Overcharged RCD Work?

[telectrix]

I read it as the £280.00 was for moving the cables to the other side of the CU to make the lighting RCU protected.

so did I.

 

[Darkwood]

I think we now need some feedback from the OP as many including myself have had to make a few assumptions, having limited info as we do and only one side of the story the reality could be very different or exactly as the OP described, either way, £280 to effectively shift a wire in a consumer unit is crazy unless we are lacking vital info here to give a fair opinion.

 

[telectrix]

I think we now need some feedback from the OP as many including myself have had to make a few assumptions, having limited info as we do and only one side of the story the reality could be very different or exactly as the OP described, either way, £280 to effectively shift a wire in a consumer unit is crazy unless we are lacking vital info here to give a fair opinion.

in reality it's 3 wires, so that's £93. 33 per wire at 2 minutes each equates to £2800 /hour. Pimlico Plumbers, yous too cheap.

 

[HoveSeagull]

Thanks to all whi have responded. Just to provide a bit more background, the work was a quote of £5,579.00 & VAT not an estimate. We paid 60% of the value with order in December for materials (I know deep breath) and the remaining 40% for the contract works on complete last weekend (work completed last Friday.) The final account was presented with 4 variation claims.
Changes to tile choice - £85.00 & VAT agreed & paid
Additional woodwork decorating to bedroom - £495.00 (a figure was quoted of £299.00 that was agreed, but is now claimed he forgot to add materials. We have paid £299.00 but refute the additional £196.00 on the basis a quote is a quote and surely not £196.00 materials for a 3.5m x 3.5m bedroom skirtings, architraves, window board & 4 doors, one side only.
Changes to sanitary ware of £290.00 which is ridiculous as we were careful to choose lower cost items than he had allowed from the same company. Also added delivery costs. We consider should be a saving if anything.
Then the £280.00 for the RCD work.
We have basically paid in full the agreed contract works and agreed variations. We had made an additional gesture offer of around £300.00 to bring to a conclusion, but when the threats, harassing language and insults continued as well as the 3rd of 4th threat of legal action in a week, we subsequently withdrew our additional offer and would like him to now take legal action.
I was confident on contesting all the claim other than then RCD claim. However, the responses I have received from all are very re-assuring and I believe makes our case even stronger. Thanks to all who have responded, what a great forum!

 

[Darkwood]

in reality it's 3 wires, so that's £93. 33 per wire at 2 minutes each equates to £2800 /hour. Pimlico Plumbers, yous too cheap.

Sarcastic bugger ?

 

[telectrix]

Sarcastic bugger ?

what else do you expect from a fully fledged Anfield Kop End hooligan.

 

[Deleted account]

I hate it when you go against another company on a quote. You quote more so loose the job. The other company then put the extras on and end up charging more than I quoted for.

the difference between them and me is I would have honoured original quote.

it’s a Quote not an estimate.

I Believe from what you have said this company clearly had no intension of charging you what they originally quoted. They always knew how much they where going to charge, but quoted less to get the hook in.

and there was no way you could have known that.

 

[Dustydazzler]

A £6000 bathroom ref-fit and they had the cheek to try to bill you £280 for an rcd

 

[westward10]

They didn't fit an rcd they juggled a circuit about.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Thats even more cheeky then...

 

[HoveSeagull]

I have also attached the extracted relevant sections from the test certificate and the response from the electrician.
"We had to re locate the circuit we worked on to the RCD side of the consumer unit due to the current consumer unit not compliant with current regulations so we had to reconfigure the layout" In fairness to the electrican, he may not know the main contractor is claiming £280.00 for the RCD element work. The main contractor states he is not obliged to show us his internal invoices. The court may determine otherwise.

 

[westward10]

Certificate seems fine. Be interesting to know how long it took the electrician to move said circuit.

 

[suffolkspark]

Theres a couple of minor iffy things on the cert, the extended circuit is said to be ref method B, possible but unlikely. Also the zs at db is recorded as 0.87ohm, but it seems a duplicated figure from the end of circuit zs test, also rcd type is recorded as RCD, should likely say AC

 

[Mike Johnson]

One solicitors letter to the contractor from you should solve it, but don't forget to send them a bill for the solicitors fees.

Do let us know what happens.

 

[Dartlec]

Theres a couple of minor iffy things on the cert, the extended circuit is said to be ref method B, possible but unlikely. Also the zs at db is recorded as 0.87ohm, but it seems a duplicated figure from the end of circuit zs test, also rcd type is recorded as RCD, should likely say AC

Insulation resistance Live-Live should really be LIM rather than N/A too I assume, though only a minor quibble

It would be interesting to know if the electrician added a new MCB on the RCD side of the consumer unit, which might have necessitated a new busbar or at the very least some re-jigging of existing breakers. Also whether he also checked every light on the existing circuit in addition to the new ones being installed(Upstairs lighting I would guess?) to ensure there were likely to be no tripping issues.

That could in theory take a couple of hours if done in parallel with the rest of the work, though the cost still seems excessive - and should have been notified in advance either when giving the estimate, or before completing the work.

But if the circuit was just moved across and a quick test done at the bathroom lighting end, then it would certainly be unsupportable (imo).

Threatening legal action within 2 days screams money making though - and I suspect the electrician was not seeing all of that claimed extra cost.

 

[Mike Johnson]

The certificate says "relocation of lighting circuit at the consumer unit so that the circuit extended from is protected by RCD" no mention of anything other than relocation of a lighting circuit in the CU and the spotlights hacked into an existing circuit, so no additional MCB or RCD, just re-locating of the circuit.