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Duff electrical work done on my house

135

Comments

  • tonyh66
    tonyh66 Posts: 1,736 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just been told there is a switch for cooker hood by kitchen firm - absolutely where it shouldnt be in the event.

    Gawdgimmepatience time......

    Did they get a polite response from me? I think you can guess the answer - considering where it was (ie pretty inaccessible by any definition.....)....

    What event are you expecting from the hood? if anything happens, the fuse in the plug should blow or something in the consumer unit should trip, im not sure flicking a switch on the hood when 'something' is happening is the safest thing to do. Its perfectly acceptable to have the hood connection hidden.
  • moneyistooshorttomention
    moneyistooshorttomention Posts: 17,940 Forumite
    edited 20 November 2017 at 4:07PM
    I do get your point Dafty - but, right now, I've been told this missing switch is up in the loft (ie I rest my case:eek::mad:).

    I'm just getting so fed-up (to the back teeth) with being treated like someone who is a woman and an idiot - neither of which applies (as I'm a person and far from idiot level - and yep...I do have the proof of that latter fact).

    I've had enough "chat" with current electrician to know that he's someone that doesnt actually need the money and is doing this because he wants to.

    I've been doing LOADS of googling over the weekend (something I was pretty much unable to do just after I'd bought this house - as one of its faults was my computer playing up like no-one's business - because the phoneline was faulty). Result being that I've come across info that said missing switch might be wrongly located in a cupboard for instance and that would have been bad enough. I've had a response back from kitchen firm - and it's up in the blimmin' loft forgawdsake - like anyone is going to get out stepladder/head up into loft near the materials that many loft lining materials are made of currently/seek out switch - rather than just hit switch in 10 seconds flat that is down there where it belongs immediately visible in the kitchen. I'm picturing myself - as little woman up in my 80s in time to come heading up into that loft to do something that should take 5 seconds flat down in my kitchen....

    Right now - I am furious:mad::mad::mad: - ie with first electrician and the kitchen firm. They picked exactly the wrong time to pull that stunt......
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Having followed you on numerous threads is exactly why I think you need some calm reflection (dodges half-brick), rather than flying off (on a probably-inaccurately-aimed) rant. Introspection might reveal faults shared at both ends of the operation - customer as well as electrician. You aren't exactly clarity itself....

    Bluntly put:

    You do tend to rub people up the wrong way (ducks second flying brick) and you do count yourself as a bit of an expert on matters you are not and, as a result, there tends to be ample opportunity for miscommunication and inaccurate or unrealistic requests. You probably asked for something that was costly, but asked for it to be done cheaply, or difficult, but asked for it done quickly, or some such mismatch. Seen it happen time and time again...

    I'm not saying having the isolation switch in an attic is ideal but, if you told them it wasn't to go in a cupboard, and then told them it couldn't go there, then told them that was wrong, then... they stuck it in the attic, where it can serve it's purpose, and got out with their skin intact....

    I currently have a jovial plumber under a floor (no, still alive), and he's telling me it'll be another four days until I have heating. He is doing his best. I'm bearing with him, sharing the kettle, and following the birth (today) of his first grandkid.... and yet, he's still beavering away, cheerfully, despite the fact I'm sure he'd in some ways rather be off buying pink/blue junk, having done a quick botch of the pipework.

    I'm being tolerant. He's finding rotten joists and woodworm, and an unexpected old tiled floor beneath parquet beneath floorboards. He's being patient, getting another cup of tea any minute, and mking a good (if slow) job of it. The house is currently 13.2°C. But, I'm happy with him, and he is with me.

    Calm down, stop blaming everyone else, and start enjoying life.

    {...dives, as half a kitchen flies over from Wales....}
  • moneyistooshorttomention
    moneyistooshorttomention Posts: 17,940 Forumite
    edited 20 November 2017 at 5:37PM
    In hindsight - and things were very chaotic indeed and only one person (me - as there isnt a resident hubbie) to sort them out when I first moved here.

