Price check please?

[alanl]

A local Council is having a dispute with an Electrical company about the size of their Invoice to fix an alarm fault, and asked my advice, could others give their views please?
New alarm, fitted Sept. 2011 by he same Co. Decorators in, who ripped out one of the sensor wires. From the pictures supplied, it looks like there is an inch or so of cable left at the alarm panel end.
They get called out, as obviously there is a tamper fault. The person who attends doesnt know anything about the alarm, and has to go home to download the manual. he then cannot fix it that day, so says will be back. Around 10 hours total he spent on it. Free access to the building as it is empty.
In the process, a new board, keypad, bell box and 1 PIR were fitted.
Plus the Labour cost of £480+ vat, and an extra £25 call out charge.
Apart from overcharging for the parts (another story), I was astounded at the Labour charge, and said it should, at most be £250, and if it was me, I'd expect to fix it in a morning for £150 max.
Anyway, what do others think would be a reasonable charge?
Thanks , Alan.

 

[Farmelectrics]

Was his name dick Turpin lol

 

[trev]

Sounds like you're not directly involved mate, mind if I ask what your role is in this dispute

 

[telectrix]

a 1 hour repair at most. £50. and a 50p alarm JB thrown in.

 

[Snapester]

Wow why the new board did they destroy the board while decorating!!
Labour for me would have been £40 call out and prob if i had spent 10hrs on it which sounds ridiculous as surely it was a simple fix if the sensor had just been torn out? Then labour would be around £300...

 

[alanl]

I'm a Councillor, and also a Sparky, so I was the one who the Clerk asked when she received this ridiculous bill.
I too cannot see how the bell box, PIR, keypad and board were all damaged by the removal of one PIR wire.
We have asked for the old parts so they can be tested. We are also refusing to pay the bill, as we have concerns about how it was fitted (I have seen a pic of how it was installed, the cable was drilled through the wall, 4 foot high, then hung, not clipped, until it reached the ceiling)
The argument is that as it was a building that was being refurbished, the cables should have mechanical protection when it was installed, which they clearly did need.
The parts were charged at ridiculous prices too. £11.50 + Vat for less than 10 metres of alarm cable. £120+ for the board (which can be bought for £40ish).
Then the £25 call out charge for an 'engineer' who admitted he didnt know much about alarms.
You couldnt make it up. £951 to fix this fault.

 

[trev]

A lot depends on your contract with this lot mate, we've all seen the publicity about Morrissons charging £400 for replacing a ceiling rose. I'd ask them for a break down of everything that was spent on this job then query every line, it'll let them know that they can't take the wee and will make central govt happy if they hear about it.
We're all in this together you know

 

[alarm man]

what make of equipment was installed,it could be possible to damage a pcb by shorting the power out,tho id be surprised if it took the bell and the rkp with it,can happen lightning strikes,tho the engineer might not have been familiar with that panel and had to go away to get the manual,i think its a bit harsh you have to pay for that time.

 

[telectrix]

if he's turned up on a repair without thee necessary manual, it's his look-out to go home for it. did he forget his meter, screwdrivers, etc.?

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Just an assumption here, a local council called an electrical company, that would have been on an approved contractor list, which would mare than likely be a company registered with the NIC as Approved Contractor.

So they send a general dogs body out to sort it....The rest is history.

Back to the OP, you are right to ask for the panel etc back, it is all yours, but I supposed it will definitely come back damaged, if you get it back that is.
Is it theft if they did not ask to dispose of the parts?

£11.50, is a price of a whole reel of cable.

Make sure you get some answers on this, and please keep us update of your progress.

 

[alarm man]

Just an assumption here, a local council called an electrical company, that would have been on an approved contractor list, which would mare than likely be a company registered with the NIC as Approved Contractor.

So they send a general dogs body out to sort it....The rest is history.

Back to the OP, you are right to ask for the panel etc back, it is all yours, but I supposed it will definitely come back damaged, if you get it back that is.
Is it theft if they did not ask to dispose of the parts?

£11.50, is a price of a whole reel of cable.

Make sure you get some answers on this, and please keep us update of your progress.

depends really,the security game has a lot of rented systems,they pay for rental & maintenace of the system, the equipment can belong to the alarm co,tho most councils tend to use 1 or maybe 2 alarm suppliers,prices are normally a fixed hourly rate as well as parts at a fixed price as they have a lot of work to give out so they should be aware of the rough cost to replace