Forged quals, dangerous work!!! Long story but worth the read!

[D Skelton]

So about two months ago now, I got a call from a customer asking if I could do a few bits, "of course" I said. She asked for a rough price to change one pendant for two and install a new socket. I said roughly £100 depending on RCD, Bonding, blah blah blah... and we arranged a date (about a week later) for me to go and price for the work. A day before I'm due to go round the customer phones to say someone has been round and quoted and she doesn't need me any more. Fair enuff.

About a month after her first call, I get another call from the same customer asking if I could pop round and give her a quote to do a few bits. Bit strange I thought but I arranged a date and this time wasn't binned off the job the day before so I got to go round and meet her this time. I arrive to find two pendants in place of one and a new socket added. She explains that the plasterer that had been round to make good the terribly shoddy work of the previous spark had refused to plaster over the gaping hole in the ceiling with only a bare connector block where the old pendant lived feeding the two new pendants. The guy hadn't even bothered to wrap it in tape! Wow I thought, hats off to the plasterer for actually knowing and refusing to go over it.

Anyway, I said for £45 I'd stick in a maintenance free JB and bob's your uncle. We arranged a suitable time for me to go back round to do it and only then did she present me with what I could only call shocking work! She showed me the extra socket run in trunking and spurred from another, only the trunking came from the existing, stopped at a cupboard and came back out the other side to the new socket. Upon looking in the cupboard, The 2.5mm cable had been stretched across it like a banjo string!! Tight as anything, unsupported and just in the middle of the cupboard!

I said to her that there was no way on earth that the guy who has done this work is a qualified electrician! To which she replied "But he showed me his qualifications?!" as she showed me two pictures that he'd emailed to her of his quals, 2382 and 2391. Upon closer inspection however it was blatantly clear that they were forged! Just scanned in certs that he'd then used MS Paint to put on his details!!! The guy also claimed he was registered with Elecsa which upon further investigation turns out he's not registered with any of the scam schemes. I said to the customer that this guy should be reported not only for fraud by misrepresentation but also for carrying out notifiable works in a kitchen and not being registered and not a cert in sight! The customer was quite happy to do this and pretty much gave me free reign to do what I liked with regards to reporting this bloke.

The next day, I'm on the phone to LABC who have passed me on to trading standards. Apparently it has to go through TS before LABC deal with it? I phone TS and they appear to be very helpful and arranging a time for an officer to meet me at the premesis to assess the work and forged documents.

So a week or so later, I'm back at the house and am met by the customer and the TS bloke who has looked at the work and the dodgy quals, taken some photos and seems very eager to catch this guy! He made it very clear though that he would only be going after him for the fraud, and not the dodgy work as that was down to LABC. I fixed the dodgy work for the £45 as agreed, and as a good will gesture sorted out the banjo string cable in the cupboard as well. It turns out that the original bloke had charged her £45 to do the original work and was there for about 5 hours!!! I did make a point of saying to the customer that when you're only prepared to pay peanuts, you'll only get monkeys, to which she agreed.

The next day I'm back on the phone to LABC, tell them what's happening and am basicly met by the reply, "Although we are responsible for enforcement where dangerous work has taken place and/or work doesn't comply with the building regs, we don't actually carry out enforcement"!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I asked why and they just said "Because we just don't"!?!?!?!

Anyway, to bring this story to a close, the customer had contacted the original guy for a refund and been quite rudely refused. This I then sorted out for her by contacting the scamster directly telling him exactly what's what, reg for reg, law for law, word for word. The customer told me the next day by text that she woke up to £45 on her hallway floor! Problem 1 solved! However, what really riles and frustrates me about this whole episode isn't the scamster electrician, isn't the dangerous work, nor the forged quals. The thing that really makes me proper mad is the fact that LABC were about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike!!! No enforcement my a**!!!!

Why on earth are we paying such extortionate amounts of money to these scam schemes! These so called official and government approved bodies, when LABC won't bother with enforcement when people aren't even registered as required by the building act!!!!!! I gotta hand it to Trading Standards though as he was keen as mustard to catch this bloke and has promised to update me when he does

My main point though is that I'm so livid about this whole thing. Makes me seriously, and I mean 'seriously' consider giving up paying my scam scheme coz what's the point???? Nothings gonna happen to me if I'm not registered!!! Why bother?!?!?

