Cold call about Pat testing

[draelectricals]

The best approach is not to agree to anything from a cold call. I know it's hard to tell sometimes, particularly if by luck or judgement they get their timing right.

There's a lot of unecessary PAT testing. Make sure you really do need to have it done.

True - you're very right

 

[draelectricals]

So that gets me asking is PAT testing simply another health and safety tax (as I suspect), simply a way for a business to stop them getting sued should the worst happen (as I suspect) or genuinely a way to protect the end user from the seemingly never ending stream of suicidal electrical devices that every day are threating to self destruct up and down the country?

My friend above who suspects correctly in his assumption of PAT Testing but it's not the only reason for PAT Testing.

To mention his 3rd part first - electrical equipment is mass produced; more than ever, and it is put into the consumers hands from production with a manufacturers guideline of how best to use it and then it is not used proparly it can become damaged, this leads to fire risk, electrocution risk, static shock risk and other things.

(Before you pull me up on static shock risk this is because some people don't understand the difference between that and electric shock and have been known to sue for static shock).

PAT Testing does protect the business in the event of legal action, it does help them in the event of an insurance claim, whether for or against but it is not a health and safety tax... PAT Testing despite what many think has been around since the 1960's; this is taken from a website : Portable appliance testing and inspection was conducted on a 3 month (high risk) and 6 month (low risk) cycle from the early 1960s onwards in government departments under the control of the Department of the Environment Property and Services Agency (circa 1970 to 2000) as the DOEPSA was known and prior to that as the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (MoPBW) until about 1970.

Extensive record keeping was made into log-books and generally the equipment used was an insulation resistance tester, simple hand tools and visual inspection. This testing and inspection was done under a planned maintenance scheme and predated both the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Electricity at Work Act 1990 that are frequently quoted as the reason that PAT inspection is done.

So you see - PAT Testing was being done long before Health & Safety at work began, and a very long time before the present blame culture we're living in.

The biggest problem is that the minority of PAT Testers give the majority of PAT Testers a bad name, with their cold calling and blatant misleadings of the truth - things like - you must get a pat test or have legal action against you or ringing up and saying what's the date on the green sticker? or you must get pat tested every year - all are wrong in their own way

Cold callers are usually sales people working on a script taken from information given to them by the company paying the bill so they don't know what they're saying is wrong; so we shouldn't pick on them. At the end of the day they are simply someone trying to earn a crust.

Most pat testing companies are very honest good quality people - I should know, I know a lot of them so I'm in a good position to judge.

PAT Testing is there for the protection of the business owner, the employee AND the consumer in the same ways and in different ways.

Hope that clears things up a bit, have a good day everyone

 

[Nationwide Electrical]

Please let us start by apologising for the late response to some questions raised about PAT Testing and Nationwide Electrical Safety in particular.

Nationwide Electrical Safety Ltd are a national PAT Testing organization employing local PAT Testing Engineers around the country to service Nationwide Electrical Safety's clients.

We employ over 200 members of staff at our Head Office in Leeds. This is then added to with 70 fully qualified PAT Testing engineers around the country servicing over 40,000 satisfied and repeat customers. These are all managed centrally and co-ordinated from our head office.

We have adopted an active tele-sales approach to PAT Testing which has proven very successful, as many people simply forget the need to PAT Test for the protection of the business owner, the employee AND the consumer as highlighted by 'draelectrical'.

We can assure everyone who has commented on this post though that these calls are all recorded for quality and training purposes and are monitored fully by our quality control department.

Please if you have any further questions or concerns contact us directly at joanne.adams at nesafety.co.uk or by calling 0844 800 4180 ext 232.

The NES Team.

 

[draelectricals]

Please let us start by apologising for the late response to some questions raised about PAT Testing and Nationwide Electrical Safety in particular.

Nationwide Electrical Safety Ltd are a national PAT Testing organization employing local PAT Testing Engineers around the country to service Nationwide Electrical Safety's clients.

We employ over 200 members of staff at our Head Office in Leeds. This is then added to with 70 fully qualified PAT Testing engineers around the country servicing over 40,000 satisfied and repeat customers. These are all managed centrally and co-ordinated from our head office.

We have adopted an active tele-sales approach to PAT Testing which has proven very successful, as many people simply forget the need to PAT Test for the protection of the business owner, the employee AND the consumer as highlighted by 'draelectrical'.

We can assure everyone who has commented on this post though that these calls are all recorded for quality and training purposes and are monitored fully by our quality control department.

