Boilers etc from Govt "Energy-smart" scheme - any experience?

[Lobster]

Hi

I'm probably going to buy a new boiler via

the government's energy saving initiative wotsit - I can get a Worcester-Bosch Greenstar 24i Junior for 711 GBP including VAT and flue, which seems the best price I can find anywhere.

They also sell heating controls at good prices (Danfoss and Honeywell). However, all they put out is a pricelist, and for the Honeywell kit it's extremely vague which models they are selling - phone then up and they claim to have no more information. I wondered if anybody else has dealt with them and knows any more about it? I'd like to be able to make an informed choice (otherwise I'll just have to buy the controls elsewhere.

Items which I'm interested in are described as follows: Honeywell 24H Progg R Therm/s (32.32 GBP + VAT) Honeywell 230V Room stat (5.98) Honeywell Digital Room stat (13.99) Honeywell 7 day prog therm OP stat) (34.00)

(As an aside... householders are supposed to order this kit via a CORGI... given that this means the CORGI would loses a large chunk of profit by not being able to mark up materials, I'm curious to know how many CORGIs are willing to take on this scheme, and how effective it is therefore? How do the above prices compare with a decent trade price to a CORGI?)

Thanks David

[John]

I'm presuming that this link gives the same info:

CORGI guy got our Alpha CD32C and associated equipment through this scheme and he's not one of these guys who gets materials at trade prices then charges the customer retail - the price he gets it for is the price you pay and that's it.

When we were getting prices for a complete new system, we toyed with the idea of buying all the materials (possibly on the Internet, maybe locally, depending on price) and just getting a CORGI to do all the work. When we asked him about this he said not to buy on the 'net but we could use his account at the plumbers merchants as he would only charge us what he is charged.

When a good craftsman can charge a handsome amount of money for his skills, there's no need to add more money on by marking up materials and I'm surprised that anyone still does this and gets away with it. For instance, there are no "true" electrical wholesalers anymore (round here, anyway). A friend of mine used to have to take his union card (or other proof of being an electrician) in before getting trade discount - now any member of Joe Public can go in. And places like Screwfix and TLC-Direct negate the "trade discount" as well.

John.

[John Stumbles]

registered for their Italian subsidiary ;-)

[John Stumbles]

I paid £705.59 inc flue & VAT for my last Greenstar 24i Junior from Graham's on the gov't boiler scheme. That was including the slightly more expensive Condensfit telescopic flue with the ugly black angle-able flue outlet.

That's the best price I can get. I only fit a few boilers a year: maybe if I fitted a few a month I might get a slightly better price.