No paperwork following new bathroom installation

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 9, 2019

Hi am new to forum. Just had 4.5day bathroom installation. Bathroom v good however was told on initial survey we wont need to touch your electrics - was keeping original Mira Sport shower and spotlights. Day 1 was then told "our sparky wont pass them, you need new spots, need bathroom rewire" this then led to "need new fuse board with rcd" ok. £480. Ok. We have a hotwater tank that was on a Diall timer (and worcester bosch CH only boiler) only moved in 1 month ago but worked perfectly timed at night on economy 7 tariff. Discovered to horror on thursday that timer been removed "cos its not safe" think timer fine, i still have it, but there was no trip for it on new fuseboard, something about incorrect current loop? So to stop a permanent tripping out theyve replaced timer with a fused manual on/offswitch? Wire from top of tank old and casing snapped of in places - not replaced. Ongoing argument about this but they say sparky says "its now safe". Other plumbing issues, leaking sink, stole my existing shower head replaced it with naff plastic one. No reasons given.My husband has paid them in full my question is what is safe/advisable re hot water tank and what paperwork should i have re installation of fuse board/new spots/partial bathroom rewire/extractor etc. I spoke to the sparky on Tuesday in person he was knowledgeable but they got him to complete job wen i was out on Wednesday. (I was told Thursday and had booked the day off )Bathroom company say "there is no paperwork" they came highly recommended but since found out they never issue paperwork even receipts! What should i have been given and how do i get it tested to make sure its now safe? Electrician said on Tuesday i ideally need a whole house rewire this would be "£3to5k"? It looks like its black/red cabling which is ok but been diy-ed. Family member who does commercial looked it over before the bathroom debacle started when on old fuse box said it was safe but didnt test sockets etc. Tearing hair out here, please help. They sending sparky back next week as gesture of goodwill but i dont know whether to use him/report to trading standards? I've no leverage cos husband paid thank you

Andy78 · Feb 10, 2019

Hayley Roebuck said:
Is it a legal requirement to issue EIC /be Niceic registered to fit new consumer unit and do rewiring?

The legal requirement in this case is for the consumer unit job to be notified to the local building control office. Ultimately that responsibility falls upon the householder.

An EIC should be issued with a consumer unit change but this is not in law.
There is no requirement to be registered with any scheme to do electrical work, although if your electrician is registered with a scheme (this is searchable online) then you can complain to them if you feel the work you have received is not up to scratch.

If you feel the work you have had done has been done without real cause to or done misleadingly then trading standards is where you want to be.

UNG · Feb 10, 2019

Andy78 said:
An EIC should be issued with a consumer unit change but this is not in law.
There is no requirement to be registered with any scheme to do electrical work, although if your electrician is registered with a scheme (this is searchable online) then you can complain to them if you feel the work you have received is not up to scratch.

Good luck with a complaint to a scheme, there all about collecting money and not spending it on investigating complaints

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 10, 2019

Andy78 said:
The legal requirement in this case is for the consumer unit job to be notified to the local building control office. Ultimately that responsibility falls upon the householder.

An EIC should be issued with a consumer unit change but this is not in law.
There is no requirement to be registered with any scheme to do electrical work, although if your electrician is registered with a scheme (this is searchable online) then you can complain to them if you feel the work you have received is not up to scratch.

If you feel the work you have had done has been done without real cause to or done misleadingly then trading standards is where you want to be.

Very useful thanks. Do you think i have a case to complain to them or trading standards that i dont have an EIC if when I agreed for their electrician to carry out the work i had just assumed he would be registered(big company £6k job in total)?! I had not realised it was a voluntary scheme! My fault for minimal research I know but i was put on the spot - "if we don't do this now we can't continue with bathroom work etc". I think consumer unit is ok, electrician knew his onions! Issue was more what the bathroom ppl were prepared to let him do for his money as he was subcontracted not paid directly. They've made a huge thing so far out of "he works for us not you" one more question! To get the building regs approval will i require an EIC? How can I get one/can I get one now? I am an ex legal assistant, cross with myself I've been so naive here! Assumed too much! Allowed myself to be bullied into a poor decision by 3 builders!

