Is energysavingtrust.org.uk Legit?

When you actually try to draw down your EST loan from HES there is always some excuse, 'documents weren't received' (even though you have an email to say they have received), 'you need to send us another declaration'. Everyone from HES ,I have talked to has worked from home. They do not seem to know much of why documents go missing!

I'm interested in one of the NISEP schemes listed on the EST's website. The documentation says contact the scheme manager for further details. So I contacted the company listed as the scheme manager, twice by email over several weeks with no response, and then called them to be told they weren't involved in that sort of work (ASHP's) and couldn't help or advise who could. On the EST website, under NISEP, they say if you want to discuss NISEP schemes to contact the Northern Ireland Energy Advice Service, so I called them and they told me they only deal with housing executive properties and couldn't help and didn't know who could help.So I called the EST number for Belfast, and I get an automated message with no option to speak to a person. That message tells me to call the Energy Advice Service for NISEP queries. As above they already told me they couldn't help.So I submitted an enquiry via the form on the EST website...and after a week I haven't had so much as an acknowledgement.

Home Energy Scotland is the Scottish arm of Energy Savings Trust. They were really clear, good information, really helpful advisors administering a good scheme to help us make our houses warmer and beat climate change. The grant paid for 75% of my underfloor and loft insulation. I'm applying for a grant for EWI next. I would have given 5 stars but I was reimbursed 3 weeks later than was first stated. The application website is a bit clunky too.

Excellent customer support staff able and willing to provide help online and on the phone. I've docked one star as the new online Portal was not user friendly but hopefully feedback provided will be acted on to improve it for future applicants. The Home Energy Scotland loan and grant scheme is excellent and I'm sure I'll notice a significant saving in my heating cost and comfort next Winter - thank you.

Deborah Gilbeert from this company contacted me and I don’t think I’ve ever interacted with a kinder more understanding and compassionate human being. There’s not many people who hold those qualities in this world anymore. Great advice and very helpful make life so much easier with people like Deb

Last review removed?Difficult, stressful process and still waiting on money. Website keep giving error message 'funding portal says....' site hangs and you lose info. When Loan is agreed they ask you for further info. Why not ask all at one time?When finally all is agreed the money isn't forwarded in the specified 10 days to buy the kitYou have to push back installation dates. Had to outlay a lot money to get ASHP ready. If there is so much problem with cash flow within EST why do they force people to take Both Solar and ASHP?I was marginally better taking Gas but that would have meant I couldn't go for Solar grant and Loan. Further I don't understand how people on the ECO4 grant didn't seem to have any problems getting the Grant and Loan timely. Does their installer do all the paperwork and chasing the monies?

I have never dealt with a more frustrating or useless organisation. Endless circular paperwork and phonecalls, huge delays of months in getting funding through. The website is completely useless and needlessly overcomplicated. Key information isn't given to you until you phone up to ask why nothing is happening. Documents are regularly lost and need to be re-sent over and over again.

The payment has not been made within the promised timeline and they cannot tell me when it will be made. I've been waiting months now. I have had to pay the supplier for installation and now I cannot pay my other bills.Despite confirming they have everything they need from me repeatedly (and occassionally requesting that I resend them information because they lost it or it wasn't visible because it was on another system). Eventually they promised me an urgent payment would be made and to call within a couple of days if not received. It wasn't received and when I called again they said there would be no payments this week, perhaps there would be some time next week but they couldn't confirm which day and so it could be up to another 10days waiting. Who knows when or if this payment will ever turn up and it is causing me significant financial problems now!!APP-000002441

The process was fairly simple and the support team were very helpful. I communicated with the team via email and phone and they were all really polite, well informed and always responded to queries in good time. The only thing I would have liked when I started the process was a flowchart telling me how to start the process and outliniing the steps and decisions along the process.

I applied and received a grant for loft insulation. The online application and claim processes were reasonably straight forward but still room for some improvement. The time taken for each stage of the application was within the stated time frame so all good there! The people I spoke to were always extremely nice and did their best to help. However, the system seems to break down slightly when you need to speak to a specific department or person and the promised follow up calls / emails never happen.

Today I had the pleasure of a telephone call from a young lady Emma Francomb, her patience ,in guiding us through the remainder of the loan application can only be described as a saintly! my sanity, my bank managers sanity ,& my wife are now at a normal level ,thankyou Emma ! this woman deserves recognition for her tenacity & patience for helping /guiding a couple of old codgers through the emails and computer replies ,my sincere thanks , J.kelly

Been months just trying to have EV application processed , this AFTER Loan been agreed. Incompetent. Never reply to email or phone calls. Have lost opportunity to purchase two vehicles now due their inability to deliver their own process. Something needs done if this Scheme is to work and prove useful. Absolute joke 😡

Amazing team who helped us through some issues that enabled us to install a brilliant ASHP & UFH. Whoever says these are poor then they haven't done their homework and/or haven't employed the right contractor. The loan gave us that extra helping hand which made the decision so much easier.

Living on a Scottish island I accept things can take a bit longer than normal. My grant application and payments claims went smoothly due to the excellent customer service support I received from Julia Munro at Hi.HomeEnergyScotland. The ASHP installation went as planed and I am happy with the end results, a greener warmer home. I would recommend this service to family and friends.

EST Loan Application for Solar PV. 50 days after applying for loan I am still awaiting payment. Email on 5 October advising resolution within 10 working days. 17 working days later still no funds or communication. No responses to emails and unable to speak to an advisor as calls are triaged elsewhere. Understaffed? Disinterested? Who knows.Edit 1 Nov - The power of Trustpilot! Payment made yesterday. Issue resolved

The entire process with EST was clear and well explained. Filling the forms was straight forward with the instructions. Processing times were longer than originally stated, but it was easily justified by the huge number of applications they are dealing with. Very good service throughout.

Our new air-source heat pump was installed mid-June. The support we got from the call-handling team in making the claim pre-installation was excellent, the staff at NE Scotland were on top of their brief and explained everything clearly. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for our calls to be answered. We received the pre-installation loan on time (50% of the full amount) but it then took almost 8 weeks to receive the final balance. Our case file seemed to have got 'parked' after we went on holiday, and perhaps the holiday period meant less staff. The third call handler finally got it sorted for us and within the indicated time of 10 working days, the rest of the money went onto our account. All in all, we had a good experience and have already recommended EST to friends etc

We recently had new Air Source Heat Pump Heating installed at our house. Really impressed with the performance of the Vaillant ASHP as well as the savings we are making by not using our previous storage heaters. The Energy Saving Trust have been great to deal with, without their support and funding options we probably would not have proceeded. A really positive experience all round. Greenflame from Grantown on Spey were fantastic and the workmanship was excellent.

They work at snail's pace and think the money they are loaning out belongs to them. Deliberately complicated process in order to stall payment. Staff are rude and do not answer emails, nobody ever picks up the phone.The EV loan was not sorted within 3 months, lost out on numerous cars, so in the end got a loan from the bank in a day. No dealer is prepared to wait for a bunch of administative sloths.

We have contacted HES at least five times over the last four weeks with no luck,each time the call was answered by a third party who take our details, why we are calling, then tell us HES is very busy but will get back to us, which they haven’t. The third party also advise to email HES which we have also done with no luck.