Elecsa: Government changes to our scheme authorisation.

[gdr7671]

Part P and all the rest of this registration lark has just priced professionals completely out of the domestic market. What happened to the approved contractor HEY. Approved; end of story. They will want you to confirm your bowl habits next. Big hand to Tony Blair, NICEIC, ECA, NAPIT and BSI who all jumped on a band wagon and ripped us off. Ironic when you think about it really. We are professionals and take our profession seriously. Why should i pay these rip off merchants to keep within a pathetic law. From tomorrow i am closing down all i have built up for 32 years. I have truly had enough of government interference. Let the eastern Europeans deal with it. But i suppose it will be cash in hand no doubt. I wish you all on here a good future; i truly wish you luck. Best wishes GDR7671

 

[sima24]

I had my elecsa part p assessmemt yesterday, wasnt told anything about this!!! Was just told to offer one to customers ( to be fair to him he did tell me they were a load of crap). Testers, calibration, elecsa fees, van insurance, liability insurance, notification fees! May as well work illegaly cash in hand with no insurance as a court fine would be cheaper than paying all this

 

[sparkdog]

Well,at least you get a van sticker with both NICEIC and ELECSA on it.Mine just arrived.

 

[Clink]

Had my ELECSA assessment on Monday and was informed by my guy of the changes to the warranty arrangements comming up. I know it's another gripe but this cost will be a small part of any overall job cost and isn't going to break the bank. I'll just use it as a plus when explaining to customers rather than trying to flog them another 'extended warranty' product separately which was no benefit to me.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

How long are these warranties going to be for?
What warrenty do customers get at present if they don't opt to purchase the insuranced backed warrenty?
What do the insurance backed warrenties cover, that would not be covered as standard, or by the tradesman's Public Liability Insurance?

If I were a customer, I would expect the work to comply with current Regulations, and for everything to work correctly for at least a year.
If you then consider the life expectancy of cables and accessories, and the fact that guidance indicates that domestic installations should be inspected every 10 years, it would not be unreasonable for a customer to expect that everything should work correctly for at least the 10 years or even for as long as the life expecancy of the cables or accessories.

As a customer, I would not expect to have to purchase a warrenty to cover what should be provided as standard.

 

[Octopus]

I still think this "compulsory" insurance is a bit like PPI - let the misselling claims begin

 

[Clink]

How long are these warranties going to be for? 6years
What warrenty do customers get at present if they don't opt to purchase the insuranced backed warrenty? Bugger All
What do the insurance backed warrenties cover, that would not be covered as standard, or by the tradesman's Public Liability Insurance? Cost of rectification for non-compliant notifiable work.

If I were a customer, I would expect the work to comply with current Regulations, and for everything to work correctly for at least a year.
If you then consider the life expectancy of cables and accessories, and the fact that guidance indicates that domestic installations should be inspected every 10 years, it would not be unreasonable for a customer to expect that everything should work correctly for at least the 10 years or even for as long as the life expecancy of the cables or accessories.

As a customer, I would not expect to have to purchase a warrenty to cover what should be provided as standard.

Tell that to Currys

 

[Octopus]

Tell that to Currys

??????

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Tell that to Currys

I would, but they appear to be closed.
It does seem a bit wierd that you should purchase insurance against non-compliant work from the person who is going to conduct the work.
A bit like purchasing car theft insurance from a car thief.

 

[Steve_P]

I spoke to an Elecsa assessor a while ago and he told me that the insurance that we had to let the customer know about had something like a 1% take up. I've since switched to NIC who add £1.50 to the cost of notification for this. So instead of just telling the customer "there's insurance if you want it" I now add a couple of quid extra to notify. Not really much of an issue just a load more useless red tape and cost to deal with.

 

[Dave 85]

I had a chat about the existing warranty system with the elecsa man the other day. He told me that of 70 000 jobs registered in 2011 only 12 warranties were sold which essentially renders the whole thing pointless, which is what I thought from the start.
The warranty is essentially there so that if a contracter has gone through someones house and cut a 6inch hole through every joist, as you do, and then they all snap simaltaneously and the walls cave in, as they do, and the contracter has folded his firm so there is no longer a public liabily insurance policy for the client to claim on, then they can apparently use the elecsa warranty to cover the cost of building a new house.
If however the contracter has done a rough old wiring job and the house burns down, the client is apparently not covered by the warranty!!!?????
This is how he explained it to me anyway.
So from what I gather the warranty is only there to protect them from the house falling down due to non electrical work carried out by the electrician and only if the firm has previously gone bust.

Its all a load of nonsense if you ask me, I dont see why they dont just scrap the whole scheme.