Electrician Charging Me To Rewire Junction

[phillan]

Hi All.

I found an electrician on check a trade. He had all 5-star reviews, I was green - renovating my first home so he seemed great, and he was the first trade I employed.
I have had the worst experience of my life with him - I feel like he has ripped me off everywhere he can - Firstly, he quoted £1500 with all the ceilings and walls down so he had full view and access to the wires throughout the property, then invoiced me £2300 halfway done and refused to finish until I paid - when I paid he did a half-arsed job and not everything I asked him to do upstairs - i.e. downlights in the master bedroom. I paid £180 for this quote, I hired him to do an EICR which I have not received "because it failed". He installed extra sockets I didn't ask him for and charged £90 a socket (my 3.5 x 4m kitchen now has 9 double sockets and a cooker switch). He second fixed everything despite walls and ceilings being down - then told me he had to charge the wire or test the wiring if they were taken off which they obviously were to get the walls up - he didn't leave me with any power too so second fixing was absolutely pointless. These are just a couple of issues, I have a lot more but I won't list them all here.

The issue now is, on his last visit to sign off (which I already paid for in the £2300), he couldn't finish because there was a fault on the master bedroom lighting circuit, but he didn't have time to fault find during that session because he had been there for 3 hours already (testing his installation) and would have to come back. The fault was pretty clear, there are 2 bedrooms upstairs and a pendulum light in the stairwell. He hadn't wired up the second bedroom or the stairwell (an example of his half-arsed finish) so the fault could only be on the downlights I had installed in frustration, in the master bedroom which he acknowledged without looking.
I had my handyman take a look for me and he rewired it the day after the the electrician had gone. We flipped the power on, and the circuit worked fine where it was tripping before.
The electrician finally came back on Tuesday to "fault find", after cancelling on me 3 times and holding up my renovations. He knew I had my handyman having a look for me. He was there for 90 minutes in which time he wired the second bedroom and the stairwell lights, changed a 6 amp fuse for the lighting circuit which he "installed to test", to a 32 amp, labelled up the fuse box, and rewired the junction. Everything bar the rewired junction should have been done before this visit, and I have already paid for - yet he is charging me again in his newest invoice)
He issued me with his invoice within an hour of leaving, with 1 day to pay. I was not at the property (my handyman was), and he did not call or text me to inform me what he had done and confirm it was complete.
Yesterday, I decided to make the first move since he wasn't, so I text him to ask if it was finished and what the fault was. He responded but didn't answer the question. I asked what the fault was again, and he said an open circuit (his incomplete work) and the master bedroom light junction wired wrong.

He has told me he will not issue sign-off certification until I have paid his invoice for 2 hours.

These are just a few issues Ive had, there are soo many more.
So here I am. For my own peace of mind really, I want to know if the junction was wired wrong or is he ripping me off. Attached are pictures of the junction how my handyman wired it (round, it was fully enclosed, and fully working when we flipped the switch on the fusebox), vs how the electrician rewired and left it (in the white square box, now a trip hazard)

Thanks for reading, and for your opinion.

 

[littlespark]

Sorry, it sounds like you’ve been fleeced… but without us knowing the job, or the other side of the story, we can’t comment further.


Saying that, your final issue with the joint box there…. Those old round joint boxes are not compliant now. There has to be some form of cable restraint, which the white square box will have. (Although, by the looks of the empty holes, he has not used them)
Also the grey cable in the first picture seems to have red/black cores, which is old colours, and a sign that it hasn’t been rewired at all.
If the second picture shows the same grey cables (with red/black) then it hasn’t been rewired. If that was what the job was.
(There’s a big difference between a FULL rewire, and PART rewire…)

You can’t have a “trip hazard” in an attic….

 

[Simon47]

Firstly, he quoted £1500 with all the ceilings and walls down so he had full view and access to the wires throughout the property, then invoiced me £2300 halfway done and refused to finish until I paid

Pay up now or I won't finish is a bit of a red flag.
Also, was it a quote or an estimate ? If it really was a quote then he shouldn't be charging more without discussing it with you first. An estimate is just that, but a 50% increase with the job not finished is taking the urine and if the job really did expand that much then he should have been discussing it early on.

I paid £180 for this quote

He charged that much just to quote ?

I hired him to do an EICR which I have not received "because it failed"

An EICR doesn't "fail" - it just has "Satisfactory" or "Not satisfactory" and a list if any observations or defects.
And as you've paid him to do it then you are entitled to have it. Get in touch and insist he provides it - and if he won't, yell him he's got (say) 3 days or you take him to the small claims court. It will be interesting to see what the EICR looks like - will it be the work of fiction I have a feeling it might be.

He second fixed everything despite walls and ceilings being down - then told me he had to charge the wire or test the wiring if they were taken off which they obviously were to get the walls up

Proof he's been in it to fleece you. The only explanation (other than total incompeyence) is he's deliberately making extra work to charge you for.

