The scams are as we have said before, self serving money generators, looking only after themselves, look at the hassle over complaints when something goes wrong, basically they don't want to know, unless it's the householder that complains, and all too often they don't know what is right and what is wrong!
There was an article recently where a guy was prosecuted for using the NI logo on his van, when he wasn't a member, he got done thousands. now I'm not saying it's right to pretend to belong to something you don't, however there was no mention of whether his work was compliant or not, only that he was driving a van with a "club badge" on and he wasn't a member of that club!
I was at Elex, Coventry, on Friday and was having a chat with a well known person from our industry (I won't name him) and he was in total agreement with me, that, while a national register of competent electricians is needed, it should not be run by the scams, or anyone involved with them.
I remember a member on another forum, he'd gone to do some work at a property that had been wired by a scam member, and it was a disaster big time, he'd contacted the scam and they were not interested, they'd only act on a complaint from the tenant.
The tenant had paid for the work and believed everything was as it should have been, he'd no idea about missing earths, bare cables left live, or any of the many issues that the other spark had found. As far as he was concerned, the sockets and switches were level, everything worked when you switched it on, and he had paperwork, from a member of a "professional" organisation!
I asked the other spark for a copy of the paperwork, and his findings, and they were passed to me by another spark, it was only after I took the scheme to task at one of the Elex events that action was taken.there attitude is that one electrician reporting another may be the result of "sour grapes", so they don't like doing it!
However if a member of public was competent to know if an installation was compliant, then they'd not need to get a spark in to do the job, they'd do it themselves wouldn't they?
Be honest, how many sparks on here, would employ another spark to rewire their house, you wouldn't, unless there was a reason, such as illness, that prevented you from doing it yourself.
These scams need to be more open and take on board reports from other electricians, after all aren't we supposed to be the experts?
Sadly it does seem to be all about the money, hand over your cash and your in the club, and it's wrong, I could go on forever, but I won't, you only have to look at the CU situation, you have to fit non combustible units (metal) to prevent the spread of fire, yet as we all know more often than not it's poor installation rather than poor equipment that causes these fires, yet the scams are not supporting proper training are they!
s. But I had a more urgent appointment TO trap my fingers in a door!
