Did anyone see watchdog last night

[ricardo123]

Watched watchdog last night. One of the many BBC investigations into how awful tradesmen are, although the company in question deserved it considering how much they charged the old lady for repairing the light switch.

£436 to replace light pullcord switch

BBC - Watchdog: 'Time is money' - literally!

 

[sparkdog]

Yes I saw that and also Tony Cable said 65 pounds for repairing a light pendant was a reasonable charge which I thought was quite good money if it was a local call.I can't believe the other charges though.

 

[ricardo123]

I get sick to death of all the BBC programmes about how bad tradesman are, we are an easy target for the oxbridge elite who work for the bbc, but dear oh dear some people don't help the cause do they.

 

[pushrod]

to some extent the electricians were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea by the people who were employing them as they had to get them to sign the time form and then they had to leave to get the part or they wouldn't get reimbursed for it. So i think the company owners were the main culprits as they set up the rules and the employees are face with job or no job, but they don't put much effort into pursuing them!

mind that mervyn? was a lazy sod lol

 

[accordfire]

I am all in favour of dodgy practice being exposed - and to be fair, Watchdog/Rogue Traders seems to find some right crap.

I do wonder sometimes if some of them are made up in some way.

The one thing that hacks me off, above all else, with Watchdog in particular, is it presents a clear view that we're ALL bad, need constant supervision, and can't even be trusted to pee in a customer's toilet alone.

I know they do that with EVERY company they put on that show, but seriously, it's probably time somebody stuffed Ann Robinson's gob full of insulating tape, and let one of her victims actually have a say too.

It would be far, far, fairer if they showed a REAL tradesman doing the job properly, after the punter got scammed, with real rates, real life service, and real work.

They should literally show the process from Googling or Yellow Paging, to the job getting done properly, and present the decent tradesman with some free positive advertising on the program.

Experts are too easy to find. It's too easy altogether for some idiot to put on an industry approval T Shirt or logo, and call himself an expert, without actually doing anything. No probelm with "Tony Cable" though - what he said was sound enough.

FWIW, £65 for half an hour - £130 an hour, seems a little steep to me in South London - maybe Central London, but not really South - his initial comment at £45 seemed nearer it. A broad £100 an hour on call out seems more like it.

 

[pushrod]

I wonder if a "Rogue customers" would get many viewers where the client says i'm not paying you today come back next week! or there was a valuable ornament on the mantlepiece and you have stolen it

 

[Adam W]

I didn't really see much wrong with anything specific the "cowboy" was told to do, the only real issue was that he totally took the pee in terms of dragging the job out. It seemed the advice being given to customers was that unless a sparky has all the kit on his van and never has to go to the wholesalers for anything, he's ripping them off; I mean, do you get all your materials from the sheds, Robert Dyas, corner shops etc, or do you get it on account from the wholesalers? That Matt Alright seemed to be giving viewers the impression that doing the latter is a shady practice.

 

[baldsparkies]

I was more amazed by the strength of the litte step ladder the big guy was using. Must have been made of titanium.
Does not help promote the genuine tradesman though. the prices he charged and the way he went about it was a total disgrace for sure.

 

[accordfire]

I was more amazed by the strength of the litte step ladder the big guy was using. Must have been made of titanium.
Does not help promote the genuine tradesman though. the prices he charged and the way he went about it was a total disgrace for sure.

Heh - that was something I picked up on too. It was put there by the "householder" - yet the "expert" - Mr A C Cable himself, managed to create the fault, all the while standing on an H&S approved fibre glass set of steps........

 

[keniff]

that made my blood boil!!

 

[smartalek]

People like that give us all a bad name, fair enough watchdog pile it on but that's their entertainment value.if you a genuinely good tradesman this kind of paranoia works in your favour-if a customer thinks they've found the only decent sparky in the world there going to keep coming back.

 

[Adam W]

A customer may think they've found "the only decent sparky in the world" because he's got a bright sunburst yellow van, wears a tie and has a good sales pitch, but in reality we all know that means nothing, in the same way as the old adage "You get what you pay for."

 

[nickblake]

Wouldnt it be nice to have a show the good honest traders , just imagin , the guy from rouge traders whats his name justin little wood isnt it i dont know cant remember ,lol , imagin him comming up to you shaking your hand and saying nice job there mate well done , be great and get an audiance of 1 lol

 

[jpmiff]

when he refitted the light pendant after removing it should he not have tested and supplied a MWC?
i didnt hear any mention of this on the program

 

[Guest123]

I'm proper fed up of all the negative angles these sort of programmes take, cowboy builders, watchdog, rogue traders, catch the cowboy etc etc.

Why cant the overpaid underworked cretins at these TV companies come up with a programme idea that brings the public the best in tradesmen and portrays those of us who actually give a dam about our standards in a good light.

Why....I'll tell you why because we are a nation that loves to find the worst in people and thrives on the misery and downfall of others so they have something to moan about!!!

 

[BigBreakfast]

Hi all,

Too true about bad tradesmen on telly! But watched white van man last night and it wasn't all bad regarding workmen and showed what drivin about in these vans can be like for all of us!
​

 

[lloyd1980]

I know!!!!!!! When tony cable said that I thought Ill move to your end of the country and fill my diary up with call outs £ 65 to change a lamp holder
Old merv sat on the bed........lol thats cheeky as!! cant beleive he had the nerve to charge that much!!!!

 

[oldtimer]

Lets agree here yet again it is these what I like to call middle men companies who think they can step in and manage guys like us and also Joe or Jean public should take more responsability and shop around I give out fixed price quotes and get good feedback from customers who know exactly what they are paying and are even surprised when I clean up at the back of me. Also big companies and you know who are pressurising their engineers to get sales up so going in to do one job then scaring the wits out of the customer for a new DB.

 

[Phil]

I'm proper fed up of all the negative angles these sort of programmes take, cowboy builders, watchdog, rogue traders, catch the cowboy etc etc.

Why cant the overpaid underworked cretins at these TV companies come up with a programme idea that brings the public the best in tradesmen and portrays those of us who actually give a dam about our standards in a good light.

Why....I'll tell you why because we are a nation that loves to find the worst in people and thrives on the misery and downfall of others so they have something to moan about!!!

too right mate. tell you what mate i think they should start a program for rogue customers.
yeh thats the ones. all the ones we have had over the year who try not to pay up or hold back on the final payment. the ones who were supposed to empty the rooms and when we got there there was mess all over. like one i had that wanted to hold back £500 for an outside light on a re wire she said did not work the same as it did before?? what she meant was that the lamp had gone in it. that i replaced. i did offer her the option of ripping it all out and putting the new board back in. funnily enough that did not seem to be an option she wanted to go for. rant over

 

[pushrod]

I wonder if a "Rogue customers" would get many viewers where the client says i'm not paying you today come back next week! or there was a valuable ornament on the mantlepiece and you have stolen it

too right mate. tell you what mate i think they should start a program for rogue customers.
yeh thats the ones. all the ones we have had over the year who try not to pay up or hold back on the final payment.

Hands off mate i've got copyright on that idea and am currently in negotiation with Trading TV .

I offered myself for a starring role in Rouge Traders but they wanted to catch me red handed and i couldn't have that