Please if you have any further questions or concerns contact us directly at joanne.adams at nesafety.co.uk or by calling 0844 800 4180 ext 232.

The NES Team.

It's good to read Nationwide Electrical, that your coming on to defend yourselves - it is a really good post and good comment. Interesting I find that since you commented on this on 29th March no one has responded - not even the person so keen to have a go at your sales methods. Wonder if that means anything?

Anyway good on you for speaking out and doing it so professionally.

 

[pattest1234]

[FONT=&quot]NATIONWIDE ELECTRICAL SAFETY LIMITED[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Date[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]22 July 2011[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Publication[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]London Gazette[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Issue Number[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]59858[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Notice Number[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1404838[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Meetings of Creditors[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]NATIONWIDE ELECTRICAL SAFETY LIMITED[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](Company Number 06590898) [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9EJ[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Principal Trading Address: Unit 5 Temple Point, Finch Drive, Bullerthorpe Lane, Colton, Leeds, LS15 9JL[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to Section 98 of the Insolvency Act 1986 that a meeting of the creditors of the above-named company will be held at Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9EJ, on 03 August 2011 at 10.15 am for the purposes mentioned in Sections 99 to 101 of the said Act. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Resolutions to be considered at the meeting may include a resolution specifying the terms on which the liquidator is to be remunerated. The meeting may receive information about, or be called upon to approve, the costs of preparing the statement of affairs and convening the meeting. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Creditors wishing to vote at the meeting must lodge their proxy, together with a full statement of account at the registered office – O’Haras Limited, Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9EJ not later than 12 noon on the two business days prior to the date of this meeting. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For the purposes of voting, a secured creditor is required (unless he surrenders his security) to lodge at O’Haras Limited, Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9EJ before the meeting, a statement giving particulars of his security, the date when it was given and the value at which it is assessed. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Notice is further given that a list of the names and addresses of the company’s creditors may be inspected, free of charge, at O’Haras Limited, Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9EJ between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm on the two business days preceding the date of the meeting stated above. If necessary please contact Christopher Brooksbank (office holder no 9568) by email or telephone 01924 477449. By Order of the Board. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Michael Devlin, Director[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
19 July 2011.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Source [/FONT][FONT=&quot]London Gazette, , 22 Jul 2011 (UK Crown Copyright)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]* This information has been matched automatically, based in part on the name of the company. Please let us know if this information does not relate to this company. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Last updated July 22 2011, 8.43PM (5 days ago)[/FONT]

 

[draelectricals]

It's very interesting to read that about Nationwide, but also sad for the people that work there.

 

[Whites Electrical]

Think they have just changed their trading name, google search brings up this website:-

http://www.uksafetymanagement.co.uk/


Dont know if it is the same address, correct me if im wrong?








www.whites-electrical.co.uk

 

[Maxwells's Equations]

Well I have to say UK Safety Management Ltd are following in the footsteps of Nationwide Electrical Safety. The cold calling was missleading, the guy that did get his foot accross the door was asked to leave after a few minuites by those in the office at the time, for being rude and seemingly incompetent.

I support the comments by others on the uk electricians forum, get someone local to do it and save yourself some hassle.

NB as far as I understand from the HSE website, annual PAT testing is NOT a legal requirement.

 

[Maxwells's Equations]

Well I have to say UK Safety Management Ltd are following in the footsteps of Nationwide Electrical Safety. The cold calling was missleading, the guy that did get his foot accross the door was asked to leave after a few minuites by those in the office at the time, for being rude and seemingly incompetent.

I support the comments by others on the uk electricians forum, get someone local to do it and save yourself some hassle.

NB as far as I understand from the HSE website, annual PAT testing is NOT a legal requirement.

 

[Alfa Amore]

I am also under the impression that PAT testing is not a legal requirement, I also believe the mushrooming of this service was brought about by an EU directive -under "harmonisation" with the rest of europe - this would be unessacary if the europeans earthed their appliances and used a ring main with a different lighting circuit

 

[UK Safety]

Well I have to say UK Safety Management Ltd are following in the footsteps of Nationwide Electrical Safety. The cold calling was missleading, the guy that did get his foot accross the door was asked to leave after a few minuites by those in the office at the time, for being rude and seemingly incompetent.

I support the comments by others on the uk electricians forum, get someone local to do it and save yourself some hassle.

NB as far as I understand from the HSE website, annual PAT testing is NOT a legal requirement.

Please let us start by apologising for the late response to some questions raised about PAT Testing and UK Safety Management.

