She probably is telling the truth. The place I live in it’s normal to have hot water and heating one day, then it will go off for a few days or even weeks. Our block is full of families with kids there’s over 100 flats and the one boiler runs the whole estate.
it’s the same for my friend in a new build too, yeah the council will provide plug in electric heaters but my flat is like a town house within itself. They don’t hear anything. You can phone constantly but you’ll just hear the same advice. I don’t think she’s lying. I had a new born baby plus two other kids and had no heating or hot water for 2 weeks, until it was fixed.