    Cue - only having been here a few weeks and very different community/weather/everything I can think of and one person on their own trying to get electrics AND central heating AND bathroom AND my phoneline AND AND AND sorted and coming up against a workman unreliability thing I'd literally only encountered once in over 20 years before moving and etc etc etc.

    Which meant my Internet wasnt working well enough at the time to "get things down in writing" and that compounded with it's obvious to "a lot from my home area" that "sort out" = get rid of everything and it's all gonna be new/modern/etc v. a common more local expectation of "sort it" = make it just about work as cheaply as possible.

    I didnt have the foggiest when I moved here basically. I just knew what I was used to and many of local tradespeople knew what they were used to and the two are a country mile apart - and my Internet wasnt working for me to "get it down in writing" what we mean by "sort it". I think that is what a lot of the problem has been. Expectations many miles apart - and no Internet much of the time for me to research and then to get down in writing "MY norm is - and what I'm expecting.......so that's what I've just booked".

    In hindsight - I would have got that Internet sorted completely (for the purposes of research on how-to - and getting everything down in writing - so I had proof of exactly what I had said/expected). Then told the tradespeople how things "normally are" according to what I'm used to - rather than them having one set of expectations and me having a very very different set and neither party being aware that they are two hugely different sets of expectations and often a country mile apart.

    Add there is only one "brain" thinking on/working on this - ie mine - as there isnt a resident hubby to also think about things and (it does have to be said) perhaps gets "taken more seriously". I've had being "taken more seriously" for....oooh....maybe 20 years or so (as I'd visibly gotten a bit older/more experienced) and I am (really) getting treated sometimes as a "woman" - rather than being taken seriously (more old-fashioned area....).

    Add trying to "Get A LIFE together" as well as all this going on - and there wasnt any "Life" within my own 4 walls (ie just me inside them) and so I had to try and get out and meet other people. It would have all been so much easier if I'd been able to say to a Him Indoors "Your turn now to deal with them - and I bet you get treated more Seriously than I do:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:" - and then we can both head out of an evening and do the Get A Life Together inc. find a place to eat out somewheres together" - which is simply not an option to a woman on her own without a car.

    The one thing I'm quite sure of is I never ask for things to "be done cheaply". I try and figure out as best I can what I think is a reasonable price for something and then wait and see what prices I get given back when I ask for quotes. Basic motto = "It costs what it costs - darn it - and I want things done properly". Latest electrician got told what my new kitchen cost me for instance - and went white - and obviously thought it was rather dear (and he's a lot better off than I am....). I'd figured that was probably round about the price....so...

    I've never yet had a "What a bargain" reaction to any price I've paid for anything - but I have had a lot of "HOW much did you just pay?" reactions.
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    ... all of which tells me that you just need to take things one at a time, calmly, and stop flailing around in frustrated anger. No internet doesn't stop a pen and paper being found to write down requirements, Post-it notes to mark out sockets, and quiet conversations where you listen as well as ask/tell, and respond appropriately.

    I remember your internet and router woes - and offered a simple solution to some of them. The internet not working was actually (in the main) a soluble problem, had you been more receptive to some solutions. A large chunk of what you blamed on "Plusnet, and Them Out There" was of your own doing.

    The lack of internet had nothing to do with being able to "get things down in writing"...

    Most builders aren't out to rip off "single women of a certain age with no husband", and are far more likely to load the price on a smartypants big-house bloke like me... or price each job fair as possible. Yes, that's most likely....

    You may not ask for jobs to be done cheaply; that wasn't quite my point. Time and time again on these forums, you are contradictory and confrontational and wrong ... state one thing, state another, state one as Fact, one as Plain Wrong, realise too late neither are either. My example was; ask for an expensive job done cheaply, or some such mismatch.... For the switch, you didn't want it in a cupboard, {and maybe didn't want it there on the pretty wall}, possibly leaving the only solution as being in the attic! I can't see an electrician finding it easy, wanting to, or even possible to calmly discuss the options with you.

    I doubt your painter deliberately set out to use the wrong paint in your kitchen. You specified something, he tried to oblige, he may have tried to discuss it with you, but you are far from easy... the result was a botch.

