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01-07-2017, 08:29 AM
11

Re: Catalogue of disasters

You would think that one way of selecting a tradesman/woman would be from friends or neighbours. Wrong. A good friend (who owned a block of flats) said her man would fit our new loo in the cloakroom. He does all our little maintenance jobs.

Master of non, so put the job right myself.......
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01-07-2017, 09:08 AM
12

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Oh gosh this brings back memories of a bodge job I had done . My old boiler which was fitted in a cupboard upstairs was useless so I had 3 quotes from corgi registered gas fitters . One was recommended and was the middle quote so I accepted his written contract . We decided on a Halstead combi boiler , he suggested I have it fitted in the kitchen , leaving me a spare cupboard upstairs for storage as I have little .

He arrived on day 1 , stayed an hour and a half leaving his stuff lying around .
day 3 , arrived started the work
day 4 , things were looking good
Day 5 completed the work and I had heating and hot water
the pipes below and around the boiler were ugly and many even though he told me there would be about 4 . I paid for a chap to box them in .
There was a large hole in kitchen ceiling and he left it for 3 weeks until he did eventually come and sort it for me after begging and calling him many times

All worked well until a year later when I decided to ask British gas to look after my boiler with a yearly service . Above the kitchen cupboards was a large pipe running to the outside of the house . British gas told me an electrical component and socket which had been used for a cooker expelair years previously had been blocked in and they could not reach it in the event of boiler and electric problems . ( the electrics to the boiler were wired up to it ) The original gas bloke refused to come and re site the socket and component . In the end I had to pay a gas man to come to move the pipe and also an electrician to re site the socket and component alongside the boiler . I rang the corgi people to complain of the original gas fitter and they told me he was no longer a member and there was nothing they could do .

I hear this bloke is still working yet not self employed anymore . I often wonder if he's still messing people around and doing bodge jobs
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01-07-2017, 09:33 AM
13

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
So this year and particularly in the past few weeks I've had one DIY disaster after another.

For example ordering a new loo online and then finding it was broken in transit only after the plumber gets here to fit it. Had to settle for an off the shelf model but the plumber nearly fitted it 50cm from the wall with a crooked pipe and no tiling. Lucky I was there to ask questions. Then it took weeks to get them to collect the broken delivery and get a refund. The workmen kindly left me with the old loo for old time's sake. That was a lovely surprise.

Next I decided to get a new handle on an internal door. I couldn't believe they thought I wanted a handle only on one side of the door. They also replaced a door and the workman kindly tidied up the sawdust into the dog towels i'd laid on the floor. He didn't mention that he'd left it in there when he neatly folded the towels so it spilled all over the hall floor. He also kindly left the old door at the side of the house when I'd thought he would take it away.

It's like when our fence was replaced and the workman didn't measure the area properly so the fence only went halfway to where it should and he told me that he thought I had only wanted it up to the tree (with a lovely gap to the neighbouring property.

I could go on. Are there any decent workmen and companies around any more? It seems that everything is such hard work.
Hi Annie

Assuming you mean 50mm and not 50cm away from the wall , if you were replacing an old style low level toilet with a close coupled toilet, it is common to be left with a gap between the cistern and the wall due to the way toilets are manufactured. Personally, I would always warn the customer that this might happen and would include the cost of a small filler and tiling. I would also have taken the old loo away as part of the service but not everyone does that. It has to be agreed before the work starts.
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01-07-2017, 09:41 AM
14

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Just one other thing about loos a and bathroom fittings; There used to be standards in the Uk which meant that all items fitted easily but due to the influx of European toilets, baths and basins, this is no longer the case. I have spent many un-quoted hours trying to get something that was ordered online to fit.
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01-07-2017, 12:00 PM
15

