ELDERLY and vulnerable people left without heating and hot water for more than three months say they have been given no guarantee of compensation.

The Dorset Echo reported how residents at Marchesi house in Southill were left in the cold after a boiler malfunction left them without hot water or heating for 15 weeks.

The 26 residents told how they had to boil kettles to wash their dishes and have baths in tepid water.

Distraught residents said they were at the end of their tether after 22 visits from workmen had failed to fix the problem.

Knightstone, the Somerset company that runs the house, apologised to residents and said that repairs would take place when the vital part arrived from Holland.

Resident Dave Mowlam, 62, said: “The hot water is now hot, whereas before it was tepid at best.

“You can have a decent bath now. It’s really good and the heating is up to scratch.

“I can’t describe how good it feels to have a hot bath.

“We will just have to hope it lasts.”

He added: “Residents are still frustrated and angry at how they have been treated.

“We are pleased that everything is up and running okay at the moment, but it’s certainly been a frustrating three months.

“Knightstone haven’t said anything about compensation or money back on our service charges.

“Anything we know about the so-called refund on charges is what was printed in the Echo.”

A spokesman for Knightstone said that residents would not incur charges for water and heating over the 15-week period.

They promised £25 off the cost of the electric bill, to refund the percentage of the £161 service charge for the electricity used over the 15 weeks since the boiler trouble began and £150 compensation.

But residents say they haven’t received confirmation of that promise.

Fellow resident Chris Percival, 65, said: “Everything is now working except the pen that signs the compensation cheque.

“I’m still angry. Knightstone slithered below the parapet and stayed there for 15 weeks.”

Norah Riley-Smith, a trustee for Age UK in Weymouth and Dorchester, said that she had been appalled by the report.

Mrs Riley-Smith, 67, suffers from a lung condition and had been considered eligible for a place at Marchesi House.

She went and looked around the building in August, after the trouble with the heating started.

She said: “I feel like I had a lucky escape. I was meant to go into the house, but my GP said that I would be better off where I was.

“What price is money over people’s health?”