Tim Kelly Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Sometimes it is virtually impossible to know which part is faulty definitively. If you have a reasonable customer they understand that and you need to go with your best guess. If it doesn't work out then you have to go to plan B. If your customer is one of those who thinks you're just trying to rip them off the whole time, you're better off just walking out and telling them to get someone else at the beginning. Regular customers always recommend people because they believe them to be honest and fair. I suppose if you get someone off the Internet at random you should be wary, but recommendations are hard earned and good people do their best but sometimes it's difficult to be definitively right the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 It only came up because he got a recommendation on this thread. It's interesting that there are fitters on here who appear to do the same just change things without knowing whether they are faulty or not but change and if it doesn't work change something else. Would make sense to me to keep the old parts and re fit if they didn't fix the problem but then I guess you can't charge for that Ooh! That's harsh! It really does depend on the engineer/plumber that you have. You can't tar everyone with the same brush just because you feel you have grounds to complain (not saying that you haven't). Electronic items, mainly PCB's are impossible to test in the field unless you have the manufacturers software to run a diagnostic on it. To be honest, this will never be a viable option as the cost of the software would negate any benefit to making a profit. There, I said it, we make a profit. Like any healthy business should. Again, it boils back to my earlier comment about the client asking if the job is within the engineers/plumbers remit and the engineer /plumber should have the professional courtesy to find out more about the problem before he goes out. Going back to PCB's, they can go faulty if the motor on the fan is breaking down. It can end up taking out the circuit or components on that circuit and is something I draw my clients attention to everytime. Plus any half decent engineer should always offer to leave the parts they replaced anyway. But to the same token, we do get awkward customers. I could give you any number of stories about how I've been stitched up by clients over the years. Sad but true. We're not all rogues, just be careful when start chucking mud around. It has a nasty habit of sticking where you don't want it to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazsl Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Well said Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Mongrel- Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Sometimes it is virtually impossible to know which part is faulty definitively. If you have a reasonable customer they understand that and you need to go with your best guess. If it doesn't work out then you have to go to plan B. If your customer is one of those who thinks you're just trying to rip them off the whole time, you're better off just walking out and telling them to get someone else at the beginning. Regular customers always recommend people because they believe them to be honest and fair. I suppose if you get someone off the Internet at random you should be wary, but recommendations are hard earned and good people do their best but sometimes it's difficult to be definitively right the first time. Added to the above, it's not unheard of for one part to go which in turn affects another part, ie the fan seizes which causes an electrical overload and pops the printed circuit board. You turn up and it's got a blown PCB, until you replace that you won't get power to the fan to discover it has seized etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 It's only interesting because in my case the boiler was showing a fault which was wrong yet the guy who fixed them day in day out knew that the one who went from the manual, then the helpline didn't. I paid both but one fixed it and the other didn't and was twice the price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nial Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 here is a link to the hse gas regulations i think some of you should have a good read http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l56.pdf The first bullet point on page 7 seems to confirm that you only need to be a "competent person" unless you're employed / self employed and doing the work, then you have to be registered. Nial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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