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What price for an aerial installation?

What prices have you been quoted and paid for an aerial installation?

What prices have you been quoted and paid for an aerial install
Published on by on UK Free TV
In responses to the guideline I posted about how much having a new aerial fitted should cost, Ian Grice posted: "£40-£50? Every aerial fitter I contacted wants at least £150+VAT considering you can get a class 3 aerial for under £10 and a class 2 for under £15 and cable is 40p a metre why are they charging so much for 30 minutes work?"

OK, for some places putting up a TV aerial is hard work, such as multi-story properties. As many people will simply be exchanging a Group A, B, C/D, E or K aerial for a wideband type, often without changing the supporting pole or cable, a high price cannot be justified.

I am concerned that some companies will exploit vulnerable groups (such as the elderly).

So, I what prices have you been quoted for aerial installations? What price have you paid for installation?

Do you know of any companies to avoid? Do you know of any companies that are good value for money?

Or do you work for a great aerial installation company?





Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Briantist
Tuesday 24 October 2006 12:57AM
Ian: if you wish to provide the name of the proof of your asertation, I will be more than happy to block any such advert. The adverts are provided by Google, and cannot be prevetted.
Briantist
Tuesday 24 October 2006 1:47AM
Les: It is no longer a requirment to correcly form URLs, if they do not start http:// this is now added automatically, and is acting retrospecitivly.
lloyd
Tuesday 24 October 2006 9:20AM
mike what is you BER before the FEC bud
Ian Grice
Tuesday 24 October 2006 3:16PM
Well some people are just rude when you point out that some of they cronies are overcharge arnt they. As for saying the Lidal freesat sysem is unreliable, difficult to use and prone to wind damage I nearly wet myself laughing. I have a cousan on the Linconshire fens that installed one on his 3 story house right at the top of the gable end. The wind there a few months ago was strong enough to rip a few tiles of the roof, but the dish never moved. I talked to both my neighbours about ther aerial instalation and neather realised the price they paid was so high, one was charged £45.00 + vat for an aerial, the same one in screwfix is £23.74. 48 Element High Gain, Considaring the aeril is pointing at Sutton coldfield the strongest transmitter in this area and mine is pointing at Waltham a lower powerd transmitter and is only a 32 element also the aeril cable used looks like the stuf they sell in wilkos single copper air gap with a bit of copper braiding. I would say that some fitters are overcharging and pushing biger and uglier than nesasary aerials. I was lucky enough to be able to fit mine to the eves on the house, When my mother wants hers replaced I will hire a roof lader for the day. It will still work out cheeper.
Briantist
Tuesday 24 October 2006 4:03PM
I really wish that people would be a bit more polite! Anyway, the first time I ever saw the DVB-T system working was at an IBC in Amsterdam (probably 1996/7) where it was being received inside a moving tram. We, of course, were involved with the setting up of the motion-JPEG system that fed ITV and Channel 4 for analogue transmission and then before ONdigital launched we designed the distribution and monitoring system of both the satellite and terrestrial version of DVB in the UK. And, for someone well versed in datacomms, FEC and BER rates predate all these technologies by at least a decade or two.
Ian
Tuesday 24 October 2006 8:10PM
I don't eat at MacDomnalds anymore, the bun cost them 8p, the meat 11p the relish 3p and a portion of chips 8p, but they charge nearly four pounds for it. Any daft bugger can work there for £4.25 per hour so I buy mine a Tessco's now and make them at home. Much cheaper.
Ian Grice
Tuesday 24 October 2006 8:55PM
Yes and you can spit on you own burger then! and not get ripped off.
Ian
Tuesday 24 October 2006 10:01PM
I wouldn’t mind betting Ian Grice that your take home pay is ‘more than what you are worth’. But you see, if your boss doesn’t pay you your £30 a day, some other fool will and then he’ll have to do all the work himself. So it’s in his interest to pay you more than what you are worth, after all, he’s probably charging you out at £60 a day and keeping the rest himself. Some are born to lead, other are born to follow. So you just keep following, because you don’t have the brains to be a leader.
puzzled
Wednesday 25 October 2006 12:06AM
brian do you know anything about satellite.
im an installer but have a problem and cant seem to find an answer.
over the last year have had two sky+ upgrades lose itv. worked fine on old standard stb. realigned idsh tried different lnbs, software etc but to no avail.
any ideas?
Briantist
Wednesday 25 October 2006 12:19AM
puzzled: are you located in the UK? For information about dishes, please see Freesat reception - all about dishes
Liam
Wednesday 25 October 2006 2:25AM
Wow! I never realised how complicated & mind bogglingly technical installing an Ariel was, not to mention the danger involved I mean electrocution hurricanes that suddenly appear and sweep multitudes of installers to their untimely deaths!
Millions of pounds worth of equipment needed. Get real
Dave and his ilk appear to want to have a slanging match with Briantist & tie every body up with techno babble.
G(dB)=10log(Pout/Pin)(Electrical)). (−1 dB, −6 dB etc.). Tr = BW/0.35, where BW is in Hz and Tr is in seconds. Lineairzation is an emergent field, and there are many techniques, such us feedforward, predistortion, postdistortion, EER, LINC, CALLUM, cartesian feedback... in order to avoid the undesired effects of the non-linearities.
Know what I mean?
A crippled builder & a fireman as well, blimey it must be dangerous if guys like that fall off. Did you also fit one for Sir Edmund Hillary as he hobbled around on his crutches after falling off the bungalow roof?
`OK, for some places putting up a TV aerial is hard work, such as multi-story properties. As many people will simply be exchanging a Group A, B, C/D, E or K aerial for a wideband type, often without changing the supporting pole or cable, a high price cannot be justified `
That’s what was posted at the beginning of this forum & now Dave & others are bringing in all sorts of complications. You don’t compare setting up a simple home computer network with a multi story office network when talking to a client unless you’re setting them up for a rip off price.
You Dave have swayed way off the point indulged yourself in that “we are the experts how dare you question us” bull and resorted to insulting the guy who started the forum mmm sounds familiar
O and Les the CAI director and the tutor of the SMATV-IRS courses
Thanks for your in-depth explanation of what seems to be a subject way beyond my currant knowledge you obviously know your stuff, so maybe you could refer to my earlier post & explain why I can’t watch the TV & why the CAI doesn’t help when one of your members botches a job
. O and would you object if I reproduce the reply I received from your organisation along with the `needlessly in-depth` Emails I sent?
As long as the main trade body of your industry backs up bad installations then you can’t complain to much when people perceive your industry as over priced & unreliable
If you care then lobby them to live up to their web site promises & kick out the bad guys.
Yes Ariel installers deserve to earn a decent wage,
Yes I believe the majority probably do a good job
No I don’t believe domestic installation is the hazardous trade some people seem to suggest, roofers, window cleaners etc work in the same conditions and I’m not paying them danger money either.
Briantist how about another forum for people to post the good the bad & the ugly experiences of their installations just for fun or maybe to prove a point one way or another I mean surely no ones going to want to shoot the messenger



