Looking for the LOWEST Price for your PAT Testing?

You've come to the WRONG place!

Over the last few years we've watched the PAT Testing Industry turn almost on its head - where companies once were charging a fortune to test your equipment, now they're charging mere pennies. If you are looking for the cheapest price for your PAT Testing, please browse around the internet - you'll find dozens of companies falling over themselves to undercut each other, and give you the lowest possible price. But please, take a moment to consider what you'll get for your 67p (or less) per item!

If you are paying 'The Lowest Price Guaranteed' per item for your PAT Testing - it is almost certain that your equipment is NOT being tested properly.

And remember, the Health and Safety at Work Act makes you, not your PAT Testing Company, responsible if you have an accident.

If you have paid an unrealistically low price for your PAT Testing (and turned a blind eye to the fact that the so called 'engineers' were not actually testing your equipment at all), you would almost certainly get sued (and probably prosecuted by the HSE) if someone were to be seriously injured or killed on your premises. It's a sobering thought, isn't it?

After nearly 25 years in the PAT Testing field, we've seen every trick in the book - items not tested at all, or the same item tested a hundred times and the results copied and pasted over. We've seen engineers carry out 'visual checks only' - not because the equipment couldn't be turned off, but because it was too much hassle. We've found plugs which have never been opened (which means that the fuses haven't been checked) and on other occasions we've spotted items with dangerous faults, which have been supposedly checked by a professional company just days before. Engineers turn up to jobs with the wrong equipment, (or in some cases no equipment at all) and put hundreds of stickers on items in the course of a day, but don't actually test a single thing!

Most companies charge so little for their PAT Testing, that they are desperate for their engineers to get through large numbers of appliances in a day in order to make a profit. So desperate, in fact, that they turn a blind eye to the fact that their engineers are not checking the equipment, but merely putting a sticker on. There's even a term for them - 'Sticker Jockeys!' They rely on the fact that their customers don't understand what's involved, or don't want to know!

PAT Testing is not difficult, but it is time-consuming (if done correctly.) The process, always involves a full visual inspection (which includes checking the wiring of the plug, and checking that the fuse is correct) as well as carrying out some electrical tests on the Earth and Insulation of the appliance. Some appliances need more tests than other (for example a laptop power-supply might only need a visual inspection) but all appliances will need some sort of check at least!

A competent, well trained, and experienced PAT Testing Engineer would normally be able to test approx 150 items per day in a workshop / factory environment, and up to 300 items per day (8 hours) in an office / call centre (depending on the layout, access to rooms etc.) - If you employ a company whose engineers are testing more than this number, then you need to be worried!

A Cautionary Tale. (A True Story)
We met a school Premises Manager on a course recently who'd just engaged a professional company to test the items in his school. The company sent 2 men, who 'tested' 5500 items in 4 days. That's an average of nearly 700 items per man, per day, or approx 100 per hour. Please understand, this is just physically IMPOSSIBLE. At 70p per item, the school had paid £3850 - and for what? They had 5500 stickers and a certificate to say their equipment had been tested - and that's all!

After spending the day with us on the training course, the Premises Manager went away feeling very sober - he'd seen, first hand, what was involved in PAT Testing properly - and he knew he'd wasted his school's money!He learned all about checking the plugs, how to check the correct fuse, how to carry out essential tests, and much more. He realised that very little, if any, of the essential checks had been carried out on his equipment, and of course, he now doesn't know for sure if ANY of it is safe.

Imagine how he'd feel if a child were to be injured (or killed) in his school? What would you do if we were talking about your childrens' school? (for obvious reasons we're not going to mention which school it is, but we have offered to help them get their money back from the company!)

Still looking for the LOWEST price?

There was a time when we offered a lowest price guarantee, but we don't now. We refuse, point blank, to compete with companies who employ untrained staff, who do not monitor or quality check their employees' work, and who offer a price so low that it can only be achieved by cutting corners. Our prices are fair and competitive, but we offer a service - in other words, we do what we say.

We don't have hundreds of engineers, but we do have a small network of capable, experienced and highly trained engineers. We are selective over which jobs we take on, and we will only offer to help if we can do the job properly. Of course, our prices are fair and competitive, but if we end up in a bidding war please don't be offended if we back out graciously and invite you to go with a lower quote if we don't believe we can do the job properly!

If you're looking for a new PAT Testing company, if you're worried that your current supplier might be ripping you off, or if you simply want to talk through your options, please give us a call, in confidence if you prefer, and we'll be happy to share our wisdom and experience, and hopefully help you to get your PAT Testing back on track!

Call us today on 01482 827744 for more information!