Electrical Letter Scam?

DitaBombita

Hello - Thought id ask your advice as to this letter rec today. I live in a flat in a block part private rented part owned. Unsolicitored Letter rec today from a local electric company in Halifax stating they -

"had been doing work on the estate and found out that Mr *& Mrs ****** at 35 ****** their electrical central heating had a charred live wire inside the boiler, together with a serious life threatening fault present within the boiler room, if you can not see a green and yellow earth cable attached from the water stop tap there is a high possibility that this applies to you, at its most dangerous state as there is no protection, the risk of electrocution whilst using water for washing will always be present unless resolved"

They state in the letter that they can fix this for £30 and included a fridge magnet of their details. Ive passed a copy to the company that run the building and emailed the local Neighbourhood watch. The grammer in the letter just doesnt read right to me - Any other suggestions, and would you agree its a scam?

p.s - Google show that it is a real local company.

maninthestreet

Have you been around to talk to Mr *& Mrs ****** at 35 ****** to see if the claims in the letter are true?

peter_the_piper

AFAIK no genuine company would write to you stating this, would not the DPA prevent this? Have you electric central heating with a boiler ????

DitaBombita

peter_the_piper wrote: »

AFAIK no genuine company would write to you stating this, would not the DPA prevent this? Have you electric central heating with a boiler ????

I do have electrical central heating and a boiler, the whole building does, sorry whats the DPA?

mikey72

Not exactly a scam, more like scaremongering based on some truth.
Much the same as all the "free wiring inspections" that will always recommend a full rewire if you don't conform to current regulations.
Not many houses have wiring that is fully up to date, earth bonding (as in the letter) can be one of the things that isn't. Whether it's £30 to put right or not is another question though, it depends on the rate in your area.

JimmyTheWig

DitaBombita wrote: »

I do have electrical central heating and a boiler, the whole building does, sorry whats the DPA?

DPA is the Data Protection Act.
I wonder if Mr and Mrs x allowed the company to use their details in this way (and maybe got a discount for their own work?).

Agree that it sounds like scaremongering rather than a scam.

Paul_Varjak

Report the company to Trading Standards for such 'sales tactics' and the Information Commissioners Office for breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA).

I would also suggest contacting the landlord, to get earth bonding put in place, as I think this may be a legal requirement these days. I suspect the landlord would have to pay for this themselves.

You can also check with NICEIC to see if that 'electrician' is registered with them. I think most electricians are registered with the NICEIC and your landlord would probably insist on you using an NICEIC registered electrician.

Anyone doing electrical work also has to be 'competent' and issue a certificate when the work is done. I doubt that is the case with this 'electrician'!