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I’ve stopped doing jobs since 23 March. My main parts supplier closed on 27th. It’s just not worth it for me or my customers, seeing as this virus can be passed on when no symptoms are showing, and perhaps up to 14 days after you’ve recovered.
If we ever get an antibody test, only way it will be nearly entirely safe for me to do repairs is if it comes back positive. So far I’ve not experienced symptoms, doesn’t mean I haven’t had the virus (cos some lucky sods will never show any), and there’s no way I’m going into an at-risk person’s home, even for ‘essential’ repair.washingmachinewoman wrote:I’ve stopped doing jobs since 23 March. My main parts supplier closed on 27th. It’s just not worth it for me or my customers, seeing as this virus can be passed on when no symptoms are showing, and perhaps up to 14 days after you’ve recovered.
If we ever get an antibody test, only way it will be nearly entirely safe for me to do repairs is if it comes back positive. So far I’ve not experienced symptoms, doesn’t mean I haven’t had the virus (cos some lucky sods will never show any), and there’s no way I’m going into an at-risk person’s home, even for ‘essential’ repair.Or if I have had symptoms and have recovered + 14 days, which is the WHO advice.
Finished my last job fri 20th march not going any where now im 66and have been doing this job for 38years this has made me step back and think,this is a good time to think about retiring .but I bet I’ve got the best polished vw van inthe uk
This is the first time I have managed to get some time “touching base” on what’s happening in the Whitegoods industry. I am still operating as normal-ish and applying 2 metres distancing rules and requesting all kids and pets to be in another room. Generally customers let me in via the back door, talk through the window or text messaging/facetime. So far all of my customers complied with my request, as for getting payment for the job meant it went on-line and this sadly increased my overall operating costs. Pre Covid-19, my main source of payment were through cash, cheques and the occasional bank transfers but I have to make the switch to on-line so that none of my customers will pull a fast one by not paying. So far the system seems to be working for the time being.
My main spare parts suppliers are still open but dragging their feet on sending the parts out which left me telling customers “I will call you when the parts arrive” rather than booking a return visit in advance. I usually collect the parts from them and now am having to get it delivered which added to the overall operating costs. Diesel gone down in prices, my average MPG have improved from 25mpg to 33mpg due to the lack of traffic on the road which meant I am filling up less often.
As for getting replacement appliances which is a whole new ball game, I have a feeling that stock levels are dependant on what they have in their warehouses and showrooms and redistributing around the country. Their websites aren’t quite up to date on what’s happening on the ground level on stocks so there were fair amount of telephone calls. I admit that there were a fair amount of cursing when suppliers starts moving the goalposts and adding layers of restrictions.
Work load have tailed off a bit as the advertisers aren’t pulling their weights about on delivering the booklets to the doorsteps in my home town. Strange how postal workers and internet delivery drivers are still able to deliver but not distributors of advertising! But I am enjoying the slightly reduced workload and I get to have a lie in! Well instead of waking at 6am, I wake up at 7am – ruddy kids!
With me starting late, I get to go out cycling for 20 miles regularly whilst taking advantage of the empty roads of Birmingham. I am keeping safe and we are very clear on the rules when people call us for repairs.
Heads up on the Government scheme for self employed…
You can now go onto the HMRC website and check whether you are eligible for the self employed grant which was announced back in March.
You also need to register for the Government Gateway scheme if you intend to claim.
I’ve been through the process and it seems straightforward but you will need some key pieces of information like Tax Ref Number / NI Number plus a form of formal ID (I had no problem using my passport.)
You cannot claim your grant until 8am on 16th May 2020.
However, it seems to me like basic common sense for us all to be registered on the system ahead of the date when the grant can be claimed simply because their website could be under considerable load once the grants go live. It should make claiming the grant much easier than having to register your details and establishing your formal ID etc on the actual day.
More info here;
Start the process here;https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference
Hope this helps everyone.Funny how this hasn’t received much publicity!
Stay safe,
Steve.SteveATY wrote:Heads up on the Government scheme for self employed…
You can now go onto the HMRC website and check whether you are eligible for the self employed grant which was announced back in March.
You also need to register for the Government Gateway scheme if you intend to claim.
I’ve been through the process and it seems straightforward but you will need some key pieces of information like Tax Ref Number / NI Number plus a form of formal ID (I had no problem using my passport.)
You cannot claim your grant until 8am on 16th May 2020.
However, it seems to me like basic common sense for us all to be registered on the system ahead of the date when the grant can be claimed simply because their website could be under considerable load once the grants go live. It should make claiming the grant much easier than having to register your details and establishing your formal ID etc on the actual day.
More info here;
Start the process here;https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference
Hope this helps everyone.Funny how this hasn’t received much publicity!
