I "recently" contacted my DNO to have an isolator switch fitted beside my meter (my consumer unit needs changing and I didn't want to pull the fuse). I was told I needed to contact Scottish Power who charged me £85 but failed to turn up for the appointment, resulting in me having to contact them to ask what had happened. A new appointment was arranged for 2 & a half weeks ahead (the same as if I had newly requested it).
This happened 4 times!!! The work was eventually done at the 5th attempt. Each time I got no confirmation of the appointment & I had to queue on the phone to inform them that nobody turned up & arrange a new appointment. The 5th occasion was slightly different in that the complaints team were to get back to me regarding a new appointment, but never did. It wasn't till I chased them I discovered an appointment had been booked (without checking with me as to whether I would be available)!
After the 2nd missed appointment I was advised that I was entitled to a £30 statutory payment, so of course I asked about the 1st and eventually got a payment for that also. So I have had 4 missed appointment payments plus another for a late payment. £150 in all.
It turns out that Scottish Power don't do the work themselves but sub-contract it to Actavo and the lines of communication between them are poor, involving more phone queueing & long waits. Actavo are more used to dealing with meters and the Engineer who came out had never fitted an Isolator switch to an existing installation before and didn't know what to do (I gathered he wasn't actually an Electrician). He spoke to his boss on the phone who told him he couldn't do the job, but was overridden by the next person up the line who said of course they could do it. Someone had to talk him through what to do after he sent them a photo of the setup, but when he sent them another photo after he had finished, was told to change it.
I should also mention I had offered to de-load the consumer unit for the "engineer" when he was ready, but he just came in & turned it off at the main switch without de-loading first.
I booked the work in August and it was completed towards the end of November. So if you need an Isolator switch order it well in advance! Also when you are queueing on the phone to Scottish Power you are told you can track complaints online, but the complaint tracker page never had any information that was remotely useful over the whole period so don't rely on this.
The moral of the story seems to be that although the regulations say you shouldn't pull the fuse, the operators are not at all geared up to fit isolator switches and on this showing I wouldn't rely on them turning up on the day you want to do the work to pull the fuse either.
I do wonder if the Actavo "Engineers" had been avoiding my job as they didn't know how to do it.
This happened 4 times!!! The work was eventually done at the 5th attempt. Each time I got no confirmation of the appointment & I had to queue on the phone to inform them that nobody turned up & arrange a new appointment. The 5th occasion was slightly different in that the complaints team were to get back to me regarding a new appointment, but never did. It wasn't till I chased them I discovered an appointment had been booked (without checking with me as to whether I would be available)!
After the 2nd missed appointment I was advised that I was entitled to a £30 statutory payment, so of course I asked about the 1st and eventually got a payment for that also. So I have had 4 missed appointment payments plus another for a late payment. £150 in all.
It turns out that Scottish Power don't do the work themselves but sub-contract it to Actavo and the lines of communication between them are poor, involving more phone queueing & long waits. Actavo are more used to dealing with meters and the Engineer who came out had never fitted an Isolator switch to an existing installation before and didn't know what to do (I gathered he wasn't actually an Electrician). He spoke to his boss on the phone who told him he couldn't do the job, but was overridden by the next person up the line who said of course they could do it. Someone had to talk him through what to do after he sent them a photo of the setup, but when he sent them another photo after he had finished, was told to change it.
I should also mention I had offered to de-load the consumer unit for the "engineer" when he was ready, but he just came in & turned it off at the main switch without de-loading first.
I booked the work in August and it was completed towards the end of November. So if you need an Isolator switch order it well in advance! Also when you are queueing on the phone to Scottish Power you are told you can track complaints online, but the complaint tracker page never had any information that was remotely useful over the whole period so don't rely on this.
The moral of the story seems to be that although the regulations say you shouldn't pull the fuse, the operators are not at all geared up to fit isolator switches and on this showing I wouldn't rely on them turning up on the day you want to do the work to pull the fuse either.
I do wonder if the Actavo "Engineers" had been avoiding my job as they didn't know how to do it.
