Phone Call Today

[uksparks]

Me: Hello, how can I help?

Them: I need you to replace my board

Me: ok, so you want a new consumer unit, no problem.

Them: I have the board, I just need you to fit it.

Me: o....k, I would not usually fit a board for someone supplied by the customer unless a specific type that I usually fit

Them: why?

Me: because it might be a heat of crap, what make did you buy?

Them: it's LAP...

Me: not a chance I am fitting that. Who advised you do buy a new board anyway?

Them: I'm a Part P approved electrician but I can't do it my self?

Me: if you are Part P Approved them what you are saying is you are registered with a body who has given you the Part P status andon that basis there's no reason you can't do it yourself.

Them: I am part p but dont have my 17th...

Me: right o, well if you want me to do it I need to supply it for you as I'm not fitting LAP.

Them: bye then

 

[uksparks]

It wasn't too far to drive, probably 15 mins...

i i have a lot of work on at the moment, he was also not the type of customer I prefere to do business with.

i like some lap stuff, I don't think there consumer units are very good, I did give him a few options but he was admitent about using that board.

calle stupid for turning it down but I'm stacked out at the moment and didn't need the business.

 

[VoltzElectrical]

It wasn't too far to drive, probably 15 mins...

i i have a lot of work on at the moment, he was also not the type of customer I prefere to do business with.

i like some lap stuff, I don't think there consumer units are very good, I did give him a few options but he was admitent about using that board.

calle stupid for turning it down but I'm stacked out at the moment and didn't need the business.

It's often stated in 'starting up on my own' threads about how important it is to be able to 'sniff out' potentially problematic customers. It sounds to me like you smelled a bad on. Hairy muff and good on you.

 

[uksparks]

You will probably find that he will use it for a part P assessment in the near future should I have done it for him

 

[rapparee]

You will probably find that he will use it for a part P assessment in the near future should I have done it for him

You're just right. I had a fella one time who wanted me to change his cu, he had taken it upon himself to price a cu £30 but couldnt understand that i would also have to get mcbs/rcds. He wanted to know how much i was an hour and how many hours it would take to replace the board, the concept of taking time to identify circuits was beyond him (all circuits were piggy backed off four rewirable fuses) i got the feeling every £ was a prisoner with this fella so i bluffed my way out of it and let somebody else do it.

 

[edexlab]

I've had a similar call to this but the whole thing smelt to me of someone wanting to watch a competent person do the job as a learning experience, so they could then go out and do this kind of work themselves!

 

[Briggs69]

Not used lap db yet there chrome accessories are not to bad for the money but I personally only fit well known brands of db e.g hager,mk,Crabtree,dorman smith but if he was supplying it who cares it's all work and £ at the end of the day as long as all the circuits tested out ok and rcd tested out ok then there's no problem.only thing that put me of British General was I had 2 faults rcds in the same board when doing the x1 test was getting 400ms on both so won't use them again which is a pity cause that they were well put together for the £

 

[VoltzElectrical]

Not used lap db yet there chrome accessories are not to bad for the money but I personally only fit well known brands of db e.g hager,mk,Crabtree,dorman smith but if he was supplying it who cares it's all work and £ at the end of the day as long as all the circuits tested out ok and rcd tested out ok then there's no problem.only thing that put me of British General was I had 2 faults rcds in the same board when doing the x1 test was getting 400ms on both so won't use them again which is a pity cause that they were well put together for the £

Last BG board I used all RCDs and they all tested out virtually identical at x1 and x5, I was quite surprised at the consistency. However the last MK board I used, the pre-wired neutral links pulled out of the factory crimp and one of the RCDs wouldn't trip at all.

i know which brand I'll be using again and it won't start with M and end in K.