I Give Up...!

[DurhamSparky]

education of the general public is like trying to race a 3 legged horse!

conversation with a customer yesterday about potential works on his house. going on about regulations and rules and LABC etc...

he quickly snaps up and buts in "yes i know about NIC 7671 wiring regulations" but we not talking about them we talking about my house. "thats covered by Part P" and i need all work doing in accordance with part p not the NIC regulations as it needs a ticket.

i then try and tell him that Part P is a building reg that ALL electricians / trades have to work to amongst other Parts XYZ.. etc.

he starts to get more confused by the minute and says well i had my kitchen done by a joiner who had part p so why should i use you when you're trying to get more money out of me for things like earthing and RCD's i don't have them fitted and i don't want them fitted as they cost too much, this is not an electricians cash cow. the joiner never mention anything about 17th or 18th editions when he fitted the kitchen and he works for a big company so he will know what's required otherwise they would not be in business "would they!"...!

at that moment i just lost all hope....!! i told him to ring the council registered scheme who he got my number from and report me for trying to rip him off...!

 

[cogsey133]

what chance do we have when people think this way and other trades are just as ignorant of the regs or worse simply say nothing to get the job

 

[slimsim60]

Had it have been me i'd even have lent him my phone to make the call. Did it once before when someone wanted to report me to the police for where i was parked and working(i was a truckie at the time), soon changed his mind.

 

[sparks1973]

education of the general public is like trying to race a 3 legged horse!

conversation with a customer yesterday about potential works on his house. going on about regulations and rules and LABC etc...

he quickly snaps up and buts in "yes i know about NIC 7671 wiring regulations" but we not talking about them we talking about my house. "thats covered by Part P" and i need all work doing in accordance with part p not the NIC regulations as it needs a ticket.

i then try and tell him that Part P is a building reg that ALL electricians / trades have to work to amongst other Parts XYZ.. etc.

he starts to get more confused by the minute and says well i had my kitchen done by a joiner who had part p so why should i use you when you're trying to get more money out of me for things like earthing and RCD's i don't have them fitted and i don't want them fitted as they cost too much, this is not an electricians cash cow. the joiner never mention anything about 17th or 18th editions when he fitted the kitchen and he works for a big company so he will know what's required otherwise they would not be in business "would they!"...!

at that moment i just lost all hope....!! i told him to ring the council registered scheme who he got my number from and report me for trying to rip him off...!

well...i see that rotund little man....and his helpers strike again....

 

[wildgoose]

Don't you just love 'know-all' customers!!

My worst one recently was a woman who had returned to UK after years living in Far East. She treated me and spoke to me like crap - just like she probably did with the poor staff they used to employ for peanuts.

She also thought she knew a bit about electrics:-
"Are you sure the earth on the central heating boiler is correct"?
"You are taking too long with this new socket and there's dust everywhere now"!

This silly work shy bitch, did nothing but live off her Specialist husbands reputation and bank account. He was really nice but why he married this ugly useless woman who knows?

Because I was helping a colleague Electrician out, telling her what I thought or her people skills and walking off the job was not possible - well done the decorator because he did walk off after some grief!

Why do we have to tolerate such arrogant customers - don't they realise that they get so much more by being nice to us!!

 

[Silly Sausage]

Hasn't anyone noticed...

"yes i know about NIC 7671 wiring regulations"

I assume that wasn't you DS!!!

 

[oldtimer]

I got a phone call from a woman who said a time served qualified electrician and are you registered as a Part P installer OI said yes I am time served yes I have all my qualification with 36 years experience up to date but no I am not registered for Part P .