UK Safety Management are a large PAT Testing organization in the UK employing 95 local PAT Testing Engineers around the country to service UK Safety Managements many clients.

We employ over 200 members of staff at our Head Office in Leeds and in our call centre in Hull. This is then added to with the fully qualified PAT Testing engineers, all of whom are your 'Local Portable Appliance Testing Engineers' whom get mentioned in various threads criticizing UK Safety. UK Safety Management now service over 51,000 satisfied and repeat customers. These are all managed centrally and co-ordinated from our head office.

We have adopted an active tele-sales approach to PAT Testing which has proven very successful, as many people simply forget the need to PAT Test for the protection of the business owner, the employee and the consumer.

We can assure everyone who has commented on this post, including other PAT Testing companies that all calls are recorded for quality and training purposes and are monitored fully by our quality control department to ensure nothing is miss sold, or miss leading and to ensure the client gets the service they expect.

We would be more than happy to investigate the above claim, please get in touch with us so that your issues can be raised and resolved.

Please if you have any further questions or concerns regarding any PAT Testing job undertaken by UK Safety Management contact us directly at joanne.adams at uksmltd.co.uk or by calling 0844 800 4180 ext 232.

Many Thanks

The UK Safety Management Team.

 

[Montaigne]

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 puts a duty of care upon both employer (sections 2, 3 and 4 etc) and employee (section 7) to ensure the safety of all persons using the work premises. This includes the self-employed.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 state:
“Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of:
(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work, and
(b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking”, (Regulation 3(1))

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 state:
“Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is so constructed or adapted as to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided”. (Regulation 4(1))

The Electricity at Work Regulation 1989 state:
“As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger”. (Regulation 4(2))

 

[Montaigne]

The Electricity at Work Regulation 1989 state:
"As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger". (Regulation 4(2))

In a nutshell this covers PAT testing from a legislative point of view.

There is nothing in legislation that specifically says that PAT testing must be carried out but an employer has a duty of care towards their staff to ensure that they are safe whilst on the premises, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Like much of health and safety legislation it is open to interpretation but businesses should take a common sense approach to health and safety in general and PAT testing in particular.

For example it's a myth that PAT testing must be done every 12 months. There is no specific frequency and such a decision is left to the duty holder on site.

Many people seem to think that if they have their PAT testing done on, for example, a 12 monthly cycle, then this guarantees that their electrical appliances will be safe to use for the remaining 12 months until the next test but in fact PAT testing an appliance doesn't guarantee safe usage past the point the engineer has tested it.

Sadly there have been far too many PAT testing firms out there that have exploited the lack of awareness in the business community with regards PAT testing simply for personal profit.

 

[nemesis2]

Sadly Nationwide Electrical Safety's "insolvency" was all about limiting the owners divorce settlement. Safety management Ltd is the same company to all intents and purposes. The same standards (low) of customer service, the same 300 staff in a call centre in Leeds going through the Yellow Pages hassling people.
The next time they ring tell them that if they ring again you will contact a solicitor.
Use a local guy and avoid these cowboys

 

[360interactive]

Please let us start by apologising for the late response to some questions raised about PAT Testing and UK Safety Management.

UK Safety Management are a large PAT Testing organization in the UK employing 95 local PAT Testing Engineers around the country to service UK Safety Managements many clients.

We employ over 200 members of staff at our Head Office in Leeds and in our call centre in Hull. This is then added to with the fully qualified PAT Testing engineers, all of whom are your 'Local Portable Appliance Testing Engineers' whom get mentioned in various threads criticizing UK Safety. UK Safety Management now service over 51,000 satisfied and repeat customers. These are all managed centrally and co-ordinated from our head office.

We have adopted an active tele-sales approach to PAT Testing which has proven very successful, as many people simply forget the need to PAT Test for the protection of the business owner, the employee and the consumer.

We can assure everyone who has commented on this post, including other PAT Testing companies that all calls are recorded for quality and training purposes and are monitored fully by our quality control department to ensure nothing is miss sold, or miss leading and to ensure the client gets the service they expect.

We would be more than happy to investigate the above claim, please get in touch with us so that your issues can be raised and resolved.

Please if you have any further questions or concerns regarding any PAT Testing job undertaken by UK Safety Management contact us directly at joanne.adams at uksmltd.co.uk or by calling 0844 800 4180 ext 232.

Many Thanks

The UK Safety Management Team.

Oh dear Joanne Adams,

It seems you have a standard 'cut and paste' reply to these types of posts (see post 43), as this reply is identical to one you posted a year ago under your previous business name.

