Overcharged by a plumber ?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think they are the parent company of Philips.

[StealthUK]

You must have really had a dodgy boiler - the fan, the fan switch, the pcb and the pump all went faulty at the same time? And the pump was causing the fuse to blow? Did you have a qualified engineer come round or one of the Chuckle Brothers? Hmmm. Buy a lottery ticket this Saturday, you never know.

Make sure you complain about the parts that needed replacing as well - sounds like a total scam. Also check that the parts were actually replaced and not just cleaned up. Lastly, find out the engineer's name and see if he is Corgi registered.

[MBQ]

It shows;-) Most will probably have only have one card to replace.

MBQ

[StealthUK]

You're comparing pints of milk at corner shops and telling me not to be silly? Numerous traders have been prosecuted for overcharging, it's that simple.

Read the original post: "Apparently, as the company offer a 'rapid response service, the high cost of offering this service" is reflected in their charges and their part mark up."

[MBQ]

It was sold to Phillips in 1927, who used the name until 1988

MBQ

[Bob Mannix]

I don't know of any that have been so charged, if they told the customers the prices beforehand, but I may have missed them. I would be interested to have details. I would emphasise again I am making a distinction between what is "right" and what is legal.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Some years ago there was a late night grocer on the high street (Cullens?) that charged the most outrageous prices. Don't remember them getting prosecuted, though.

[Steve Firth]

Errm did you have a premature baby or an elderly relative suffering from a circulatory disease? Of not, then the work did not have to be done.

You're really paying the price of ignorance and at its worst, ignorance is a capital offence so you got off lightly.

[Steve Firth]

Still going aren't they? Mind you, they only overcharged Londoners and those in Surrey so fair game I say.

[raden]

In message , Tony Bryer writes

but I saw one.

I presume it doubles up as a one armed bandit, seeing the knob on the RHS

Now, a set of Mullard transistor data books I can help you with

in which direction they sank without trace, I can't

[raden]

In message , Al writes

From which I would deduce (without more info) that the only problem which you really had was one with the pump

Well, if you do want to take it further, if you still have the parts, I can test them for you (I would charge, but not silly money, rip off plumbers really piss me off) ...

If they replaced, and charged you for, parts which were not faulty, then there is a definite case for them to answer

[Coherers]

for sale on eBay if you get overtaken by nostalgia !

P.s. The cards are actually paxolin rather than bakelite. Now not a lot of people know that.... :-)

[bob]

Lucky you!! I have just been charged £1,600 for 3 hours work. Who by? my Accountant at least a plumber does do some work for his money.... Bob

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And plenty of cash...

Yup - bakelite of that thickness would be too brittle.

With older AVOs, you had to dial in all the settings by hand. You got your money's worth when having a valve tested then.

[Bob Eager]

I had a Saturday/holiday job with a firm called "Technical Trading"; they used to advertise of page 3 of Practical Wireless, I think. Columns and columns of valve numbers. They used to buy in secondhand valves. My job (and others too, including part time workers, usually housewives) was to test these. We have four or five of the Mullard testers. Those that passed were put in one bin, those that failed in another. The failures were given an attempt at resurrection by putting them in some kind of RF coil that reignited the getter, hopefully restoring a reasonable vacuum. Successful retests went in the 'good' bin.

Then we'd clean them, print the company name on them, and sell them cheap.

[Derek *]

If you plug the terms "peter duck" "hobby farm" into google groups you will retreive an article by Peter Duck which outlines the machinations in the early '60s which set the seal on the then future of our semicinductor industry.

Check out the whole thread.

DG

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Did Mullard actually manufacture here? I know STC had a valve factory near Torbay - a pal's sister worked for them. And got a cash award for a production improvement on Nixies.

Strange how you remember some things but not the day of the week...

[StealthUK]

Change accountant. My accountant charges £960 per annum and has saved me loads of money and headaches.

[Al]

RichardS wrote:-

Contacting Trading Standards is something I will certainly be doing as a matter of course. I gather that in my area they are piloting a preferred supplier database, whereby idiots like me :-) can contact them to guarantee the honesty and non-cowboyness of any services I use.

AIUI to avoid any restraint of trade issues, all companies are allowed onto this database at their request until such time as they warrant removal from it. An excellent idea IMHO.

All figures before VAT, =A3659 instead of =A3240, I'll let you do the maths, but it's well over 170%.

[Al]

StealthUK wrote:-

As I explained earlier in the thread, I was given to understand that the old style PCB (since ugraded by Glowworm) had no fuse, therefore the pump blew the PCB and the fan. The replacement PCB will cause only the fuse to blow. Plausible, but as I do not have the old parts I cannot prove this. I make no excuses for my idiocy, but that does not give anyone the right the take advantage of that idiocy without being on the receving end of as much trouble as I can cause them.

The parts WERE replaced, I watched him do it, and the advert in Yellow Pages uses a valid CORGI registration number.