heating not working offers of warm hugs welcome!

suzster
suzster Member Posts: 1,328
edited 3. Dec 2009, 07:15 in Community Chit-chat archive
my heating packed up on monday, long story but housing association have only given us 2 small fan heaters to keep us warm over the weekend as they can't fix it until monday. i've complained but got nowhere!
the weather here is damp and cold. the 2 fan heaters are doing very little because i cannot put them anywhere where they will help keep the house warm and that is out of sarahs reach, they are not the safest heaters in the world! also they are going to cost me a fortune to run, which like most people i really can't afford.
so any offers of warm hugs and blankets most welcome!
sue who is brrrrr cold!
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Comments

  • jaspercat
    jaspercat Member Posts: 1,238
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Suzster, I had the same problem with our housing association a while ago, I created a hell of a fuss, they cannot leave you without heat, do they know that you are disabled? I get round the problem now and pay out for British Gas to look after my boiler and radiators, I can't offer you any more advice, I wish that you lived near me I would have you here to stay.

    Sending lots of warm cyber hugs love Jaspercatxx
  • page35
    page35 Member Posts: 1,081
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi suzster
    i think all Housing **** must be a bit useless when it comes to repairing stuff :roll: do you still have hot water?
    have you checked your tenants book/agrement to see how long they can leave you without heating/hot water?
    although they will say you have heating cos they gave you the fans :roll:
    i hope the weekend isnt to cold where you are
    sending warm hugs :D
    page
  • skezier
    skezier Member Posts: 11,333
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Sue,

    Oh that's not fair and I hope its warming up for you there? Fan heaters are expensive and they also can be not too good or effective. I hope Monday comes and they d come and do the repairs.

    Luv warm hugs and a ton of blankets and duvets Cris x
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I am cold at home, with my wooly jumper on. OH has given me a Baileys to warm me up!
    My very first home had no heating,my daughter was new born (December 1985),ice on the inside of the windows.I only had those electric plug in fires which warm up one area of the house and it cost me a fortune!I hope they are more cost effective nowadays
    So my heart goes out to you. It cant be nice for you or your little girls.
    Take care I feel really sorry for you all and hope it is fixed pronto!
    Best wishes
    Elizabeth
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    having no heating is classed as an emergency but yes i have fan heaters so as far as they're concerned i have heat! not toastie wram heat though!
    when i explained to the housing association that i have arthritis and i have a toddler she said and i quote "you are not the only disabled or vulnerable person with heating problems, the heating engineers can't mend your boiler until monday"
    what makes it worse is they only gave me the fan heaters yesterday. so from monday until late last night we had no heating at all. but yesterday was a nightmare, i rang the heating people at 8am (we have to contact the heating company direct to report heating problems) and said that the weather is getting really cold is there any way of getting my heating going temporally or loaning me some heaters? and she said we'll send someone out and if they can't get it going they'll leave you some heaters.

    but what actually happened was the engineers got here at 4.15pm, spent half hour fiddling with it, couldn't get it working so said they'd go and fetch some heaters and bring them back, but by 6.30pm they hadn't come back so i rang there office to be told they are probably busy on a job and if they haven't brought me the heaters by 8pm to call back. so 8pm, no heaters rang them back to be told "the engineers are stuck in london, i'll call them and see how long they'll be and then i'll ring you back" then 10 minutes later she rang me back and said "actually they haven't come back because we have no heaters left!" so i asked why no one told me that earlier as i could of tried to borrow some heaters from somewhere? she said she was very sorry but there was nothing she could do, i said (again) that i have arthritis which is badly affected by cold and i have a toddler, we need heat! "ring us 1st thing in the morning and hopefully they can find you someone will be able to help you then" at that point i burst into tears saying that they couldn't just leave us with no heat, it's was freezing last night. still, she couldn't help me so i said thanks alot for you help and put the phone down.
    then half hour later at 8.45pm she rang back and said they had some heaters and a engineer was on his way round with them, wow! i think she expected me to be grateful, i was but i was to upset and angry by then!
    well, an hour later 9,45pm, at which point i was snuggled under a blanket and my duvet! a man knocked on the door and gave us 2 brand new, still in there sealed packaging, fan heaters, so i guess they must have gone and bought them?!
    so that is why i'm so angry, upset and fed up, not forgetting cold!
    2 heaters haven't done much but hey at least i guess it's taken the chill out of the air, well in the rooms i've put them in!
    any way moan over! i've put a complaint in to the housing association, but i'm not expecting much, except a big electric bill!
    sue
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    What a miserable bunch you have to deal with! The lack of heating can effect your arthritis but I suppose they think you are making it up.
    You cant do anything about the bill as it is only for a few days and you must keep warm. You will have to play a few running about games to keep warm.
    Whatever happened to compassion?
    Best wishes
    Elizabeth
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Suzster
    Hope you are okay and coping with this cold spell.Lets hope they turn up to fix the heating tomorrow.
    all the best
    Elizabeth
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    thanks for thinking of us Elizabeth,
    we're ok, poor sarah has come down with a nasty chesty cough, she is really suffering poor thing.
    still not long until monday now. i hope they don't turn up late, they said anytime between 8am and 5.30pm, just my luck they turn up at 5pm!
    sue
  • debatat
    debatat Member Posts: 659
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I hope they come out early for you, if they haven't come by lunchtime, I would phone and check. You don't want them to run out of time to get to you!!

