Discuss CEF offering calibration for £35 + VAT. in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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HappyHippyDad

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It was time for my MFT to be calibrated so I started ringing around. Wilts (Rexel) are my choice for buying all my gear although they are usually expensive for calibration, as they were this time £75+VAT. I rang CEF next and they were £35+VAT. I asked why they were so cheap as they said they are making a few changes since a recent survey revealed to them that most electricians think they are expensive (as they are).

They did say they plan to keep the price at £35 (we'll see), so just giving you guys the heads up for those that don't already know :)
 
Do people actually still shop in CEF

Last time I was in a CEF they tried charging me £11 for an emergency key switch

Never used them since
 
I’ve only got CEF or YESSS to choose from for off-the-shelf stuff

I did take advantage of their last calibration day, even though still had 4 months to go on the certificates... under the assumption they would be having a cal day at the same time each year.

Bacon rolls would be good. My CEF even removed their coffee machine for some reason.
YESSS always has coffee, pies every Friday and extra pies when they have a rep in.
 
never ever paid for calibration, so many wholesalers have free calibration days. just need to look out for them.
 
Good to know. Wonder if this is national though or just your local branch? We also stopped using them a while back also due to extortionate pricing. Comes to something when screwfix/toolstation is cheaper and available to the public. However a friend of a friend tells me that they're bringing out a catalog soon with good value fixed prices in, with the aim of stopping the secretive pricing issue which has decimated their reputation in the industry.
 
That’s the reason I stopped using cef......been going there for years and about a month ago the monkey behind the jump gives me my order and says see ya we will email the prices over later........”ummmmmm what?”.......yeah he says the manager has to ok every price now and he’s not here yet.........ok I thinks I’ve got a rough idea anyways. An hour later I get an email with prices at extortion rates, took the lot back with a few choice words and just to top it all off when I get me monthly invoice they hadn’t refunded my account AND tried charging me restocking!
 
That’s the reason I stopped using cef......been going there for years and about a month ago the monkey behind the jump gives me my order and says see ya we will email the prices over later........”ummmmmm what?”.......yeah he says the manager has to ok every price now and he’s not here yet.........ok I thinks I’ve got a rough idea anyways. An hour later I get an email with prices at extortion rates, took the lot back with a few choice words and just to top it all off when I get me monthly invoice they hadn’t refunded my account AND tried charging me restocking!
So apart from that you're happy with them then?
 
They do calibration days here for £18+VAT, very reasonable, use them every year.

The only other times I use CEF is for stuff I (or my usual wholesaler) can't get (or can't get economically) elsewhere, e.g. some Greenwood fans where like-for-like replacements were required, they actually had the best price.
 
I just called cef and they said it was £74 for my mfm to be calibrated. I said that I heard that it was £35 and he said that's only on calibration days (he didn't know when the next one was).

Thought it was to good to be true that cef were cheap for something!
 
On the 'calibration' days they check over 100 testers in my local branch. Can't imagine there's any 'calibrating' going on. A quick check it's in range on a couple of settings and then print the sheet out imo.

No 'fails' reported from the last 'calibration' day at local cef according the manager.

I use my mft every day. I've had it for 10 years. I'll know if its throwing funny results - as it did about a year back.

Another scam we have to pay for. Along with a yearly assessment, new books every 3 years, pointless exam every 10 years, part pee every year, £1.50 notification fee etc etc
 
On the 'calibration' days they check over 100 testers in my local branch. Can't imagine there's any 'calibrating' going on. A quick check it's in range on a couple of settings and then print the sheet out imo.

No 'fails' reported from the last 'calibration' day at local cef according the manager.

I use my mft every day. I've had it for 10 years. I'll know if its throwing funny results - as it did about a year back.

Another scam we have to pay for. Along with a yearly assessment, new books every 3 years, pointless exam every 10 years, part pee every year, £1.50 notification fee etc etc
Just picked up on this and you are right there is definitely no calibrating going on , my Megger was giving me very low readings on mu checkbox so I took it in thinking it could be adjusted and for £18 seemed too good to be true. It came back out with flying colours not even one digit out of tolerance, it was all done in 5 mins while having a bacon butty.
Because of this I sent my checkbox in for repair to a company in Stafford who then came back to me saying the checkbox was bang on, however I was still getting low results. I sent the megger to them along with the cert and basically what I had been given was a load of rubbish, they said they had seen several of these certificates from cef mainly from CEF own calibration company ACS where every reading was exact to the digit which they say never happens which indicates generic certificates being printed.
On top of this all loop readings were calibrated at 1 ohm, 10 ohms , 100 ohms , 1000ohms which I am told by the calibration company is impossible as no calibration machine on the market does this as they rely on the local loop of the building to start with then there are standard value resistors that increment the value , so loop reference values should be different in every building again proving these certificates are dodgy. I would check yours guys because they may cost £18 but you may as well print them yourself. Ended up costing me almost £200 with the price I paid for initial cal , checkbox cal , then Megger repair / adjustment. The £18 is a con to get you into the CEF store , similarly with free days. Who works for free guys these days. So back to the professionals for me and will never use CEF again
 

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