 

[brav]

Really dont want to read stuff like this!!

Iv done things the right way, well in my eyes anyway. Gone to college for XXXXXXX years, worked unsociable hours to get experience, gone without holidays or going out enjoying myself for three years to pay for my courses and save for setup costs. Studied and studied and studied to the point where my misses was close to dumping me. Got distinctions or very high pass marks in every exam iv taken from ECS,PAT,2330,2382,2392,2391.

Now iv paid £576 to join Napit, £187 for insurance, having to setup a mini office and everything tht goes with tht to look professional.

Plus im going to have to take on a few notifiable jobs at almost a loss once iv paid LABC £166 just so i can use them for my napit assessment.

Then i read this thread and others simular like this and im wondering tbh why should i bother!!

 

[Sparky Ninja]

Quite a while ago I did look into the necessary gumpf that was required to create a new scheme provider.

One created within the industry by electricians for electricians that actually gave a damn. Thinking this forum would be an excellent resource for standardising around the UK.

But I got too busy so we ended up making a joke of the NICEIC out of it.

We were calling it..

Association of Registered Skilled Electricians Fitters And Technicians

ARSEFAT

View attachment 13051

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Quite a while ago I did look into the necessary gumpf that was required to create a new scheme provider.

One created within the industry by electricians for electricians that actually gave a damn. Thinking this forum would be an excellent resource for standardising around the UK.

But I got too busy so we ended up making a joke of the NICEIC out of it.

We were calling it..

Association of Registered Skilled Electricians Fitters And Technicians

ARSEFAT

View attachment 13051

That is funny, did you get anywhere with regards on how to set a scheme up? I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[Silly Sausage]

& underneath...

(We can wipe your worries away)

 

[Sparky Ninja]

That is funny, did you get anywhere with regards on how to set a scheme up? I wouldn't know where to start.

At the time you just had to lay out the action plan explaining how there is a gap in the field that your proposed scheme can fulfil.

The process would take approximately 18 months with yourself appearing before a board upon request to submit the application and prove that it's a good idea.

All the information is on the communities site.

Application and authorisation process for competent person self-certification schemes - Planning, building and the environment - Department for Communities and Local Government

Currently though, their full attention is on this green deal fiasco.

 

[Strima]

Quite a while ago I did look into the necessary gumpf that was required to create a new scheme provider.

One created within the industry by electricians for electricians that actually gave a damn. Thinking this forum would be an excellent resource for standardising around the UK.

But I got too busy so we ended up making a joke of the NICEIC out of it.

We were calling it..

Association of Registered Skilled Electricians Fitters And Technicians

ARSEFAT

View attachment 13051

I'm in, how do I get registered? :lol:

 

[Guitarist]

Really dont want to read stuff like this!!

Iv done things the right way, well in my eyes anyway. Gone to college for XXXXXXX years, worked unsociable hours to get experience, gone without holidays or going out enjoying myself for three years to pay for my courses and save for setup costs. Studied and studied and studied to the point where my misses was close to dumping me. Got distinctions or very high pass marks in every exam iv taken from ECS,PAT,2330,2382,2392,2391.

Now iv paid £576 to join Napit, £187 for insurance, having to setup a mini office and everything tht goes with tht to look professional.

Plus im going to have to take on a few notifiable jobs at almost a loss once iv paid LABC £166 just so i can use them for my napit assessment.

Then i read this thread and others simular like this and im wondering tbh why should i bother!!

I think that many of us are feeling this way tbh mate. Mr Cameron talks about the Big Society and caring for each other. These guys prove that all they care about is a fast buck, and the law lets them get away with it, no questions asked...

 

[Dave 85]

And here we get to the heart of the matter.
Only laws that make money are enforced , eg speed cameras.
Even if the council win it'll cost them a packet in legal costs.
We cant even kick known terrorists out of our country without human rights infringement.
Welcome to law and order in the UK.