Stay safe,
Steve.cheers pal am on it morn
Does anybody know the rules with going to houses where someone is over the age of 70? We are into our second week of working, and we are telling the elderly that we can not go into there houses and now have a list of over 50 customers waiting. Although most are understanding, few are desperate for us to go out and help, offering to leave the house if necessary just so we can go in. It seems a bit of a grey area and I can’t find a definitive answer anywhere online. We just don’t want to go to someone house and then hear they’ve been taken ill.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
Lewisto be honest have not stopped working and been into lots of homes where they are over 70. Was in a nursing home yesterday but that was using full protectives supplied by them
although at the moment I am only going to cookers and washers
I try to not go through the house were possible. wash my hands as soon as I am inside, keep the client over 2meters away for 99.9{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the time.
there is not much else we can do unless we wear a complete protective suit and then we would need one for every client
as far as I am concerned its all about taking reasonable steps to stop infections no matter which way they go. would not go in anyone’s house or visit anyone’s house that was showing symptoms
the nursing home I was in have had covid and have got rid of it for which I have great respect
Dave
I have not stopped working either, I am just verifying that they don’t have any symptoms within the household before going.
When I am there then I am sticking to social distancing and trying to touch the fewest surfaces etc as possible to avoid the risk of contamination but after that it is just down to trying to take sensible and reasonable steps.
When I have been into any of the nursing homes then they have all been checking temperatures before you can enter and then you have to wash hands, I will also put on a pair of gloves and in several cases have been offered face masks as well though as the machines were in separate laundry rooms where I was left to it I was happy to work without.
I also carry a bottle of hand sanitizer in my bag and have more on the van as well as disinfectant spray and paper towel should the need arise.
Apart from that like Dave said it is down to reasonable precautions and your own judgement of the risks.Jem
Something that we were sent
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5eb967e286650c2791ec7100/working-safely-during-covid-19-other-peoples-homes-110520.pdf
I have Furloughed everyone and just doing cooking, refrigeration and some laundryI observe social distance, wear gloves and sanitize everything
Just claimed my grant from the government, very easy to do, should be in my bank within 6 days.
Seems like the government have found a pot of cash from somewhere. Strange with all the talk going on about austerity, but time to cash in.
I’ve never been so busy on the work front, lots of engineers furloughed and Currys etc delivering but not installing appliances, work coming out of my ears, 11 jobs today, yesterday and 8 tomorrow! 🙂
boselecta wrote:
Seems like the government have found a pot of cash from somewhere.
Ha, there’s only one place the government gets its money from eventually .:(
The whitegoods suppliers weren’t so helpful and threw in lots of obstacles in order to frustrate me. The amount of work I am getting is unbelievable but it is not the usual sort of work that I do, major manufacturers weren’t coming out and left the customers stranded so I came to the rescue. Very difficult to turn down work when the caller sounded desperate especially parents with children. I hope the workload will ease off a bit when the manufacturers starts coming out to fix their appliances. Facebook have been extremely useful when one start posting for washing machine repair man, people starts recommending me as word got around very quickly that I am still around when others have let them down.
The biggest headache of them all are dishwashers being left standing and broken for months which makes the job harder to fix.
Customers are mostly doing a good job social distancing but their dogs aren’t!
Hope everyone is keeping safe and well.
Just to bring people’s attention to the second grant which available to self employed under the Government scheme…
Personally work is still pretty slow for me.
I notice on the Gov website that the HMRC have taken it upon themselves to significantly alter terms by which self employed will be allowed to claim the second grant which was technically set out by the Chancellor to cover loss of earnings thru June, July and August.
If you read the recently amended wording the HMRC are now saying that anyone claiming the second grant must have had their business significantly impacted by Covid-19 on or after July 14th.
Whilst I am happy that I would still firmly fall in that category, I feel that HMRC have absolutely no legal basis to demand that any self employed person be able to meet their amended criteria.In the first instance the second grant was set out as covering the months of June, July and August in terms of lost income and simply took up the slack from the moment when the first grant period expired (which was technically the close of business on the first Friday in June.)
Secondly, it looks like a highly opportunistic move by HMRC to hoodwink less well informed individuals in to believing that they may not be entitled to the grant which they were previously promised by the Chancellor in his highly publicised TV address. Furthermore, there will be many self employed individuals who have recently been allowed to restart their business operations due to the lifting of long term lock-down restrictions (ie hairdressers / barbers / non essential retail etc) who will very likely experience an initial surge in demand but who have already suffered financially because they have been locked down since March. The date of July 14th has not been chosen by accident as this date appears to have been selected because HMRC would be aware that it falls firmly in the immediate period of time after a great many self employed would be attempting to restart businesses – in other words, HMRC have deliberately chosen a ‘hot spot’ which they know many cannot deny would be busy.
It’s also the case that many people would have been following the rules in the genuine belief that they were being supported by the grant scheme – to have the rules changed retrospectively is extremely cruel.
In my opinion this needs to be investigated immediately before this HMRC mis-information becomes widespread.
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