... changed a 6 amp fuse for the lighting circuit which he "installed to test", to a 32 amp

Just to be sure you've not got it the wrong way round, you now have a 32A breaker supplying your lights ? If so, then that's unsafe.
Even fitting a 32A for testing is bad and shows a distinct lake of preparedness in not getting at least one 6A breaker with the rest of the consumer unit (CU).

Sounds like a right charlatan.
Is he a member of one of the schemes (NAPIT, NICEIC) ?

Be interested to see some photos and get an idea of his workmanship. CU would be a start.

 

[Dan]

I feel gutted to hear this! What a con, if that's what it is.

I'm never one for estimates rather than fixed price quote but tiling can be a nightmare if you pull off some tiles and it's lath a plaster under them and now it means a full boarding out, tanking and then tiling. Can double the time a bathroom takes. Rare it's something you can't work out (the odd screw driver hole behind the wash basin or something to check when quoting would inform you at the point of measuring up).

My heart goes out to you.

So how's it work on check a trade now, can you leave him negative feedback without him replying to it with some rollocks to make it sound like you've lost the plot?

Ebay gives the seller right to reply on feedback but you can't then reply to that again so basically help sellers protect their feedbacks.

 

[phillan]

Pay up now or I won't finish is a bit of a red flag.
Also, was it a quote or an estimate ? If it really was a quote then he shouldn't be charging more without discussing it with you first. An estimate is just that, but a 50% increase with the job not finished is taking the urine and if the job really did expand that much then he should have been discussing it early on.

He charged that much just to quote ?

An EICR doesn't "fail" - it just has "Satisfactory" or "Not satisfactory" and a list if any observations or defects.
And as you've paid him to do it then you are entitled to have it. Get in touch and insist he provides it - and if he won't, yell him he's got (say) 3 days or you take him to the small claims court. It will be interesting to see what the EICR looks like - will it be the work of fiction I have a feeling it might be.

Proof he's been in it to fleece you. The only explanation (other than total incompeyence) is he's deliberately making extra work to charge you for.

Just to be sure you've not got it the wrong way round, you now have a 32A breaker supplying your lights ? If so, then that's unsafe.
Even fitting a 32A for testing is bad and shows a distinct lake of preparedness in not getting at least one 6A breaker with the rest of the consumer unit (CU).

Sounds like a right charlatan.
Is he a member of one of the schemes (NAPIT, NICEIC) ?

Be interested to see some photos and get an idea of his workmanship. CU would be a start.

Hi Simon,

Thanks ever so much for your response.

He charged me £180 for the initial EICR; the only thing I got out of it was a remediation quote of £1500. I asked him for the EICR early on and he told me he doesn't register failures, he carrys out the fixes the does the EICR test again at which point he will give me pass certification.

Every other trade I've had in the house has told me he's just robbing me blind. I knew it from the moment he gave me the inflated invoice, but I felt like he had me over a barrel. On his first visit back to my property to sign off, I ended up having to stand between him and my handyman which was quite comical really as my handyman is a 7ft giant and the electrician is 5ft nothing - after this he refused to carry out any work or checks with any other trades in the house and threw down his tools to leave but I made him stay and fix his errors in the kitchen so that could at least be installed... one of the errors was blaring, he installed a switch directly above the hob despite knowing where the appliance was going as I drew it on the wall in yellow neon paint!

I got the fuses mixed up, it was for the ring main upstairs that he installed a 6amp for testing purposes (I know its BS - I saw him talking to himself asking why that fuse was there) It's now a 32amp.

According to his website, he's an NICEIC-accredited electrician. In a heated discussion with him, he told me not to get someone else in to do any electrical work because they wouldn't know what he's done... which is concerning. But I thought we were close to the end of him at that point so I just kept him.
Can NICEIC do anything if I complain? I have a lot of evidence against him.

I sent him the picture of my handyman wiring, and asked what was wrong with it, obviously as I need to reclaim the charges from my handyman if he has done poor work as its cost me money, and I have also told him respectfully that I do not owe him 2 hours for faultfinding 1 junction box - he was there completing work I have already paid for which he should have completed first time round.
He has simply responded with "please pay your overdue invoice" and that he will not issue my EIC until I have.

 

[Simon47]

He charged me £180 for the initial EICR; the only thing I got out of it was a remediation quote of £1500. I asked him for the EICR early on and he told me he doesn't register failures, he carrys out the fixes the does the EICR test again at which point he will give me pass certification.

Tell him, EICR report in 7 days, or refund the £180, or see him in the small claims court. Part of the EICR is producing the report - if he hasn't done that then he has not performed the EICR - the "R" stands for "report" !
That's a typical tactic from a scam artist. If you don't have the report, you can't see what needs doing or question it - and too many people will accept his version of things and just pay up. We've seen it time and time again in here where someone asks if the report looks right - and it's clear it's being used as a way to create work at inflated prices.

Every other trade I've had in the house has told me he's just robbing me blind. I knew it from the moment he gave me the inflated invoice, but I felt like he had me over a barrel. On his first visit back to my property to sign off, I ended up having to stand between him and my handyman which was quite comical really as my handyman is a 7ft giant and the electrician is 5ft nothing - after this he refused to carry out any work or checks with any other trades in the house and threw down his tools to leave but I made him stay

Ah, if he did throw down his tools, you could have held them to ransom.

and fix his errors in the kitchen so that could at least be installed... one of the errors was blaring, he installed a switch directly above the hob despite knowing where the appliance was going as I drew it on the wall in yellow neon paint!