    I just feel if you stop flailing around, being so angry with everybody else, and accept with some humility that you may be difficult to work for, you (and your workmen) would be so much more content with each other, and content with the outcomes as well.
  • pollypenny
    pollypenny Posts: 29,439 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Money, you've had good advice from Dafty Duck. I think you may well have rubbed people up the wrong way, perhaps a bit of a 'Linda Snell' attitude to the locals.

    On this very thread you said the area is behind the times. Patronising we Welsh doesn't go down well.
    Member #14 of SKI-ers club

    Words, words, they're all we have to go by!.

    (Pity they are mangled by this autocorrect!)
  • moneyistooshorttomention
    moneyistooshorttomention Posts: 17,940 Forumite
    edited 20 November 2017 at 7:17PM
    Actually I didnt even know there is such a thing as "isolator switches". I knew there was going to be under cupboard lighting on my units. I knew the light switch for the room had to be changed to incorporate a switch for the under cupboard lights. That was the extent of my knowledge/expectations re kitchen electrics with the new kitchen.

    After it was done I looked at it and thought "Wonder what those 2 switches there are?" on the wall by cooker and realised they were sort of on/off switches for the hob and oven (aka isolator switches). The first I knew about the missing 3rd one was when new electrician asked where it is. Until then I hadnt realised there is supposed to be a 3rd one - so assumptions I didnt want it in sight are wrong. I have the other 2 in clear sight - and would have expected the 3rd one to be beside them - if I had known there is such a thing as isolator switches in advance.

    So that was a wrong assumption.

    Ditto to "patronising" other people - I don't think so.
  • pollypenny
    pollypenny Posts: 29,439 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Actually I didnt even know there is such a thing as "isolator switches". I knew there was going to be under cupboard lighting on my units. I knew the light switch for the room had to be changed to incorporate a switch for the under cupboard lights. That was the extent of my knowledge/expectations re kitchen electrics with the new kitchen.

    After it was done I looked at it and thought "Wonder what those 2 switches there are?" on the wall by cooker and realised they were sort of on/off switches for the hob and oven (aka isolator switches). The first I knew about the missing 3rd one was when new electrician asked where it is. Until then I hadnt realised there is supposed to be a 3rd one - so assumptions I didnt want it in sight are wrong. I have the other 2 in clear sight - and would have expected the 3rd one to be beside them - if I had known there is such a thing as isolator switches in advance.

    So that was a wrong assumption.

    Ditto to "patronising Welsh" - errrm...it would be a bit odd to patronise people of the same nationality as myself imo....



    Well, your 'Britain, then' is a good example. I'm not about to trawl posts, but you've come over as someone who's moved to a place for cheaper housing and is a little amused or irritated by the natives.

    Reminds me of the people who bought opposite my parents and put up a twee little notice calling their house 'Miner's Cottage'!

    It was a terraced house and they would all have been built for the workforce.m

    we are all British, but we are also Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English.
    Member #14 of SKI-ers club

    Words, words, they're all we have to go by!.

    (Pity they are mangled by this autocorrect!)
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    As I'd expect, Money, you still don't get my point. I'm not making the assumption you said "don't put it on the wall", nor that you said "I want the job done for under..."...

    I'm not assuming anything of the kind (despite your assumption that I am....)

    I am suggesting you may not be easy to work for. In fact, yes, I am not even assuming that. I'm certain of it, in fact. Thus, confusion springs up between you and others and, unless you accept that this may be a source of so many problems, you will always battle against electricians, plasterers, painters, neighbours, internet providers, removal men...... The list is almost endless, and those are just from memory. It's always them other bu55ers at fault, it's always them that c0ck things up....

    The point is you are, in fact, really battling yourself. Realise your own faults, recognise them, work with them, accept them.

    Believe me, I am far, far, far from fault-free. Blimey, the list is endless. But, recognising it may be my fault.... that's a good portion of the problem sorted.
  • tonyh66
    tonyh66 Posts: 1,736 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    there's no requirement for the cooker hood switch to be accessible, if your that bothered get your new electrician to move it and put it next to the other two.
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