I finished a job months ago , now the customer says somethings not working. Do I charge ?

[123bill]

So a few months back I fitted an outside socket , the customer has messaged me saying it doesn’t work and I need to come and fix it etc. do I charge ? As it was all working fine when I left. Thanks

 

[LukeD]

So connections you worked on have become loose?

That's not good, that's very not good, personally I would be going back and putting it right free of charge as soon as possible.

I would be very upset knowing that a connection I made had failed and caused a fault. In the part of the industry I work in that kind of thing would very quickly damage my reputation and cause me all worlds of very expensive trouble.

Thats the issue .Anything you directly touch becomes your responsibility . So in simple terms .... There is a 4 way wago connection and only 3 terminals are been used and you are then using the 4th . Its important to know the other 3 connections are GOOD . As any blame afterwards is going to be hard to fight . But we get paid for this so its not like we are doing something for free !

 

[littlespark]

I think it needs investigating before pointing a finger.

All the OP has to go on is that the socket he worked on to extend the circuit has stopped working, but the extension is still on.

If a cable has come loose, I would expect both outlets to stop… just thinking out loud.

Has the customer tried other appliances in the “faulty” socket, or indeed tried a different appliance?

It may be what they’re plugging in has the fault and not the outlet. ?


Socket switches can go bad as well, and we can’t lay the blame solely on the sparky….

Someone mentioned earlier if it had been used to charge a vehicle? That can reduce a sockets lifespan considerably….. (same can be said for hot tubs)


It’s not a case of “sucking it up” …… but to visit the job as a freebie, just to investigate and repair the fault….whatever the cause…. Might lead to further work.

 

[DefyG]

The OP has already said its a loose connection so faulty socket/appliance is unlikely.
Presumably it was the customer has opened the socket to establish its a loose connection as the OP hasn't revisited yet?

I suspect the conductors whilst loose may still be touching one another, hence the other sockets still working.
But all hypothetical until OP re-visits!

 

[littlespark]

The OP has already said its a loose connection so faulty socket/appliance is unlikely.
Presumably it was the customer has opened the socket to establish its a loose connection as the OP hasn't revisited yet?

I suspect the conductors whilst loose may still be touching one another, hence the other sockets still working.
But all hypothetical until OP re-visits!

And this is where arguments start between customer and electrician.

I certainly wouldn’t be happy if someone else tried a repair a fault then said it was my fault…. Especially not an untrained customer.

That comes down to “well, who touched it last?”


I would hope the customer would contact me first to say it wasn’t working, I would go through the simple steps over the phone, such as checking the breaker…. Then advise them to turn off the circuit until I could go to it.

 

[LukeD]

And this is where arguments start between customer and electrician.

I certainly wouldn’t be happy if someone else tried a repair a fault then said it was my fault…. Especially not an untrained customer.

That comes down to “well, who touched it last?”


I would hope the customer would contact me first to say it wasn’t working, I would go through the simple steps over the phone, such as checking the breaker…. Then advise them to turn off the circuit until I could go to it.

exactly . The moment someone touches it...all bets are off. I did a job yonks and yonks ago. I knew it was perfect .1x months later I get a call saying part of it is not working .I turn up and ask if anyone has touched things .The visuals look fine, no breakers gone etc .Then 20 mins later one of the kids mentions that "dad did something and there was a bang " !!! turned out he had gone into the loft to add a TV aerial booster and had done the old twist and wrap in tape thing and not done it well . He looked very unhappy as he was charged the call out . I hate people that just cannot just be honest

 

[James]

exactly . The moment someone touches it...all bets are off. I did a job yonks and yonks ago. I knew it was perfect .1x months later I get a call saying part of it is not working .I turn up and ask if anyone has touched things .The visuals look fine, no breakers gone etc .Then 20 mins later one of the kids mentions that "dad did something and there was a bang " !!! turned out he had gone into the loft to add a TV aerial booster and had done the old twist and wrap in tape thing and not done it well . He looked very unhappy as he was charged the call out . I hate people that just cannot just be honest

absolutely,
honest = can you come at your convenience and fix something i broke, thought I was better at DIY than it turns out. £50

dishonest = You came and installed a light switch 8 months ago and it has gone bang, my wife nearly died and I want you to come out right now and fix it for free.

outcome is customer has fitted new light / switch with youtube advice telling them what brown, black, red, blue wires mean and has totally fcuked up.
outcome £250 bill

 

[Rockingit]

Two comments:

1) At this point even I’ll go and drive to the customer to tighten three bodged terminals for free just to shut this embarrassing thread!!

