By Tilly Walder
A Cowes pensioner is wrapping up warm and bracing for a cold winter, after being stranded with a broken heating system.
Seventy-eight year old Richard Beasley was approved for a Warma UK heat pump last November, as a part of the IW Council’s Warmer Homes initiative. What was promised to be two days of work took place in early May, and ended up taking more than two weeks. The first of the plethora of issues arose when the water cylinder supplied was far too large for his two-bedroom bungalow. One of the fitters told Mr Beasley that it was of a size actually suitable for a five-bedroom/three-bathroom house.
This cylinder was replaced with a slightly smaller, yet less than ideal, one by Warma UK. Whilst installing the second cylinder in the loft, workers broke the loft ladder, which they claimed was a ‘total write off’, but advised him Warma UK would replace it.
More problems occurred when a visit from an electrician uncovered that the water cylinder had been damaged, and a new part was needed, as well as the new ladder.
After a few weeks, having heard nothing further, Mr Beasley initiated several phone calls with Warma UK employee, Jack Millar, where he received numerous assurances that all would be rectified. During this time the heater was constantly on, and acting erratically, so erring on the side of caution, he turned it off.
Empty promises remained just that, as the electrician failed to resolve the issues, and Jack began ignoring Mr Beasley’s (and now the IW Observer’s) calls.
Mr Beasely is 78 years old, suffers from chronic anxiety, and, since mid-May, has been unable to access his loft. Since the beginning of May, the side path to his home has been filled with the packaging, pipe insulation and other debris, which he was told would be removed.
He claimed: “No-one from Warma UK seems to want to know, or even talk to me. And now I’m staring at the dark reality of facing winter without heating.”
The IW Observer contacted West Wight MP, Richard Quigley, who has written to Warma UK on behalf of Mr Beasley asking for the situation to be rectified.
Mr Quigley commented: “I had a good call with Mr Beasley. He was rightly upset; no-one should be left in a situation like that. Following the call, I wrote to Warma UK to see if we can get this resolved. They have a good reputation nationally, and I realise this may be partly down to poor communication. So I have asked Warma UK to respond in writing, and to provide a timescale detailing how they will rectify the matter to Mr Beasley’s satisfaction. I’ll give him a call to update him when I get a response from Warma UK.”
Mr Beasley concluded: “I’m just hopeful that Richard Quigley can move things on for me; I’m getting to my wits end.”
Warma UK has been contacted three times by the IW Observer for comment, with no response by the time we went to press last night (Thursday).
Carole Dennett 
Mal Butler