Wilko · Feb 10, 2019

The EIC is on a list of things the Buildings Inspector will ask to see to give a final sign off. If for some hardship reason an EIC is not available (Electrician won lottery and moved to Spain) they usually have some local work around.

The Ghost · Feb 10, 2019

This is a bit of a mess and recrimination of yourself will do little of use. So the way forward now is you must get BC certificate and you will probably have to get an EICR which is normally acceptable to building control in order to satisfy BC. I know that by rights an EIC should have been issued by the persons undertaking the work but it has not been and while you can take various actions over the matter is it worth it. After all you need to regularise the situation. If it comes to your selling the house this will be a problem if it is not done properly.
An EICR may cost around £150 to £250 dependant on how many circuits being checked. This will in one action regularise your situation, forestall any future problems and highlight any shortcomings in the work you have had done. Then you could always make trading standards aware of the situation after having settled the matter. In the future you will no doubt be more circumspect. Having said that it is so often the case where you start a job and problems pop up which have to be addressed so ce'est la vie.

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 10, 2019

Amazingly they came round here this morning, fixed the leaky sink. Also brought our shower and hose back - shower now fab! They are arranging for their sparky to come out on Friday free of charge and fix a timer (that we need to supply) onto the hot water systen/sort ts wire out. Big surprising turnaround from them but very welcome!

DPG · Feb 10, 2019

Excellent news. Keep us posted. And it would be good to see photos of the new consumer unit they have fitted if you could post some on here.

littlespark · Feb 10, 2019

Do you think they've been reading this thread?

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 10, 2019

DPG said:
Excellent news. Keep us posted. And it would be good to see photos of the new consumer unit they have fitted if you could post some on here.

Do u want photo of bathroom too?

DPG · Feb 10, 2019

Hayley Roebuck said:
Do u want photo of bathroom too?

Not especially. Maybe shower.

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 10, 2019

littlespark said:
Do you think they've been reading this thread?

Maybe, we had an effective email exchange about the cost of a new Mira sport and conversation about negative publicity.

Markyd · Feb 11, 2019

Hayley Roebuck said:
Amazingly they came round here this morning, fixed the leaky sink. Also brought our shower and hose back - shower now fab! They are arranging for their sparky to come out on Friday free of charge and fix a timer (that we need to supply) onto the hot water systen/sort ts wire out. Big surprising turnaround from them but very welcome!

shaming them on their facebook page usually gets a good result

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 11, 2019

Markyd said:
shaming them on their facebook page usually gets a good result

No i talked to them to resolve it. Didnt want to rubbish them on fb cos the bathroom is superb and they are nice ppl generally. I suspect just out of depth as company only formed last March. Having said that they brought final receipt on Saturday and costs of hardware are hidden and no receipts from supplier. We picked items from supplier in 25% off sale, I've tried to ring them to see if they did indeed use that supplier, what paperwork should i have re bath etc actual cost of package to compare to their figure but ringing out. Its Easy Bathrooms. We only found out after this from Mother in law that she got no paperwork. Which is ridiculous as they had new spots, fan, moved a window etc and her husband is a sparky so you'd think he'd have raised it!! Also overheard bathroom guy on phone saying they wont do a job for less that 6k. They quouted 4500 for ours, it ended up at 5800. Deceptive? Probably. Good at bathrooms but there is some scam going on. Also they are vat registered but there is no vat on the receipt? Do they think we are as stupid as them? That shower they brought back had not been in a skip! Suspect he was going to ebay it, go for £60+

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 11, 2019

That is the shower they brought back

[ElectriciansForums.net] No paperwork following new bathroom installation

Hayley Roebuck · Feb 11, 2019

Also on FB all reviews are 5* and loads of pictures so we would just look strange putting negative comments. The big difference here is the mice have played because the project manager didnt come on site til the last day. She was there every day at my mother in laws.