Free Boilers - Boiler For Life - Has Anyone Heard?

[FlameWorx]

Hello all, has anyone heard of this company? Seems like they are offering to install a boiler, maintain it for the forceable with no finance agreement or loan for a fee of around £4 a week! Now I don't know about you but if this is a genuine offer this could put a lot of businesses out of business! Your replies will be welcomed, thanks.

[DLMURL="http://everlastingboilers.co.uk/welcome.php"]Everlasting Boilers.[/DLMURL]

 

[gasmanrob]

£8 per week x 52= £416 per year x by 9 years = £3,744 less the cost of any breakdowns in that 9 years then a new boiler at the end of those 9 years. i wouldnt worry about it they will have gone under soon wheres the profit? take into account overheads etc. there has to be more to it in the t's & c's.

 

[PETE 123]

I bet its from £4 for a start

 

[Ray Stafford]

£8 per week x 52= £416 per year x by 9 years = £3,744 less the cost of any breakdowns in that 9 years then a new boiler at the end of those 9 years. i wouldnt worry about it they will have gone under soon wheres the profit? take into account overheads etc. there has to be more to it in the t's & c's.

Don't forget the 79p, at 52 weeks per year, over 9 years, thats another £369!

And call me cynical, but am I the only one expecting that when the salesman calls, the patter will go...?

"Your particular house isn't suitable for our entry level model (which BTW is a 9kw heat only), but for just £13.50 per week we can fit a super dooper model..."

 

[Ray Stafford]

I bet its from £4 for a start

Says £8.79 on the link...

 

[petercj]

Would be better to worry about this one, it's only £17 a month, or pay more and avoid the deposit, still less than £32 pm though.

Boiler Replacement & New Boiler Installation | Help-Link

 

[gasmanrob]

i dont see help link being a long term threat to be honest i believe British gas will try and buy them as there installation division is in real trouble at the minute. then once they do it wont be long till they balls it up.

 

[REDSAW]

what boiler is it?

 

[JON]

i dont see help link being a long term threat to be honest i believe British gas will try and buy them as there installation division is in real trouble at the minute. then once they do it wont be long till they balls it up.

help link do it right!

erm.........no they DONT

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

looks like a cheapline crossed with a ferroli mated to a washing machine

 

[dancinplumba]

ar they the ones euroboilerspares (abcot) sell

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

ar they the ones euroboilerspares (abcot) sell

god knows but it looks very lame

 

[JON]

They set up for the solar which went well for a short time and now they are going to give boilers a bash, cant see it lasting tbh.

 

[acecharly]

Id say you need alot of money behind you to pay for all those boilers before you get your money back proberbly from customers who have moved house and default. Unless they have some deal with some financial institution to finance the job maybe.

 

[REDSAW]

sussed it,

order a 1000 boilers and get them installed under one company then arrange the 'weekly finance' under another.

liquidate the installation side who ordered the boilers and cash in with the other!!!
hmmmm

 

[petercj]

£8 per week x 52= £416 per year x by 9 years = £3,744 less the cost of any breakdowns in that 9 years then a new boiler at the end of those 9 years. i wouldnt worry about it they will have gone under soon wheres the profit? take into account overheads etc. there has to be more to it in the t's & c's.

£8.79 pw x 52 = £457 pa x 9 years = approx £4113

Help-link charge £17 per month, with a £500 down payment, for a WB (change-over) with a ten-year warranty = £2540.

No service is included, so say £65 x 10 = £650 ... makes a total of £3190 over 10 years against £4113 for 9 years.

If a new contract is issued after 9 years, no doubt the weekly payment is increased, so what's the big deal?

 

[Ray Stafford]

There aint no such thing as a free lunch.

Apart from (fairly minor) economies of scale, the input costs don't change. Materials, labour, admin, profit margin for any given project will be broadly the same, whoever the provider is. With any deal that involves credit, you have to add finance costs to the mix. There simply isn't scope in the range of possible business models for any one provider to dominate the market, so long as property ownership remains fragmented more or less as it is now.

Some consumers, particularly the the financially illiterate or desperate, may be attracted to a solution that involves long term credit, but this tends to give them a higher-than-average credit risk profile, thus driving up the cost of finance.

The only time I worry is when the government gets involved with schemes, grants and initiatives that skew the market, and offer subsidies to firms that jump through a series of hoops. Larger firms can generally navigate the hoop jumping better than independent tradesmen, so I tend to view all such schemes with considerable suspicion.

 

[petercj]

i dont see help link being a long term threat to be honest i believe British gas will try and buy them as there installation division is in real trouble at the minute. then once they do it wont be long till they balls it up.

On average, BG charge twice as much as other installers (big or small) to install a boiler, their WB boilers only come with a one year warranty, and their Home Care plan at £20 pm promises a "safety check and a service", but they only do a gas check, and a quick look over the system, if you're lucky.

Some people might think that by paying twice as much as they need to, that they are assured of a good job, however, if they google with: "British Gas complaints" they will find reports on the huge sums of money BG have been fined for not dealing properly with the vast number of complaints they receive every day.

Buying one company out is not going to help getting BG out of whatever problems they have.

Help-Link charge just under £1800 for a straightforward boiler change, which is at the top end of average, charging-wise.

There are well established gas companies on ebay advertising supply and fit of Valliant boilers with power flush and 2 yr warranty on parts and labour for around £1500.

 

[petercj]

help link do it right!

erm.........no they DONT

What evidence do you have to support that criticism?

Help-Link recruit Gas Safe Engineers nation-wide, so why should their installers be any worse than the rest?

The googling I've done re Help-link complaints brought up very little - the biggest complaint being that there is a £500 down-payment required to get the Johnny Ball deal.

They were complained about to the ASA, but the information I found said that the complaint was not up-held?

So what info do you have on them?

 

[JON]

What evidence do you have to support that criticism?

Help-Link recruit Gas Safe Engineers nation-wide, so why should their installers be any worse than the rest?

The googling I've done re Help-link complaints brought up very little - the biggest complaint being that there is a £500 down-payment required to get the Johnny Ball deal.

They were complained about to the ASA, but the information I found said that the complaint was not up-held?

So what info do you have on them?

Not sure if you work for help link, so just in case you do we will leave it here.

 

[petercj]

Not sure if you work for help link, so just in case you do we will leave it here.

No, don't work for Help-link.

 

[JON]

No, don't work for Help-link.

Id much rather not speak to you regarding help link in a open forum as it could get people in trouble.

 

[TBServices]

Helplink installers are rushed off their feet and sent all over the country, and many of them are just out of their time. They give the impression of a nationwide company but the fact is, most of the installers are from round my way. They're paid poorly, and per "unit". A boiler is 1 unit, 5 rads is 1 unit. So, if you're getting £100 per unit, and driving 4 hours to a job (which they do sometimes) then it gives you very little time/motivation to do a decent job.

The helplink head office is a 2 minute drive from my house, and their installers used to cause havoc in the merchants on a morning. Round here they're renowned for sub standard work and have been for some years.

 

[Orry Clayton]

A Shade Greener are quite a big solar panel installer, I've seen jobs they are advertising for this company...

GSR £40,000 and Plumbers Mate £20,000

 

[Orry Clayton]

Erm... and the picture is that of a Ravenheat boiler. I'd like to see one of those last a life-time.