Warning : Rant.

[markc123]

Sorry to bore you with this utter crap, just need to unleash on someone and my partner is clueless when it comes to electrics, so she doesn't understand.

2 incidents occured today for me - which i don't doubt every member on he will have come up against - it just seems to be getting more and more frequent which really Fing annoys me.

Firstly, (whilst on another job) got a call from a caravan park - for whom i do alot of work for, which inturn makes them a priority for me. 'Socket isn't working in X caravan, owners arriving this afternoon'

Get their, maintainance lads in the caravan replacing doorhandles or whatever - they point me too the fridge socket that isn't working...fuse spur just above is switched off...doh! But to make things worse, they had pulled the fridge out and stretched the cable into the single socket directly next to the fused spur which was clearlly labelled fridge. Braindead comes to mind.

Secondly, went to my workshop after had a call that what i had ordered had arrived.

I asked for a 100m roll of 3core 1.5mm....i got 100m t+e...guys adamant that if i wanted 3core + earth i shoulda have asked for 4core :\ if that is correct, (which it isn't) then im losing the will to live.
That geezer is supposed to work in an electrical wholesaler. I'd also asked for a wallmounted female 16a...it arrived and wasn't wallmounted - but apparantly i didn't ask for wallmounted. Clueless nobhead springs to mind.

Appart from me using this thread as a rant and to get things off my chest (which i apologise lads) - My question is/are :

1) Are any of you lot finding the standards of wholesalers slipping down the pan as regards to their listening ability and promises to deliver things on time?

2) Are any of you getting called out to do stupid little jobs that people (especially maintanance) should know better with...ive sent them a 35quid bill for a single circuit IR and flicking a switch - im not complaining really just don't really need stupid little odd jobs when busy at the moment.

 

[Paul.M]

Yes to question 1.

Went into wholesaler and asked for a one gang, one way PIR to replace a light switch so NO NEUTRAL.

He hummed and arraahhhed for a minuet and said he has never seen such a thing? Strange because I've bought a few of them over the past 18 months??? He goes off into the back room and comes back with a smile on his face. "ho you mean a LIVE ONLY PIR switch."

My reply to the smarmy little git was "Oh no, I also need an earth term in it, you only have LIVE ONLY????"

Think he was getting his own back from the previous week when I asked him for 30 x 20mm pvc elbows, 17 x left ones and 13 right ones. Made him think for a few seconds lol.

 

[Banjo]

Recently ordered a load of 10mm stud, washes, square washers, nuts, wedge anchors & zebs....everything turns up 10mm except the stud, I was not very happy. A lot of them have mindless idiots working there and they think anything like what your ordering will do!

 

[D Skelton]

just don't really need stupid little odd jobs when busy at the moment.

Ooooh, well look at you Mr Busy

Nah, in all seriousness though the type employed by most wholesalers does worry me! You'd think that someone selling a product would at least have a basic amount of knowledge on it. Digressing slightly but it reminds me of the time I went into a well known PC retailer looking for an all singing all dancing laser printer, I asked the guy wearing the 'Printer Expert' badge to show me their best laser and he took me to this Gucci looking thing, told me everything about it and how it was like a million times better than an inkjet, anyway, to cut a long story short, turns out in the end it was an inkjet! Haha. Useless acne ridden morons springs to mind, and back to my original point, I'm seeing more and more of these scrotums popping up in wholesalers all round my area!

 

[Jay Sparks]

I went to CEF today to pick up some gear for a job. Whilst there, I asked the guy what quantities he sold wagos in? The guy staired at me for about 2 minutes, with a blank look on his face and then said, "what are wagos"? His collegue came out the store room and said, "or yes, its them push fit things they use to connect cable"!!!

Doylems!!lol

Jay

 

[jeremy]

I wouldn't mind a wall mounted female! On the subject of stupid little jobs, if someone is going to pay for my time, then my time is theirs to do with what they want; if that's flicking a switch then at £x / hour that's their lookout. Stop stressing the wee stuff; it's when you've got no work you'll want to get a bit anxty.

 

[edrobbo8]

I do alot of maintenance for a pub/hotel chain who only have 3 places, and last Saturday got a call from one saying the hot cupboard has packed up and the grill has as well, told them to check rcbo etc and all ok, so went there. Hot cupboard had been unplugged at the wall and the grill had a burnt out master switch. Took 2 hours to get the grill down, bypass the switch and put it back, due to the kitchen being so small and chef running round like a headless chicken due to no grill!

I stopped using CEF as the staff got worse and worse, and the one guy who was quite useful didn't turn up for work one Monday morning and hasn't been seen since. Don't blame him!

I mainly do domestic and light commercial and cannot fault Electricfix, as they have several counters round here, are very accessible and I have the phone numbers so just ring and check they have stock, which is more than can be said for a few of the wholesalers! I drove 25 miles to CEF a few months ago having phoned to check they had some 16mm butt crimps and when I got there they only had 16mm reducers! Very annoying

 

[sedgy34]

You need the idiots they make you money

 

[Guitarist]

Never use wholesalers nowadays. Prices all over the place and nobody seems to understand what you are even asking for. Electricfix and TLC for me...next day delivery and I know what the cost will be upfront.

