Opinion on this "electrician" ??

bubbles65

You were NOT cleaning the muck off it.........you were checking up on him. And - as such a smart ar*e - you would have reported him to get him sacked if his work had been below accepted standards....people like you make me laugh ......world expert in everything no doubt:mad:

scot-canuck

@ bubbles
Typical attitude, "oh god some criticism, lets try and make out we arent the ones to blame."

Doing both, cleaning and checking up on the work done, shame the council have no backbone and a useless contracts dept that didn't consider the need to get second opinions on work done rather than just signing off anything stuck in front of them. Wasn't trying to get him fired, was actually trying to get it rectified. If they had simply rectified the work, then I would have asked them to do some work in another premises, as it stands the work went elsewhere to a different company.

As it stands, I mentioned this to a few other electricians and everyone of them was of the opinion that the cable should have been replaced as "it costs pennies" and pushing it up takes about as long to do as replacing it.

For all who think I have had it in for this guy and his firm from the start. Every piece of his prior work was the mutts nuts, very tidy and neat; showed me what had been done etc and told me what was wrong with the original work. Was very impressed with it and made the council aware of such. This time I even said to the council, not sure if he just had an off day, but he didnt do as he said he would so could someone please come out and finish the job. Then I get the abusive phone call from his boss. The subject wasnt the issue, the problem was the language used and the attitude.

Comes as no surprise though, have noticed this habit of blame shifting generally in Britain, seems few "experts" on this site can accept that a fellow trades person made a mistake on a job and could have avoided this issue by simply completing the job as agreed rather than lying.

But then again theres hardly any point in writing this, as more will just spout off on a tangent rather than thinking

vaio

Small split in insulation in a sealed earthed (or plastic) enclosure. Not ideal but don’t really see a problem from a safety point of view

Inactive

scot-canuck wrote: »

But then again theres hardly any point in writing this, as more will just spout off on a tangent rather than thinking

I think perhaps you mean people will give you an honest opinion, it is unfortunate that it is not one that concurs with your take on things.
:rolleyes:

izzzzythedog

its 50/50 , the job wasnt done correctly and your attitude doesnt put you into a good light , ill explain , first the job was done badly , this gives you a right to seek it done correctly , correctly means you contact a couple of times then get another electricion in to do the job and bill the contractor for the work done , when they dont pay up you then sue , this was the correct recourse , moaning like a beach for time got you listed as a pita so hence they didnt want to know , its clear its within your means to have sorted out this simple wiring problem yourself so for this you have brought alot of this upon yourself , its right and correct to expect the job to be done to a correct standard , the route you took after this and even writing this thread indicates you can be a hard to keep happy , i think you need to chill a little , need to relax and not stress over the little things

jennynoo

Hi Scot, just wanted to let you know I'm with you on this. The guy maybe did have a bad day, we are all human. In a lot of industries they except a 10% error rate due to human errors even when people are trying their best -why can't people recognise this and provide for it? The council also have issues here, and should have dealt with the issue better.

hewhoisnotintheknow

i couldnt really understand the post

however i wish people would come and fix my stuff for free

baldelectrician

I would like to add my two penneth

The cable that was damaged was inside an earthed enclosure - only acessible by means of a tool or other appropriate device. You should not have been interfering with the applance in question. If it was that dangerous there you could have isolated the applaince at the adjacent switch. There are complaints procedures in place to deal with such matters
The NICIEC have things in place, and can arrange an independent contractor to check and provide a report / repair as required

Do you take the cover off your TV to hoover- it also builds up a lot of dust due to static?

Some electrical contractors see customer service as a side issue, they lack communication skills on occasion and are not used to dealing with customers who are always right (or sometimes think they are)

In my opinion you have not endeared yourself to any trades person who comes in (I'm not saying you should put up with shoddyness, but it is easy to get someones back up. It takes more effort to use the diplomatic approach. The diplomatic approach achieves swifter and results that are as good or better most of the time)

I have had customers complain about me refusing to connect up a new wall light to replace an existing metal one. There was no earth present, so it would have been unsafe to re-connect an existing or install a new metal light. Sometimes the electrician may not tell you what you want to hear, but he / she could be acting in your best interest.

scot-canuck

actually I was polite, I went through the proper channels (the council) to report the work had not been done and could they send the electrician back out to rectify the problem and complete the works as agreed. Right after that is when I got the company boss shouting and swearing down the phone at me, denying there was any agreement to replace cable etc.
Then when I ask the council for another sparky to provide a second opinion they tell me that their contract doesnt allow them to call out another electrician to give an opinion and none of their staff are qualified to assess electrical works.

Lastly, the cover was decorative, the elements etc are below another cover, the manual for the radiator clearly mentioned that it was advised to remove the cover and remove any dust from the upper damper.

But I think I am going to leave this post here, some useful opinions, however too many from those who didn't read the article or took it as an assault on their trade. Frankly this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, when all I wanted was a rational set of replies, instead I get a few rational replies and a flame war. So plenty of other sites, many where other posters actually have manners

scot-canuck

baldelectrician wrote: »

Do you take the cover off your TV to hoover- it also builds up a lot of dust due to static?

In my opinion you have not endeared yourself to any trades person who comes in (I'm not saying you should put up with shoddyness, but it is easy to get someones back up. It takes more effort to use the diplomatic approach. The diplomatic approach achieves swifter and results that are as good or better most of the time)

1) yes I have done as I am a TRAINED IT technician so I am used to working round high voltages (for example all in one CRT apple Imac where it has to be dismantled to replace things like hard drives which are right beside the capacitors for the monitor.

2) I was polite, every other trades person I have had in (which would be about 4 or 5 different trades) I have gotten on perfectly well with. Electrician I had gotten on well with before then apart from his attitude of "oh god do I have to work? can I not just collect my fee and go home" which would explain his actions. I actually sent messages praising his prior work, and told his boss when he came out that "aall his other work has been damned good, all his other work has been neat tidy and done on time and he cleared up after himself, maybe he had an off day?"
but as usual I just get excuse after excuse after excuse. <sarcasm> so sorry for making someone do their damned job </sarcasm>

I was being nice but to hell with it. Most of the people who have commented here are typical of the dumb redneck trades people who cause other people to get hurt with their damned corner cutting and covering up of screw ups. Who dont like being told their wrong, cant accept criticism, and frankly dont want to work (that last point being reinforced by experiences by european and north american colleagues of mine who have all said that british tradespeople have a bad name as they either - dont show up, turn up drunk or on drugs, do poor quality work, or make mistakes and wont own up to them.)

Then again another example of the entitlement culture that has pervaded Britain today. I might be more impressed with electricians generally if more of them actually obeyed regulations and routed and secured cables as per the regs instead of laying them whereever and however as long as its quick (throwing them along floors loose, dumping !!!! like bricks all over them etc, another idea try cleaning up after themselves - not leaving underneath of floors full of crap, bits of cable laying everywhere, doesnt take long to pick up after yourself, again another example of whats wrong with peoples attitude, no standard of work, all get in, out, max profit and deny everything if anything goes wrong.

I have seen some damned good work done by various trades, sadly its the cocky cack handers who give everyone else a bad name.

Frankly this site is a waste of time, some good advice but generally drowned out by people talking out of a certain orifice.