Rogue Traders

[Ponty Massive]

SB, your well off the mark mate. Infact my renewal is up next month with elecsa so maybe I should join the NIC? When starting out I spoke with NIC and Elecsa. NIC were bad mannered blunt and very unhelpful, didn't really want to know me. I thought to myself (remembering I am a potential customer of their's) If they want to speak to me and be this unhelpful to begin with, why should I part with my hard earned coin to them.

I spoke with Elecsa and it was the complete oppersite. They answered all my question, gave good details of what they could and couldn't do for me and most importantly, seemed to respect me as a potential customer.

As I've said before NIC can KMA !!

 

[topquark]

LOL, i knew my statement would upset people but its true, more sparky's
would rather be nic than elecsa if they where truthfull, and the majority of
people who are going to disagree with me wont be nic hence your come back
Skelton.

Then please justify that statement, how many sparky's have you asked?

 

[SBTEAM]

I'm not a kitchen fitter, that's why I'll never pay the NIC to be classed as one! When they drop the extra £400 for approved contractor status I might spend a micro second thinking about it, but until then, the NIC can eat my shoes!

Also Domestic installer is only £450.00 you dont need approved contractor
status if you don't want, and funny you should mention kitchen fitter i know
one who tried for nic could'nt get in so join Elecsa !!!!!

 

[D Skelton]

After trudging about in em all day?...lol......

Especially when I've been trudging about in 'em all day! On the farms I regularly work at too! "Mmmmm, yum yum!!!" groans Tony Cable whilst gleefully chowing down on those cow excrement soaked steels!

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Especially when I've been trudging about in 'em all day! On the farms I regularly work at too! "Mmmmm, yum yum!!!" groans Tony Cable whilst gleefully chowing down on those cow excrement soaked steels!

one for the learning lounge ..that one...lol......

 

[D Skelton]

Also Domestic installer is only £450.00 you dont need approved contractor
status if you don't want, and funny you should mention kitchen fitter i know
one who tried for nic could'nt get in so join Elecsa !!!!!

Domestic Installer was the original category of kitchen fitters! That's all I think when I see a domestic installer logo touted on a van. And when I see an Approved contractor logo all I get is an overwhelming feeling of symathy for them. £850 to be approved by the NIC!!! Jog on boy! I payed £375 to be approved by ELECSA (or the ECA as some may know them), a far bigger fish than those NIC rip off merchants!

 

[SBTEAM]

Domestic Installer was the original category of kitchen fitters! That's all I think when I see a domestic installer logo touted on a van. And when I see an Approved contractor logo all I get is an overwhelming feeling of symathy for them. £850 to be approved by the NIC!!! Jog on boy! I payed £375 to be approved by ELECSA (or the ECA as some may know them), a far bigger fish than those NIC rip off merchants!

NOW NOW i cant Jog i've got bad knees, and i think youll find ELECSA is owned
by the ECA and are not the ECA as you would wish. As i'm a member of that as well, looking at your web site you could do with catching some big fish, but i suppose you better leave it to us big companys to do the real jobs eh !!!!

 

[SBTEAM]

One last thing as im bored now, who do schools, councils, police service, fire service, and all the major contracts ask for, elecsa i don't think so.

 

[topquark]

NOW NOW i cant Jog i've got bad knees, and i think youll find ELECSA is owned
by the ECA and are not the ECA as you would wish. As i'm a member of that as well, looking at your web site you could do with catching some big fish, but i suppose you better leave it to us big companys to do the real jobs eh !!!!

So why don't you let us have a link to your website so we can see what a brilliant company you are?

 

[topquark]

One last thing as im bored now, who do schools, councils, police service, fire service, and all the major contracts ask for, elecsa i don't think so.

As they don't know any better. Most people call vacuum cleaners hoovers for the same reason. It certainly doesn't mean hoover are the best !

 

[Adam W]

As usual they only point out the bits that are negative and critisise all of it, they were making a point about the second guy painstakingly checking all of the terminals on the MCB's, granted he took forever to do it and was dithering like mad, but they were out of order pointing this out. If i was called out to this job although i would go straight to the board, i too would check all the terminations, given the nature of the fault. so now every time we go around checking terminations we will be accused of being a rouge trader.

Not read all the other posts yet; they'd taken a connection out of the MCB which stopped all the lights on the cct working, but IMO the loose connection could just as easily have been at the first rose (or switch depending on how it was wired) on the cct, in fact probably more likely due to vibration from the floor above, or that the customer is more likely to touch the fitting, eg change the fitting or lamp, than they would be to open the cover of the CU.
Yes it was obvious to 'Matt Alright BBC Rogue Traders', but he knew where the fault was.

