Changed Consumer Unit - Customer has interfered with wiring, help!

[AMC]

Hey

Changed a consumer unit yesterday, was an old rewirable, upgraded and installed earthing as there was none. Had just finished carrying out all my testing after the installation when the customer came home and decided he was going to change his single sockets over to doubles. When I was doing my dead testing I inspected the wiring of the sockets, and to be honest, i am surprised the house hadnt already burnt down! He had moved some of the sockets previously and decided to wire them back in, he decided to twist the exposed copper (T&E stranded) into balls then take maybe two strands of the ball and terminate into terminals, leaving about 30-50mm of copper hanging out of the terminals, so when he pushed the sockets back on the walls obviously he was getting neutral/earth faults but with no RCD this never appeared to be a problem to him. I rectified these as they were extremely dangerous and informed him. Yesterday when he decided to change the single sockets for doubles he did the same thing. I had finished my testing and I was filling out the results in the kitchen when one of the RCD's kept tripping out. I had told him the 'wiring' he had done previously was extremely dangerous but his response was 'to be honest i dont care, I wont deal with authority, I'll do what i want, ' The 'its my house' attitude. SO he carried on attempting to wire the sockets in the manner he was and kept tripping out the RCD when he re-energised the circuit.

My problem is now the certification, or if he burns the place down its going to come back on me!. I am Part P. I obviously have the problem of issuing a certificate for the board change knowing he has interfered dangerously with the wiring. Where do I stand on any of this? Ive not had to deal with a situation like this before, generally I have found people that want to do small electrial works round the house have a basic idea of the dangers of electricity. This guy was an arrogant fool and will not be told anything he doesnt want to hear, nor believe you when you try to explain the dangers, he thinks its all a big joke. Any advice appreciated, I am really panicking about this now! I know many of you will probably say I should have probably handled the situation very differently at the time. But he was a very bulshy know it all guy, and i'm a girl, I didnt fancy having a fight with him in his house alone :S

 

[J@mes]

Have you spoken to your scheme provider? would be my first port of call I think!

 

[Sintra]

I would say and i could be wrong is if you haven't issued a cert for the cu change yet then don't. Do not put your name to anything you are not happy with. If you are going to issue a cert then you need to be clear that the cert only covers a cu change and detail all departures necessary.

 

[Wiredspark]

Here's what I'd do.

A) Firstly, if you've already carried out your Installation Inspection, then issue the certificate, If At the time of you carrying out the test, the installation was safe.

Secondly I would write him a recorded delivery letter that would explain that in the changing of his CU and the subsequent test it was noted that there were a number of dangerous terminations in the sockets which you have recified but you do not reccommend that your client allows the person who carried out the dangerous work in his house to carry out any more work for him. (Knowing full well it was him)

This way you are saying, i found all these faults, I've fixed them and if you let someone make those mistakes again, you've advised him.



B) If he has carried out work to an unsatisfactory standard on an installation and THEN expecting you to write him a ticket, the answer is "NO, I CAN'T, the installation is unsafe without carrying out further work for which he is liable for the time!"

He'll prob either say "I'll do it myself then you can write the ticket" but that wont be acceptable to you as you know you can't trust his work or

at this point he'll tell you he is not paying, you either get the big guys round or you sue him for the money.

In any case let your scheme provider know promptly and best before the situation worsens.

 

[Amp David]

My first question to you is, have you been paid yet?

If yiou have, then i'd issue the cert, but note on it that he's been changing things after the testing was done, the get out of there.

I would also, as already mentioned, write to him just to cover you --- if anything should happen.

 

[AMC]

Thanks for the response. He paid yesterday in full (cash!) My immediate thought was that I wasnt going to issue a certifcate as I wasnt happy, however this could also come back to bite me if he got in contact with my scheme provider should he feel the faults caused by his atrocious work are my fault! I guess I should ring Elecsa really, I was putting it off as I was dreading them saying I was responsible for rectifying all the dangerous work, knowing full well the guy would not pay for this to be done, because of course he can do it himself!

 

[Wiredspark]

Nah, phone them, put them in the loop. If his house burns down tomorrow because of his wiring faults, who going to be getting asked the questions? They'll give you the best advise. Probably not the first time they have had the situation either.

 

[KINKY]

fool, probably be dead soon.

 

[Goody]

Hey

... When I was doing my dead testing I inspected the wiring of the sockets, and to be honest, i am surprised the house hadnt already burnt down! He had moved some of the sockets previously and decided to wire them back in, he decided to twist the exposed copper (T&E stranded) into balls then take maybe two strands of the ball and terminate into terminals, leaving about 30-50mm of copper hanging out of the terminals, so when he pushed the sockets back on the walls obviously he was getting neutral/earth faults but with no RCD this never appeared to be a problem to him...

You must have taken photos of his work for your own record before putting them right!

 

[mayfair]

As my Mum would say Charming chap that Kinky , I would say your right he he.

fool, probably be dead soon.

 

[MFHEng]

Thanks for the response. He paid yesterday in full (cash!) My immediate thought was that I wasnt going to issue a certifcate as I wasnt happy, however this could also come back to bite me if he got in contact with my scheme provider should he feel the faults caused by his atrocious work are my fault! I guess I should ring Elecsa really, I was putting it off as I was dreading them saying I was responsible for rectifying all the dangerous work, knowing full well the guy would not pay for this to be done, because of course he can do it himself!

You have to issue a certificate as your duty bound as a part P registered electrician. You can however put on the cert that the guy has modified the circuits while you were completing your tests, you are also entitled to leave the circuits de-energised and disconected at the board as they are dangerous and not configured by you ( check with your governing body first, I'm certain yhey'll back you).

Now that he's paid phone the LABC and tell them he's modified the circuits in a dangerous manner and not notified for part P and they'll contact him accordingly for a building officer visit and fine...Happy days

 

[Spudnik]

On the PIR sticker you have attached to the new CU, just mark it CU CHANGE ONLY.

This then removes some responsibility from you as this denotes all you have done.

 

[Des 56]

Make the call to Elecsa
do what they advise

On the certificate that you do eventually issue
Stae the date of the next test and inspection as the installation certification date and expand the reason for this
This certificate records satisfactory test and inspection results at the time they were carried out
Ongoing modifications are being made by others which requires new certification beginning x/11/10

Not certifying would be opening yourself up to lies being used against you, if there was ever repurcussions
​

 

[Izzy's Dad]

It's important that you issue a cert for the work, and note what you've seen. If you don't and something happens, it would be very difficult to prove that you weren't responsible! Report the matter to your scheme provider too, don't be frightened of them. You pay their wages!

 

[andekoch]

the certs have a place to comment on the existign installation. mention here that you have seen evidence of dangerous practices in wiring sockets etc, be specific. Also under the scope of work box be clear that you are only changing the cu and state that at the time of change the circuits were safe to connect but you noticed work being carried out immediately after your testing was completed.
then give the customer a letter as mentioned above. reference the letter on the certificate and attach your copy to your copy of the cert.