a very special sparky

[TheAlarmGuy]

I just attended an after hours callout because a customers roller door wouldn't seal.

I had been advised the customer didnt want to pay for a service call during the day so the got their electrician to "fix" the problem. The Sparky had been trying to fix the reed since midday and was still onsite at 8pm.

I attended and spotted the problem straight away... it was a Challenger and the resistors had corroded so the Sparky had looked up the colours found they're both 10K didnt bother reading a manual and replaced both resistors with a single 20K resistor in parallel with the roller door reed!

I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!

Note to all reading this, just because it uses a cable doesn't mean an Electrician can do it! Get a licensed Security Technician to perform all works for your Alarm, no matter how much it costs!

[TheAlarmGuy]

Off topic but very happy this customer being a tightarse has got him topic number 66666 haha

[alarmman]

I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!

Did the customer actually pay your bill on the spot, or is the "cheque in the mail"?

[bss904]

wonder what the sparkies bill to your client will be. Add that to your callout fee and that an expensive pair of resistors.

[intelliGEORGE]

wonder what the sparkies bill to your client will be. Add that to your callout fee and that an expensive pair of resistors.

Sparky from 12:00 to 20:00 has got to cost atleast $500.

[Drift]

Lol @ sparkys.

[Privatteer]

All I can say is that's a dumb sparky. If nothing else you give up and tell the client to call the right person after an hour or 2.
But figuring out the combination or looking it up is not that hard.

[TheAlarmGuy]

Did the customer actually pay your bill on the spot, or is the "cheque in the mail"?

Larger Commercial client with an account with the company, in the end we'll get paid.

I doubt the Sparky will be able to charge for his time onsite considering the client will more than likely be handing the bill for my callout to him. Which I think is a bit unfair getting a bloke who had no idea to pay for the client being a tightarse in the first place!

[Drift]

Although unfair and the client's quite likely being a right cock, this is a hard lesson learned for the sparky. How many times have all of us been to site to repair a system installed by a sparky who 'knew what he was doing' only to find the system still using the default codes and programming, the wiring a complete mess or that there was no way the system has ever functioned.

Too many sparkys think that if its got wires, they can fix it. Stick to pulling TPS and terminating GPOs and we'll be right thanks squire.

[aes]

I just attended an after hours callout because a customers roller door wouldn't seal.

I had been advised the customer didnt want to pay for a service call during the day so the got their electrician to "fix" the problem. The Sparky had been trying to fix the reed since midday and was still onsite at 8pm.

I attended and spotted the problem straight away... it was a Challenger and the resistors had corroded so the Sparky had looked up the colours found they're both 10K didnt bother reading a manual and replaced both resistors with a single 20K resistor in parallel with the roller door reed!

I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!

Note to all reading this, just because it uses a cable doesn't mean an Electrician can do it! Get a licensed Security Technician to perform all works for your Alarm, no matter how much it costs!

Very well said....... But it's up to us to inform customers.... I feel sorry for the customer as somethings I have no knowledge about, for example LAW I will pay the money if I need be a Barrister that specializes in the area of LAW i need. Not saying I need a Barrister but If I did.

The other point would be, this Sparky thinks he is special... or he would not even attempt to play with something he has no knowledge about. I would not have give him two 10k's I would have said " I hpoe your not going to bill the customer for you lack of knowledge & done it right in front of the customer....

It's not nice to get toasted with a $550 bill just because you don't know the right person to call & some money hungry sparky think his shit did not stink. Clearly did.

I would be so pissed if this happened to my Mother, Brother, Sister or my wife. Food for thought

[AdRock]

While were on the subject of 'special' sparkies, I attended a call the other day. The electrician had installed 2 detectors onto an existing system after renovations.
I was called as now there was no power to the keypad.

Sure enough one of the fuses was blown at the panel, on testing, the 2 new detectors would not seal. On inspection both detectors were wired in with NO resistors....!!

A couple of 3K3's did the trick and it worked good as gold.

I just can't believe the sparky would just leave it like that, not even checking the system after working on it....the mind boggles, I didn't have the heart to ask the client how much had paid this guy....

[downunderdan]

On inspection both detectors were wired in with NO resistors....

Well... You don't put resistors on light fittings either.
PIR, downlight... It's all the same thing.

[Joey]

I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!

Note to all reading this, just because it uses a cable doesn't mean an Electrician can do it! Get a licensed Security Technician to perform all works for your Alarm, no matter how much it costs!

Maybe this should be a lesson to you , customer is sick of being ripped off and attempted to get a very simple job done for what it was worth , in this case it unfortunately back fired because he happened to call one of the few sparkies that didn't understand elementary electronics.

Charging a customer $550 to fix a reed switch no matter what the circumstances !! what a dead set arse hole! If the customer has any brains they will find themselves a decent alarm tech and photo copy your bill and put it on their front window as warning to everyone who to avoid.
I don't care how good you think you are ( pretty special looking at this ) or how much of tight arse a customer may be , ripping people off like this is very wrong.

[intelliGEORGE]

Charging a customer $550 to fix a reed switch no matter what the circumstances !! what a dead set arse hole!

Get off your high horse, mate.

