On Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:46:28 +0100, No mail wrote:
Pamela wrote:
On 15:02 2 Jun 2025, No mail said:
The family of a vulnerable person asked me to investigate an apparent
scam where several cold callers have offered to check loft insulation.
The first resulted in foam insulation being applied, the next (a few
years later) in it being removed. Some months later the loft was
"checked" (by a different company) and further work was contracted. A
few months after this another company offered to check the loft and
found that further work was needed. This most recent incident involved
an "express request" under the CCR 2013 and seems to have involved the
removal and replacement of existing insulation for a unreasonable
amount of money.
Having done some investigation, it's clear that many thousands of
pounds have been paid to these scammers.
The victim is unaware that they have been scammed, or that they are in
cognitive decline. The family want to take action but are uncertain
about how to proceed. I am able to investigate and report on the facts
but am unable to advise on what they can do next.
Any advice?
I have no doubt there are loft insulation scams, particularly as many
home owners don't enter their loft to see its condition and would never
know what has been done.
Nevertheless, are taking into account changing standards over time
about recommended thickness? Also foam insulation was once popular but
then became discredited as technical faults appeared, so perhaps some
of the work you mention was (allegedly) remedial. Presumably the
various jobs were done by different companies.
I wonder if any of the work was done under a grant, which the trader
was only too keen to justify.
I think you missed the bits about there being a series of cold callers
who persuaded a vulnerable person that work was needed based on their unrequested assessment, that each charged an unreasonable amount of
money and that at least one persuaded the victim to sign an "express
request" contract.
There were no grants.
"Round our way" there's a flood of
delboy1990@gmail.com type email
addresses that post in FB local groups claiming to be "government backed"
and that people on benefits can call them to have free insulation,
boilers and fuck knows what else fitted.
They also cold call and managed to catch SWMBO and bamboozle here into
thinking they were somehow official and angling to come round to sort out
a quote. After I was briefed, I took their next call where they admitted
they had nothing to do with the government, had no intention whatsoever
of doing an even halfway decent job, and would be Scotch Mist long before
the paint dried. (They probably didn't realise they did admit that, but sometimes it's the tone rather than tne conversation that conveys the
message).
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