Phone call at 8 this morning

[Kiers1970]

Customer. one of the lights in the kitchen isnt working after CU change yesterday, the plasterers here, will it be ok for him to plaster.
Have you tried a new bulb (Didn't want to baffle them with lamp)
I haven't got one.
Get one
text 20 mins later. Yes it's the Bulb, thanks .

Good Grief.

 

[Rockingit]

Sounds about right.

 

[pjcomp]

I was always taught to look for the simple things first (lamps, fuses, plugged in ... ) - easiest to check, quick to get the answer or rule out. Seems no one gets taught that any more. At the same time, it's a natural reaction to link things that happen at the same time. One of my customers had a new PVC front door installed, wire to the outside light went through the door frame and the light stopped working. It MUST have been the door fitting wot dunnit. Probably was - the vibration of the door install broke the filament in the lamp ... another light bulb moment!

pj

 

[StuSpiers]

Customer. one of the lights in the kitchen isnt working after CU change yesterday, the plasterers here, will it be ok for him to plaster.
Have you tried a new bulb (Didn't want to baffle them with lamp)
I haven't got one.
Get one
text 20 mins later. Yes it's the Bulb, thanks .

Good Grief.

Well obviously that is your fault you should have been doing functional tests!

I am joking btw.

 

[Mr.Ian]

I thought the guarantee after a cu install was on the whole system inc bulbs (lamps) , kettles/toasters LOLOLOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like when you get a puncture after your cars just been serviced they give you a new tyre don't they ???????????

 

[Kiers1970]

Well obviously that is your fault you should have been doing functional tests!

I am joking btw.

haha Cheers,
There was a fault on the installation, it's great being experienced, Looked at a socket, saw a twin and earth emerging to a socket on the other side of the room, opened it up, found the neutral nicked on the fixig screw at the back. Dont you wish all faults were as easy to find as this!

 

[Top Cat]

I thought the guarantee after a cu install was on the whole system inc bulbs (lamps) , kettles/toasters LOLOLOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like when you get a puncture after your cars just been serviced they give you a new tyre don't they ???????????

I always tell my customers the work is fully guaranteed until the check has been cleared! Lol

 

[Paul.M]

Two weeks after completing a house rewire customer calls me on a Sunday morning. "Every time my husband puts the toaster on it trips the rcd. And its a new toaster from Argos, only 2 weeks old. We didn't have this problem before you put in those rcd things!"

So I went through the process. Have you had any work done? Have you put a nail/screw into a wall? Have you plugged an outside appliance from the kitchen (eg extension cord, light etc.

"No, we've done nothing and my husband wants his toast, he has toast every day so this needs sorting out!"

I'm the kind of man that will go out on a Sunday morning FOC to see if its anything to do with me. Not happy about going out to it, its a 25 mile round trip and me and the wife have got plans for the day. Oh well.

Just before I was about to end the call and say I'll be with you within an hour I asked "have you dropped the toaster? Water got inside? Changed the plug? (husband is a DIY disaster type of man).

"Oh" she says, "might it have anything to do with my husband getting a piece toast stuck yesterday and trying to get it out with a metal knife? He didn't half get a shock from it!"

Thank god you've now got rcds and not a BS3036 board. Anyway whilst laughing to myself I told her to go back to Argos and get it replaced and call me when he makes his toast in the morning, I'm off to the seaside now.

Call in the morning, everything is fine with the new toaster and apologized for calling me on a Sunday when it was his fault. So far from them recommending me I've had a kitchen rewire and a cu change. Told her if she gets me one more cu change I'll buy them a new toaster plus a loaf of bread as a thank-you. That man loves his toast lol.

 

[DurhamSparky]

........ speechless...! its always the electricians fault..!

 

[Knobhead]

........ speechless...! its always the electricians fault..!

Just one from the industrial side.

Like Paul, phone call Sunday morning at Stupid O’clock. What the hell did you do yesterday?
I’d changed two hydraulic valves, the ram they control holds up about 25 tonnes. There is a danger of it crashing down if the valves are removed.

