Customers from hell.

[pritch]

I wired an extension for some very posh customers recently.I put the first fix in which included loads of spots throughout the house.I left all the cables for the spots above the plaster board ceiling and made a drawing telling me where to drill my holes. After i finnised i took less than half for the job leaving me with most of the money for the second fix. I brought all of the spots and sockets ready for 2nd fix then i got a call telling me they have found another electrician who will 2nd fix it for a cheaper price(not surprising because still money on from 1st fix).I told them this is very unfair because i still have money left in the job and I bought the 2nd fix gear,"oh well" they said
Dont know if any one's spotted it yet but I held the trump card. I had all the positions for the spot lights on a drawing and it would be impossible for them to find the cables because there was no access above the ceiling upstairs and would mean getting up the new laid floor for downstairs spots.
After a few days the customer called me up and asked me for the drawings and that they were his property,I told him to get his new sparky to find the cables. After about a week I recieved a complaint from the customer via the NICEIC and in the end I had to send him the drawings back. You live and learn I guess.

 

[DurhamSparky]

oh well fun over!! the amount of posts edited by phil and lenny says some thing!

 

[SMB]

I really did laugh for a bit there...

Ha!

 

[tonys]

i got a call telling me they have found another electrician who will 2nd fix it for a cheaper price, You live and learn I guess.

Was it that cowboy with the smokey old transit lol

 

[SMB]

Van-ism

 

[millwall ken]

oh well fun over!! the amount of posts edited by phil and lenny says some thing!

1984... Me thinks, God bless 'em, they seem top blokes but even the lowest member of the Stasi/Gestapo started off censoring post in the mail room. Don't take offence fellas, NOT aimed at you as individuals BUT at censorship in general.

 

[SMB]

Moderator-ism

 

[pushrod]

What an appalling advert for niceic. That they should make a decision without even contacting their member for their side of the story. Surely the job was a single contract and the OP was just taking part payment on the total. Absolutely disgraceful imo and i would have gone back to the nic and told them the facts [and if they were still being useless i would have politely said that unfortunately the drawings had been lost when being put off the job!]

I would think OP needs to tighten up on his terms and conditions, unfortunately you only realize this when you encounter such scummy people. Hopefully other members can look at their T&Cs and try to ensure that the same thing can not happen to them in the future and then at least some good will have come of this.

At least this forum gives a chance for its members to learn from disgraceful episodes like this.

 

[Adam W]

It's certainly an eye-opener but not something I would normally expect.
At the risk of sounding unprofessional it sounds like the customer deserves a nightmare experiance with the new sparky which will hopefully teach them it would have been easier (and probably ultimately cheaper) to have the same electrician do the whole job instead of chopping and changing for the sake of saving a few quid.
I know from experiance that going in to finish off someone else's job can be a right PITA and may take half a day or so just to figure out what has already been done.

You can only imagine the reasons the customer gave the new sparky for having to come in partway through and what was said about the OP.

 

[Mr.Si]

Sorry to hear of the problem customer and the NICEIC's response too.

It's for reasons like this and the un-reasonable overbearing of the organisation that I'm NEVER going to join them when I do.

All I've heard is bad things about the organisation - they're only on the customer's side and don't care about the electricians who are members of their organisation.

Maybe that's a gross exaggeration, but it's the view I'm taking.

Also, regarding customers like that, is it always the rich / posh that are the tightest when it comes to money?

 

[Knobhead]

I’ve always been industrial not domesticated in any way shape or form.
On this occasion my feelings are screw him for what you can get!
I’ve lost A0 drawing when I didn’t want them found!

 

[D Skelton]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Tell me if I'm wrong guys but I would imagine that making damn sure you have these beauties somewhere in your T&C's would eliminate the chance of a problem similar to the OP's.

8 CANCELLATION [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]8.1 The Customer may cancel an Order for Services and/or Products by notifying the Supplier in writing at least one full working day before any Services have been provided and any monies paid by the Customer will be refunded in full subject to any deduction of costs that the Supplier has incurred.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]8.2 If the Customer does not notify any cancellation within the time specified in Clause 8.1 any monies paid will not be refundable.

Coupled with
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
5.5 The Customer is not entitled to withhold any monies due to the Supplier.[/FONT]



[FONT=Arial, sans-serif] I feel for ya buddy, but annoying as it is, and angry as I'd be, I would never let a situation like this cost me! I believe I have an obligation to make sure that nothing I ever do for anyone else (close family and friends aside) costs me any money whatsoever. Also, might be worth including a clause detailing something about intellectual property rights to make sure plans and drawings that you make to aid you in your job stay your property![/FONT]

 

[grantr37]

I wired an extension for some very posh customers recently.I put the first fix in which included loads of spots throughout the house.I left all the cables for the spots above the plaster board ceiling and made a drawing telling me where to drill my holes. After i finnised i took less than half for the job leaving me with most of the money for the second fix. I brought all of the spots and sockets ready for 2nd fix then i got a call telling me they have found another electrician who will 2nd fix it for a cheaper price(not surprising because still money on from 1st fix).I told them this is very unfair because i still have money left in the job and I bought the 2nd fix gear,"oh well" they said
Dont know if any one's spotted it yet but I held the trump card. I had all the positions for the spot lights on a drawing and it would be impossible for them to find the cables because there was no access above the ceiling upstairs and would mean getting up the new laid floor for downstairs spots.
After a few days the customer called me up and asked me for the drawings and that they were his property,I told him to get his new sparky to find the cables. After about a week I recieved a complaint from the customer via the NICEIC and in the end I had to send him the drawings back. You live and learn I guess.

Sounds about right, I've had to deal with people like that before, I spent hundreds on a job with one years ago, did all the work and never got paid or my money back on the parts...the guy had just had an old set of barns converted into 2 luxury flats with 2 jacuzzis in each, a wired in sound system, underfloor heating at nearly 80 grand,had wasteground made into a garden and everything was imported marble worktops, slate floor tiles, wood panneling etc....he even locked a load of tradesmens tools in a stone shed in his garden.....didn't get them back either....then some people who he owed money to from somewhere else he used to live found out where he was, appeared one weekend and he wasnt there so they just broke into his shed and made off with all our tools.....shortly after that he sold the buildings at a price which made him about 270k profit before tax which would have been about 160k after taxes, he was never seen from or heard of again.....I think he was one of those people who move about buying properties and using tradesmen to renovate them, then sells up and clears off, hes probably a millionaire by now and still abusing trades wherever he is...

 

[grantr37]

These kind of people would probably just get a big lawyer to start court proceedings if you didnt give them the drawings...

 

[mogga]

I tend to throw the smoke packet in the bin where its meant to go

 

[tonys]

There's always 2 sides to every story and who really knows what went on ?

The drawings might of been the property of the customer, and therefore legally they are entitled to them back. Also once the materials are installed on the premises I think your find they legally belong to the owner of the premises.

No smoke with out fire imo, so no-one can judge the situation with out knowing the full facts and terms and conditions can be deemed unfair in a court of law, so going to heavy won't win nothing.

Also any scheme providers will tell its members your not entitled to with hold test sheets for payment either, I don't care what they say, just thought I would mention it.

The op hits 60k a year, so should be fine.