Are things that bad you have a statement ready at hand for such complaints??

 

[ryzo]

meh pat testing, I use to have to do this an apprentice, just use to make the results up. I'm sure a lot of electricians do as well..

 

[smo]

meh pat testing, I use to have to do this an apprentice, just use to make the results up. I'm sure a lot of electricians do as well..

Which makes it even more pointless than it already is!

 

[Montaigne]

Much like with anything things can be done properly or things can be done badly. There's no need to rubbish something just because somebody thinks it's acceptable to rip people off.

 

[smo]

Not really rubbishing something.

PAT testing is not a legal requirement, it is nearly always sold as a must have or else type "legal requirement". There are far too many con men like the one admitting above that they freely rip people off when doing the testing which at a common price of £1.25-£1.50 per item can be quite an expense in any IT heavy type industry.

 

[Montaigne]

Which makes it even more pointless than it already is!

Your comment was implying that it was pointless but I feel if I get involved in this conversation it's going to go the same way of conversations about the need for telesales i.e. done properly it's a valid industry but sadly through a combination of lack of understanding about what it actually entails from the business community and an industry full of cowboys, the conversation will just focus on the cowboys and argue that this represents the entire industry.

You're way off with £1.25 - £1.50 being a common price.

 

[smo]

Google seems to suggest from PAT testing websites that £1.50 per item is pretty standard with many charging nearly £2 per item.

Yes I do feel it is largely pointless, its not legally required, its a real grey area and is over run with cowboys. If the industry wants to be taken seriously then it needs to clean up its act, stop ripping people off and cut the crap telesales approach that happens all too frequently.

 

[ryzo]

As a 16 year old kid, I didn't see it as ripping people off, it just bored the hell out of me.

In general your just looking for any damage to the lead/plug for any exposure to wires and checking that the fuse is the right size. Then a few tests that checks earth leakage and insulation, and even if they do fail to be honest it's not the end of the world.

I'm not quite sure if it's a legal requirement or not, but I know you can do a 1 or 2 day PAT test course, and then your able to do all yourself. We use to charge £1.50 an item and that was in 2006! So if your doing it yearly, may be worth stumping up the price of the course, it's not difficult, I'm pretty sure everyone would pass.

 

[Montaigne]

Google seems to suggest from PAT testing websites that £1.50 per item is pretty standard with many charging nearly £2 per item.

Are we looking at the same Google? Try 70-80p a test and you'd be nearer the mark!

I won't deny that there are a lot of cowboys in the industry but there's nothing individual companies can do to clean up that image; it requires appropriate legislation. Companies that do the job properly simply get tarred with the same brush as all the cowboys.

The other problem is that the business community can be pretty cavalier about the whole idea of health and safety, be it through the "it won't happen to us" attitude, through wilful ignorance or by making untrained individuals responsible for a company's H&S compliance.

With regards legal compliance PAT testing is not specifically mentioned in legislation but it is covered in general. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 state:

"As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger". (Regulation 4(2))

A computer is an electrical system.

There's no reason why a company should pay a chap to walk around with a tester and test every piece of kit of course except that it's often easier and cheaper to have a third party do it than rely on your own staff to cover such a task.

Most fails can be detected through a visual check of equipment. Some simple training of office staff would be required and then staff can do a visual check of their own kit when they get to work every morning or once a week or whatever timescale you deem necessary. Except staff don't bother doing it even when they're supposed to do so.

In fact when it comes to health and safety most employers view it as an unnecessary cost that they have to do rather than that they want to do to protect their employees. Therefore if various parts of H&S legislation were repealed tomorrow quite a few businesses would cease to pay for services to ensure those elements of H&S were met.

Some of the faults that get reported back by PAT testing engineers I work with are truly horrendous. For example:

• The microwave that had a broken door so rather than replacing the microwave they took the door off so they could continue to use the microwave.
• A broken kettle where staff had "glued" the frame back together with Blu Tac
• Nails or blown fuses wrapped in silver foil in plugs (quite common)
• A water leak above the main office printer but they wouldn't move the printer
• Smashed sockets still in use
• Smashed plugs still plugged in and being used
• Computers with no sides on them

A very common sight is for an engineer to put a big red Fail sticker on an item as it is unsafe to use, report the item to the site contact as being unsafe and advise the item should be taken out of circulation and when they return the following year they find the same item still being used "because we really need it".


A lot of people still don't understand frequencies for testing or indeed the correct way to ascertain the frequency for carrying out your PAT testing.


