I've just been asked to leave a women's house...

[Ryster]

So ive just been Doing a gas safety certificate this morning charged £85 pound. That was for the boiler (which included a service if required) a cooker and a gas fire.

Gas rate, FGA the boiler and got 0.0004. Checked safety devices and flue Lovely, checked MI's no service required.

Cooker. Gas rate and checked FSDs followed MI's safety chain wasn't connected so screwed that on.

Gas rate, burner pressure, and flue tests are what I carry out normally on these following MI's for any other work required such as re arranging coals room ventilation was fine as well.


Here is where it went a bit west. I went to dissconnect the gas fire to smoke bomb the chimney, check flue liners or the appropriate chimney lining.
This women went BALLISTIC, shouting at me asking what I'm doing. Then said nobody has removed the fire on a safety check before and that I must be looking to create an expensive problem.

Anyway, after five minutes of shouting i told her i couldnt leave the house as it was or i would have to call National Grid, anyway I capped off the gas fire, tightness test and got everything signed by her and she made me leave, as I was doing this she was ringing another gas guy as I was leaving the house and told me he would be round within the hour and would report me for making up jobs!!


Has anyone ever had something like this before? I can't believe I'm being accused of looking for work purely because previous engineers haven't been doing theirs correctly!

 

[Barry98]

stay wait for the next fella at least give him a heads up

 

[Dotty]

Report her to transco. You can't prove her installation is safe.

 

[snowhead]

As you hadn't actualy "made up any expensive jobs", there's nothing for you to be reported for and if you had who's she going to report you to?

Think about it if you were the second guy in, what would you think and do?

The fires's capped, you know nothing of the installation, your first job will be,,,remove fire and inspect flue.

Looks like she'll be going BALLISTIC twice in the same day.
.

 

[Ryster]

Report her to transco. You can't prove her installation is safe.

It is safe, the fire is capped so she can't use it anyway. Had done the boiler and cooker, and insisted on a completing the rest of my tightness before leaving.

I just couldn't believe I was being made out to be some kind of dodgy fitter for actually doing it right, makes you wonder what half of these "engineers" are actually doing on a safety check.

 

[Rickster123]

Don't forget to quietly slide you bill under the door before leaving! Sounds like you were doing the right thing to me. I would never sign my name to something I'm not certain is safe.

 

[Leo21]

You've done everything right and you know it, fair play. she should be happy it's being checked properly. As above wait for other guy. And bill your time with a time limit for payment, put on it what you've done and attempting to do. Your cast iron in the right and I feel for ya. Bummer.

 

[Millsy 82]

I would have told her to phone gas safe and speak to the tech line then I would have capped off got the money owed and walked away.

 

[AWheating]

sounds like a MAD BURD!

maybe there should be a gas cert titled Totally stupid Customer cert??

basically stating that they the customer is an idiot and when they die its there own stupid fault. maybe with a graphic of somebody dead from co?


sadly its not uncommon to hear the phrase" the last engineer did not remove the fire".

 

[TBServices]

I serviced a gas fire for an old lady last week, she's been on a service contract with British gas for 6 years. £61.50 per year to service the fire. When I took the front off the fire she asked me what I was doing and when i explained, she said "you're the first bloke who's ever done that". The catchment space was a foot deep with soot.

 

[Howsie]

Madness!

Would have been worth waiting for the other guy and then you could have both billed her.

 

[kirkgas]

But the second guy said he was going report him for making up work( as I read it anyway)

 

[kirkgas]

Ryster once you get paid drop her a brief note explaining your concern at her attitude and want to clear something up, so give her Gas Safe number and ask her to do you a favour and phone them for clarification that what you did was safer than the last guys and suggest she reports them and asks for an investigation into their shoddy work

 

[Blake]

This is why I hate gas fires, it's always the same old rubbish. 'The last bloke never did that' are words I hear to often and as a result I normally find all sorts of junk in the catchment space and voids everywhere.

 

[Dannypipe]

I had a similar one a few years back.


Got called to urgently do a CP12 at a flat as it was a holiday let, and there were people coming over from Hong Kong who were going to stay there.

Turned up, and the flue was going through the ceiling into the flat above. I knocked on the door of the flat above, and asked if I could view the flue. It was rotten, leaking rust marks down every joint, and had been repaired using silicon mastic of all things. Plus it was passing through the cupboard of a four year old girls bedroom.

So I ID'd it. Capped and noticed it after speaking to someone at the agency who let it and got her permission.

About an an hour later at another job her boss called me. Bollocking me, and telling me it had passed all it's previous CP12's. She was going to sue me as the family from Hong Kong would need to be put up in a hotel. She was calling another gas engineer and would send me his bill. To make matters worse, as I was talking to her I got into my van, and my head clipped a hanging flower basket over the drivers door, and I flinched (kneejerk reaction) and smashed my nose on the edge of the door and practically broke it. Blood everywhere!

However the people in the flat above (who had asked for my number) called me a week or so later and told me that a new boiler was being installed in the flat below, and asked what their rights were regarding allowing another flue to pass through their daughters bedroom.

I got paid by the agency for my CP12, and suprise, never got sued. So I guess the other engineer agreed with me.

I WAS FUMING. FUMING.

