A woman has been left horrified at the state of her house after contractors carried out work as part of the Eco4U government grant.
Aminah Ahmed, 43, who lives in Slough, was scrolling on Facebook when she saw adverts for the Eco4U grant which is aimed at tackling fuel poverty and helping reduce carbon emissions.
Typically grants are given to households to fund insulation improvements or upgrading of heating systems, however, the money is not seen by the applicant, instead, it is paid directly to the contractors.
Aminah, whose child suffers from Raynaud's syndrome, a condition which means sufferers are extremely sensitive to the cold, said she applied for the grant and within days was contacted by ECO4U Energy Services who inspected her home and sent workmen to insulate the house on July 18.
However, Aminah says she was left in the dark about the situation and was unprepared for what was to come.
On the day the work began she found that there were language barrier issues and that no warning had been given about moving furniture.
She reported the workmen "throwing" her furniture around, with the requirement to access the exterior walls.
"I had a three-door wardrobe put on my bed then under bed draws thrown on top - Everything we owned heaped into piles on top of that," Aminah said.
"They then placed radiators into my bathtub.
"During the work process, I noticed they were very messy and weren’t taking care of my things.
"The workmanship was abysmal the plastering wasn’t smooth or level.
"They flicked plaster around my home like no one was living here."
Aminah said that at the time she was "accommodating and grateful" as she thought this was normal and part of the process.
However just hours after the work was completed she started the massive clean-up job and painting which she said took her 20 days.
"Not only did my house need painting I ended up needing four tubs of filler for the holes and cracks in the shoddy plastering work.
"I had to scrape and steam clean all the plaster off of the window frames. It took me hours.
"The place was in such a state I had to spend nine days without my young children whilst I worked from morning until night."
Along the way, Aminah realised that her hoover and pieces of furniture were broken, alongside window ledges no longer fitting the windows.
After raising this with ECO4U Energy Services, the company agreed on a settlement with Aminah for the damage caused to her property.
In a statement to the Slough Observer, Imtiaz Suleiman of ECO4U Energy Services said: "We conducted an internal investigation to understand why the property did not meet the expected standards following the completion of the work.
"We diligently gathered perspectives from both the customer and the engineers involved, aiming to grasp the complete picture.
"I'm pleased to inform you that progress has been made. The customer has agreed upon a settlement amount to address both the inconvenience caused and the undue stress endured.
"In light of this incident, we recognize the need for improvement. Consequently, we have made the decision to enhance the training of our team to prevent any recurrence of such unfortunate incidents. Our aim is to ensure that our services consistently meet the highest standards, avoiding any future disappointments."
Aminah is now calling for better regulations of the grant.
"I think people need to be more aware," she said.
"I think they should have gone through it with me and how much room they need.
"Then I think they should have talked me through the process and signed something.
"The builders came in and the house wasn't ready for them because they never told me what I had to move out the way."
Aminah said she understands the pressure the builders were under, with just three contracted days to complete the work meaning they were under pressure to work quickly.
"I think there should be checks - the company or whoever hired the people to do the work should be coming round and doing regular checks," Aminah added.
"The person who owns the house should sign off on the work or have a member of the government or council come and sign off before any funds are released."
An Ofgem spokesperson said: “ECO4 is a scheme designed to support households in improving the energy efficiency of their homes, reduce their bills and reduce emissions through improvements like installing insulation or upgrading a heating system.
“We’d encourage consumers that have had a negative experience to feed this back to us so we can work with industry to improve standards, and if they are unhappy with the work that’s been completed, they should contact the relevant oversight body or trade association.”
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