Rules and Guidelines
Want to participate in the discussions? Please read our Community Rules and Guidelines. Need some help? Visit Support and Answers.

  • State Not Answered
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 21 replies
  • Subscribers 32 subscribers
  • Views 1750 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
You may also be interested in
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

is this a bad business practice for an electrical company?

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
a little background here, our home is a newly refurbished home in 2017 and it passed all the electrical inspection when we buy the home. Recently we've got a new contractor to do an EICR for us. Then here are the issues, they came and did the inspection, after 2 weeks, they only sent us a second quote and didn’t give us any report nor mentioning any coding (c1,c2,c3) nor anything unsatisfactory. When I ask for the EICR report, they told me that the certificate will be given after completing the work on the second quote and which needs to be carried out within 28 days otherwise we could be fined a lot of money from the council…… THAT'S FRIGHTENING!


But from what I known, I don’t think the work on the list is mandatory and some of them not even electrical related (see the attached invoice)… At this point, I don’t know what was going wrong as it does not mention anything that is unsatisfactory and I certainly not sure the total £672 is correct.


Discussion:

- Is this a bad business practice? 

- Are the work listed are mandatory before giving the EICR?

- What should I do next? 

9cce10eb6c664d9fe1003c015f11def3-huge-screenshot-2021-02-04-at-13.07.22.png
4fbfe2e1115cbbfcabcdb55c1934e26e-huge-screenshot-2021-02-04-at-13.06.56.png
63b9eec8bb62e91931d975ec4cb40a1d-huge-screenshot-2021-02-04-at-13.07.08.png

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    Personally I would first ask for the report and if they can’t produce it ask for a refund. I can guarantee your get it put right (if it actually needs doing) a lot cheaper than this quote. Whereabouts is the property?



    Yes just asked for the report, hope they will send to me. 

    The house is in Oxfordshire.
  • 0
    "Further investigate lower than expected R1+R2 reading......tighten loose connections......."



    Really?
  • 0
    aielectrical:

    Thanks for your advice Chris, sadly I've already paid the company for the EIRC. 

    It's a property already let out, so tenants are in the house. 


    Clearly the electricians are attempting to hold you to ransom. Hopefully they will deliver.


    If the installation is in an unsatisfactory condition, you are obliged to get the situation remedied within 28 days. If you do not, the local authority can issue a remedial notice. However, it could only do that if it had a copy of the report and you can be sure that they would not take action if the report had been withheld.


    When you get the report, if you need further clarification, I am sure that we will be able to provide it.


  • 0
    I just had a look at the regulations. Apparently the 28 day clock starts ticking from the date of the I&T, not from the later (much later in this case) date the EICR is received. So an electrician can put the landlord into a breach just by withholding the EICR for 4 weeks. Yet another example of how badly this regulation has been constructed.
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    aielectrical:

    Thanks for your advice Chris, sadly I've already paid the company for the EIRC. 

    It's a property already let out, so tenants are in the house. 


    Clearly the electricians are attempting to hold you to ransom. Hopefully they will deliver.


    If the installation is in an unsatisfactory condition, you are obliged to get the situation remedied within 28 days. If you do not, the local authority can issue a remedial notice. However, it could only do that if it had a copy of the report and you can be sure that they would not take action if the report had been withheld.


    When you get the report, if you need further clarification, I am sure that we will be able to provide it.





    Thanks Chris! I've told them that I wanted to see the EICR first... hope they will send me the report soon...

    I think they will very likely to put many unsatisfactory points on the report, but I'll definitely not use them and have someone else with the right quote to carry out the work...

    If they are trying to drag, I'll definitely make a complaint...  

    I'll do a follow up if there are any crazy drama...
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    wallywombat:

    I just had a look at the regulations. Apparently the 28 day clock starts ticking from the date of the I&T, not from the later (much later in this case) date the EICR is received. So an electrician can put the landlord into a breach just by withholding the EICR for 4 weeks. Yet another example of how badly this regulation has been constructed.




    Oh gosh, they did the test exactly 2 weeks ago from today, and I still haven't got the report...

    If they send me the report next week, I would only have one week to react...

    Hope they will send me soon then... otherwise, I'll be in trouble... either with the £672 bill or a fine from the council... 

    Then that would be a truly nasty business pratice... 

    If that's the case, I would go way more than not using them again... I'll definitely fight back... 


  • 0
    This legislation ( Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020) is quite new, and it seems the cowboys are saddling up to ride into town, take the money and ride off into the sunset. It is not helped by some very odd contractor and letting agency 'sole agent' type agreements that are not really to the benefit of the agency's clients at all.

    As well as demanding your  report, in full, for which you have already paid, if you are not happy with the result, the other person to contact is perhaps your MP

    It is becoming clear  the law  will eventually need some clarification and probably modification, and the more quickly that gets flagged up as not quite working as intended, the better.

    (- we have already seen a number of cases on here that suggest the legislation is not working as intended (though sadly exactly as some of us feared it might.).

    The rules as they are today are  here 


    The threat of fines from the council is something of a red herring. The council are not out to get you just for the heck of it, and if you can show that you have made reasonable efforts to get the report out of the sparks in a timely way then it will not be you they would pursue, or indeed anyone at all at the moment - they are probably not even aware that the property has been inspected.

    .

    Mike.

  • 0
    What's this "Correctly terminate water bonding final connections using ring crimps" - are they suggesting that a BS 951 can't satisfactorily take a 10mm² directly? Don't get me wrong, I do like ring crimps and much prefer to make the connection the clamps using one - but it's hardly a requirement of BS 7671 is it?

       - Andy.
  • 0
    Indeed, there are enough red flags in the little we can see here to suggest the 'inspector' is not fully competent. Lets hope all these 'inspectors' have the right insurance for the effects of giving. bad advice

    Mike.
  • 0
    This has been going on for years, but now a combination of all the schemes now deeming all  their members competent to issue Reports and the rental laws 28 day cliff edge, results in a mass of electrical labourers emboldened with new found power. In four or five years time this will likely become embarrassing for the electrical industry as these rentals are Inspected again and the paper trail subjected to scrutiny.  Or maybe not, as all those involved play three wise Badgers.

    f5a511716d4d2d6eb581be1834d6c8db-original-satisfactory-eicrbay-3.jpg

Community Rules & Guidelines