 

[Des 56]

I think Sbteam is a little bit mistaken with his love of the Niceic

When its touted that the Niceic is the best because its better known I tend to smile

Outside of industry interested parties, they are almost anonymous to the whole population

If 100 people were asked to describe who they are,I would expect 95 would have not the faintest idea who or what they represent
Householders could even hit 100 percent

For the one man band it makes no difference at all

For bigger firms with many employees, the niceic structure with a QS oversigning endless, perhaps incompetent installers.is one of the biggest contricks pervading industry and always has been,even prior part p
Their structure of having a Qs should not ever have been permitted for domestic installation

Getting rid of the lot of these schemes would be best

 

[Des 56]

"My god he has thrown away the earth wire",that or something like that was the only snippet I saw

If it was soundly fixed it would not have fell out
If it was a tail earth it may not have been absolutely necessary anyway,if there was a fixed lug

I thought I heard the commentator say it was now "deadly"£ should someone touch the back box with the front removed
What about set procedures for that task?

These programmes seem to be just sensationalism masqerading as public concern

 

[D Skelton]

NOW NOW i cant Jog i've got bad knees, and i think youll find ELECSA is owned
by the ECA and are not the ECA as you would wish. As i'm a member of that as well, looking at your web site you could do with catching some big fish, but i suppose you better leave it to us big companys to do the real jobs eh !!!!

Listen, I never meant for this to get personal, my hatred is of the NIC, not you. What's wrong with my website? It does the job just fine and I regularly catch rather big fish (large property companies, farms, offices), funnily enough never having to divulge to anyone which scam scheme I'm registered with, something most sparkies with a decent head can expect when they put the effort in. Also, I take extra pride in the knowledge that despite not knowing a massive amount about computers, I wrote and published my website all by myself, and got it to page 1/2 on Google! Can you do that? My earnings pay the bills, pay the mortgage and even a holiday or two. Ok, I know I'm no Balfour or Carillion but I can't really see what's wrong with that. As topquark said, where's the link to your website? Why don't you let us be the judge of how good that and 'your' company are?

 

[Engineer54]

"My god he has thrown away the earth wire",that or something like that was the only snippet I saw

If it was soundly fixed it would not have fell out
If it was a tail earth it may not have been absolutely necessary anyway,if there was a fixed lug

I thought I heard the commentator say it was now "deadly"£ should someone touch the back box with the front removed
What about set procedures for that task?

These programmes seem to be just sensationalism masqerading as public concern

It's a pity these programs don't follow some of the so called, registered scam provider members, ...they just might find they are worse than those that are not in a provider scheme!! lol!! Especially those that have finished a quick training course one week and are almost out there in peoples homes the next, doing god knows what!! lol!!

But agree with you, these types of programmes rely on sensationalism to keep viewing numbers up, Public concern is at best, ...secondary!!

 

[pushrod]

Getting rid of the lot of these schemes would be best

Well get on the email to the ministry for business and say it is a pointless and unnecessary restriction on your business Email us - Ministers (Business portfolios) | Contact | BIS

 

[Air Conditioner]

There is on our project, but absolutely nothing like the nonsense you have to suffer in the UK these days!!

You could call the H&S in the UK pure craziness!! ...lol!!

Where were you based in China?? This is my second stint over here, i quite like the place myself!!

I was teaching in China I did 6 months in Xingtai in Hebei and a year in Zibo in Shandong. Zibo was better for me it had a few more home comforts and Qingdao was just down the road.
I loved the people, the culture and the strangness but hated the pollution. Although in the south where you are the air is a lot fresher.
Are the electrics any different from over here (with the exception of H&S of course)?
A/C

 

[Engineer54]

I was teaching in China I did 6 months in Xingtai in Hebei and a year in Zibo in Shandong. Zibo was better for me it had a few more home comforts and Qingdao was just down the road.
I loved the people, the culture and the strangeness but hated the pollution. Although in the south where you are the air is a lot fresher.
Are the electrics any different from over here (with the exception of H&S of course) A/C

What were you teaching, ...English?? That's the main employment over here for foreigners...lol!! Didn't get married over here by any chance did you?? haha!!

Been to Qingdao, nice coastal city. Yes, there is a strangeness to the place that's for sure, but as you say the culture and especially the people are to be admired, like you i love the place too. Everything over here is on a gigantic scale, The cities are vast, you could fit London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and more into just one of there cities. Then the country side and mountains are also vast, with scenery to die for!!!

No not much of a pollution problem down here as you say, nothing like Beijing, Hunan, and Shanghai anyway lol!! We have some nice beaches here too...

Is the electrics here anything like the UK?? You gotta be joking right, it's a mess, but even in the previous 4 years i was here you could see the improvements in new general installations but a very long way to go. The contractor here is conducting training sessions for local hired electricians, plumbers, and other technical trades, to bring standard of workmanship up to project based standards. I have a photo i'll dig out and post here for you to see, it should answer your question fully!! haha!! ...Give me a few minutes to find it!