Befuddled brain got in to gear.
Have you been and looked at the ram?
Yes!
Have you cancelled the permits and read the notes on them?
Yes!
Have you looked at the production office and workshop notice board?
Yes!
You haven’t!
Yes we bloody well have!
I know it’s Sunday but if you phone Boot’s chemists you can get an eye test.
Sod off! Why!

Well if you’d had looked you would have seen there’s six railway sleepers holding the ram up.

 

[ipf]

I always tell my customers the work is fully guaranteed until the check has been cleared! Lol

Good idea, but I don't think I'd be mentioning it to the customers! 'Free guarantee until I pay'.lol.

 

[oldtimer]

Put a CU in 2 weeks later gets a call RCD trips evertime I put the iron in and its only 18 months old plus it cost £60 ok will be round in half an hour and took my PAT tester yep you iron has a fault but it cost £60 and its only 18 months old yep but it is still knackered

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Put a CU in 2 weeks later gets a call RCD trips evertime I put the iron in and its only 18 months old plus it cost £60 ok will be round in half an hour and took my PAT tester yep you iron has a fault but it cost £60 and its only 18 months old yep but it is still knackered

we had it a bit back....kettle tripping the RCD...`but it doesnt do it on the upstairs sockets` she says...OK, 16th edition C/U thinks I....anyway...gets there and yep...there was a fault on the kettle....`but we only got it yesyerday` she says....and? i thought...get a new one from asda love....

 

[trev]

Had one a few weeks after a rewire once. I'm just on me way out to work and the phone rings, "Everythings dead" she said. So I go through the usual checklist and no nothing works.
Long story short, when I got there I found the whole bloody street was in the middle of a powercut.
Had they not have been so generous with the tea and biscuits at the time of the job I'd have hit them with a callout fee but I ended up with a load of shops to wire so alls well that ends well

 

[TaffyDuck]

Call-out last week to a complete re-wire of a property we had done a few months ago, One side of a dual RCD board tripping out. After a brief look asked THE question. "Any work been done recently?" No nothing so a quick few tests at the board proves there`s a fault on the Downstairs RFC .

Now its 11 pm Friday and I`m knackered so, circuit disconnected and I put an extension lead through from the kitchen to the TV and bugger off.

Next day bright and early I start testing each leg of the RFC and find the offending leg, so upstairs into a bedroom, did my Pickfords impression moving furniture and the Lady of the house says "We only had that carpet up yesterday to to put some insulation in the void so my son cant hear the TV in the lounge.

BINGO.

They had run out of screws but had some nice shiny new 6 inch nails in the shed!

 

[trev]

They had run out of screws but had some nice shiny new 6 inch nails in the shed!

Makes you wonder how the human race managed to elevate itself

 

[Darkwood]

Put a CU in 2 weeks later gets a call RCD trips evertime I put the iron in and its only 18 months old plus it cost £60 ok will be round in half an hour and took my PAT tester yep you iron has a fault but it cost £60 and its only 18 months old yep but it is still knackered

Seriously hope you didnt charge for this, it dont take much to say 'buy a new iron' ..... you knew it was faulty with the phone call!...
plus id have informed them of the consumer rights act 1979 and got her a free replacement iron. Word of mouth always pays it way

 

[Dave 85]

Civilians are idiots. I first fixed a bathroom recently.
When I went back the client had a long list of things that wern't working since my last visit:

No TV's working properly (The plumber had tripped over the coax feed to the booster)
Rear PIR Light permanently on (It was permanently off before, so obviously reenergising the circuit turned it on and the faulty sensor didn't turn it off)
2 outside lights and 2 inside lights not working (all bulbs)

 

[Dave 85]

Seriously hope you didnt charge for this, it dont take much to say 'buy a new iron' ..... you knew it was faulty with the phone call!...
plus id have informed them of the consumer rights act 1979 and got her a free replacement iron. Word of mouth always pays it way

I agree. Going round there was a waste of time.

 

[telectrix]

but sometimes you have to go round. you can tell some people "it's the kettle" on the phone, till you die , but pop round and show them works wonders. if it's local , all a part of good customer relations.