Green Deal firm took £299 and disappeared
Energy assessment firm Becoming Green leaves customers in the lurch
Andrew Penman
Green Deal (Image: Cultura/REX)
The Government's Green Deal was supposed to help us make our homes more energy efficient with insulation, double-glazing and modern boilers.
But it's not exactly proved a hit, probably because you pay for an assessor to see if you're entitled to use the scheme and then take out loans to have the work carried out.
One result is that according to latest figures the Green Deal has cost £16million but only 677 households have signed up.
There's been another unfortunate consequence, as Ian Edenbrow of Branston, Lincs, has discovered. In April he paid a company £299 for an energy assessment, but it never took place and now he can't contact the firm.
"There was a 100% money back guarantee," Ian said.
"Their letter says 'Should the results of the Green Deal Assessment produce no energy saving recommendations, we will refund the £299 in full'.
"But I have have been constantly ringing and getting the answer machine and I've written to them with no reply."
It is difficult to say for certain who he paid because his paperwork confusingly contains two company numbers. One belongs to Becoming Green Ltd, which was put into compulsory liquidation in June over an unpaid trade debt.
It was in the news last year for employing inmates from an open prison in its telesales (ie coldcalling) division on £3 a day. You might not care less if criminals are paid a pittance, until you consider that if bosses could employ someone to do your job on £3 a day then the chances of you keeping that post look pretty bleak.
The second company on Ian's paperwork is a newer outfit called Becoming Green (UK) Ltd, which is still active. Both have the same director, Abdul Muhith, 39, of Cardiff.
He blamed delays in the Green Deal for the problems, saying: "It's not just us, companies across the UK are experiencing this."
That won't be much consolation to his customers – Muhith admits having 1,700 of them and says: "We don't know when we can fulfil our orders."