some advice about council if you can please :(

[dieselboy]

hope someone might be able to give some advice?!

we are council tennants, and try our best to keep the property looking nice, as we are proud of our home. new carpets, new paint etc etc.

there was something not right with our boiler, and the council came to look. he said he needed to replace the part and will order it and get back to us. this was 3 WEEKS ago!

under new regulations they have to put two air vents from the kitchen to the outside... the boiler is in a cuboard in the middle of the house
my mum has arthiritis and cannot stand the cold, and during winter the heating bills shot up because of these two massive holes they put in the wall called air vents.
we have a CO detector in the cuboard, and when my mum was living there on her own she covered up the top vent as it was un bearable.

this air vent is a 5" hole to the outside, with a plastic grill on either end like you would see in your bathroom..

so we understand we cant conver these up and said we wont.
so they came back today to fix the boiler, and my mum asked them to wear the overshoes we have provided to stop our cream carpet getting dirty. the engineer got the hump but eventually wore them,
but when he came back in from the van he never put them back on again and carried on working - he had them on for about 5 mins.
my mum spoke to the other engineer and asked what the problem was, and they both had a chat and then refused to do any work.

what the hell do i do now? the contractor company has passed it back to sutton council and when i got through to someone there i was told all sorts of lies about what was going on...

these people are very un proffesional, and their manager is just the same.
they were even making fun of me when i called joking about it in the back ground...

i have tried to get hold of our local mp... and i have wrote an email in with pictures of damage this company cause every time they come round ours to do something (see pics!)
they pulled a metal strip off the wall and left that like that months and months ago.

they take advantage because my mum is on her own. im going to have to take time off work every time they come round...
i was meant to call in the council office to try and speak to their head person again but they closed at 5

[Sancho]

Lovely tidy job they've done there Tony.... Go on the Council website, find out who the Councillors for your Ward are and send them emails with pictures. Tell them your mum is vulnerable, give the details of times, numbers of visits etc etc and they'll kick up a great big fuss.

I do some work for Councils on occasions and everybody shits their pants when the Councillors start asking questions.

[dieselboy]

Lovely tidy job they've done there Tony.... Go on the Council website, find out who the Councillors for your Ward are and send them emails with pictures. Tell them your mum is vulnerable, give the details of times, numbers of visits etc etc and they'll kick up a great big fuss.

I do some work for Councils on occasions and everybody shits their pants when the Councillors start asking questions.

whos a councillor and whats their job?
thanks for your reply, you can see the state they have left the place in.
i will google!!

edit: is the councillor the local MP? he has just been in the guardian for obtaining peoples details (names addresses etc etc) from a petition, to enter into his own database and send out letters etc
his name is tom brake.. ive still sent him a message.

[da SLUG man]

no, the councillor isn't the MP... they're the person you voted for on the local council elections.

the area is split into smaller areas called wards... you have a councillor in charge of each one... then the MP represents them in the house of commons... in theory!

no joy off the councillor, then try the MP.

[Sancho]

No, a Councillor is your democratically elected representative running the Council. The MP represents you in national Government, the Councillor represents you in local Government. They are vote-hungry, especially in a politically marginal area like Sutton, so will do what they can to win more votes (like kicking some poor Housing Officer's arse). They are probably more likely to get a quick result than an MP.

To find yours, use this page:

http://sutton.moderngov.co.uk/mgFindCouncillor.asp?J=1

[da SLUG man]

if your area's anything like mine, they use historic names for the wards... i have no idea where i am!

[Gizmo]

Not read any of the links but see if there is anything here to help

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndC...omes/index.htm

or here
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndC...ng/DG_10020864

[Mitsy]

My hubby works for the council and would never leave a mess like that. You pay your rent , they have to finish the work. If you dont get any joy the council always cower down to your local mp,s ect. Give them a call and i bet they will be there within the week to finish the work. Thats the only way you will beat them.

[soramad]

just to refer to the boiler, how old is it because modern boilers do'nt require the high and low air holes any more, they draw the air in via the outside chamber of the chimney and expel the fumes via the inner exhaust, i'm sure a plumber on here will put us all right.

[blackpoolsparks]

An alternative or in addition to contacting your councilor would be to contact any trade body organisation that the contractor may belong to.
It will be listed in their yellow pages advert.
Also you may want to contact the contractor themselves, if they're a medium / large firm, chances are you got a couple of knuckleheads and their boss would be glad of the feedback regarding their poor behavior.
Its very difficult to get on the council's contract list,....

I'm Fuming

hell, call the local newspaper, it might be a slow news day and they might be interested.
Basically cause a fuss...... dont give up and expose these cowboys for who they are.

[MattF]

Your first port of call should be the local Council Offices. Go in and be amicable to start, and if they try to fob you off, then just use the same Hitler'esque attitude that they will probably be using. If that leads nowhere, (and make sure to mention to them that you will be taking it further and higher, if needs be), then start going higher up the chain.

[dieselboy]

No, a Councillor is your democratically elected representative running the Council. The MP represents you in national Government, the Councillor represents you in local Government. They are vote-hungry, especially in a politically marginal area like Sutton, so will do what they can to win more votes (like kicking some poor Housing Officer's arse). They are probably more likely to get a quick result than an MP.

To find yours, use this page:

http://sutton.moderngov.co.uk/mgFindCouncillor.asp?J=1

how the hell did you find that? ive been looking with a colleage loads through google for numbers..
p.s. didnt even know there was a south carshalton :/

thanks for all your posts, ive only read up to this one so will reply to all. you are all great helps! thanks!

[dieselboy]

My hubby works for the council and would never leave a mess like that. You pay your rent , they have to finish the work. If you dont get any joy the council always cower down to your local mp,s ect. Give them a call and i bet they will be there within the week to finish the work. Thats the only way you will beat them.

also our tenancy agreement states if their contractors are not suited for the job, we can get our own and bill the council... we dont want to do this out our own pocket as we probably wont get the money back!

[blackpoolsparks]

also our tenancy agreement states if their contractors are not suited for the job, we can get our own and bill the council... we dont want to do this out our own pocket as we probably wont get the money back!

Definetly, do not do that.
The term "not suited for the job" can be interpeted in many differnt ways. It can simply mean that they are CORGI registered.

[dieselboy]

just to refer to the boiler, how old is it because modern boilers do'nt require the high and low air holes any more, they draw the air in via the outside chamber of the chimney and expel the fumes via the inner exhaust, i'm sure a plumber on here will put us all right.

your correct. its so old we have been told to have these vents put in to let air in the house to feed the boiler. and freezing the house in the winter! there is a hatch from the kitchen to the front room, so the whole downstairs is cold in winter... its stupid.

every time someone comes out to look at the boiler they tell us its not burning right, and then the do something to make it burn right,,
cant you tell what its doing by the colour of the flame?
but the council have ran out of money.

my friend is council as well, his mum dad moved in their house and it had an electric shower. this broke, and the council said were not fixing it cos we have ran out of money. and like us they have completely decorated their house as well. new carpet throughout, wallpaper, paint, tiles the lot. they look after their house like we do ours.