CORGI bad plumber

[TonyJeffs]

I could've fitted the gas hob myself perfectly, but I want everything to be legal, so I engaged a CORGI registered person, and checked with CORGI. I paid him to replace a boiler, and fit the hob.

There's a leak under the hob - only when I touch the pipe.

He's been promising for a week to come out & fix it. Ive waited for him on two afternoons and one morning. Its a 20 minute job.

So what do I do next? Report him to CORGI, Trading Standards, Inland Revenue?

This is an empty house I've been renovating - I'm worried that if I get legal, I might get a brick through the window. So maybe I just calm down, never use him again, and pay another CORGI registered fitter to do it properly. ...............

What I really wanted to say is the Gas Regs are wrong to specify CORGI registration as a legal requirement. It ought to be that anyone can do it, but all gas work must pass an approved safety check after installation and prior to use.

Thanks for listening - I'm feeling really angry.

tony

[Mary Fisher]

I sympathise with you. We never use CORGI fitters - or any others. That means that they can't sign the certificate of installation but what the hell? Since when we fit appliances things haven't gone wrong the certificate has never been needed.

Yes - what DO you do when your CORGI fitter bodges a job?

Mary

[John Stumbles]

If he leaves an installation with a leak and doesn't come tearing round to fix it immediately you tell him about it, fix it for free and thank you profusely for bringing it to his attention rather than to CORGI's, then you either tell CORGI about it or (if you really think he's a brick-thru-window type) call Transco. They'll slap an Immediately Dangerous notice on it and disconnect it, and if the job's been done pathologically dangerously, they should make a RIDDOR report which should and may make its way through to the HSE and CORGI who should/may take action, but then it should seem that it's them pursuing the fitter rather than you. You could prompt them in this direction.

Are you sure he was a genuine CORGI-reg anyway? Did you see his photo ID card and chek that it's current? There are rogues out there either claiming to be CORGI when they're not or operating past their sell-by date or after being unfrocked.

In practice you'd get situations where numpty had joined the pipework with plasicene and sellotape/forgotten to solder joints etc on pipework buried (directly in contact with wet concrete) in the floor, which the approved safety checks wouldn't necessarily detect but would cause danger later. The present regulatory setup may not be perfect (what is?) but mandating that anyone who does gas work for reward must prove competence must surely be the right idea. Just as banks, prisons and web servers are never 100% secure at separating the good guys from the bad ones, so the setup for certifying gas installers' competence isn't 100% watertight (gas-tight? :-). If your fitter is a bad one that's got through the net (or simply a fraud) you can help by closing the feedback loop on him.

[BigWallop]

Report him to CORGI of course. He has legal obligation to install a safe, useable system for his customers and yours clearly isn't to this standard. Make notes on the amount of times you've asked him to rectify this problem, then when you're satisfied that he is not responding, report him.

[Lobster]

I'd agree, tell CORGI. (If you're feeling magnanimous you might first give him a final warning, but really they should be told anyway).

If he's given you a bill, or has an advert (or a van with signage?) these guys nearly always display the CORGI logo with their registration number, and you could enter that at

see if it's real.

As it happens CORGI are running a campaign at the moment asking people to dob in gas fitters who aren't CORGI registered; ie, it really doesn't matter whether he's registerered or not, they still should be told (although they'd be even more interested if he's falsely claiming CORGI credentials...)

David

[John Rumm]

If you could have fitted the hob yourself perfectly, then you could have done it legally yourself. All you need to be is competent to DIY. (CORGI is only required if you are doing the work for reward).

Give him one last chance to fix and tell him that otherwise you will get another fitter to do the job and you will recover the costs of doing from him.

[Ian Stirling]

Set a bigger dog on one?

[MikeS]

Good advice John, Tony don't muck about it could be dangerous if you leave it. I would tell this corgi that if he doesn't come and it fixed yesterday you will report the leak to Tansco and if they close down your supply you will shop him. Keep it simple bear in mind you paid for a job to be done. Under fair trading you can report him to your local trading officer as well. MikeS

[Conrad Edwards]

If you can DIY then why don't you repair it and just pretend it was done right in the first place?

[Edward W. Thompson]

Why 'one last chance'. If the facts are correctly reported and under other circumstances there could have been an explosion and loss of life by now. The Guy is a menace and needs to be taken off the street.

[TonyJeffs]

Thanks everyone.