Law and order in the uk, both criminal and civil is, no doubt, in a very sorry state. Building control refusing to spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers money taking someone to court for putting a bit of terminal block in a ceiling and then giving the client their money back, is not the best example of said sorry state that I can think of.

 

[Dave 85]

I think that many of us are feeling this way tbh mate. Mr Cameron talks about the Big Society and caring for each other. These guys prove that all they care about is a fast buck, and the law lets them get away with it, no questions asked...

Leave Cameron alone he's my hero!
Keep slagging off that worthless crook Lionel Blair and his equally crooked pal James Brown all you like though....

 

[Engineer54]

Leave Cameron alone he's my hero!
Keep slagging off that worthless crook Lionel Blair and his equally crooked pal James Brown all you like though....

Please give the names of ANY politician past or present, from any party, that isn't a crook and/or blatant liar??

I have no party political affiliations whatsoever, and you tend to get to see the bigger/greater picture when your overseas. What i can say from my observations over a good number or years is, that there have been far bigger crooks than Blair. The vast majority and biggest of them all coming from the Conservative Party... lol!!

 

[Dave 85]

Please give the names of ANY politician past or present, from any party, that isn't a crook and/or blatant liar??

I have no party political affiliations whatsoever, and you tend to get to see the bigger/greater picture when your overseas. What i can say from my observations over a good number or years is, that there have been far bigger crooks than Blair. The vast majority and biggest of them all coming from the Conservative Party... lol!!

I am not particularly interested how much of a crook the prime minister is to be honest, but the fact is, labour p***ed the UK economy up the wall, for us and our children, just to keep the overpayed civil servants and proffesional unemployed voting for them so they could continue to line their pockets with the expenses scandal.

I can't say much about Thatchers government, I was just a nipper then, but anyone who thinks that, in this day and age, we'd be better off with a labour government than a tory one....well.......

But then you and I rarely agree on anything....

 

[Guest55]

I can remember Thatchers Goverment and whether you like or hate her , her determination and tough decisions brought about
one of the most prosperous periods in modern times for the UK , not to mention giving the Argies a thrashing in the Falklands war.
Nothing causes more arguements than religion and politics lol.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Blair was a slippery C...
My Old Man (RHS) life long, active Labour Party member, when asked 'What do think of TB? Not a lot!
Thatcher, at least you knew were you stood with her, good or bad.
If I was an Economical genius I'd stand for Parliament and try and sort the sh!t we're in now.
Unfortunately I'll have to continue in my poverty stricken misery.
And you think Part P is bad...

 

[Engineer54]

I am not particularly interested how much of a crook the prime minister is to be honest, but the fact is, labour p***ed the UK economy up the wall, for us and our children, just to keep the overpayed civil servants and proffesional unemployed voting for them so they could continue to line their pockets with the expenses scandal.

I can't say much about Thatchers government, I was just a nipper then, but anyone who thinks that, in this day and age, we'd be better off with a labour government than a tory one....well.......

But then you and I rarely agree on anything....

We won't on this topic either then!! lol!!

Seems that there is some short memories around when it comes to Maggie T!! Who under her management sold off almost all of the UK's public wealth, one area and industry after the other. That era, was the start of the ''Greed'' culture that your all now feeling the consequences of!!

Now, ...i wonder where all those under priced shares ended up?? In the share portfolio's of the man on the street who isn't interested in stocks and shares, (but saw them as a quick sell profit)?? Or maybe into the portfolio's of Maggie's already wealthy friends?? Yep, they bought the vast majority of all the shares across all the previously public owned resources the first day each of the share options hit the market!!

There is no real difference between any of the UK parties, ...It'll always be a case of Heads I Win and Tails you loose!! They all work for themselves and not the country, unless it suits their purpose!!

​

 

[Engineer54]

I can remember Thatchers Goverment and whether you like or hate her , her determination and tough decisions brought about
one of the most prosperous periods in modern times for the UK , not to mention giving the Argies a thrashing in the Falklands war.
Nothing causes more arguements than religion and politics lol.

Now you ARE talking TOSH!! lol!!