    Deb x
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Oh Sue
    I don't know how I missed your thread :shock:
    So very sorry...poor you and Little Sarah witha cold now too :(
    I will send you cyber blankets and also cyber hotwater bottles too :)
    I agree with Deb - give 'em some hassle girl!!!
    Love
    Toni x
  • trisher
    trisher Member Posts: 9,263
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Sue

    Sending these warm ones to you (((((((((hugs ))))))))))and electric blankets to warm the beds.

    Trisher xxx
  • jaspercat
    jaspercat Member Posts: 1,238
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Sue, just wishing you good luck for monday, I hope they turn up early and can fix your central heating, I would be tempted to not let the engineer leave your house until he fixes it, hope it is nothing too major love Jaspercatxx
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    thank you everyone, it really is so nice that you are all thinking of us.
    unfortunately poor sarah is really quite poorly now. she has been up since about 5,30am with a dry sounding cough. so we are all tired! ellie has gone to school and daev has gone to work so it's just me and sarah here with the fan heaters on!
    i will be ringing the heating people, but i'm yet again annoyed with the housing association, they asked me if i'd prefer a morning or afternoon appointment and because ellie gets a lift to school but i pick her up, i said morning, the housing lady said ok, if they can't do monday morning i'll ring you back, she didn't but when i spoike to the heating people they said they couldn't specify morning or afternoon, it would just be an all day thing, when they get here they get here! so i've had to tell ellie if i'm not at school she's to walk home, she has done before but i know she would rather not as she worries about the older senior school children that hong aropund, but i have none who can get her for me. i'm really hoping they come to do my heating asap!

    although the fan heaters warm up the house quite well, i think i'm just cold and need the all over heat that central heating gives, rather than the localised heat of the fans, if that makes sense?!

    well i better go start on the washing up, forgot to turn the immersion heater on last night so had no hot water! the immersion makes the water far to hot but needs must!!
    thanks again for all your thoughts and support, hopefully in a few hours the cold will of been banished by the central heating, i can't wait!!
    sue
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    As long as they turn up before evening because that is when it turns cold. Yes I was thinking of you, with arthritis and little children(not concerned about the men!). We lost our heating a few months back. It was horrible without a shower so we went to the OH mums house and borrowed hers. OH dad is a builder so has contacts in all the necessary trades so it was fixed pretty quick....after I had managed to get the OH to call his dad
    E
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    heating man is here! yay!
    sue
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    my heating is fixed, i can get dressed soon because hopefully now my clothes will dry!
    and no excuses to not wash up now, couldn't do it earlier because even though the immersion had been on, by the time everyone had washed and i'd done half the washing up there was no hot water left!
    it takes ages to warm up again so i was waiting for it to when the heating man turned up.
    it took him exactly 20 mins to fix it, which considering the reason no one could do it last thursday or friday was because they needed a 2 - 3 hour appointment to get the part fitted. yer right!
    makes me so angry.
    oh well, it's done now.
    sue
  • Wonkylegs
    Wonkylegs Member Posts: 3,504
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    glad you got it sorted and can now dry out and warm up.

    enjoy!!
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hooray!
    And your little girl wont have to walk home alone either. I bet she is worrying about it all day....she will be so pleased to see you.
    Have a good day
    Best wishes
    Elizabeth.
    Ps I suppose we can be grateful it didnt happen over Christmas.
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • page35
    page35 Member Posts: 1,081
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Suzster
    Glad the man fixed it.
    its nice to be warm
    hope sarah feels better soon
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    hmm, begining to think i spoke to soon!
    the hot water doesn't seem to be working and he must of fiddled with the dial on the thermostat because the dial bit has fallen off and i can't get it back on. oh, i should of known it was to good to be true!
    sue
  • skezier
    skezier Member Posts: 11,333
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Sue,

    Have you got the heat at all working? I would call them again and get them to come and do it properly asap. I wish I could help you. Luv Cris x
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    i think it might be working, i'm leaving it to see if the water gets hot now.
    but i can't tell what temp the thermostat is at because the dial bit won't stay on.
    just to top it i went to get some milk out the fridge and someone opened the milk, a 4 pint plastic one, but instead of standing it in the door they laid it down and it has spilt all over the shelf, i wish i could just get back into bed now!
    sarah was awake coughing at 5.30am, so i'm pretty tired!
    my hubby was moaning that i was tossing and turning all night, but that was because he was coughing and snoring!! but of course he didn't hear that! oh it's a great day!
    sue (who is crossing her fingers the water warms up!)
  • jaspercat
    jaspercat Member Posts: 1,238
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Suzster, I was going to say that I am glad that the heating is ok, but then I read about the hot water, get onto them and demand they put it right, if not tell them that you will get someone to fix it and send them the bill, this usually gets them moving love Jaspercatxx
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    He might have turned the thermostat down when fixing the heating
    Elizabeth
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    it's officially not working, no heat and no hot water. we put the thermostat up full but still nothing.
    waiting for heating people to call me back, so they'll either come out tonight or tomorrow.
    sue