I phoned him 3 times sat morning, & each time he said he'd be around shortly.

4th time, lunchtime he put the phone down on me. 5th time he said he was sending his trainee to do it. We had a very childish row on the phone. When I realised what nonsense we were talking I told him to shut up and he told me to F*** off and put the phone down. He arrived a few minutes later and did a very neat job. The nut at the first connection from the hob hadn't been tightened. He redid some of the pipework.

Im interested hear that CORGI isnt necessary for non-profit work. I'll definitely do that in future. The work the plumber did for me was on a house we'd bought with the intention of buy to let, so would it have been legal for me to do that myself? (We're not going to let it now; going to sell it. Good profit, horrible Capital Gains Tax bill, but far less hassle than renting; ) I paid £400 labour for my CORGI guy to replace a stolen boiler, couldn't get a cheaper quote. But easy job, like for like, 2 hours work, £400!

[Not to do with me, but heres a legal but poor plumber story: Our neighbours had central heating fitted. The boiler flue is at eye/chizel level so the boiler itself is 2'6" above the floor. They have to kneel down to reach the control panel, and the radiators are in the corners of the rooms, above the pipe runs.]

Still, all's well now. I'm glad he did it and I didn't have to get him struck off. I hope he's learned something. But £$%^^& I was so mad yesterday!

Thanks, I needed all your advice and support to calm me down.

Tony

[Andy Hall]

Did he do a gas soundness test - i.e. manometer at the meter and check fo fall in level etc.?

Are you sure that it is? Did he do all the proper checks? Did you get and check his CORGI registration?

Given the circumstances, I'd report the guy anyway and get somebody else to check the work.

[tarquinlinbin]

There is nothing new in this and CORGI registration doesnt guarantee a good job. I regularly visit jobs where Gasmen have fitted this that or the other and they seem unable to do the most basic thing- i,e test for a leak. If you dont do anything else right,for gods sake make sure it isnt leaking,but no,they dont even do that. In addition,most of them dont even have the necessary equipment to look for leaks save for a bottle of fairy liquid and a box of matches. What a mess our system is these days,but then thats privatisation for you,the great dream gone bad.

joe

[tarquinlinbin]

Go to the HSE website and fill in a RIDDOR report ??

[tarquinlinbin]

I would go one further and make it the law that anyone who did work on gas installations must be in possession of a particular qualification. After all,the present system is a farce isnt it?. What difference does it make whether someone is paid or not?. The dangerous situation can still be created whether money has changed hands or not and surely that is what we wish to guard against.. joe

[tarquinlinbin]

He told you to F**k off? ,wow,i wouldnt have let him in the door. I would have got another man in to do it and reported him to CORGI and the HSE. For someone who has done a s**te job in your house, he has a very poor attitude. Sure anyone can make mistakes,we are all human,so surely anyone with any sense would have been apologetic and efficient at putting the problem right. Name and shame i say..

[fred]

In article , tarquinlinbin writes

Phoned 5 times in 4 hours?, F**k off sounds quite mild. Turn off at the supply & I'll be round later sounds quite reasonable to me.

[Andy Hall]

How would you propose to enforce it?

The point about whether a person is paid to do the job is a simple question of numbers. If he is doing work on a paid basis then a reasonable assumption is that it is done repeatedly. THerefore, if he is incompetent, there will be an increasing risk from a growing crappy installed base that he does.

The GSIUR requires that people doing gas fitting on an employed or self employed basis are a "member of a body designated by the HSE" etc. The HSE says that this means CORGI and to have CORGI membership one has to have passed certain qualifications and have periodic inspection of work. Not perfect, but there it is.

The HSE have done numerous studies on this and basically have given up on the idea of attempting to make *all* gas fitting subject to specific qualification because a) difficulty in policing and b) no substantive evidence of problems through DIY gas fitting. Existing legislation covers all other cases.

[Owain]

"tarquinlinbin" wrote | I would go one further and make it the law that anyone who did | work on gas installations must be in possession of a particular | qualification.

Either the qualification would be so devalued it would become meaningless (vide university entrants with A Levels who cannot read or write) or it would be offered for sale on the internet for £20 by some crook masquerading as a training college.

Did you see last week's programme on rail safety where candidates were being examined for trackside safety passes?

Owain

[raden]

In message , BigWallop writes

But do you really think CORGI will actually do anything about it ?