Hawkesworth appliance testing?

[Dan oh!]

Considering a PAT testing job with Hawkesworth appliance testing, anyone got any info/ experiance with them?

 

[russty]

Hear they make all there employees on a self-employed basics, have them pay for all there own lables and kit and expect 100's + everyday. Not the best company in my opnion, heres a blog about pat testing ive come across, its a bit of a read.




PAT Testing | Jason Slater Technology Blog | Featured

 

[Dan oh!]

Thanks for that mate, the more I hear the less I Likes.

 

[Liberator]

I have experience with this company unfortunately.........

end result was a written off car, £8000 finance on a used peugot 206, and got told to hand in my tools if I couldn't afford to work after missing 2 days of work (1 day for docs, 1 day for new car)..... In december.

My new born baby girl spent her 1st xmas in a different house, with no power or heating, no furniture and no carpets.... we all slept on the floor.....

A little compassion can go a long way under the right circumstances....... treatment like this is what made me build my own PAT company.... sure hes already made his millions, has his mansion and porsche carerra GT the last time I saw him....... but he doesn't have the few customers that I have, and never will... even if I do their testing for 1p a test!!

 

[Dan oh!]

Thanks for the warning mate, I kinda made my mind up to go it on my own anyway. Why run around like an idiot for somebody elses profit, might as well be my own idiot.
Cheers

 

[Liberator]

Just out of interest, which part of the country do you live in?

 

[Liberator]

Also, a free bit of advice.....

1. find your own customers
2. charge your own prices (even if its £2+ per test)
3. offer some FREE things, and make the word free stand out...
fuses, etc
4. you may be more expensive than other companies, but people will use you if you look/sound professional

5. charging 50p per test or whatever low prices are out there is what you do when you're doing more than 73,000 tests a year..... thats when you can employ somebody to do the testing for you, and you can sit back in your home office focussing on getting bigger better jobs with your new low prices...

I shouldn't be saying all that seeing as though Im in business myself..... but its good honest advice. You should follow it.

~Liberator

edit: Id rather help others than help Hawkesworth!!

 

[Dan oh!]

Thanks for your help buddy, I'm in Wiltshire, Salisbury to be precise

 

[pattester]

Unbelievable, it backs up a lot of what i have been thinking about that end of the market. It makes you spit when companies like that get away with treating people that way

 

[Liberator]

Not only that, he let me work for 3 months with no training or insurance, knowing full well that I would take all the legal **** storm should anything have gone wrong. I'm sure the same as a lot if hi "engineers".

I know he prospers from taking job centre folk hanging on the premise of a £20-£30k a year job for pat testing a minimum 200 tests a day, 6 days a week... When you know he can't monitor all those people whom are most likely slapping stickers anywhere to make a quick buck.

It's scary that such a large proportion of the uk's pat testing is done by such a company.

Those are the clients looking for the cheapest pat Co. out there. Yeah it's cheap, no it's nit done properly but hawkesworth won't take any slack for death or damage cus each engineer is "self-employed" at his orders.

I'm working on deelopong a competitive, very safe and professional business that helps and cares for it's employees, I thin past and current engineers would say they are treated like family here.

 

[russty]

Found there job advert on the job centre online. Excess of £2000 a month.


Directgov jobs and skills search - Homepage

RIGHT'O!!!​

 

[Liberator]

Minus the cost of the PAT tester and Microwave tester hire from them (about £30/month)
fuel expenses (120 miles/day, 6 days a week) thats 2,880 miles/month (£720/month in my current motor)
tax and national insurance (lets just say about 1/3rd - £600)

Oh - look!!...... £1,350.00 has gone before you consider the effort of doing 200-tests a day, 6 days a week

Shall we mention, expenses such as clothing, tools, food, family feuds over working so much, hand-writing 200 labels a night at home after doing your paperwork...... I was up every day at 5am, and getting to bed at midnight!!

Oh yeah, Public Liability Insurance and Tool Cover, Tax, Mot, Service for your own vehicle....

well..... I'll let you do the maths.....

 

[Burnt Fingers]

I have tested after the aforesaid company - and had a big repair list. I wasn't impressed, and it wasn't youthful enthusiasm - I hate PAT testing. I think its a blanket labelling job in some cases. Personally I woudl find it harder to make up plausible numbers - I'm pretty sure some earth values would appear on Class II's lol

 

[Greeg]

My company was PAT tested by Hawkesworth Appliance Tesing last month, 2000+ devices.

Hawktest match other PAT testing companies pricing and we also received free microwave leakage test.

Engineer that was doing PAT testing had some sort of special pen that was linked with his mobile, so when the job was done, he send us report with list of all devices that were tested (also report was available on the their web site).

