Today's wasted call out

[ProDave]

"heating not working" reported by the letting agent.

Turn up, storage heater stone cold. Checked everything all appeared okay, continuity to off peak CU okay.

Then tennant says "it felt a bit cold in the house so I turned it on THIS MORNING" headbang

FFS do people not understand how a STORAGE heater works? Now the landlord gets a bill for having a dumb tennant. :C

 

[Phoenix]

FFS do people not understand how a STORAGE heater works? Now the landlord gets a bill for having a dumb tennant. :C

No, I've lost count of how many times I've explained how they work!

 

[Murdoch]

Not sure it was "wasted" - you got paid!

 

[Andy™]

bit like those who say their power is off but nothing has tripped... erm.. maybe put some credit on your meter?

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

I had a call out on Friday to Hampstead, Landlord tells me the tv aerials not working anywhere in the house, tenant complaining they are old and not digital. Its  not far from me but any one who knows London, it took an hour to get there, more than  half hour to find a parking space 2 roads away that cost £10 for 2 hours & over an hour and half home in the rush hour.

The very wealthy tenants had moved down from Manchester , all i did was retune the Tv,s. They could not care a fig when i asked if they had tried.

Landlord says he is charging them/deducting my bill off there deposit.

 

[ProDave]

bit like those who say their power is off but nothing has tripped... erm.. maybe put some credit on your meter?

Yes WHY do so many rental propertied have pre payment meters? Several times i have been called to an empty property to do a job and couldn't because the outgoing tenant had left the meter with no credit.  I even did a CU change once where there was just 10p credit left. I had to be very careful with what I used. I wanted to turn a heater on, but I knew that would have blown the credit in half an hour, so I had to work in the cold.

 

[rapparee]

Yes WHY do so many rental propertied have pre payment meters? Several times i have been called to an empty property to do a job and couldn't because the outgoing tenant had left the meter with no credit.  I even did a CU change once where there was just 10p credit left. I had to be very careful with what I used. I wanted to turn a heater on, but I knew that would have blown the credit in half an hour, so I had to work in the cold.

It's so the landlord isn't stung with a bill if ths tenant does a flit. I remember when i was renting a house the landord had decided to have a prepay meter installed. The only problem if you put a fiver on only £3 made it on to the meter. £2 was deducted to backpay the bill a previous tenant had run up. He was pulling a fly one.

 

[Andy™]

It's so the landlord isn't stung with a bill if ths tenant does a flit. I remember when i was renting a house the landord had decided to have a prepay meter installed. The only problem if you put a fiver on only £3 made it on to the meter. £2 was deducted to backpay the bill a previous tenant had run up. He was pulling a fly one.

thats because the meter is set up wrong. once you move in, you should get your own energy supplier who will set up the meter correctly. the debt is owed by someone else, not you

 

[rapparee]

@Andy we did sort it out. At the time there was only nie available as a dno.

 

[New Venture!]

I installed a new electric cooker for an "older" customer. Later that night I receive a call moaning the new cooker has failed, it's absolutely ridiculous a new cooker fails that quickly (note I didn't supply it!) she wants her money back from me, the cooker supplier, she's hungry, needs a hot meal........ When I manage a word in I ask whether anything is working on the cooker and have my head bitten off!

"Told you it's all failed!"

I then ask if the "big red main switch next to it is on." 

"Of course it is, how many times do I have to tell you it's NOT WORKING!"

Out I go, it's about a 20 minute drive. Can anyone guess what I found? 

 

[bluetobits]

Can anyone guess what I found? 

Pre-pay meter hungry for a coin?

 

[ProDave]

A power cut?

Hadn't set the time on the clock (some cokers won't turn on until you have set the time)

I have an "older" customer who keeps calling me for "operator error" problems. the last one was her tv was stuck on one channel. She was trying to use the wrong remote control.

 

[kerching]

My money is,on something the colour of a tomato being in an "open ". situation......but what do i know

 

[bluetobits]

It's actually a gas cooker and you only connected the igniter ?

 

[New Venture!]

Yup, the "big red switch" was indeed off. When pointed out to the lady her response was 

"Well I didn't touch it!"

She lives alone, no one else had been in the house, I left it in the on position. When I asked her why she didn't check it when I asked her to. She said she had! 

Worth noting the lady is in her 60's and an otherwise very intelligent, active member of the community. It was simply down to her going into default moan mode as she thinks everything and everyone in modern society is out to pull a con.

Her expression when I told her she owed me a call-out was priceless! 

 

[ProDave]

Why do people turn a cooker off at the big red switch all the time?  for me that switch is there to isolate it for maintenance. Same with a shower.  But more so with a cooker where you have a clock on it that needs re setting whenever you turn it back on.

My sister still unplugs everything from the socket when not in use. But she's the paranoid type that when she goes out to put rubbish in the bin, not 10 feet from the door, locks the door behind her, puts the rubbish in the bin, then unlocks the door to go back inside. Then locks the door again.

 

[kerching]

Why do people turn a cooker off at the big red switch all the time?  for me that switch is there to isolate it for maintenance. Same with a shower.  But more so with a cooker where you have a clock on it that needs re setting whenever you turn it back on.

My sister still unplugs everything from the socket when not in use. But she's the paranoid type that when she goes out to put rubbish in the bin, not 10 feet from the door, locks the door behind her, puts the rubbish in the bin, then unlocks the door to go back inside. Then locks the door again.

Ask her why she does not unplug the fridge and freezer?....unless she does :innocent

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

  go back inside. Then locks the door again.

Ask her what will she do if there is a fire? 

 

[misssweden]

Ask her why she does not unplug the fridge and freezer?....unless she does :innocent

My other half did a classic a couple of weeks ago. We were going on holiday for a week and as we were leaving I said something about turning the playstation off. "Oh don't worry, I turned off all the little switches on the fuseboard". Luckily we were only 2 minutes from home... :slap  

 

[ProDave]

My other half did a classic a couple of weeks ago. We were going on holiday for a week and as we were leaving I said something about turning the playstation off. "Oh don't worry, I turned off all the little switches on the fuseboard". Luckily we were only 2 minutes from home... :slap  

Not what you want to hear just after your plane has taken off......