 

[markc123]

I wouldn't mind a wall mounted female! On the subject of stupid little jobs, if someone is going to pay for my time, then my time is theirs to do with what they want; if that's flicking a switch then at £x / hour that's their lookout. Stop stressing the wee stuff; it's when you've got no work you'll want to get a bit anxty.

You're right Jeremy, wasn't really complaining more just a moan to like minded people. I understand that their are lots of decent sparks out there searching for work - i am greatful for the stupid little jobs, its just i wish they came at times when you wern't up to your eyes in it with deadlines fast approaching. I'm greatful to this site - it's a good place to rant

The moral of the story for me now as regards wholesalers is actually go and get the gear yourself - I try and save abit of time by getting them to deliver it and it's never what i bloody want.

CEF in my experience, staff wise, are terrible - they've got the people skills of a decesaed badger.

 

[wade88]

this is how you deal with wholesalers

 

[Kamikaze]

At our local Newey and Eyre they are experts in mindless drivel of the highest order. Ask for MK cover plate screws and you will get crabtree ones, socket pins, black japs etc. Ask for a 20mm galv dome plates and they will swear blind that they don’t make them any more. The other day they insisted there was no such thing as 2.5mm 3 core heat resistant flex…pml
As for the work, you have to remember that the whole industry is now run by bureaucratic clowns. Unless someone tells them what to do they are stuffed. The barmy decisions they sometimes make hit scale ten on the weirdsheedometer. The up-side of this, is that you can tell them anything and they will be forced to believe you. I recon I’m being paid at least £3 an hour more than everyone else on the firm just because I tell them every day how good I am and how lucky they are to have me.

So just learn a lesson from your dog. No matter what life brings you, kick some grass over that s**t and move on.

 

[Tony Way]

Had a call from a friend saying kitchen sockets not working and they'd just got back from hols so needed to do some washing. Hour later, traced it to a cable in the under stairs cupboard. Took all their recently stored suitcases out to find a SFS switched off by one of the cases as they'd pushed them in.

We call QVS Half Salers now as they never have stock. Regularly go in and they don't even have the basics. Only problem is, they are the most local by 10 miles in any direction!!!!!!!!!!! Now there's a business opportunity if ever I had a couple of hundred grand to set up and stock well.

Enfield not bad.
Have you noticed that a lot of the expensive but useful stuff from Electrifix has shifted from stock now to order ofr next day??

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I use a particular bloke - he has worked at most wholesalers, I have an account with all of them, and he is such a top bloke I followed HIM as he worked his way around of them. He is back at the original one now, and I have tested him many timesmwith quotes sent to all of them - always the cheapest. always bends over backwards nothing is too much trouble.
To quote band of brothers, you salute the man, not the rank, captain Sobell

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Although he struggled with a phased plasma rifle with a 40 Watt range. Took a week to get that in (from a supplier called Cyberdine systems?)

 

[richy3333]

always bends over backwards nothing is too much trouble.

Eeee-ew! Beyond the call of duty that!

Customer last week presented me with 9 white spots and 3 silver finish ones he had purchased from a shed (on pension day). When I pointed out the 3 'odd' ones, he asked me how that could have happened. I suggested he purchased 3 of the wrong colour but he swore blind that was not the case!

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Eeee-ew! Beyond the call of duty that!

Customer last week presented me with 9 white spots and 3 silver finish ones he had purchased from a shed (on pension day). When I pointed out the 3 'odd' ones, he asked me how that could have happened. I suggested he purchased 3 of the wrong colour but he swore blind that was not the case!

hes quite strict, he'll only do THAT on orders over £300. Fair enough I suppose

 

[Guitarist]

Eeee-ew! Beyond the call of duty that!

Customer last week presented me with 9 white spots and 3 silver finish ones he had purchased from a shed (on pension day). When I pointed out the 3 'odd' ones, he asked me how that could have happened. I suggested he purchased 3 of the wrong colour but he swore blind that was not the case!

Are you sure you didn't change them with your mind powers?

 

[Kamikaze]

Caretaker of a school accused me of stealing his paper work today, even though I had never been to that school before and asked for it upon arrival. When I had finished laughing and explained to him the flaw in his theory, he was even less impressed…lol

 

[overskilled]

