Is B&q Ripping People Off?

[mk1rob]

Hi.

Ive just been to a customers house that has asked to have the gas and water bonding done as a previous electrician had said he couldn't sign it off as there was no bonding. I asked what he was signing off and the customer didnt really know.

It turns out he had had a new bathroom fitted by B&Q but no alterations were done to any of the electrics. However B&Q told the customer that the supplementary bonding would need doing under building regulation blahblahblah. The bathroom fitter (not an electrician) had put an earth across the hot and cold pipe behind the sink ONLY and called it done! Then a NAPIT registered electrician had come in and "tested" it supplying the customer with a minor works certificate commenting that there was no protective bonding to gas and water.

There were no readings or anything in the applicable boxes.

The customer was charged £117 for this!

Am I right in thinking this is a load of b***ocks and B&Q are pulling the wool over pentioners eyes?

Just to add, it was a 16th edition consumer unit so the lighting circuits weren't RCD protected so the supplementary bonding would only need doing if you were altering the lighting circuit right? (or just put that circuit on the RCD side)

Hope all that makes sense.

Whats you view? Thanks

 

[samson337]

I don't do any work unless bonding is in place

 

[Steve3948]

Having the lights on the RCD does not mean you don't need supplementary bonding alone, there are other factors to be adhered to also.

When you sell something it's only a rip off if you say it is.

So unless there is a recommended retail price stated, how can it be a rip off, if someone is not happy with a price they should get quotes.

Someone may not be competitive, they charge what they want, is that a rip off, maybe and maybe not, its what someone wants to pay.

10% profit or 100% profit is either a rip off, you decided. 

 

[betty swollocks]

I don't work for b&q anymore but when I did they wanted to squeeze every penny out of each job, I only did kitchens and after the jobs finished somebody follows you to make sure you have only done what's been paid for, it's made clear it's their job not yours and you don't poach work from their customer. An example of this was when finishing a kitchen I noticed the combi boiler was simply plugged into an adjacent socket leaving an unsightly trailing cable which I changed to a fused spur running the cable behind the plasterboard( dot n dab) I was later charged £80 for this by b&q for trying to make their job look better, i had charged the customer £25. Another regular thing was they wanted minor works certificates even when no electrical work had been done by anybody to any circuit, the kitchen fitter paid for this out of his fit price or he wouldn't be paid by b&q. B&q charged customers £80 per socket, you would be paid £25, they also charge £680 +vat for consumer unit changes, again you would be lucky to earn £300. Bonding of any kind was regularly missed off surveys and I lost count of the times we were expected to install it for free..... I could go on but you get the gist!

 

[boltonsparky]

Over priced, useless staff (mostly), a big orange money making machine, the only plus point to the place is it's open when others aren't, personally avoid it like the plague as I hate the place/s.

Betty's post is absolutely no surprise and sums them up for me.

Just my experience after clearing up the abortion left by one of their kitchen fitters and my opinion of course.

 

[mk1rob]

steve3948: I see what your saying - you can charge what you want and its up to the customer if they want to pay it or not.

My problem is B&Q telling the customer the supplementary bonding has to be done and charging well over the odds for the job not even done properly. You cant expect the customer to know if it needs doing or not, he just trusts the company is telling the truth and the company is taking advantage of that fact. Just think its so wrong.

 

[Steve3948]

steve3948: I see what your saying - you can charge what you want and its up to the customer if they want to pay it or not.

My problem is B&Q telling the customer the supplementary bonding has to be done and charging well over the odds for the job not even done properly. You cant expect the customer to know if it needs doing or not, he just trusts the company is telling the truth and the company is taking advantage of that fact. Just think its so wrong.

Rob, I know what you mean, but I doubt it's directly B&Q but more the guy who is in charge for that area, they are Salesman and only interested in the financial gain on each job so they hit their targets.

Some years ago a well known DNO was sending people out knocking on doors telling them they could have a free safety check, then telling them the house was dangerous and needs rewiring, these people had no electrical knowledge or training at all, they were just after commission.

The bubble soon burst when the press got hold of it.

 

[binky]

B&Q don't seem to know what electricians are and certainly don't send trianed people out to assess electrical requirements. Have had a few discussions with people who work for them, and it smacks of all the usual big company non-sense with absolutely no allowance for being wrong or finding problems during the installation.

 

[Bruspark]

Looking on the positive side bonding is a good thing, would have been needed at some point, could have prevented a dangerous situation and the overcharge is not the worst ever...

These big company -> small contractor deals are really only ok on average. For my own place I do fondly remember a fixed price boiler change where Bgas had missed what all the plumbers who also quoted had noticed ... So their contractor arrived to do 1day swap and found 3 days work.. I lent him my phone for the long conversation that ensued... It all ended well for him (and 2 other guys) in that case and for once I made money out of B. gas instead of vice versa