A MUM-of-three was not able to bathe her week-old newborn baby after a housing company failed to fix her broken boiler, leaving her with no heating or hot water.
The 38-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, first started experiencing issues more than a month ago at her home on Blakehill Drive in Great Sankey.
The property, which she rents from Onward Homes, was attended by an engineer for a service five weeks ago and since then the problems have arisen, she explained.
“They did a service on the boiler, and it caused a massive block. I had no boiler for four weeks before giving birth.
“Another man came out and began changing the heating components. He came out at half 12 and did not leave until half six. He has taken parts off the boiler. He caused a massive block, and he was halfway out the door before saying he had switched the boiler off.”
Also mum to a two and 14-year-old, the resident has been in an ongoing battle with PH Jones, the repair service contracted by Onward Homes, as well as the affordable homes company to get this fixed for weeks.
She spoke of being distraught by the fact she could not even bath her newborn baby due to the issue not being resolved.
“Its completely depressing. When you have just had a baby, it is a vital time. They won’t do anything, and my poor baby has not had a bath yet.
“I have asked if they could put me up in a hotel until it is fixed but they said I do not meet the criteria for it. They know I have just had a baby.”
The desperate mum has contacted both companies daily in a bid to have an engineer come out and fix the boiler, but she described how each time someone was sent, there was another reason why it could not be fixed that day.
“One gas man came in and took the front off the boiler and said, ‘this is a massive job’. He said he needed more parts. It has still not been fixed and no one wants to come and do it because it will take so long,” she added.
Onward Homes contacted the resident to offer a £40 compensation gesture for the absence of heating and hot water in her home. A representative from the company said to her that due to it being in the summer months, the heating was not a necessity anyway.
In a further phone call, she was advised to wash in the sink.
“We get absolutely nowhere with PH Jones or Onwards Homes; they won’t do anything.
“I have never missed my rent; I pay it on time every month. I don’t think it is right to do this to families with children,” she stated.
Since contacting the Warrington Guardian about the issue and making several complaints to Environmental Health, Onward Homes organised for the repairs on the boiler to be fixed for the resident this week on Tuesday.
A representative of PH Jones said: “We’ve fully resolved this and have restored her heating and hot water.
“This was a complicated repair due to damage resulting from a water leak within the boiler which required the replacement of multiple parts.”
A spokesperson for Onward Homes added: “We appreciate that this has been a distressing time for our customer and are very sorry for this. We carried out repairs previously but clearly the issue has returned.
“We visited the customer’s home yesterday (4th June) to establish what additional works needed to be carried out to put this right and these have now been completed.
“We will ensure that the customer is satisfied with the work we have carried out and check if they need any extra support from us.”
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