Horrendous very expensive experience
This has been a very disappointing and expensive experience. Our heating system got a WeHeat Blackbird heatpump added on the recommendation of BeGood.nl two months ago. The heatpump was supposed to be installed in hybrid mode with a gas boiler. This was supposed to keep the house warm while using less energy. Unfortuntaly, none of this has happened. Since the pump was installed, the heating system has not been producing enough heat and as winter progresses it's getting next to impossible to get the house warmer than 17-18 degrees, depending on the floor/room and time of day. In the mean time, the pump is running constantly (which is not supposed to do) and more than tripling the electricity usage. Yes, gas use is also three times less but only because we can't use it for heating as the system has been configured poorly and the gas does not kick in. If it did, we would have a 3x electricity bill and a somewhat reduced gas bill and a lukewarm house. So all in all, a lot of complication and cost for very little return. It's possible that the issues can be addressed since I have noticed that the water flow has not been calibrated correctly, the thermostat has not been wired correctly and some elements of the heating system may need adjustment before the pump works optimally. But BeGood is not going to help us find out and WeHeat is not interested either. Both parties seemed eager to sell their product and "plug it in" without much concern for what happens after. They sell you on the back of the reduced "gas bill" and the subsidy refund (which is clearly priced into their margins). They are cheerful and polite and the installation was done neatly. But what good is any of that if you end up with :
- a cold house
- a gas boiler, radiators, underfloor heating and heatpump installation equipment that is not being used to heat the house
- a meaningless guarantee as the installers are nowhere to be found once the "installation" is completed
- an unresponsive manufacturer with zero information on how to calibrate/adjust/install the system to make it work. All they can offer is marketing hype about what a nice heatpump they have made.
All in all huge scam by both the manufacturer of the Blackbird Heatpump (WeHeat.nl) and the installers (BeGood.nl) fueled by the subsidies which have not put the onus on manufacturers and installers to do a good job. They are only being incentivized to put their prices up by the amount of the subsidy and dump their product on the consumer. Whether it works or not, whether maintenance is feasible or not, whether guarantee promises are upheld or not.
1 October 2024
Unprompted review