GET IT
Wednesday 25 October 2006 2:43AM
People seem to be getting very worked up by this
when I had a problem with my telly I went to buy a book
The bloke said the book would be £6 but I have to pay an extra £250 for him to sell it to me cos he had a qualification in bulls**t
nuff said
Liam
Wednesday 25 October 2006 4:09AM
Give up on this Brian you ain't going to win. You started this off by implying that aerial installers are ripping off the general public. We have shown that this is not the case.
Just reread the posts sorry did I miss something
Les come round and watch TV at my house sometime
O sorry you can’t Because my installations crap much worse than before I paid to have it fitted by a CAI professional.
Funny thing is I got better reception with my diy loft installation at least then I could watch some terrestrial channels.
But of course that can’t be a rip off can it.
O well better make do with my diy free sat or maybe I need an expert to screw that up as well
£100 to disable 99% of the channels of course that’s not a rip off
Thanks mate until I read your post I really thought I’d been done but now I realise that it was a privilege & an honour to be in that mans presence & I will leave him everything I have in my will
As for Briantist Lock him up for life how dare he have a web site that brings up topics like this what on earth gives him the right to give away free & informative facts about your trade.

They knew a thing or 2 in the middle ages didn’t they lets have a secret guild of aerial installers like the masons you can pass the secrets on to your descendents and keep plebs like us out of it on pain of death.

So les now that you have shown that the public aren’t ripped off please forgive my ill informed & ignorant posts be assured I have seen the error of my ways & will never again question the quality of your industry’s work .

PS If I wipe a few hard drives say the last five years of a company’s records & the backup systems too & then charge them for some very expensive data retrieval will you show them that I didn’t rip them off please.
Briantist
Wednesday 25 October 2006 2:44PM
I think a lot has been learnt. I leave it up to the site's readers to draw their own conclusions.
Ian Grice
Wednesday 25 October 2006 3:25PM
Well the fact that they have to resort to insults shows what kind of people they are. By the way Ian your coment about some are born to lead and some to follow, yes thats true thats why Us with brains dont belive people like you when all the crap falls out of your mouth. Some are born to be honest and some to ripp off, I think you have clearly identaried yourself as the latter.
pee pee
Wednesday 25 October 2006 4:17PM
Just found this thread - very interesting. I had a quotation from a reputable company yesterday to install new aerial on my existing mast, mast head amplifier and three cables to supply four TVs (with most of the final cable routing and wall installation done by me). £515 plus VAT. No written quotation available. From what I've seen in this thread, I think I'll get another quotation!
Sam
Wednesday 25 October 2006 5:22PM
Liam you ignorant piece of sh#t

As far as risk in the aerial trade is concerned, it happens every day to all sorts tradesmen so how you can take the p*ss out of what Dave says when falls from heights add up to half of workplace accidents and the vast majority are falls from roofs and ladders. How the hell can you say climbing on a roof is not dangerous you idiot.