Found it.... This was from a building that was just 12 to 13 years old. It' basically a CU (if you can call it that) that incorporates the meter. The meter is well upto date, you can add prepayment via your mobile .Frankly even i couldn't make head nor tail of the wiring. but it is serving everything sockets, lighting, ACs, water heater.

 

[gutterball]

i liked the way the "expert" checked the back box with his neon screwdriver.

 

[DaveyD]

Listen, I never meant for this to get personal, my hatred is of the NIC, not you. What's wrong with my website? It does the job just fine and I regularly catch rather big fish (large property companies, farms, offices), funnily enough never having to divulge to anyone which scam scheme I'm registered with, something most sparkies with a decent head can expect when they put the effort in. Also, I take extra pride in the knowledge that despite not knowing a massive amount about computers, I wrote and published my website all by myself, and got it to page 1/2 on Google! Can you do that? My earnings pay the bills, pay the mortgage and even a holiday or two. Ok, I know I'm no Balfour or Carillion but I can't really see what's wrong with that. As topquark said, where's the link to your website? Why don't you let us be the judge of how good that and 'your' company are?

BTW Slight tangent, but I like your website. Clear and easy to navigate.
Regards, David

 

[Rockingit]

I started with Elecsa, as it was the easiest way to get going, then waited for the NIC to offer me a free transfer. And yes, have to agree that Elecsa win hands-down in terms of friendliness, but sadly the NIC have the better marketing department so as a business decision I felt I had little choice.

As far as the OP goes, haven't seen it yet so won't comment, but if it's full of blatant exageration or deliberately obscure then I'll be writing a letter. I know these people, I've worked with them, I even have one of their mobile numbers in mine, and it's just television. And they are just actors.

 

[Air Conditioner]

What were you teaching, ...English?? That's the main employment over here for foreigners...lol!! Didn't get married over here by any chance did you?? haha!!

Been to Qingdao, nice coastal city. Yes, there is a strangeness to the place that's for sure, but as you say the culture and especially the people are to be admired, like you i love the place too. Everything over here is on a gigantic scale, The cities are vast, you could fit London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and more into just one of there cities. Then the country side and mountains are also vast, with scenery to die for!!!

No not much of a pollution problem down here as you say, nothing like Beijing, Hunan, and Shanghai anyway lol!! We have some nice beaches here too...

Is the electrics here anything like the UK?? You gotta be joking right, it's a mess, but even in the previous 4 years i was here you could see the improvements in new general installations but a very long way to go. The contractor here is conducting training sessions for local hired electricians, plumbers, and other technical trades, to bring standard of workmanship up to project based standards. I have a photo i'll dig out and post here for you to see, it should answer your question fully!! haha!! ...Give me a few minutes to find it!




Found it.... This was from a building that was just 12 to 13 years old. It' basically a CU (if you can call it that) that incorporates the meter. The meter is well upto date, you can add prepayment via your mobile .Frankly even i couldn't make head nor tail of the wiring. but it is serving everything sockets, lighting, ACs, water heater.

Thanks for the photo.
So it is different then .........in a strange Chinese sort of way.
Four years and you went back. You must love it out there. Or were you the one who married?
Yes I was one of the thousands of foreign English teachers in China and no I didn't get married out there. But I was affected :-
1. I now do tai chi on a regular basis
2. I get cravings for crispy insects and fried aubergines (although not together)
3. I was told that the Chinese books in the in the padlocked spare room in my appartment were old and the electrics were so dodgy that they could burst into flames and the best solution to save the books was to turn off the main switch at the cu everytime I went out. (Don't worry about me!! As long as the books are ok)
Also after turning off my bedroom light it still flickered!!
Consequently on my return to England I decided to train as a spark.
Thank goodness some people out there are helping things to change for the better.
I wonder if the Chinese sparks have a forum like this, they are probably moaning because they had to go on a training session to change the way they have been working for years. How long before part P hits China? That will be a lot of people moaning.

 

[kung]

Holy moses ! (been watching too much Batman) how much for a cooker switch ? love the way he got a belt off it !

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Like the website Mr.skelton....very informative...

 

[midgetman]

was he trying to stick his mobile phone in the CCU back box? Didn ' t even consider isolation. Expert - oh he never fitted the fly lead oh oh. They are all going to get shocked now due to the incorrect screws. WTF?

 

[D Skelton]

BTW Slight tangent, but I like your website. Clear and easy to navigate.
Regards, David

Why thank you sir

Like the website Mr.skelton....very informative...

And thank you too sir

My ego is lovin' this!