Bloody fire extinguisher scam

mani · 18-07-2006, 22:20

or is it?

we had a woman come today to my mum's clothes shop claiming to be from the council. we have a fire extinguisher and we were told it was fine for the shop size. however the woman that came today said we required two as this was against health and safety. i wasnt there in person but my sister and wife were and they were told how it wud be against the law and we could be fined £1000 or go prison for 6 months etc and she was selling them for £110 and really pushing them to buy it now.

my sis foned up my mum who was with me on the way down to b'ham saying should we and i could tell they were really falling for this. i said no dont do it i'll come home and tomorro i'll find out myself.

before she left she says she'll be back tomorro and we better have this sorted as health and safety would come down to check in the next few days...

so whaddya reckon folks? she was makin claims i dont think her mouth cud cash - stuff like they'll service it for 20 years which for £110 one off aint happening..

garinda · 18-07-2006, 22:24

I'd be checking her i-d and phoning her office tomorrow matey.

Sounds like a scam, though Health and Safety peeps are sh*t hot...which comes in handy if you have a working extinguisher to cool them down with.

mani · 18-07-2006, 22:26

yeah we bought one and i'm sure insurance have passed it too

i was gonna literally lock the shop door adn make her wait whilst i got thru to the relevant dept and if she wasnt i wud fone the police for this crap

she went down to maureens etc on blackburn rd - god knows how many more shops she went to

cherokee · 18-07-2006, 22:32

If she was genuine health and safety im sure she wouldnt be selling mani, maybe if you ring health and safety up and ask them to come and check your shop out , they would be more than happy to , sounds like a bit of a scam to me, good luck

Neil · 18-07-2006, 22:35

Why not phone the Health and Safety Executive, Marshall House, Ringway,
Preston, PR1 2HS, 0845 3450055 and ask them what the regulations are.
Do it 1st thing in the morning so you can have the Police waiting for her when she calls again

mani · 18-07-2006, 22:37

exactly

H&S wud check adn if soemthing was at fault they wud inform u to change it and give u say 14 days to correct the problem - not sell u on the spot...

Busman747 · 18-07-2006, 22:38

I think the Fire Brigade themselves may well do a safety check on the premises for free Mani, Its well worth a phone call (but not 999

)

Madhatter · 18-07-2006, 22:45

the fire extinguisher company conned my brother into paying for new extinguishers for the pub. They said the ones I had gotten from the old factory before it was knocked down were to old to be recharged, which is utter tosh, I've seen a lot older ones recharged. They just wanna make a quick quid.
As far as I know you supposed to have one for each fire exit and each fire point. how big is this shop?

mani · 18-07-2006, 22:56

not big at all. probably the size of say thorntons in town - maybe slightly smaller .

thing was we got sold one b4 5 yrs ago in similar circumstances and that they wud come yr on yr to check em. next yr we bought em we had some guy come around sayin that he was from soem company and the fire extingusher we had wasnt valid etc

cashman · 19-07-2006, 00:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Why not phone the Health and Safety Executive, Marshall House, Ringway,
Preston, PR1 2HS, 0845 3450055 and ask them what the regulations are.
Do it 1st thing in the morning so you can have the Police waiting for her when she calls again

good advice that mani- do it mate, if its a con which i'm 90% it is health @safety exec are spot on they will tell you one way or the other, and if its the other then shes a cheating,conniving,cow who deserves arresting.

gabby · 19-07-2006, 00:27

they should tell you when you opened how many fire extinguishers you need if they did not tell you that you needed 2 then they are at fault do not buy off sellers they are not legall advisers and if you are wrong they will just tell you, not try to sell you. dont be conned !

gabby · 19-07-2006, 00:37

sorry about doing this twice but no fire extinguishire costs £110 unless its a rip off dont pay that price on no account check it out we had to get 2 for our boat but they were only £20 each which i thought was dear. They are cheaper for on the ground!

mani · 19-07-2006, 00:45

yeah i went to a few websites for a quick check up and the 9 litre things were around £30 and even cheaper on ebay!

Madhatter · 19-07-2006, 01:47

a 9 litre water costs up to 50 pound maximum, even co2 extinguishers aren't that much.
I didn't realise you said she was selling them. They aren't health and safety, they don't do fire extinguishers, neither do the council. You need to report it to the all the above asap.

mani · 19-07-2006, 02:54

maybe worth gettin in touch with hte local telegraph?