That's a rather basic error.

I got the fuses mixed up, it was for the ring main upstairs that he installed a 6amp for testing purposes (I know its BS - I saw him talking to himself asking why that fuse was there) It's now a 32amp.

OK

According to his website, he's an NICEIC-accredited electrician. In a heated discussion with him, he told me not to get someone else in to do any electrical work because they wouldn't know what he's done... which is concerning.

Well if you complain, that would be the first thing they'd ask. Once anyone else has touched it, it then becomes an argument over who is responsible for what.

Can NICEIC do anything if I complain? I have a lot of evidence against him.

In theory, yes. In practice (from what I here) their attitude will be DILLIGAF.
People think NICEIC (and the other trade scams, err schemes) are there for consumer protection and trade standards. They are, as an incidental part of being a trade body, there for the benefit of itself and it's members. From what people have written, they rarely throw a fee paying member out - and if they did, the member could then just join one of the other scams.

I sent him the picture of my handyman wiring, and asked what was wrong with it, obviously as I need to reclaim the charges from my handyman if he has done poor work as its cost me money, and I have also told him respectfully that I do not owe him 2 hours for faultfinding 1 junction box - he was there completing work I have already paid for which he should have completed first time round.
He has simply responded with "please pay your overdue invoice" and that he will not issue my EIC until I have.

OK, what's your appetite for digging your heels in ? That makes a big difference to the advice you might get.
Also, how complete is the installation ? Is there still work to finish, or is it all done now ?

 

[phillan]

OK, what's your appetite for digging your heels in ? That makes a big difference to the advice you might get.
Also, how complete is the installation ? Is there still work to finish, or is it all done now ?

The install is fully complete now and I never have to him in my property again! Just need the EIC but all electrics are up and live at last! I really don't want to pay him his final invoice as a matter of principal so I'm digging my heals well in. It's £80 now (reduced from £160 "as a gesture of goodwill" after I complained that he was charging for things I already paid him for and asked him what the fault was with the junction. He's had about £2,600 out of me in total up to now - he won't get another penny.

In theory, yes. In practice (from what I here) their attitude will be DILLIGAF.
People think NICEIC (and the other trade scams, err schemes) are there for consumer protection and trade standards. They are, as an incidental part of being a trade body, there for the benefit of itself and it's members. From what people have written, they rarely throw a fee paying member out - and if they did, the member could then just join one of the other scams.

I sent an email to NICEIC and they called me back yesterday apologising profusely. The guy told me he strongly encourages that I put in a complaint to them because all the things he's done is just not on but based on what you have said, it might be fruitless. He also told me that I cannot be refused 1) My original EICR, and 2) my final EIC. He said on a personal note, because the the NICEIC can't advise on financial things, he would not pay the final invoice and the electrician has to give me my EIC within 30 days of completion whether I've paid up or not. He also told me I should go to trading standards to recover some money.

I have started assembling my evidence pack - the electrician has had 5 different numbers in the time I have been dealing with him... not a great sign is it. I took a look through our first WhatsApp chat today and I have soo much evidence including a video of him giving me a proud but rushed tour around my house showing me his finished work, which features wonky wires, old brass switches which should have been replaced, and sockets installed where my hob is going I also found a copy of my original quote for £1,500, text history of me complaining about the additional charges - I forgot the specifics, but now I have found the text; £500 of the additional £800 was labour despite him being in the house a day less than he originally quoted for!
I'm not a vengeful guy, but finding this did give me some joy.

 

[Rockingit]

The challenge that you have with this is that you've no confirmed start point. Because you have a lack of an EICR you don't actually know what work did/not need doing in the first place and clearly he's now at liberty to right up any old rubbish to justify himself.

I would -

a) inform your local building control that you suspect sub-standard works have been conducted and can they come and inspect, please. They'll charge you for this, but it will almost certainly save you more cost in the long term
b) inform the NICEIC of the same and INSIST that they send an inspector out (that should have zero cost)
c) inform the electrician of both A & B and that until that has happened the invoice is in dispute and won't be settled
d) a Chartered Surveyor will cost you probably £500 but will be able to tell you what should have been charged for based on the opinions of A & B.
e) it is CRUCIAL to establish whether you were issued an estimate or quotation as in law these are two very different animals - scroll through every single line of text that you have between the two of you.
f) It sounds at face value as though the 'contracted works' were you asking for an inspection and you then were rail-roaded into other works, again, be very clear as to exactly what happened and what can be proved as most likely (aka in law, 'balance of probability'). An EICR has a very specific scope and is defined under a British Standard - as others have said, it simply provides an opinion on whether something is safe for continued use or not. You don't take your car for an MOT and then the inspecting garage refuse to give you a result until they've done a long list of items - you expect them to tell you if it's failed somewhere and then what it's going to cost to repair - it's the same principle.