2) Picking up on what James’ said - it’s all about trust and honesty. Last year I had a phone call from a partial rewire I’d done, maybe two weeks after completion to say that the lighting cct was tripping. Thought it sounded odd as it had all been mint when finished and the job was a 2hr drive each way. Got there and instantly had that gut feel that something was off… half an hour of diags later and I discovered that old classic of the plate screw biting into the conductor after the customer had lifted the switch off for painting. He was mortified at having made such a clumsy error and thinking it was me, insisted I charged him a full day AND he bought lunch at the pub. But that’s not the moral - the point is that had I taken the defensive right from the start and said “no, not me” it could have led to a heap of grief AND me eventually having to attend anyway.

OP - just go and do it!!!

 

[LukeD]

Two comments:

1) At this point even I’ll go and drive to the customer to tighten three bodged terminals for free just to shut this embarrassing thread!!

2) Picking up on what James’ said - it’s all about trust and honesty. Last year I had a phone call from a partial rewire I’d done, maybe two weeks after completion to say that the lighting cct was tripping. Thought it sounded odd as it had all been mint when finished and the job was a 2hr drive each way. Got there and instantly had that gut feel that something was off… half an hour of diags later and I discovered that old classic of the plate screw biting into the conductor after the customer had lifted the switch off for painting. He was mortified at having made such a clumsy error and thinking it was me, insisted I charged him a full day AND he bought lunch at the pub. But that’s not the moral - the point is that had I taken the defensive right from the start and said “no, not me” it could have led to a heap of grief AND me eventually having to attend anyway.

OP - just go and do it!!!

True ... being honest and accepting a mistake works both ways . But there has to be ground rules to cover time etc if its not your fault

 

[plugsandsparks]

I think there is an element of the client not wanting to admit to touching the electrics to an electrician for fear of unknown consequences. I regularly get called out , commercially, and when i ask for "the story" i am often met with " i know nooothing"... lol

However, one of the funny ones was actually a house. I was doing a CU change and i think i had just about come to the end and was doing final functional testing and the client asked me to look at the landing lights as they had been acting oddly recently. Asked if any changes done recently "oh no, lol " anyway it was a 3 way so looked at the newest looking switch 1st, its a 2 way. Looked at the second, and its a 2 way, finally went to the third and again a 2 way.

When i said to the client it was impossible to have ever worked properly, he mentioned his son changed a switch, (the newest looking one).

Anyway:- he was good enough to drive me to B&Q to get an intermediate to colour match the others and i guessed the wires on the first attempt,,, lol

Felt for the embarrassed client because we both knew he was lying and he knew i knew that he had embarrassed himself.

Thing is, when i get a call for a client mess up and its admitted immediately, i immediately go into mitigation mode and minimise the impact to the client. Last one was a service cable that was "touched" and went bang, talked client through, how to safeguard the cable, what number to call to get DNO out and as it was a redundant service cable, advised client how to request DNO remove the service cable from their property so it never happens again.

 

[nicebutdim]

Switches with the ability to change form, cables which move between terminals of their own volition - at least this must be what happens as everything has always worked fine until the day before. I like to gently break the news to these customers that no information could mean a lengthy fault finding processs, wheras small nuggets of information might just shave an hour or two off the bill and have me out the door in half an hour. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't warm to people who can look me in the eye and tell bare faced lies.

 

[LukeD]

Switches with the ability to change form, cables which move between terminals of their own volition - at least this must be what happens as everything has always worked fine until the day before. I like to gently break the news to these customers that no information could mean a lengthy fault finding processs, wheras small nuggets of information might just shave an hour or two off the bill and have me out the door in half an hour. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't warm to people who can look me in the eye and tell bare faced lies.

I play them along....

 

[DPG]

Let's hope the OP lets us know how he gets on.

 

[Other_Tucker]

Switches with the ability to change form, cables which move between terminals of their own volition - at least this must be what happens as everything has always worked fine until the day before. I like to gently break the news to these customers that no information could mean a lengthy fault finding processs, wheras small nuggets of information might just shave an hour or two off the bill and have me out the door in half an hour. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't warm to people who can look me in the eye and tell bare faced lies.

I seem to get called in to fault find in houses that swear they haven't had any electrical work in 20 years, I can see the new MCB box rubbish dumped on top of the CU and some suspiciously shiny wago's for being 20 years old. Why lie? if anything it's a clue to past fiddling like a log book is for a car.

We should leave coded messages for future electricians by the CU, like client will follow you around like a sheep, or spaghetti nightmare escape immediately,

 

[Rockingit]

I seem to get called in to fault find in houses that swear they haven't had any electrical work in 20 years, I can see the new MCB box rubbish dumped on top of the CU and some suspiciously shiny wago's for being 20 years old. Why lie? if anything it's a clue to past fiddling like a log book is for a car.

We should leave coded messages for future electricians by the CU, like client will follow you around like a sheep, or spaghetti nightmare escape immediately,

Too far back in time to remember the specifics but I did one time find a note to that effect that just said "good luck!"