People don't understand the difference between legislation and HSE/IET recommendations.


I still speak to people every day who are spending much more than they need to in order to sort out PAT testing because they fundamentally don't understand it.

 

[smo]

Google must be skewing results for you then as most dont openly display prices and those that do are expensive, generally well above £1/item - the word "from" is a great one here!

http://www.a1pattestingsw.co.uk/prices.html
http://www.devon-pat-testing.co.uk/prices.html

http://www.electriciansforums.co.uk/business-related/14829-pat-testing-charges.html - a load of electricians and PAT testers discussing prices upto £3/item as reasonable!!!

 

[Montaigne]

Your first example is of a firm charging stupid prices.

Your second example actually advertises PAT testing at 99p an appliance.

Your third example is from a thread in an electricians forum that first of all is 2 years old and second of all has an advertisement at the top of the page advertising PAT testing at 70p an appliance!

lol. I don't get this type of reasoning from people i.e. you make a general statement applying to an entire industry and then cherry pick a miniscule sample to back up your claim, as it's so easy to demonstrate why it's wrong (and you didn't fully check the samples given). Just type "PAT Testing" into Google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pa...s=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

and you get hundreds of firms offering cheap rates (and I can still undercut 95% of them lol)

 

[smo]

FROM 70p is not actually 70p.

The evidence is clear, you just appear to be blind.

 

[Montaigne]

and you're clearly trolling Smo as from 70p is significantly lower than your original assertion of £1.50 - £2.00 a test as standard as well as deflecting the argument away from how you quote 2 year old threads as apparent evidence of current market trends.

 

[smo]

Hardly trolling.

I provided clear evidence from 2 top results in google search for PAT TESTING - those were returned with prices on the websites.

Also as all prices in the UK have risen (with very few exceptions) so a thread which is just 2 years old (at start) is a fair reflection of what is happening. If £3 was deemed reasonable back then the prices are likely to be higher now.

 

[Montaigne]

Hardly trolling.

I provided clear evidence from 2 top results in google search for PAT TESTING - those were returned with prices on the websites.

Also as all prices in the UK have risen (with very few exceptions) so a thread which is just 2 years old (at start) is a fair reflection of what is happening. If £3 was deemed reasonable back then the prices are likely to be higher now.

And this demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the industry. Prices have dropped every year for the last 10-15 years.

There are thousands of PAT testing companies in the country. You commented on the average price for the entire industry then used only two companies to prove your point, even though you're using a search engine which from just the adwords advertisements running down the side of the page would refute your entire argument.

You're trolling because your argument isn't relying on fact, you're just cherry picking a couple of companies to prove your particular point in the face of all evidence to the contrary even though anyone that reads this thread can type PAT testing into Google and see that your argument is false.

 

[Montaigne]

Now now ladies!

Sorry, it just gets frustrating when someone suggests that the industry I'm involved in is pointless and overly expensive when in fact they don't really understand the industry at all; which is of course part of the problem with PAT testing in general.

 

[smo]

It is pointless, its not even legally required. It is also full of cowboys - deny it if you think you can.

I didnt cherry pick, I pulled from the first page the only ones that displayed the prices, you seem to be ignoring the "from" in all the adverts. It doesnt make 70p a typical price or an inductry average, it means that for that advert they want people to click on to draw them in, do you know nothing about marketing either?

 

[Montaigne]

I don't deny that there are a lot of cowboys in the PAT testing industry but that doesn't mean that every PAT testing company is a cowboy, that's just flawed reasoning.

From your profile I can see you're in the printing industry. I imagine I can find lots of examples of printing companies that try and rip people off through inferior products/service/materials but this doesn't mean that this means all printing companies are crooks.

Are you a crook? Of course not. I imagine your firm does a really good job at a competitive price and are proud because of it.

Look I can demonstrate that you're not putting forward a logical argument using nothing more than your own posts:

Google seems to suggest from PAT testing websites that £1.50 per item is pretty standard with many charging nearly £2 per item.

Also as all prices in the UK have risen (with very few exceptions) so a thread which is just 2 years old (at start) is a fair reflection of what is happening. If £3 was deemed reasonable back then the prices are likely to be higher now.

So the first quote is you suggesting that the current average rates are £1.50 - £2.00 an appliance and then the second is your suggestion that prices 2 years ago were around £3 an appliance and would have risen in the last two years. You've contradicted yourself because prices have either risen or they've dropped but they can't have done both.

