NLC - Work carried out by non-CORGI registered workman

PhilA · Post by **PhilA** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:16 pm

hi all
summary:
am sooooooooooooooooo angry!!
got a kitchen supplied and fitted in the house that i own but dont yet live in.
the supplied kitchen fitters are not corgi registered.
they touched gas stuff.
left it in an unsafe state.
didnt let me know!

detail...
a non-corgi qualified person has worked on gas stuff in my house and left it unsafe.

am wondering if someone would be able to help guide me on the best way forward.

i bought a kitchen from a supplier.
used their fitters for the joinery.
gave them keys and left them too it.
used my own plumber for the water related stuff, and own electrician for the wiring, who all turned up to do the required work.

3 days later i asked how they (the fitters) got on.
they said that they had finished.

when i saw the kitchen, there was alot wrong with it - worktops not straight, doors not on, holes left in the plasterboard, list goes on.
got the supplier manager up, and he agreed it needed sorted.

the kitchen had a gas hob, and the new kitchen had an electric one instead.
as they rest of the fit wasnt good, i said that my confidence wasnt good that they had dealt the gas- manager said they would have.

in a conversation with the fitters last night (12 days after they said it had been finished), they made it clear that their position is that they wouldnt do more, as they thought it was right, apart from fitting the doors which they will do. not settling for that!!!

at the end of the conversation, i asked them what state the gas was left in.
they said that they had put a cap (like a dust cap) on the end of the gas pipe and left it off at the mains.
they said that it would need capped by corgi registered plumber, which they could arrange at a charge.

so.... bottom line (if ur still with me!)
they switched off the gas. removed the hob, leaving a cut pipe under the units with a dust cap on, and left the gas mains off... and told me that they had finished!
i have a combi boiler. if i was living there, and found that the gas was off at the mains and put it on again for heating, the gas pipe in the kitchen would have been filling the units with gas!!!

am sooooooooooooooooo angry!!
the fitters are not corgi registered.
they touched gas stuff.
left it in an unsafe state.
didnt let me know!
potential there to have killed me, or others working on the house!!

gorrie · Post by **gorrie** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:47 pm

Hmm... sounds a shoddy job, but what does your quote/contract say with regards to the fitment of the Hob and the removal of the old appliances/kitchen? Does it say that they would provide a Corgi engineer or were they expecting you to arrange disconnection of the old hob?

Communication is very poor though... as you say, had they not told you, you could quite easily have turned it back on again annd filled the house.... in fact, any Tom/Dick/Harry with a universal key to your gas meter could have turned it on for a laugh....

r055 · Post by **r055** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:05 pm

http://www.trustcorgi.com/bewareofcowbo ... youdo.htmx

PhilA · Post by **PhilA** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:16 pm

gorrie wrote:Hmm... sounds a shoddy job, but what does your quote/contract say with regards to the fitment of the Hob and the removal of the old appliances/kitchen? Does it say that they would provide a Corgi engineer or were they expecting you to arrange disconnection of the old hob?

was for complete removal of kitchen units and appliances.

gorrie wrote: in fact, any Tom/Dick/Harry with a universal key to your gas meter could have turned it on for a laugh....

they wouldnt have needed the universal key - the fitters left the meter door open...

mac · Post by **mac** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:22 pm

I thought the supply to the hob was via a bayonnet fitting rubber pipe.

Should be self sealing when disconnected.

That said - I work on railways, what would I know!

Mac

PhilA · Post by **PhilA** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:23 pm

mac wrote:I thought the supply to the hob was via a bayonnet fitting rubber pipe.

Should be self sealing when disconnected.

That said - I work on railways, what would I know!

Mac

it should have been.
but seems it was a straight connection through to the hob and they just cut the pipe.
the kitchen was done in 1993, so who knows.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:56 pm

Have you paid?

Are they members of any association or guild?

nxy · Post by **nxy** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:10 pm

What they did was illegal, and they should not have touched the gas without being corgi.

BigD · Post by **BigD** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:43 pm

mac wrote:I thought the supply to the hob was via a bayonnet fitting rubber pipe.

Should be self sealing when disconnected.

That said - I work on railways, what would I know!

Mac

That's generally only on free standing oven/hob or oven only. The integrated separate hobs are usually plumbed in er,... separately. Corgi just means common sense.

It wouldn't have been difficult to put a proper blank on the pipe and recommend you get it tested by a corgi reg plumber.

If you plumber was doing the water related stuff why didn't he blank off the gas pipe?

If they were only contracted to do the joinery they maybe expected the gas to be disconnected. Joiners don't do plumbing generally.

PhilA · Post by **PhilA** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:50 am

kitchen is from mfi.
i took their option of having the kitchen fitted by mfi fitters.
my plumber was just to move a pipe for the water.
they were to deal with the rest.
my plumber isnt corgi registered.
neither are they, the shop said that the fitters shouldnt have touched it and should have got in a corgi registered plumber to remove the old hob.

was all fired up yesterday and was gonna report them to trading standards and corgi, but will go through mfi at the moment i think.

MacK · Post by **MacK** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:52 pm

My understanding is that you don't have to be Corgi registered to work on installation of gas pipes, fitting gas appliances etc, but the final connection and an inspection of the installation can only be done by a Corgi registered engineer.

The disconnection of a gas appliance, would not need a Corgi eng, but capping the pipe would.

2p

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:12 pm

very tricky this one....

I think you'll find no one will own up to the disconnection of the pipe and so as the gas was left off and safe then there has been no harm done.

Corgi will be able to do very little to them.