Cowboy electricians and trading standards.

[John Wright]

Had a electrician come and do some work for me.Few powerpoints and fit electric shower in from scratch.Anyway halfway through Npower came round to read meter and the guy said the wires were wrong colour and wrong size. I immediately confronted the cowboy who previous had shown me a nic card and warned me against cowboys himself (He turned out to be unqualified) He had told me previously &nbsp;he was part P and a nic member.&nbsp;<br><br>I went to trading standards who just messed me around for few months ,l even showed them the advertisement he was using claiming to be part of nic but i still had to chase them around for feed back.<br><br>In the end this cowboy deleted his web site etc and the trading standards officer told me on the phone that there is not much he can do because ideally &nbsp;the safety officers from trading standards should come out and inspect but it's &nbsp;hard to make them do anything.He also said you do not need to be qualified to set yourself up as an electrician and said i could start work that afternoon as a electrician and work on people's houses. He spoke about Canada etc where it's different and electricians need to be qualified. ( I have the full phone call recording) Was the trading standards officer telling the truth ? He said it only becomes a crime if its proven he lied about being part of a trading body.<div><br><br></div>

 

[Welchyboy1]

Yep that sounds about right.......shocking situation we find ourselves in isnt it!

youll find thats one reason why so many legit electricians are a bitter and twisted bunch when it comes to this sort of thing!

but then again i wouldnt trust much of what a meter monkey says as they are not electricians either most of the time

 

[Farmelectrics]

Recommendation is allwYs the best way to go I'm sorry you had such a bad experience most qualified electricians wouldn't behave in such a way

 

[uksparks]

Sorry to hear of your problems, the cables that the Meter bloke said were the wrong size and colour, were they the main meter tails by any chance? The ones going into the meter?

 

[John Wright]

I've got a good electrician doing the work now.He's telling me to take it all the way. yes tails were wrong colour and the electrician ive got in now says the wire was wrong size and the colours relate to the old regulations. Also on the electrical report he's done he said the shower wires etc were not earthed and the wires were wrapped round hot pipe. First thing my new electrician said was WTF. The new electrician was recommended by building control . He told me trading standards are useless.This guy is still going round people's houses are doing electrical work.I can't understand why he's not in jail for endangering peoples lives. I'm going to be going through the small claims court then try and get the newspapers to listen to the phone recording from trading standards. I had the police come to see me few wks ago and threatened to arrest me if I call this person a cowboy electrician on facebook again. He's threatened to take me to court for libel for informing potential customers on facebook. Surely theres got to be some law that makes it illegal for unqualified electricians to gain access to your proprty by deception. The whole system seems insane.

 

[telectrix]

if what you say ab out him is true, then it's not libel. neither is it libel if you preface your words with " in my opinion" or " i think".

 

[John Wright]

I will put the full electrical report on my face book group, Barrow trades cowboy watch. I've got his photo on there and name and other info. Full electrical report will go up after I've been to court.

 

[shanky887614]

I will put the full electrical report on my face book group, Barrow trades cowboy watch. I've got his photo on there and name and other info. Full electrical report will go up after I've been to court.

what colours did he use? red and black?


the new electrician is probably saying wrong size because there 16mm and he wants to see 25mm.

there is no reg that says it must be 25mm for all installs, if the intake fuse is 60amp it will be safe.


and in reguards to the electic shower most only have a cold feed to them now

 

[Marvo]

.......l even showed them the advertisement he was using claiming to be part of nic but i still had to chase them around for feed back.

You should report him to the NIC, they're often pretty keen to follow up on people abusing their name or trademark.

 

[John Wright]

I got in touch with NIC they just said they have no one with that name or address.I sent NIC the advertisement but just ignored it. I will check the size of wires in the electrical report in morn7ng when i finish work.

 

[IzzyS]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Keep pushing trading standards.

Electrician Faces Fine and Community Service for Falsely Claiming ELECSA Membership - Professional Electrician

 

[Darkwood]

Be careful of your FB accusations or you may find this scum actually been in a better legal position than yourself and he could take you for a lot of money, at the face of it, it is really only your word against his and he could easily deny he did certain things and claim thats how he found them... I truely sympathise with you, was any of his work notifyable as he wasn't a member of said scheme provider because the local council could also help although again they are lacking staff and money to chase these things up.

