Engineer? From Hell.

[Specialist]

Hi Guys: Just been out on a call to another firms customer, Set the scene: Old lady in her eighties had an Alarm fitted by her sons friend who is in the trade.

Old lady has power cut and alarm bells ring, calls installer who has answer phone telling everyone that he is no longer in the trade and for service / repairs they should contact another engineer, this is where I come in as her daughter is a friend of the wife and calls begging me to go sort it out.

Turns out said system has been in less than six months, am expecting nothing more than a duff battery (Ha Bloody Ha). When I get there the first look is enough to tell me I aint gonna like it. The list of things found is below:

1) No door contact for entry exit: A PIR 6 foot down the hall does this.

2) No Spur the mains comes via a 2 core flex straight from a 20A fuse so obviously the nice metal panel is not earthed.

3) The panel is a four zone which is running 6 PIRs & 2 Vipers.

4) I was sort of right about the battery, there's not one fitted.

5) Multiple detectors on each zone except the E/E.

6) All circuits wired in CW1308 2 pair including the bell box.

7) About 2 foot of cable spare on each circuit all just stuffed inside the panel.

8) All joints insdie the panel twisted and covered with bits of loose outer sleeving from the 4 core.

9) The bell box is not actually a bell of any type but a dummy box with a sound bomb 1 stuffed inside.

When I tried to explain to the lady how badly she had been ripped off ( Cost to have this mess:

[sparky999]

Hi Guys: Just been out on a call to another firms customer, Set the scene: Old lady in her eighties had an Alarm fitted by her sons friend who is in the trade.

Old lady has power cut and alarm bells ring, calls installer who has answer phone telling everyone that he is no longer in the trade and for service / repairs they should contact another engineer, this is where I come in as her daughter is a friend of the wife and calls begging me to go sort it out.

Turns out said system has been in less than six months, am expecting nothing more than a duff battery (Ha Bloody Ha). When I get there the first look is enough to tell me I aint gonna like it. The list of things found is below:

1) No door contact for entry exit: A PIR 6 foot down the hall does this.

2) No Spur the mains comes via a 2 core flex straight from a 20A fuse so obviously the nice metal panel is not earthed.

3) The panel is a four zone which is running 6 PIRs & 2 Vipers.

4) I was sort of right about the battery, there's not one fitted.

5) Multiple detectors on each zone except the E/E.

6) All circuits wired in CW1308 2 pair including the bell box.

7) About 2 foot of cable spare on each circuit all just stuffed inside the panel.

8) All joints insdie the panel twisted and covered with bits of loose outer sleeving from the 4 core.

9) The bell box is not actually a bell of any type but a dummy box with a sound bomb 1 stuffed inside.

When I tried to explain to the lady how badly she had been ripped off ( Cost to have this mess:

[Specialist]

People never seem to learn the mistakes others have made and go and make the same mistake themselves.

Aint that the truth.

[arfur mo]

when dealing with these situations, especially where an elderly or vulnerable person is involved, i end up feeling so guilty for my trade and in a strange way partly responsible for projecting a trust worthy image we should all enjoy, but can't because of bad traders like this.

it's very very hard to say "sorry, but it's going to cost you this much to put right", there's no real reason but you do feel like a heel knowing the family will also question why an untill now (you touched it) 'good' installation will need so much work to put right, after a simple power cut. bad thing is they will now not trust you either because of that cretins actions

so a real no win situation your in after doing a relation a favour, a very real toughy to handle and i feel for you.

regs

alan

[black knight]

Personally i would say to the old lady that you will do a full report on what you found and report to her daughter ie the person who called you. in the meantime put a battery in the panel to prevent similar fault happening. (and if possible fit a 3 core flex to make it electrically safe)

You then speak to the daughter telling her what a dogs breakfast it is and that you advise she pays you to put her dear old mum a decent alarm in at approx half the cost the cowboy did!! (albeit you would doing it at cost to yourself etc etc).

If she disagrees to does'nt want to do this then you tell her it would be best to down-power the system.

good luck

P

[Guest anguscanplay]

ah see magpye or the other one I`ve got on ignore wouldnt have a problem with that job, as long as the guy never said he was installing to spec then theres nothing wrong with it according to their argument - but a couple of your points might be moot IMO LOL

Dont do it for any less than you`d normally charge

[Specialist]

when dealing with these situations, especially where an elderly or vulnerable person is involved, i end up feeling so guilty for my trade and in a strange way partly responsible for projecting a trust worthy image we should all enjoy, but can't because of bad traders like this.

it's very very hard to say "sorry, but it's going to cost you this much to put right", there's no real reason but you do feel like a heel knowing the family will also question why an untill now (you touched it) 'good' installation will need so much work to put right, after a simple power cut. bad thing is they will now not trust you either because of that cretins actions

so a real no win situation your in after doing a relation a favour, a very real toughy to handle and i feel for you.

regs

alan

Thanks for that Alan, and you are spot on about the way I feel. I hate seeing people ripped off by so called engineers, especially the elderly and infirm.

Regs: Andy.

[Specialist]

Personally i would say to the old lady that you will do a full report on what you found and report to her daughter ie the person who called you. in the meantime put a battery in the panel to prevent similar fault happening. (and if possible fit a 3 core flex to make it electrically safe)

You then speak to the daughter telling her what a dogs breakfast it is and that you advise she pays you to put her dear old mum a decent alarm in at approx half the cost the cowboy did!! (albeit you would doing it at cost to yourself etc etc).

If she disagrees to does'nt want to do this then you tell her it would be best to down-power the system.

good luck

P

Not really possible to squeeze a battery in without removing all the excess cable inside, have now spoken to the daughter and explained the situation. Will let you know what the outcome is in due time.

Regs: Andy.

[2ltr16valve]

its sad when you hear of these situations, im in no way an engineer and have mananged to install a pretty good system with no faults (bar line fail, due to no telephone line atm) but it works and works well.

my panel is now neat and tidy, a little excess cable under the upstairs floor but left incase i damage any cable doing decorating work...

The lad thats fitted that should be sued... ! a disgrace to himself, hate people that pray on the elderly... really isnt on.

Hope you can sort it all for them without too much of a problem mate and not too much cost

[inglishg]

There's two systems which spring to my mind when reading about these experiences. One is a guy in his eighties.

I've known him a few years, and it seems he was visited a while back by a sales guy who convinced him he needed a security system.

He ended up paying installments of