
others have been told that chronic damp issues could not possibly be a result of
the insulation. Instead, they were fed stories such as pre-existing building
defects must be to blame."
In the release Mr Harrison commented that:- "We believe cavity wall
insulation problems are vastly under reported, and that many more will come to
light in the coming months. Most dampness issues won't show up in the 1st few
weeks following installation and it can 2 or 3 winters before they emerge. What
will also be of major concern to people is that we know of two houses recently
valued, one of which was reduced by £15,000 because of damp and other issues
directly related to the cavity wall insulation. The other was a property reduced
by £23,000 because the insulation was installed 6 years ago, the house has
mould, requires decorating throughout as it is damp and the entire floor needs
plastering with all wooden floorboards having rotted on the ground
floor...sadly, we expect to see more and more incidences of this."
So we would like our readers to let us know if they have had any problems with
cavity wall insulation. If you do or if you have had issues, please email us
at:-
news24@southportreporter.com and let us know.
|
