big bill for half hour work !

Gavin83

If possible, might be worth ringing them up as a new customer and asking how much a similar job would cost. When they provide you with a quote go back to them and ask them to justify why the job they completed was so much more expensive.

kazzah60

Gavin83 wrote: »

If possible, might be worth ringing them up as a new customer and asking how much a similar job would cost. When they provide you with a quote go back to them and ask them to justify why the job they completed was so much more expensive.

This is good advice from Gavin
i had a similar situation with a house survey we had done for our current home- going back 11 years we paid the not inconsiderable sum of £750 for a FULL structural survey as the house was old and subject to a few oddities
I instructed the surveyor and askedhim to pay PARTICULAR attention to the bathroom for damp as it had a LOT of black mould and I could smell it was damp.

no major problems reported - damp in bathroom out down to poor ventilation- went ahead with buying house.

week after moving in we are having a new bathroom suite fitted ( essential- blieve me!) when plumber comes downstairs and says
" sorry missis - your floor boards are rotten with damp and they need replacing"

I goes and looks and the floor boards round the toilet are sodden - turns out the seller knew there was a massive leak from the toilet and kept a towel or bowl under it when they were there, but of coruse we had no idea and the whole floor was shot to hell.

so - I gets out survey - which I had asked to pay particular attention to the bathroom floor - and ring up pretending to be a prospective customer - I question young lady about what is involved in the £750 survey- " oh everyhting she says, floors, walls, ceilings etc etc..."
so I just double check that - so it includes floors does it?
"yes"

Oh, I said, "can you explain then why the survey we had done recently didn't mention anything wrong with the floor in our bathroom and yet it needs totally replacing"

the upshot was they refunded the cost of the survey and paid half towards the cost of re-newing the floorboards!

Radsteral

maninthestreet wrote: »

So how big was this hole, and was a mechanical digger required to dig it?

i would have shut up if it was a mechanical digger involved;)


exactly the size of a paving slab ... 50 cm x 50 cm and depth probably 50 cm probably a bit more but never 1 m deep.
the 2 guys came with the tool that indicates where the cable passes through (some yellow thing the size and shape of a small violin) located it in 2 minutes and within 30 minutes they exposed the cable.... had the tea and biscuits offered by my wife, while the uk power network guy kept scratching and removing the cables protective layers... then they just put 4 short fences around it and left

tinkerbelle

I work for a different Power Distribution Company and the bill you have received seems very excessive. A jointer who are the crew who repair the cable normally charges about £60 an hour for the work during daytime hours. This goes up to £120 on weekends & bank holidays.

It sounds like when UKPN sent out the jointer &that they cut the cable outside your property to repair the damage which would have only taken yourself off supply. They could off if needed to have pulled fuses from the substation taking your neighbours off if the damage had been really bad.

When we repair cable damages we have our own jointing crews to work on our part of the distribtuion network as each network distributor has to operate within terms of its license. It might be worth talking to OFGEM as UKPN can't make a profit on the damage.

I have seen cable damges in my area where a third party has taken off roughly 15 customers for 6 to 7 hours and only end up with a bill of £900. I have also never heard of a customer being charged to replace the main fuse as this is the distrbutors property even if it was your damage that caused the fuse to blow

Radsteral

thank you.
been strolling for agen on uk power network website for the way they price on these situations - no chance to find something like it .

the prices you sugest seem the prices they have actually charged...uk power networks around 3 hours 3 x60=180 times 2 = 300 something- which is what they charged and that is not the one i have problem with

neilmcl

Contact UKPN once again and get a full breakdown of the cost in writing, then armed with this contact Ofgem to see if they are in a position to do anything.

Radsteral

Right, time fo an update !
After hundreeeds of ping poing emails with ukp networks , i went and flooded the energy ombnusman email address with some 17 emails and made a complaint
I also send an email to uk p n, with an offer of 700.00, stating that amount can be paid swiftly and whichever currency you want it, be that pounds, pessetas, albanian lek,euro or government bonds..any if none of the above currency acceped, dont email or send me a letter- i would preffer a letter from the court instead and see you there .

the eobnusman, was very fast replying and in 10 days i got a call from the lady asking me '' the uk power network has come with an offer from you..700.00''
do you want to pay it ?
yes pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
thank you for your output everybody ... i was thinking that would be the first time i d end up in the court room;)

deanos

Dont forget to declare the incident when you renew your house insurance as it may make it null and void

Radsteral

i called them then and was told, dont have cover for accident damage, so must be on their database. been with direct line and goot a good deal so far , but if i change yes i ll declare it if going with other