麻豆社

Cavity Wall Insulation can be a great way to keep your house warm. But when it鈥檚 put in the wrong house, it can cause rot, damp and even structural problems.

It鈥檚 a problem X-Ray鈥檚 been reporting on since 2009. Again and again companies 鈥� backed by government grants 鈥� have been fitting the insulation into houses which are unsuitable 鈥� often because they are in exposed positions.

Now a Newport pensioner Pauline Saunders has set up a nationwide campaign 鈥� Civalli 鈥� to fight for victims.

She says installation companies are slow to put problems right and that the industry-funded guarantee organisation Ciga is also slow to put problems right.

Pauline 鈥� who is helping 600 victims of CWI to fight for justice said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 getting tougher and tougher to get money out of them. At a push, you can get them to remove the insulation but the biggest cost actually is the damage to the inside the property.鈥�

Pauline has met with MPs and visited Parliament in her campaign to get an independent Ombudsman for the industry.

One of the people she is helping is Heather Symonds, from also from Newport. She had CWI installed in 2003. Her house is now full of cracks because the wall ties in the cavities have rusted away.

Heather said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e had water come through the walls. The render falls off, the plaster falls off. We have to keep re-rendering, re-plastering.鈥�

A report carried out by a member of Ciga鈥檚 staff said the structural problems at the house were not caused by CWI and blamed other factors 鈥� including vibrations from the nearby railway. They suggested that Network Rail could pay some of the costs.

But when X-Ray brought in surveyor and expert witness Tim Davies he described that argument as 鈥渞idiculous鈥�.

鈥淚鈥檝e got no doubt what鈥檚 so ever in my mind that this insulation is the root of all the problems that the property owners have here,鈥� he said.

Ciga say problems with CWI is very rare 鈥� just two cases in 1,000 and say they provide an effective service to the few consumers who do have problems. They have now commissioned independent engineers to look at Heather鈥檚 house and will put right any problems directly caused by CWI 鈥� up to a maximum of 拢20,000.

If you are having problems with damp after having CWI installed Pauline says you shouldn鈥檛 be put off听 if you are told by the insulation company or by Ciga that CWI is not the cause of the problems 鈥� seek independent expert advice.

She also urges customers to keep all paperwork and correspondence, as well as a note of all phone calls. The website of her campaign group, Cavity Wall Insulation Victims Alliance (Civalli) can be found here:

Victims should also contact Ciga:

• 听听One of the biggest 鈥� and most controversial 鈥� CWI Installation companies The Mark Group went into administration on 7 October听 2015. Anyone who is having problems with CWI installed by Mark Group should contact Ciga. They have assured X-Ray that they will be able to cope with any increase in caseload caused by the collapse of the group.

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Now to the confusion over a lifetime guarantee provided by one laser eye surgery company.

Ultralase offered a life-time care guarantee to patients having the surgery.

Joseph Gilles, from Tylerstown near Pontypridd, had the surgery five years ago and couldn't wait to throw away the glasses he'd worn since he was a child.

Joseph said: 鈥淕lasses have always kind of knocked my self-confidence. I've never liked the way I look in them.鈥�

The newly-qualified teacher spent nearly 拢1800 on the treatment, but thought it was money well spent

He said: 鈥淚 was so blown away by what they offered with the lifetime guarantee that I decided straight after the consultation that I was going to go with them.鈥�

The results were everything he hoped for.

Joseph said he had 鈥渁bsolutely perfect eyesight. No trouble seeing anything.鈥�

But earlier this year, while driving, Joseph realised his eyesight was getting worse

鈥淚 had to get closer and closer to the signs and now I almost have to be right next door to the sign in order to read what it is saying.鈥�

Joseph thought the guarantee would cover any new surgery he needed. But when he called Ultralase, he was told her the old company was gone, and the new company now running the business听wouldn鈥檛 honour the guarantee.

The issue of Ultralase lifetime guarantees isn鈥檛 a new one to X-ray.

In March 2014, Kayleigh Bennett from Merthyr Tydfil told us how she'd been refused her free aftercare by Ultralase when her eyesight worsened.

At the time Russell Ambrose, who'd bought out Ultralase, apologised for the confusion and promised that lifetime guarantees were still valid.

It seemed like a good result. To find out what had gone wrong in Joseph's case,听X-ray researchers called Ultralase posing as former patients with newly developed sight problems.

We made three calls and every time we were initially told that 听Ultralase wouldn't honour the lifetime guarantee. It was only when we asked to speak to a manager that we got a different result.

X-ray contacted the new owners听Ultralase to ask them to explain what was going on. They insisted that the promise they made on X-ray last year, to honour lifetime guarantees, still stood.

But they admitted that some patients had been given incorrect information by staff at their call centre. They've apologised and say they've now carried out extra training to address this.听