So I feel your pain.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

I've just been asked to leave a women's house...

now when i read this i thought you had been caught in the knicker drawer,i cant belive whats happened to you i would be fuming i have to go back to a bloddy ferroli i serviced last week the miserable old witch recons her husband whos deaf can hear a rattle after i serviced it,its a carp ferroli what do they expect?????shes in for a nasty shock i dont do accusations of wrong doing

 

[mountainman]

This happened to me some years ago, why I married that woman heaven knows!

 

[Pssst]

Oh..when i used to work for British gas on my summer servicing rounds, i would often hear that too. I guess some of my colleagues were lazy gits and didnt do services properly. no wonder i went home coughing and covered in carp many nights. Same with FWA fans..

 

[jase158]

I wonder if these are the same people who ask for a second opinion after going to the doctors?

 

[leelister6]

I hear the words "You're the first one ever to do that" and "The last bloke never did that" so often, it makes me wonder if there are any competent gas engineers out there. Had a call from a chap who's CO alarm had gone off a couple of times. He'd phoned Transco and they just capped off the meter (only a BBU and fire in the house). Uncapped, did a TT and lit the BBU. Flame picture was shocking so started to strip for a service. Took the burner out, removed the gauze and was totally blocked with lint and dust, brushed out the heat exchanger and got half a carrier bag of debris out. Did all the required tests, rebuilt and all now ok. Did a room CO test for half an hour with the analyser with it all on full whack - zero ppm. Was talking to customer while testing and he'd had the fire/BBu "serviced" just over a year ago and the bloke never even removed the fire, just shoved the hoover where it would fit and never even spilled it. I told him to thank God he had a CO alarm and took notice when it went off or he could have been another story in the papers along with his toddler and baby. His face went as white as a ghost and I got a £20 tip.

 

[Dotty]

Hopefully you went home feeling smug Lee, and I mean that in a good way, you know?

 

[SimonG]

I hear the words "You're the first one ever to do that" and "The last bloke never did that" so often, it makes me wonder if there are any competent gas engineers out there. Had a call from a chap who's CO alarm had gone off a couple of times. He'd phoned Transco and they just capped off the meter (only a BBU and fire in the house). Uncapped, did a TT and lit the BBU. Flame picture was shocking so started to strip for a service. Took the burner out, removed the gauze and was totally blocked with lint and dust, brushed out the heat exchanger and got half a carrier bag of debris out. Did all the required tests, rebuilt and all now ok. Did a room CO test for half an hour with the analyser with it all on full whack - zero ppm. Was talking to customer while testing and he'd had the fire/BBu "serviced" just over a year ago and the bloke never even removed the fire, just shoved the hoover where it would fit and never even spilled it. I told him to thank God he had a CO alarm and took notice when it went off or he could have been another story in the papers along with his toddler and baby. His face went as white as a ghost and I got a £20 tip.

It's the same on the oil, you start taking the baffles out and the customers there saying they've never seen that done before.

 

[Best]

It's the same on the oil, you start taking the baffles out and the customers there saying they've never seen that done before.

I get that. They say the previous guys never use a cleaner or any test equipment. Some say they get their boilers serviced in 10min. Even if you rushed it, how could you clean an oil boiler, new nozzle & test it hot in 10min.
The worst I had was an old lady with an Aga that she said was serviced yearly always in 20min. She asked me to do it & I took 2hrs to thoroughly clean & check it plus fit new wicks. It had been neglected I thought & wicks were ancient. Despite doing it cheap, she told me later that it had taken me ages at it & said I didn't know what I was doing!

 

[DirksPlumbing]

I will just join the line here. As I get it on oil as on gas. A famous one as well is the expansion vessel. And to best that I had been asked to do the FGA "service" type myself by my previous company. I refused as they were not willing to continue my payment should I lose my gas license on that type of shoddy work.

The reason for that was simply: "The others do it too. We are not competitive."

 

[Mike Jackson]

I'm always getting the "No one else has ever done that" comments as well. The other favourite is when you condemn an appliance for insufficient ventilation and get told that no one else has ever said anything about it.

Some years ago I was doing a landlords check on a void property with a WAU and the sparky saw me doing the flue flow test and remarked that he had never seen anyone else do one. He was particularly surprised when I went in the attic to check the flue. On that one estate I had to shut off 4 units on my first annual check because the connecting bolts on the ridge terminals had rotted off. I also surprised the tenants when I took the fans out to clean and check the HE. No one else had done this apparently. On one property the pipework from the circulator ran up in front of the fan and you couldn't get the fan out. These units were around 15 years old so in that property at least no one had checked the HE for 15 years.

 

[leelister6]

Hopefully you went home feeling smug Lee, and I mean that in a good way, you know?

Mebbe not smug but it felt good to do a proper job and save the chap some money (and probably his kid's lives). People trust us to know what we're doing and it's dicks like whoever left it in that state that give us all a bad name (and that Matt Alwright and his ilk!) I suppose I could have condemned it and got a boiler swap but I tend to try and treat customers fairly

 

[DaveTidy]

Some good comments here where engineers have clearly not done what they should have done the previous year.

I must admit, I can think of one time the woman said the fire wasn't removed the previous year and I know it was cause I serviced it and she wasn't even there, it was her husband.

Problem with this is it tarnishes your reputation but is just conversation to them! I used to tie labels in the roof space on the flue and tanks so I could sign it every year in case anyone queried it!!