in after british gas....

[ExArmy]

old couple wanted an inspection of their house, so i went there today and did an EICR. firstly I nearly fell over when they handed me the previous test results (thats never happened before) and at first i noticed it had been done by BG in 2010 (new boiler, bonding and CU) so i thought it would all be ok.

turns out it was not ok! looks like they never tested half of it, just made up results because fronts had not been off for at least 10 years, circuits were all labelled up wrong,number of points served was wildly up or down on actual points served. ring main was actually 2 radials joined by the boiler spur and coming through the timer on a 1.5mm to join the ring up, so when the boiler was off r1 was o/c, and even with it on r1 was 200ohms somehow(this still requires investigation). old garage consumer was an auld rusty MEM 2 way, all circuits jammed into the 30A fuse, taped up choc blocs galore in the garage. metal light right above the bath, live cables in loft from old water heater circuit (all marked up as "boiler" on the CU and tested on the test sheet despite the front on the DP switch in the kitchen was tiled around and had clearlynot been off in my lifetime). all IR readings on BG test sheet >200, in reality alot were between 90 and 170, some aslow as 4. several lights also were metal, and the earth was not connected but just above the light in a choc bloc.

british gas are shocking!:shocked:

 

[Strima]

They could be in for a hefty claim against BG then. I think they may want to have a chat with trading standards, LABC and a claims lawyer.

 

[Geordie Spark]

old couple wanted an inspection of their house, so i went there today and did an EICR. firstly I nearly fell over when they handed me the previous test results (thats never happened before) and at first i noticed it had been done by BG in 2010 (new boiler, bonding and CU) so i thought it would all be ok.

turns out it was not ok! looks like they never tested half of it, just made up results because fronts had not been off for at least 10 years, circuits were all labelled up wrong,number of points served was wildly up or down on actual points served. ring main was actually 2 radials joined by the boiler spur and coming through the timer on a 1.5mm to join the ring up, so when the boiler was off r1 was o/c, and even with it on r1 was 200ohms somehow(this still requires investigation). old garage consumer was an auld rusty MEM 2 way, all circuits jammed into the 30A fuse, taped up choc blocs galore in the garage. metal light right above the bath, live cables in loft from old water heater circuit (all marked up as "boiler" on the CU and tested on the test sheet despite the front on the DP switch in the kitchen was tiled around and had clearlynot been off in my lifetime). all IR readings on BG test sheet >200, in reality alot were between 90 and 170, some aslow as 4. several lights also were metal, and the earth was not connected but just above the light in a choc bloc.

british gas are shocking!:shocked:

This comes as no surprise to me at all.

I was involved with them doing heating installations & it was not unusual for the commissioning sheets to be filled in from the comfort of the van. NOT by me a may add!!!

 

[ExArmy]

who's fault is it though? british gas forcing the men to do jobs too quickly so they, or the tradesmen themselves just being plain lazy?

 

[Geordie Spark]

who's fault is it though? british gas forcing the men to do jobs too quickly so they, or the tradesmen themselves just being plain lazy?

Well in my case, I was forced to do the job too quickly & instead of commissioning it myself, they sent a manager to do that & he just plucked figures out of thin air & wrote them on the sheet without even getting out of the van.

I couldn't work that way & so declined further work from them.

 

[Strima]

Probably both. BG will be pushing for quick jobs as time is money and their sparks are probably being paid per job. As all work is now commercially driven this will become more rife especially from the bigger corporations who think they're untouchable.

A payout on a claim running into the tens of thousands won't effect their quarterly profits that run into billions.

 

[oldtimer]

Yep they have caused me a couple of problems but at the same time I have had a few jobs as well let me explain for some reason they are doing Zs tests on th CH supply with a Socket &See led tester ie pass or fail. So I would get hauled out to confirm or deny that there was no main earth I now say if you want me out then its chageable as I was asked out on the pretence of fitting a new CU so when the customer says can you check my earth while you are there I ask why then I get the BG story so now I say well the DNO will not come out unless you can give them readings and a led tester will not do that so its a callout charge I also got a job because the BG guy slated the thermostat and pump wiring only to be told well your lot put that mess in 20 years ago.