What type of electrician are you she said you are not even registered I said you are not legally obliged to be registered well forget it she said I will get an electrician who is registered because at least I know what I am getting well I said remember the "electrician" who is registered ask him or her if they are times served and how long qualified for and by the way Part P does not exist in Scotland

 

[smu_diddly]

Lol he wants it done to comply with part p but doesn't want rcds! So dumb. Oh and the nic don't have regs, that's the IEE(IET)

 

[trev]

I had an Asian guy giving me grief last week, he had done the usual thing of trying to haggle on the price but as I build a bit of wriggle room into it I let him beat me down £5 which he seemed happy with. So I bowled up to do the job and he's hassling me straight away, he wants my boots off which I refused on H&S grouds (it'sa eicr in a restaurant btw) he's not happy about this that and the other and I've not even got my tools out yet. Final straw was when he tried to tell me that he knew my job better than I did and that I shouldn't take more than half an hour to issue him with a clean bill of health.
By this time he has really wound me up so I said "do you know why I went self employed?" I asked him
He looked down his nose at me and said "How could I possibly"
I replied "It's so that I can do things like this you arrogant cock" I then picked up my gear and walked out.
Yes I know work is hard to come by and maybe I should have just sucked it up but it was one of those days and he really annoyed me

 

[DurhamSparky]

i would have done the same!!!! which restaurant is this trev!! send me a PM so i can avoid!

 

[drew35]

"would they!"...!

I may have punched him at this point, just for the hell of it!

 

[maffa ent]

we've recently been doing a lot of work for a very rude customer. only stayed with it so as not to upset the builder who got us in in the first place.

turns out she's now jacked in her very stressful sales job, and it's like working for a different person! she's even apologised for her previous outbursts!

still, let's see how polite she remains when the invoice goes in!

 

[rich.250]

I get stuff like this a lot!!
"Other electrician said I didn't need bonding....etc etc"
Winds me right up! Cowboy heaven at the mo.
Up the entry requirements (not the cost) to these ****e schemes and make the assessments harder so that only 'electricians' can be electricians!!
Simple.

 

[bugsy]

Can't win mate , I once had someone tell me part P did'nt apply to the work we were quoting for because it was in the garden and not in the house -

 

[slimsim60]

Good for you Trev, I think a lot of people here would have done the same.
I'd like to meet some of these "other electricians" that say bonding isn't required. On the first course i did we spent half a day going thru why it had to be there and no one's told me any different since. I can see why these guys get your backs up.

 

[rich.250]

Can't win mate , I once had someone tell me part P did'nt apply to the work we were quoting for because it was in the garden and not in the house -

Why don't they simplify part p and just say all work has to comply with bs7671 (or nic7671 lol)
Then the regs effectively become statutory. So LAW. Then cowboys can literally have the book thrown at them a lot easier!

 

[rich.250]

Trev, I couldn't have described him better myself!
Good job!

 

[hermetic]

Here we see how the scams and part PEE are driving standards and safety down, not up. If The customer has the choice of a proper job, or cheap, he will take cheap every time. The problem now is we have people with certificates and part p registration who are cowboys. and good sparks who do not register on principle. People can be a right pain, and it would be a great business if it wasn't for the customers etc., but you can't really blame then when the prices suddenly go skyward.

 

[slimsim60]

But if standards drop too low it could be more that prices that go skywards, it could be houses going skywards in flames.

 

[sparks1973]

i would have done the same!!!! which restaurant is this trev!! send me a PM so i can avoid!

no what you want to do is when Trev tells us which resteraunt it is....what we do is storm it....everyone gets something to eat...like the most expensive dish or whatever....then just refuse to pay on the grounds tht it wasn`t of the standard you were expecting..like of ov those gordon ramsey programs...its all the rage down london you know...

 

[trev]

Everyone in the area knows it mate, the food is fantastic. It's also expensive.
Should have seen the look on the guy's face as I walked out, I don't think anyone has ever spoken to him like that or walked out before.

 

[sparks1973]

Everyone in the area knows it mate, the food is fantastic. It's also expensive.
Should have seen the look on the guy's face as I walked out, I don't think anyone has ever spoken to him like that or walked out before.

should have dropped a note in there saying `welcome to the world` eh trev?...lol...