After hours oncall rates are well within reason. We need to pay our technicians penalty rates (minimum 4hours @ double time = 8 hours) and we then need to account for running costs and then we can think of a profit, after all we're in business and not a charity.

Do you think that our techs work for free?

Before you go asking how much a techs wage is. I have a couple of guys on close to $35/hr @ Normal rate. If either one of these blokes gets called out, I'm out of pocket $280 + $100 (stand-by penalty) before he leaves his home.

[Joey]

Get off your high horse, mate.

After hours oncall rates are well within reason. We need to pay our technicians penalty rates (minimum 4hours @ double time = 8 hours) and we then need to account for running costs and then we can think of a profit, after all we're in business and not a charity.

Do you think that our techs work for free?

Before you go asking how much a techs wage is. I have a couple of guys on close to $35/hr @ Normal rate. If either one of these blokes gets called out, I'm out of pocket $280 + $100 (stand-by penalty) before he leaves his home.

"I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!"
Dead set arse hole and you are no better yourself if you want to defend this sort of shit!! , How much did this Job cost TheAlarmGuy ? Apart from the 1 cent for the resistors maybe a few dollars at most so don't bullshit me about running cost.


I am a tech and have run a very successful electronic repair company for 24 years , You guys don't need any qualifications , certainly nothing like those of electricians or real electronic technicians, just a license and very basic entry level electronics knowledge and some common sense.
I am actually really glad this thread is here , there are several people that are going to find you alarm hero's stories and attitudes very interesting.
It needed to be exposed but never expected you robbers to expose yourselves like this.

[cwispy]

Have to say I totally agree with what Joey has already said. Hell, I have never heard of such a rip off in all my life.

[johnwinger]

"I laughed, gave him 2 x 10K's, a quick lesson and handed the customer a $550 bill!"
Dead set arse hole and you are no better yourself if you want to defend this sort of shit!! , How much did this Job cost TheAlarmGuy ? Apart from the 1 cent for the resistors maybe a few dollars at most so don't bullshit me about running cost.


I am a tech and have run a very successful electronic repair company for 24 years , You guys don't need any qualifications , certainly nothing like those of electricians or real electronic technicians, just a license and very basic entry level electronics knowledge and some common sense.
I am actually really glad this thread is here , there are several people that are going to find you alarm hero's stories and attitudes very interesting.
It needed to be exposed but never expected you robbers to expose yourselves like this.

Does the qualification take just 6 weeks and advertised on the radio?

[intelliGEORGE]

Qualifications has nothing to do with being called out to a site after hours. I don't know who or where TheAlarmGuy works, all I know is that most trade services charge AH oncall rates.

Now in saying this, when an issue arises at a customers premises or a customer calls in for a problem we will advise them of costs for a tech to attend AH, it is then up to the customer to accept those charges before we dispatch a tech.

In this case, I personally would have advised the customer to bypass the zone and have a tech attend the next available time in business hours making the fix a lot less costly.

However, if the customer insists on having an oncall tech attend, then the amount is justifiable. Most companies operate under the Electrical Trades EBA and they clearly state the penalty rates of having staff oncall, as mentioned earlier; Stand-by rate and minimum 4hours @ DT.

[intelliGEORGE]

You guys don't need any qualifications , certainly nothing like those of electricians or real electronic technicians

LMFAO!

I don't know who looks after your alarm system, buddy. All of my employees are ex-electricians or telecom guys. The two I mentioned earlier that are on $35/hr are Electronics Trade techs with CCNP certifications.

Most of the resumes that come across my desk are you electronics folk winding up shop due to the influx of crap from Asia. It isn't economical anymore to repair TV's is it?

[downunderdan]

I am a tech and have run a very successful electronic repair company for 24 years , You guys don't need any qualifications , certainly nothing like those of electricians or real electronic technicians, just a license and very basic entry level electronics knowledge and some common sense.

Wow.

Just...Wow. If you can't tell the difference between a licence and a qualification, you probably shouldn't offer an opinion here. Let me give you an analogy. A person with a driver's licence can still be a lousy driver.

This thread has clearly touched a nerve and it would appear a group of randoms (including at least one who I know to be an immature moderator) who've never uttered a peep have all of a sudden turned up, started clapping and cheering and hitting that thanks button despite not having a clue what they are actually talking about. A credit to this site... Not.

Apropos the five hundred bucks, I note from the original post that the electrician was there for eight hours. Do you think he produced a bill? What would it have looked like, considering it amounted to no repair whatsoever? I know which bill represented better value and whilst it seems high, there are quite evidently reasons behind it which were not relevant to the story and not mentioned. Suffice it to say, the security installation industry is not renowned for charging exorbitantly unlike a number of trades who are charging north of a hundred bucks for a service call before you open the front door to greet them, whether or not they fix anything.

It would seem this thread has been infected by a cheersquad of those who believe they should never pay for anything, they know as much as any experienced professional and security is all a scam. These are usually the same pimply-faced geeks who believe that any corporate enterprise can be run off a free bit of software running off a floppy-disc on a 486 because that's what works in their bedroom at home and they've hacked their cable TV box, so any other electronics are just as easy.

One day, they come into the real world and learn that certain things cost money and are usually worth it.

Alternatively, we can keep pushing prices further down and then one day listen to people whingeing that they can't find any good techs any more.