Before I start I must say I have missed you guys. After 6 months of no internet I can finally search on my favourite forum again!!!! OK Here is the crack! I am a resident in "affordable housing" let to me by the local housing association. I currently have a heating system installed called a NIBE Fighter 360P. This is an Air Source Heat Pump which is using an astronomical amount of electricity (£10 a day). After struggling on with them for months and being fobbed off, I have finally decided to take them to task and go for the jugular. I am quite afaik with consumer credit law but my housing law fails me. Here is information send to the housing assciation. Any Ideas Anyone?

My parents live in a housing association house (over 25 years same house, London). They are an elderly couple, both pensioners, father is 80+ years old. Recently their boiler failed and it's been taking an incredibly long time to get it repaired. It failed right at the end of November, reported on the evening of November 29th, and to date it has not yet been repaired. One of the engineers i talked to (housing association is contracted with a large independent boiler/heating company who handle repairs) told me straight out the reason, he said due to the age of the boiler and the fact that it's an obsolete model, ideally a new boiler would be installed, however, the company's head office will allocate a maximum amount of money to each repair and because the engineer spent a long time trying to repair the problem and got head office to acquire a new part already (valve), they won't replace the boiler and instead they'll wait for a different part (flue) which will take weeks to get hold of. Of course, they didn't say weeks, but the flue fault was diagnosed on the 7th of December and still they're struggling to find the part even though the problem itself was reported on the 29th of November. (The engineer originally thought it was a valve fault only, having installed the valve on the 7th, he found the flue fault after). Also, initially they wouldn't give an exact date of when the flue will be in stock, just kept it vague "showing in stock", "maybe tomorrow", "supplier will get back to us" etc. Finally a lady answered the phone who was from a different department and helping out with the phones during a busy period and she called the specific departments/planners and found the date which was the 19th of December...but not guaranteed, expecting another call (although previously when they stated they'll call back with a more accurate date of when the part will be in stock, they never called back). An Important Note: The reason why the fault came about in the first place is because when the boiler was installed about 8 years ago by the same company (different engineer), it was installed BADLY (not my opinion but the new engineer said so). The flue was cut too short hence it eventually collapsed and the engineer told me this is very dangerous (and it resulted in other parts failing internally as a domino effect, valve, ignition, etc). I'm guessing it's possible that it was releasing dangerous fumes indoors, possibly for many years. Since the flue collapse though it kept overheating and cutting out so it didn't have a chance to poison anyone to death. But, the problem itself came about because the company's original engineer did a poor and very dangerous botch job with the installation. He even shoved the boiler in to accommodate the pipes, so much so the pipes got pushed (right side) out an inch off their fixings on the other side of the wall (downstairs toilet). Surely it can't be right for anybody to be made to wait this long for a repair? Especially two pensioners in this weather, some nights the outside temperature has fallen to minus. They left fan heaters, but they're no substitute to central heating especially considering the house is poorly insulated with normal glass windows as opposed to double glazing, no cavity wall insulation and loft has a thin piece of wool that was there since the 1980s, add to that they're paranoid about leaving these fan heaters on overnight as they're worried something will catch on fire or the room will overheat while they're asleep. Also, the immersion heater that has been used in the past as a backup in case the boiler stopped working died at the same time (or maybe before and no one noticed) so there was no hot water either, but the immersion heater was finally repaired on the 12th of December, however, it takes about 4 hours to heat up as the cylinder is large, whereas the boiler only takes 30 minutes, so not ideal but better than nothing. The engineers/electrician that have come out to try and repair the problems have been fantastic, sympathetic and all around great. However, the head office's decision to try and find the part of an obsolete boiler just so they can make a profit on the job seems incredibly wrong considering they knew how long it would take and how difficult it would be; they don't seem to be in a hurry. They're saying the part will be in stock on the 19th of December and an engineer will show up close to that (following day if lucky) to repair it, however, based on how many delays there have been and how they've already struggled to find the part in question AND put into that the fact that a lot of engineers will be off for Christmas, i'm not holding out hope. And i wouldn't be surprised if after the flue is repaired some other fault is found which will take several more days for the parts to arrive and that will definitely mean no boiler before Christmas (unless they have loads of engineers working through Christmas?). What if anything can be done? The problem was reported on the 29th November and the boiler is still dead and two pensioners have no central heating during an incredibly cold period. The electricity bill will no doubt be massive but the suffering, stress and the long LONG wait is what's really wrong (and the original dangerous botch job), all so that the contractor can make sure they make a profit on the call out and not a loss. Apologies for the long post. Cliffnotes: 29th November: Boiler died. Reported by phone. Two pensioners living at premises. 7th December: Boiler is obsolete hence difficult to find parts for. Head office decide to order part anyway (flue) even though engineer recommends a new boiler. Boiler failed due to initial botch job installation several years ago by same company but different engineer. Note: Current fault was caused by initial botch job boiler installation by same company whose original engineer cut the flue too short hence it collapsed. New engineer told me this is very dangerous. 19th December: Part will apparently be in stock on the 19th of December. Boiler is still very much dead.