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Okay so we all know that we now have a legal requirement to do this safety notificatin nonsense but really some people are having a laugh with how it’s being priced. No, £2.50 or £4 simply isn’t enough to cover the extra work by the engineer and admin staff.
For installation work, pure installation work, the rates just went up by £10 per gas plot to cover the charges yet the service side is expected to do it for less than half that in most cases. Come on guys, get a grip!
Work = time, time = money and we have precious little enough of that as things stand without being taken for fools and losing more of what we work damned hard to earn.
Everyone knew this was coming, knew what was involved and we warned everyone well in advance that it would incur charges but some of the rates I’ve been told about this past week are just ridiculously low in the extreme, I mean £2.50 is taking the p**s, that’s an insult IMO. I will instruct that a standard £10 is charged for any instsallation work at NWAR and if that’s not met then fine, we don’t install anymore gas as it’s just not worth the hassle.
And yes, I am up on my horse on this one again. 😉
K.
Re: CORGI Tax?
Yep, I’ve heard tale of this also.
£10 is the charge I have increased our gas installs by, £2.50 for the notification costs charged by Corgi and £7.50 for the extra paperwork and admin time to notify, this to me seems very reasonable.
Try asking a central heating engineer to install a cooker and see what he charges in comparison what we get paid by manufacturers 😉
Dave.
Re: CORGI Tax?
I’m not going to be popular for this one then.
Servevast tell me they can only go to £5. If we notify on line we are in for £2.50 mark up. Sue Cherry tells me that SMEG will not go any further on this. I did mention £10 admin fee, along with one of their agents. There was curt reponse regards money issues not to be discussed on public forums, and it may have since died a death.
Looking at that, some food for thought. We only get an additional £2 for SMEG gas work in the 1st place. I’m wondering if a review is needed.
Perhaps a new thread is required on Smeg gas rates, or do we keep it here?
Alex
Re: CORGI Tax?
You get an uplift for gas, interesting as we don’t! 👿
In all honesty I simply regard this as not my problem. I warned everyone and their dog about this almost a year ago and almost without exception everyone decided to bury their collective heads in the sand and hope it went away. Well, guess what… it didn’t!
Now I’ll warn you about the next bit (again), CORGI intend to do this with repair work as well by 2007.
Frankly for me it’s like going into any shop, you pay the going commercial rate and that’s it. If anyone feels that they can get gas installation work on one-off domestic appliances any cheaper then good luck to them as the cheapest they’d get a plumber in my area is about £50 to the door and then charged by the quarter hour. With the CORGI charges on top as well as VAT, of course assuming that you can find a plumber that’s interested in being asked to install in two or three days time and then wait 30 days+ to get paid.
Oh the fun.
And I wouldn’t bother moving it Alex, it may as well all stay in the one place if Smeg are culprits in this, from the tone I assume that this is Smeg’s doing and not Servevast as they are pretty much aware of the situation. But really some of these manufacturers really do need to get a grip of what what it actually costs to admin a lot of the stuff they ask for and this isn’t optional.
K.
Re: CORGI Tax?
All this does is to highlight the case NOT TO DO THE WORK…
Its more than possible that the falling numbers of gas repairers will continue to the point where networks are going to find it increasingly difficult to get cover.
I for one over the next couple of years plan to get out of GAS repairs and plans to strenghen the electrical work we do continue. Even if the electrical regulations change we can “afford” to change with it as this makes up the vast majority of our work.
What we have to do is perhaps form some sort of trade organisation to protect ourselves and obviously gain momentum through numbers. Shame the present trade organisation is not much use to us at this time!
It will be a very interesting year as other opportunities reveal themselves to the independent market.
KevinRe: CORGI Tax?
I agree Kevin. I’m only too willing to work for anyone at a fair & reasonable rate but I’m not going to work at a loss to subsidise a manufacturer or network, why should I?
In the end it’s just simple economics and the economics of gas work is rapidly heading towards forcing many of us out of that arena. Quite honestly, without installation work or a massive conurbation in the area, I can’t see how anyone can make CORGI work pay with regard to service now, to squeeze that still further makes no sense to me at all as, eventually, you run out of people to squeeze.
Chris Hayter was supposed to have written to CORGI but you can bet your boots it was never done. 🙄
K.