I would contact the NICEIC again and explain you are recording the conversation as you are arranging a meeting with a daily newspaper and they are interested how the scheme provider addresses such matters this should worry them a bit and may get a response ...but your best bet is the BBC and one of those shows that expose these dodgy tradesmen ..like watchdog etc, if you have pictures of his work and a report from a competent tradesman then you may be able to expose him the best way possible as they will look into areas you do not have access to... again be careful of setting up defamatory sites, I understand your anger and sympathise fully but best avoid a legal nightmare that could cost you dearly.

When your accused of defamation you will be required to prove you accusation, he will deny that that is his work and was already part of the install and then you have a job proving things, as I said your word against his... it is this difficult because some do actually try to destroy the good reputations of good tradesman for whatever reason so tread carefully.

You could ask for a report issuing for the conditons of the Electrics prior to the new Sparky correcting it and post the report saying what was done by said dodgy cowboy but this is still your word and his unless you can gather other unhappy customers and build a case together and expose him on TV.

 

[newtothis]

I had the police come to see me few wks ago and threatened to arrest me if I call this person a cowboy electrician on facebook again.

I think that's a bit odd, hope you don't mind me saying.
Round my neck of the woods the old bill don't even visit people who've had their houses burgled,
never mind get involved in civil matters like libel.

 

[snowhead]

Round my neck of the woods the old bill don't even visit people who've had their houses burgled,
never mind get involved in civil matters like libel.

They would if you accused the (alleged) burglar of being a crook on Facebook.

Facebook cases are easier to prosecute as plenty of people have already found out to their cost.

 

[newtothis]

They would if you accused the (alleged) burglar of being a crook on Facebook.
Facebook cases are easier to prosecute as plenty of people have already found out to their cost.

I'd never put any thing in a text or online I wouldn't be happy for a copper or judge to read.
It's the way of the world these days
To the OP, I hope you get the outcome you're after !

 

[richy3333]

I've report two 'organisations' to the NICEIC and in both instances they've acted so I don't understand why they won't for the OP?

 

[snowhead]

I've report two 'organisations' to the NICEIC and in both instances they've acted so I don't understand why they won't for the OP?

Maybe because he isn't currently (falsely) advertising as being part of an Organisation.

 

[Marvo]

.......In the end this cowboy deleted his web site etc

Maybe the NIC already contacted him about misuse of trademark etc and that's what motivated him to remove his website.

 

[John Wright]

From the electrical report. The mains cable running from the consumer unit to the shower was only 2.5mm as opposed to the minimum requirement of 6mm. The colour coding of this cable was red and black. Mr --- incorectly routed the cables instead of drilling through the joists,he ran the cable over the joists in a cut-out ,next to copper water pipes.He then routed the cables in trunking between the copper pipes,and across the boiler,this would cause them to get hot and is against the regulations.When consumer unit was fitted both tails used were blue,the live tail was covered with red tape,. Yes its a strange world when the police seem to be on the side of this cowboy.All the police have told me is take it up with trading standards.Which i have been now for last couple months +.

 

[telectrix]

From the electrical report. The mains cable running from the consumer unit to the shower was only 2.5mm as opposed to the minimum requirement of 6mm. The colour coding of this cable was red and black. Mr --- incorectly routed the cables instead of drilling through the joists,he ran the cable over the joists in a cut-out ,next to copper water pipes.He then routed the cables in trunking between the copper pipes,and across the boiler,this would cause them to get hot and is against the regulations.When consumer unit was fitted both tails used were blue,the live tail was covered with red tape,. Yes its a strange world when the police seem to be on the side of this cowboy.All the police have told me is take it up with trading standards.Which i have been now for last couple months +.

unless you have something on paper, signed, that he has done this work, his response will be that that cable has been in for 40+ years, as that method has not been used since the 70's and red/black cable must be pre 2006. tread carefully or you could find yourself on the wrong side of a court room.