Had a run in with the local authority housing dept today (Scotland), according to their latest Diktat ONLY and I mean ONLY NICEIC members are allowed to do work on council houses, anyone else's work will be "ripped out if we don't get NICEIC branded paperwork", when I challenged it and pointed out that as long as it was done to BS7671:2008 addendum 1 (haven't issued 2 yet have they?) then it shouldn't matter which notification body if any is involved and that the work in question isn't covered by the building regs in Scotland anyway, therefore NOT notifiable to building control. The next excuse...."Elf n Safety"....when I pointed out again that "Elf n Safety" had nothing to do with it, I get "but its got EVERYTHING to do with it"...and the "powers that be set the rules"..I then hung up
Phoned my local Councillor later, who pretty much agreed with me especially when I pointed out that no matter what NICEIC say, they are NOT the electrical equivalent of Corgi / gassafe (well not yet anyway, though wouldn't put it past them to lobby for it) and reckons who the person I spoke with is "a total jobsworth" who "doesn't ever challenge anything he is told" (then again quite a few of them down there think they know it all, but frankly would struggle to find the correct end of a screwdriver.....one female inspector turned up to a house that was a building site in stilletos and dress clothing...even after being told the place was a building site due to the ceiling falling apart). The rules in question he reckons were likely done due to someone phoning property or a similar department and asking a question out of context and then sticking it down in the rules.
Said he will chase it up and get things reworded (I would be happy with "To be done to the current edition of the wiring regulations BS7671 and any other relevant british standard, the following works however MUST be notified to building control or NICEIC/NAPIT/SELECT etc: --- ---), though it might run and run.....though did admit he likely could get an answer quicker than I likely would and felt there should be room for commonsense interpretation, especially when I said I'd be more than willing to have building control out to look over my work if they had any doubts (I've got nothing to hide) and I felt it wasn't right that sparks who refuse to pay notification scheme fees are being blocked from work, despite membership of notification schemes not being a requirement, and the work not being notifiable to building control and that houses in the same street sold under right to buy do not have the same restrictions.....

 

[Guitarist]

I still come across insurance documents stating that a current EICR must be in place, completed by someone registered with the NICEIC. Guess there are many jobsworths in offices without a clue...

 

[Geordie Spark]

I still come across insurance documents stating that a current EICR must be in place, completed by someone registered with the NICEIC. Guess there are many jobsworths in offices without a clue...

That's why they're tucked away in offices out of harms way.

 

[trev]

That's why they're tucked away in offices out of harms way.

That's just the thing, they aren't out of harms way, they cause havoc with their ridiculous edicts which are issued in a manner to make you think that they have papal authority (Not that the pope has any authority in my world)

 

[edrobbo8]

Had a run in with the local authority housing dept today (Scotland), according to their latest Diktat ONLY and I mean ONLY NICEIC members are allowed to do work on council houses, anyone else's work will be "ripped out if we don't get NICEIC branded paperwork", when I challenged it and pointed out that as long as it was done to BS7671:2008 addendum 1 (haven't issued 2 yet have they?) then it shouldn't matter which notification body if any is involved and that the work in question isn't covered by the building regs in Scotland anyway, therefore NOT notifiable to building control. The next excuse...."Elf n Safety"....when I pointed out again that "Elf n Safety" had nothing to do with it, I get "but its got EVERYTHING to do with it"...and the "powers that be set the rules"..I then hung up
Phoned my local Councillor later, who pretty much agreed with me especially when I pointed out that no matter what NICEIC say, they are NOT the electrical equivalent of Corgi / gassafe (well not yet anyway, though wouldn't put it past them to lobby for it) and reckons who the person I spoke with is "a total jobsworth" who "doesn't ever challenge anything he is told" (then again quite a few of them down there think they know it all, but frankly would struggle to find the correct end of a screwdriver.....one female inspector turned up to a house that was a building site in stilletos and dress clothing...even after being told the place was a building site due to the ceiling falling apart). The rules in question he reckons were likely done due to someone phoning property or a similar department and asking a question out of context and then sticking it down in the rules.
Said he will chase it up and get things reworded (I would be happy with "To be done to the current edition of the wiring regulations BS7671 and any other relevant british standard, the following works however MUST be notified to building control or NICEIC/NAPIT/SELECT etc: --- ---), though it might run and run.....though did admit he likely could get an answer quicker than I likely would and felt there should be room for commonsense interpretation, especially when I said I'd be more than willing to have building control out to look over my work if they had any doubts (I've got nothing to hide) and I felt it wasn't right that sparks who refuse to pay notification scheme fees are being blocked from work, despite membership of notification schemes not being a requirement, and the work not being notifiable to building control and that houses in the same street sold under right to buy do not have the same restrictions.....

Shouldn't NAPIT/ELECSA etc be lobbying with the various insurance underwriters etc who stipulate that the work must be done by NICEIC registered company?

What else does our £400+ go to each year?!

 

[trev]

Shouldn't NAPIT/ELECSA etc be lobbying with the various insurance underwriters etc who stipulate that the work must be done by NICEIC registered company?

What else does our £400+ go to each year?!

Elecsa don't care because they're going to merge with the NIC and together they'll put all the other CPS operators out of business. That's my prediction anyway, I hope I'm wrong. After they have become the one true CPS operator I expect them to start fielding candidates in election for everything from Best Tea Maker all the way to pope.

 

[overskilled]

or bring out a scheme called SafeSpark or something equally official sounding to convince joe public that the only decent electricians are on THEIR scheme, which you can join for the modest sum of £5K upfront and 1/2 your turnover.....
Shouldn't suggest that.....SJIB may decide it sounds like a brilliant idea....

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Shouldn't NAPIT/ELECSA etc be lobbying with the various insurance underwriters etc who stipulate that the work must be done by NICEIC registered company?

What else does our £400+ go to each year?!

it goes towards a fat pension, the latest Range Rover, a new Breiting watch and 4 skiing holidays in Canada-eh hem I mean conferences.