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Hi Annie

Assuming you mean 50mm and not 50cm away from the wall , if you were replacing an old style low level toilet with a close coupled toilet, it is common to be left with a gap between the cistern and the wall due to the way toilets are manufactured. Personally, I would always warn the customer that this might happen and would include the cost of a small filler and tiling. I would also have taken the old loo away as part of the service but not everyone does that. It has to be agreed before the work starts.
Hi Longdogs, yes that's exactly what I was having done. I'm sure it was more than 50mm, he had a wooden spacer block he was planning to fit and it would have meant a big gap which you couldn't fill with tiles. But he managed to fit it to flush the wall simply by removing the additional pan connector which extended the space between the old loo and the wall and slotting the new loo into the original pan connector. So now it looks like this and it's working fine (caution contains graphic content!) :

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01-07-2017, 12:02 PM
16

Re: Catalogue of disasters

could probably do with a clean - the rest of it is so new and shiny and I've never looked at the back so close!....
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01-07-2017, 12:07 PM
17

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Just one other thing about loos a and bathroom fittings; There used to be standards in the Uk which meant that all items fitted easily but due to the influx of European toilets, baths and basins, this is no longer the case. I have spent many un-quoted hours trying to get something that was ordered online to fit.
Don't even start me on Ikea fittings. My kitchen fitter had so much trouble with their mixer tap and then the ikea sink waste plumbing we had fitted got all blocked up because of the design and had to be entirely replaced. You couldn't buy standard light bulbs for some of their lamps because they have their own weird sized ones. It's an old house so nothing we have is standard sizes anyway. The original loo (years ago) was still an old fashioned victorian high level model. It certainly had a powerful flush!
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01-07-2017, 12:10 PM
18

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by susan m ->

I hear this bloke is still working yet not self employed anymore . I often wonder if he's still messing people around and doing bodge jobs
I've not had quite so many problems since I've been using gas safe to select plumbers for boiler work. They aren't perfect there but at least they know that you don't put the pipes on back to front which is what some "recommended" guys did so whenever the hot water was being heated in the summer all the downstairs radiators would be hot even though the heating was switched off. That was only fixed by "rat's nest" guy last year.
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01-07-2017, 12:52 PM
19

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
But Cass you have to admit changing a loo should be a pretty simple job. The loo I had in there was originally changed with very little fuss by someone in the '90s.
The famous last words of a customer that has absolutely no idea but think they do.

At this point I'd give a ridiculously high quote and I'd run a mile.
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01-07-2017, 02:12 PM
20

Re: Catalogue of disasters

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
But Cass you have to admit changing a loo should be a pretty simple job. The loo I had in there was originally changed with very little fuss by someone in the '90s.

.
In principle changing a loo is simple. But was the change over like for like ie; exactly the same? I bet it wasn't which means fittings, types, models etc have all changed and the fit wont be exactly the same.

Sorry but that the way it is.

OH and I watch those building progammes on tv the ones where people think they have been ripped off. A classic was the people who had a quote for a new extension with a luxury fitted kitchen for 10 grand.. Seriously? OH nearly died laughing.. You couldnt buy the materials for 10 grand let alone get all the tradesmen in and build it for that price .

Yes there are cowboy builders out there but as Tpin points out often the expectation of the customer is way beyond whats possible or whats paid for..

Easter Rantzen and her lot have a lot to answer for telling people never to pay a deposit and always go for federation or plumbers guild papers, anyone could pay for one of those bits of paper.
Did you know that as the law was (not sure now) once a fitter has installed the items in your home he has no right to reclaim them even if you dont pay? That sent many small firms to the wall when customer refused to pay. Ms Rantzen never once reported on that!
We had a contract that every customer signed that stated all goods and fittings remained the property of the company until fully paid for, customers signed at the start of works and were signed off after full payment.
It was the only way to get some people to pay, although once OH did have to slightly threaten a Croyden laundrette owner and we were paid all in coins from the machines.

Everyone wants things on the cheap cheap but builders and plumbers have the same bills as everyone else so a good tradesman will charge more , its called a living wage.

Do be realistic when looking for a tradesman, do ask for a quote , dont ask for extras (they cost money) do check if rubbish removal is included, do ask if they have insurence and ask to see the certificate , dont expect a miracles on a budget we dont all work like Mr Nick Know it all on SOS.


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