I was happy with the service and probably will use the same company next year (if they will match the same price for the service.)

 

[pattester]

My company was PAT tested by Hawkesworth Appliance Tesing last month, 2000+ devices.

Hawktest match other PAT testing companies pricing and we also received free microwave leakage test.

Engineer that was doing PAT testing had some sort of special pen that was linked with his mobile, so when the job was done, he send us report with list of all devices that were tested (also report was available on the their web site).

I was happy with the service and probably will use the same company next year (if they will match the same price for the service.)

Without trying to be too harsh, you may have had a tester there who is worth his/her weight in gold to Hawkesworth. But you do the maths - its like a builder coming to your place and saying, I'll build your extension for £500 - it just dont work - how do you know the service was good? did they check all the length of the lead, did they open all the plugtops, did they look for any faults?? Also sending a report from your mobile means none of the results were checked by anyone, they could have done visuals on all of them etc


Not everyone believes that the cheapest price is the only thing to consider, thank goodness

 

[Greeg]

I just wanted to share my opinion about the quality of service that was done in my company by Hawkesworth Appliance Testing.
Just noticed that this post is about working for Hawktest so my opinion is a little bit off topic.

It was first time that our company was using PAT testing service and I was a little bit sceptical about the whole "PAT testing" thing, so was following engineer (when he was not looking) for few hours

how do you know the service was good

Cos I was "spying" engineer when he was working

did they check all the length of the lead

no engineer was now walking with measure tape and check each cable length... 99% of the cables we have are standard 1m or 1.5m

did they open all the plugtops

Yes he did open most of the plugs and replace some fuses (old fuses were returned to me at the end of the service)

did they look for any faults

Report had some faults listed and it also specified if there was a visual check done or the lead was tested. Visual check was done on the servers cables and some other devices that could not be switched off.

Also sending a report from your mobile means none of the results were checked by anyone, they could have done visuals on all of them etc

For me it means that this company is up to date with technology.
Also I've like the fact that I could see the report after few minutes when the job was finished.

Not everyone believes that the cheapest price is the only thing to consider,

Why overpay when you can get similar quality of service for less money.
(I'm assuming that other companies will test the cables the same way that Hawktest did,
can't say for 100% as this was 1st PAT testing service )

 

[Liberator]

Lol,

it's not all like that at hawks, sounds a little bit like a PR response to me!!

 

[pattester]

I just wanted to share my opinion about the quality of service that was done in my company by Hawkesworth Appliance Testing.
Just noticed that this post is about working for Hawktest so my opinion is a little bit off topic.

It was first time that our company was using PAT testing service and I was a little bit sceptical about the whole "PAT testing" thing, so was following engineer (when he was not looking) for few hours

Cos I was "spying" engineer when he was working

no engineer was now walking with measure tape and check each cable length... 99% of the cables we have are standard 1m or 1.5m

Yes he did open most of the plugs and replace some fuses (old fuses were returned to me at the end of the service)

Report had some faults listed and it also specified if there was a visual check done or the lead was tested. Visual check was done on the servers cables and some other devices that could not be switched off.

For me it means that this company is up to date with technology.
Also I've like the fact that I could see the report after few minutes when the job was finished.


Why overpay when you can get similar quality of service for less money.
(I'm assuming that other companies will test the cables the same way that Hawktest did,
can't say for 100% as this was 1st PAT testing service )

Hi some good answers there, and well done for spying!!

About the length of the lead, I didnt mean measuring it!! I actually mean checking for snags and faults. This is what engineers doing cheap testing havent got time to do.

To assume everyone does the same type of testing as Hawkesworth is that all builders are the same. When you are on a rate per test its all about speed not safety (sadly)

When I worked as a sub contractor there were colleagues of mine doing ridiculous numbers in a morning just to get more money, which is why I gave up and started my own company as In saw this as basically cheating!! some of these poor guys are hijacked into doing sometimes 300 in a day just to make ends meet!

I'll give you a case study - my guys are on a site now where under the desk there are separate UPS's and stuff, male - female leads, and difficult scrabbling around under the desks - the testing is really slow, the engineers can only just about manage 100 tests per session as all the leads have to come out, be tested, and put back. That is - if its done properly and we check the lead for faults and snags.

But theres a place for everyone here, maybe you just got a great guy, and best of luck

 

[UNG]

Am I the only one who thinks Greegs' post is a little bit fishy

The reply he posts sounds more like an advert than praising a job well done. I don't know anyone who would just join a forum to praise a company thats getting a very negative responses posted about it

 

[Liberator]

My thougts exaclty, which is why I said it sounds like a PR exercise (Public Relations), or trying to make a balls-up sound positive, lol