Dodgy cooker wiring

[Spotland Rules]

Just wondering who I can complain to, besides the delivery company who wire in my cooker.

I had a new cooker delivered, which they wired in for me. I was shown it all working and signed off the paper work. Whilst I was having a play with my new toy, I noticed a screw on the floor. I picked it up and noticed it was one of the terminal screws at the wall box, where the cooker in wired into the mains.

Immediately concerned, I moved the cooker out. As I moved out the cooker, I noticed the cord grip was on the floor, along with the earth wiring off cut.

Unscrewing the cover, I saw the the screw I had found on the floor was the earth terminal screw and no earth connection had been made.

I contacted the delivery company and made it clear that I was not impressed. I emailed them photographs and they offered to send someone out to rewire it. Told them no thanks and did it myself.

The cooker was through EON Energy fund, however, just because I did not pay for it, does not make it right that it is wired lethally. What concerns me even more, is that if it happened to me (and I do have some clue on electrics and wiring) what would have happened to someone who was not as clued up.

EON Energy fund were not really interested, they said they would just put it down as feedback.

 

[securespark]

That is absolutely disgusting. You should complain till you are blue in the face about this. It does not matter one iota whether you paid for the cooker or not. The person who did this should be sacked. If I had done a job like this, I would have been dismissed immediately for gross misconduct.

You need to contact the company and complain long and loud. Ring them and find out who to send a letter to. Record it so you get a signature and send a copy to the company named on the paperwork eg NICIEC or ELECSA or ECA.

 

[Spotland Rules]

This is all the paperwork which I have

 

[Taylortwocities]

That is dangerous and appalling, but you have now cutoff your route for proper resolution because

I emailed them photographs and they offered to send someone out to rewire it. Told them no thanks and did it myself.

You have now assumed responsibility for this. It's not their problem any more…

 

[Spotland Rules]

Fair comment. Just hope that the person is dealt with severely, as if he has done it once, he will no doubt do it again.

 

[securespark]

I would complain bitterly nevertheless.

In theory, a customer could have a crap install done by a company and be blamed for tampering with it even if they haven't....the company could claim that as soon as they left, the customer altered their work.

 

[bernardgreen]

Trading Standards might take the case forward. Nothing to lose by informing them.

 

[securespark]

I was shown it all working and signed off the paper work.

I can't see your sig on there.

I was also expecting a Minor Works Certificate.

 

[omega015]

Did you check the cooker side of the wiring btw? If they cut off the earth at the socket side and didn't secure it, who knows what they did at the cooker side.

Also out of curiosity what fuse is protecting that cooker circuit? Did they do any "testing" to your electrics before connecting?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Did you check the cooker side of the wiring btw? If they cut off the earth at the socket side and didn't secure it, who knows what they did at the cooker side.

They've already removed the cpc for the cooker - what's left to screw up?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Cut CPC off at the cooker end too.
No cable clamp or clamp not on sheath.
L&N reversed

There's lots of possibilities !

 

[omega015]

what's left to screw up?

I was just wondering if the OP checked that as they fixed the socket side but maybe overlooked the cooker side of things. Although I assume they checked that also, I just thought best mention it just in case

 

[John D v2.0]

That is dangerous and appalling, but you have now cutoff your route for proper resolution because


You have now assumed responsibility for this. It's not their problem any more…

Of course it's their problem that they left dangerous and illegal wiring. Maybe the evidence is less convincing but this makes no difference to the fact they are responsible for negligently leaving a dangerous installation.
Definitely report to trading standards and maybe the HSE would be interested. With that standard of work I'm sure a few bodies would take an interest.

 

[Spotland Rules]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I did check that the earth was connected to the cooker.. I also check that the earth wire was not broken anywhere in the cable with my multi-meter.

My theory is, that as he was unscrewing the earth screw it fell out.He could not find it, so decided to do a bodge job. Fortunately for me, I found the screw and corrected his very basic mess up.

Yes, I did rewire it myself - no idea if he did any tests when he wired it in, although doubt it very much, as he only walked in with a screwdriver. Two reasons why I wired it in myself and not allow them

1) I needed my cooker
2) Did not trust them to do a proper job

Yes, my signature is not on that piece of paper, I just signed his copy.

Serious question, as I did not know this, do you get a Minor Works Certificate, when having a cooker installed? I though this was for alterations to your wiring, like extra sockets and such. I have wired spurs in my house, but when I needed a plug socket in my store room, for my dryer, I got an electrician in, as I will not mess with the fuse box. I was issued with a certificate for that.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well - there we are. Another example where the miscreants are very unlikely to get caught, and where, even if they are, if nobody is hurt the penalties are likely to be little more than a slap on the wrist. And yet this was a contravention of the EAWR, and it did create a situation where someone could later have been killed.

Without spending a penny more on enforcement, if we simply added a lot of 0's to the fines, and more readily imposed jail sentences, then these situations wouldn't arise. If the directors of companies feared bankruptcy and long stretches in the jug because they were sending people out who they knew were not competent, they'd be a great deal less keen to send them. Right now they are making a callous risk/reward calculation biased towards maximising their profits at the expense of safety.