The thing is BG knows that we are moving away from gas so they are trying to break into new markets plus they are dare i say it sales driven so the O my God your lucky your not dead statements come to the front.Also they are owned by a private investment mob who only care about the bottom line

 

[Robotstar5]

The thing is BG knows that we are moving away from gas so they are trying to break into new markets plus they are dare i say it sales driven so the O my God your lucky your not dead statements come to the front.Also they are owned by a private investment mob who only care about the bottom line

They've got the contract for PAT testing where I work as the boss worked out it was cheaper than buying test equipment and sending us for training.

 

[Guitarist]

I still can't get my head around making numbers up. Do these guys actually sleep at night?

 

[ExArmy]

I still can't get my head around making numbers up. Do these guys actually sleep at night?

exactly. i just couldn't do it. imagine if you get called on something that you have "tested" and it turns out it's not connected, or its the wrong circuit, or a whole other host of things etc, but at the end of the day you'll look like a moron

 

[johnboy6083]

ITs not just the being a moron that i care about, its what i would feel if something i had missed caused somebody to get hurt.

 

[Strima]

The problem is most professional sparks have something called integrity, pride in their work and customer support.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

The large national companies have a habit of exercising bad practices. It's the result of scoping work on a large scale and poor quality control.

I have copies of certificates carried out from electricians from British Gas, SES, Mears, Radian, and Mitie to name a few.

Whenever I find out that work has been done by a largely recognisable enterprise it just makes me look even harder.

 

[oldtimer]

The large national companies have a habit of exercising bad practices. It's the result of scoping work on a large scale and poor quality control.

I have copies of certificates carried out from electricians from British Gas, SES, Mears, Radian, and Mitie to name a few.

Whenever I find out that work has been done by a largely recognisable enterprise it just makes me look even harder.

So what are we saying here the bigger they are the more fees they pay to their Schemiie ie NICEIC the more they can get away with plus if certain companies are doing blatent school boy errors on the certs then thats fine because with all the money they are paying their Schemie they can afford to have an inspector auditing their work full time yes.

But then I have to pull myself together here because one half of me is saying yes this system should work and the other is saying aye right

 

[Guitarist]

I think it's very simple...
Most people are conscientious and care, but some really don't give a damn. This applies to everything from electricians to teachers, the police, solicitors, nurses, etc, etc.
I know of people who do as little as possible for as much as they can get away with and they probably wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if they killed someone. I know it happens, but I still can't get my head around it.

 

[ExArmy]

the way i see it, the bigger the company, the more people they have to employ,( i.e for every 1 person doing the work theres another 5 sitting in an office somewhere doing paperwork or doing some PR or admin etc) and they all need paid. there's only so high the prices can go for doing the work, so in order for everybody to get paid the person doing the work has to cut every corner possible so he can do 2 or 3 **** poor jobs every day.

 

[oldtimer]

I think it's very simple...
Most people are conscientious and care, but some really don't give a damn. This applies to everything from electricians to teachers, the police, solicitors, nurses, etc, etc.
I know of people who do as little as possible for as much as they can get away with and they probably wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if they killed someone. I know it happens, but I still can't get my head around it.

Totally agree with above and the thing is after all the carry on with the banks we still have not learned the lessons that SALES is killing all types of business and is the cause of the majority of problems we see today . I had a guy who was subcontracted to BG and worked for them for 30 years and he was telling me that he bailed out because of the pressure he was under to sell so he started up on his own and within weeks they were on the phone asking him to come back as he said both he and BG had invested 30 years into the business so I said well it cannot be easy for the guys you left behind and he said well I would not worry about that because they now have the guys that are suited to the business even although they are not good for the business .So I said sounds like Darwins Law is at work here ie sell or die. I was in the same position as you with a big company and it was not what you could do or what you knew it was about keeping a layer of management in a self induced dream where everything in the garden was rosy but the business was going down the tubes. Yep he said sales has its place but when you get the balance wrong thats not good but BG were bought buy a sales driven private equity fund than does not care about the old lady their engineer is screwing.

So in my view Darwins law is getting rid of the good guys and encouraging the mentality we are banging on about ie who cares if someone gets hurt as long as I am getting my bonus and my 2 weeks in Spain every year because no one is going to audit us because we all but manage our registration company who are dependant on us and if we do get pulled up then no probs our lawyers are bigger than yours.