If you're looking for a price for something in Google, for whatever it may be you look at a spread of prices. If I have 1000 flyers I want printed I don't just take the rates from the top two companies on my search as being indicative of the entire market; instead I will look through various companies, various advertisements, compare services etc and then when I find 2-3 companies I would want to place the work with I would ring them all up for a quote and then play them off against one another to drive the price down.

Yes, I agree that many of the adwords advertisments are ploys to get you to click on their site but not all of them and very few of them consider that it is wise to triple their prices on their site compared to their advertised prices on the search engine. Also I think it's a pretty dumb ploy as all you're doing is deceiving potential customers and immediately annoying them!

With regards pointlessness. It is not pointless if you understand the purpose of PAT testing and how to approach it. It is pointless if you don't understand it.

 

[UKSBD]

It's pretty pointless saying from 70p an appliance without mentioning a minimum quantity or call out charge.

Do people really think it would only cost them £7.00 to get a pat tester out to check 10 appliances?

The cost per appliance is just a gimmick and marketing ploy

 

[Montaigne]

It's more down to how many appliances you have. Granted if you are a small business then when you take a minimum charge into account then the price could be higher but then I worked in a 4 person office that had more than 50 appliances.

But why anyone would reasonably think that someone would come out for only £7 anyway is beyond me (not directed at you UKSBD). You wouldn't think a plumber or an electrician could do the same.

 

[UKSBD]

It's more down to how many appliances you have. Granted if you are a small business then when you take a minimum charge into account then the price could be higher but then I worked in a 4 person office that had more than 50 appliances.

But why anyone would reasonably think that someone would come out for only £7 anyway is beyond me (not directed at you UKSBD). You wouldn't think a plumber or an electrician could do the same.

What is the industry average minimum charge?
knowing that would be far more valuable that these silly 70p an appliance figures branded about.

 

[Montaigne]

Well, in my opinion you would be looking at 70-90p an appliance on average.

It's difficult to give a concrete answer without having access to all the pricing from all the firms selling it and all the companies having it done but from the firms I compete with and for the businesses I deal with 70p - 90p would be a fair estimate.

 

[UKSBD]

Yes, but what is the average minimum charge.
Saying 70 - 90p per appliance is irrelevant and meaningless to me.

For example
3 PC's
5 Monitors
1 printer
1 phone
1 hub
1 kettle
1 microwave
1 heater
1 fan
lets add another 5 miscellanious to bring us to 20

Would it cost between £14 and £18 to have someone out to do that or would I still be below minimum call out charge?

If, as I suspect the call out charge would be far higher what's the point of saying 70p per appliance?

 

[Montaigne]

Because you're taking the absolute bottom end of the market of one man band operations and ignoring the entire rest of the market.

So for example a company may have 20 items. They use a company that charges 70p an appliance, with a minimum charge of £100, in which case it breaks down as £5 an appliance. Therefore all businesses with only 20 appliances, who use a firm that charges £100, have an average price of £5 an appliance.

Not all businesses only have 20 appliances and not all businesses pay the same minimum charge. Many companies have significantly more appliances and so unit rates do apply. The only reason most minimum charges are there in the first place is to cover initial expenses.

A small portion of businesses having to pay a high initial average rate for low test numbers doesn't mean that this average cost applies to the entire business community.

 

[UKSBD]

Because you're taking the absolute bottom end of the market of one man band operations and ignoring the entire rest of the market.

So for example a company may have 20 items. They use a company that charges 70p an appliance, with a minimum charge of £100, in which case it breaks down as £5 an appliance. Therefore all businesses with only 20 appliances, who use a firm that charges £100, have an average price of £5 an appliance.

Not all businesses only have 20 appliances and not all businesses pay the same minimum charge. Many companies have significantly more appliances and so unit rates do apply. The only reason most minimum charges are there in the first place is to cover initial expenses.

A small portion of businesses having to pay a high initial average rate for low test numbers doesn't mean that this average cost applies to the entire business community.

Yes, all I'm trying to find out is what is the industry average minimum charge, saying 70p to 90p per appliance is completely irrelevant to me and any small businesses like me.

Take your earlier example of 4 people and 50 appliances
Would they pay £35.00 or would the minimum charge still be higher than that?

 

[Montaigne]

Take your earlier example of 4 people and 50 appliances
Would they pay £35.00 or would the minimum charge still be higher than that?

It really does vary. I have firms where if the work is local they'd pick it up at a simple 70p an appliance and others who charge ridiculous minimum charges (£142.50).

I honestly couldn't say what the average minimum charge would be.