Re: CORGI Tax?
kheath wrote:Its more than possible that the falling numbers of gas repairers will continue to the point where networks are going to find it increasingly difficult to get cover.
IWhat we have to do is perhaps form some sort of trade organisation to protect ourselves and obviously gain momentum through numbers. Shame the present trade organisation is not much use to us at this time!
KevinHow right you are in the above 2 statements.
We are slightly fragmented I’m afraid; and if we are not careful the likes of previously mentioned companies will have an authority to dictate the terms. We as a group could have cohesion, and perhaps get together on this. Of course we will then be perceived as trouble makers.
This is a time where a trade organisation would be able to arbitrate on our behalf. It can be said I’m no longer a member of one such organisation, they done nothing for me in 10 plus years of my membership, and somehow I doubt if they could now. Enough of that.
It does appear the issue in this case may well be with Smeg rather than Servevast. There is one positive though, they are paying full gas rate to disconnect the old, and a new call to return & connect the new. It isn’t always like that though.
Servevast now have an agents e-mail forum, bit similar to how we started. Be interesting to see if this site would get a mention on the forum by one of their members. Would open up the debate somewhat I’m sure.
This is one thing I passionately care about, and we must make it clear we have inordinate costs these days when it comes to gas, and most of us are family businesses, and we should not have to bear the administration without recompense.
This I’m sure will be debated for a while yet.
Alex
Re: CORGI Tax?
It’s okay Alex, I get NWAR mail as well here although I didn’t know that until I went raking through my inbox and found the relevant emails. Without prior knowledge of the mailing list, which I was added to without any notification, I had no rules setup to filter the mail properly so that it was read and attended to. Since I recieve over 300 emails a day that’s a concern.
I have replied to the thread, despite the postmaster’s attempt to close it, as I feel it is a very pertinent thread and one that everyone should take the time to look at, Simply playing the “it’s my ball and I’m not playing” game doesn’t cut it on this subject IMO.
I would stress that this is not just a Smeg problem though.
K.
Re: CORGI Tax?
kwatt wrote:
I would stress that this is not just a Smeg problem though.
K.
Agreed, but it could cut a precedent if one does it etc.
Some companies recognise our plight and are happy to support us.
If we all make it clear that this is a back door revenue stream, and endeavour to seek recompense. The vibes may reverberate thoughout the industry, then perhaps we will either enjoy recognition, or reward.
Just imagine you are installing on a building site, there are dozens of these notifications that have to be carried out, and you are already working to a tight price. Chances are as in all works of life, a competitor will undercut you by absorbing this. Yet on a site, you are controlled by the standard of the builders, and there is usually a clerk of works or some other form of overseer. In addition CORGI do spot checks on sites, therefore there are 2 inspections and the criteria being very tight, you are still expected to do this. Not only you who dropped in the hob, but the plumber who put in the fire etc.
I could go on & on.
Alex
Re: CORGI Tax?
Interesting thread.
Reading between the lines this appears to have been “fired this over the heads” of Servevast, no doubt in an effort to appoint the blame towards Smeg themselves. All very well, but Servevast have a duty of care towards their agents, and if there is an injustice here, then why are Servevast burying their heads in the sand? O.K. they seem to agree with the cause, but they are not open in supporting their agents it would appear.
Surely work providers are aware this is a cost levied on the industry as a whole, and we the industry need to make it clear that such costs do have to be met. The simple way forward is to seek recompense for our efforts; not too difficult, but it is a shame when we don’t get such recognition or support.
You don’t get owt for nowt as was mentioned on here the other day, and why should we at the sharp end take the hit?
I’m rather surprised there hasn’t been a bigger backlash on this.
Rudi
Re: CORGI Tax?
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:I’m rather surprised there hasn’t been a bigger backlash on this.
Agreed, you may notice that I’m none too happy about it all.
I regard it as not my problem, just like VAT it’s a tax in effect and I do way too much unpaid tax collection as it stands. There is a price tag on doing this kind of work and, should any company not wish to pay my asking price then they are welcome to go elsewhere as our rates are extremely competitive in comparison to anyone else qualified to do the job.
I have instructed that there is a £10 fee per installation and that’s it.
K.
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