The great pat testing scam

[Patman]

Havent got CoP to hand, but no mention of 25A test anymore!
Not sure of edition, but has a purple/lilac cover!

Yes "purple/lilac" cover is 3rd (and latest) edition. As NovusSparkus adds in his post.... p73. Check it out !!

 

[brizospark]

name and shame!!!!

 

[Duntestin]

Had look and 25a test is indeed mentioned - my mistake.
But my point is that it is not specified as mandatory, it is an either/or with a 20mA-200mA test is it not?

 

[gutterball]

Just to add to this. I was in a office recently replacing some light fittings when the pat test guy appeared. He had a bar code scanner and a printer on his belt. He scanned the previous sticker printed a label and on to the next. The whole office in 5 mins. When he had gone I had a look sticker said visual only and a number nothing else. When I queried the office manager she hadn't a clue about proper pat tests. They were paying this joker £50 every 6 months. Apparently he had walked into the office just after it had opened and offered his services. I'm wondering how many other business he has scammed?

 

[Patman]

Hang on what's that noise............. My blood's just coming to the boil!!!!! *@#*@@ !!

 

[Adam W]

That's PAT testing in a nutshell though - nobody's really that bothered about it until something goes wrong and someone needs to be sued, when the tester just says it was fine at the time of testing.
The office manager probably thinks she's got a good deal because it's all done in 5 mins with the minimal of disruption - nothing is even switched off, and it ticks the box for £50.

 

[Duntestin]

But who is really to blame? The scamming 'visual' guy or the muppet who is employing him and supposed to be protecting his staff?

At the end of the day, if the market for scammers wasn't there then these guys would have to work for a living!

 

[Dcf]

666 the number of the beast
100 appliances a day is hard work at the best of times
Their pat tester would b in flames after 300

 

[surrytom]

Im a PAT tester and these comments are just what the trade needs.All too often i get to site and iam immediatly accused of having the "easiest job in the world","money for old rope" or "do you just put stickers on them?"
I work for a large company with many big contracts and we pride ourselves in doing the job properly,i earn just above minimum wage doing the job and believe pay is also a factor in the lowering of quality.we cant compete with the 50p firms.It would be a big help if the customer had a better insight in to what a good tester does and the reasons why,alot of places i visit just let me get on with it and sign my jobsheet when i say im done without checking a single appliance or shadowing me whilst im at work.Im sure most firms have it done just for insurance purposes.
I really like my Job and chose to do it.For me a PAT tester should be qualified to atleast city&guilds 2377,be registered with a governing body and have an on-site assessment.the rule about competent person is far to vague and has given licence to any employee to carry out tests.
firms are not going to pay £2 per item to a fully qualifed and experianced PAT engineer when "John"the part time caretaker can do it for nothing.
every post i see regarding PAT testing is negative due to poor customer experiances from incapable testing firms.

 

[bcuk04]

was doing a PIR at site today when I noticed a PAT tester had turned up, having read through this post the other day I though I'd keep an eye on him and see what he got up to
I passed him when he was inspecting a 30m extention lead, came back a minute later to see it had been stickered and theres no way he'd rolled it all out and back again.
Had a quick look in the kitchen only to find the microwave freshly stickered, when I looked at plug there was no fuseguard in place!
All the time he was walking around he didnt have the necessary lead to plug his tester in then plug appliance into tester, I did have a little chat and found that he could often did 500 items a day with 600 being his best!

 

[Kamikaze]

A dead give away is when the stickers are upside-down. Usually indicates the person has simply leant over the appliance without touching it.

 

[Adam W]

I did some PAT job which I was told all had to be done in a day because it had to be kept to budget.
There's me working my bottom off from 8am to 5pm, no breaks, pulling all the cables out to check them and get to the plugtops, where interestingly the previous tester hadn't stuck any of his stickers.
No fuse, wrong fuse, reverse polarity, plugtop on T&E... Missed those didn't ya sunshine?

 

[pattesting]

Hi I give 2 quotes one is for a full itemized list of all equipment with serial numbers and make and model fuse size and if changed what was one in it and any other repairs done and a certificate for each item.

Or a certificate just for all items tested with no full details done

 

[madmac]

This again is another example of the colleges and training providers making a quick buck by allowing any Tom,Dick or Harry do the C&G2377 and then tender for work as qualified Pat testers!!! when it was meant, as all of these courses were meant to be, as top up courses for experienced,qualified and competent electricians to get up to speed on the regulations and peculiarities of the job at hand.

 

[madmac]

Just been on a website for electrical qualifications and definitions.....and they are clearly saying that "domestic installer course" was simply to give kitchen fitters,plumbers,alarm engineers, etc a basic grasp of electrics so they could basically connect their equipment to a fcu! IT IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER DEEMS A DOMESTIC INSTALLER TO BE A COMPETENT ELECTRICIAN!!!
So all you guys that have paid thousands to these scam training providers and then believed their propaganda that you will be a qualified electrician have been lied to!!!