Why do you think HSE have regulations regarding working at heights?
Look at page three of this pdf on the HSE website. People die every year and falls from heights are the biggest cause.

www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/fatl0506.pdf

Read this: (It’s from a HSE document)
A recent survey conducted by the Health & Safety executive concluded that over a twelve-month period, approximately 49% of injuries and fatalities in the workplace were fall related.

From 214 accidents investigated:

Falls from Roof: 76
Falls from Ladder: 43
Falls from Scaffold: 44
Ground level falls: 17
Height Steel work: 9
Other: 25

If you persist in recommending people carry out DIY installations will you put your money where your mouth is and admit liability for their accident. I bet you wouldn’t.

I’m not even going to comment on the rest of the items on the thread. You f*ckwits obviously think you know more than the aerial riggers who have commented, which having read this thread I seriously doubt, but how the hell you have the cheek to say this job poses no danger on domestic properties is beyond belief and just shows you’re lack of common sense.
It’s complacent people like you that have the accidents. Please carry on doing your own DIY climbs and keep the chance as high as possible of you removing yourself from the gene pool.
Well that’s my first and last visit to this forum. Good luck with your heath!
Dave
Wednesday 25 October 2006 11:37PM
Oh dear Liam, you seem to have touched a nerve there. Well I quite agree with Sam. I'd given up with this forum after the other night but a friend mentioned that it was still going on. Answer if you want but I'm not going to comment again. Just to clarify something. I am not being sick stating how Rod Hull died. I am trying to make a valid point and the late Mr Hull is a very relevant and well known example of a fatal DIY accident. My builder friend has indeed been confined to a wheelchair for over 25 years after falling from a single storey flat roof. The chap's name is Ian McMaster and a very good customer of mine who I am happy to call a friend. This man is very brave and still runs his business from his wheelchair and Mostly his bed. I have a great amount of respect for this man who you seem to have trouble beleiving exists. As for the fireman, he should have know better but like others, at the time he thought he did. He broke one ankle in several places and both shin bones were shattered. He looked like he'd been in a bad motorcycle accident and had bars securing 40 odd pins sticking out of both sides of both his legs. He had what is commonly know as a window cleaners fall, which is landing on your feet from height when your knees were not able to absorb the shock. Ask any A&E staff member. The shere fact that there is even a common name for this type of fall tells you that this is not an uncommon occureance. To say these are beyond contempt is just you being pedantic. Rod Hull and my customer both fell from their own roofs whilst attempting to repair their own TV aerials. Mr McMaster fell whilst working. All these were on domestic properties. I have nothing to gain by mentioning these other than making people think twice before attempting this sort of work. Oh and while I'm at it, If you're going to comment on a subject, it might be read by more people if you stick to the subject rather than spouting off as much drival and semantics as you have in you narrow mind. I couldn't care less if you answer this. Just understand that I am not saying people don't successfully carry out DIY ladder work. I'm just trying to make the point that it is hazardous and hundreds of people get it wrong and fall every year, trade and DIY.
I was ripped off by the b***** to
Wednesday 25 October 2006 11:41PM
just found this site good or what
£515 plus £90.12 seems reasonable they must have read Sam’s post & decided they need to use helicopters for safety reasons aviation fuels not cheap you know
Sam you wanna buy a safety net I know a trapeze act selling them cheap.
And is your favourite tune its raining TV Ariel men
Sam
Wednesday 25 October 2006 11:43PM
Ha Ha... Oh Dave, forget it. The guy's a tossa. I've had a couple of near misses when I started and now I use the fall arrest kit supplied by the CAI. Wish I'd had it years ago. It also lets you do jobs you couldn't do even if you were brave or stupid enough. Leave Liam and Braintit to their obvious superiority.
Dave
Wednesday 25 October 2006 11:53PM
Ha, his URL thing won't take long links. Try it again.
Liam
Thursday 26 October 2006 12:27AM
Dave how nice of you to reply in your usual succinct manner of course you agree with Sam
You both make the fundamental error of commenting on just a minor part of a statement and either ignoring or not understanding the whole.
And yes it’s in bad taste to bring people’s personal misfortunes into this discussion if you want to put across the dangers involved there are far less exploitative ways of doing so
And although you started off making a reasoned & articulate point you have to resort to personal insults towards the end. AS Sam is so fond of statistical data perhaps he can count the number of times you have steered this discussion away from the relevant point & resorted to personal insults in your previous posts.
As for your condescending & childish I don’t want to play any more so I’m taking my ball home attitude how will I manage with out you who will help me expand my narrow mind now that the mentor has deserted me.
But if you would share your wisdom just one more time o wise one perhaps you could answer the question how much should it cost & should you and your trade association sort out botched jobs with out leading the customer a merry dance?
Tracey
Thursday 26 October 2006 1:08AM
Should any body need to use a ladder HSE - Falls from height: Research this is where my boss gets the information and it gives all the safety guidelines & correct procedures necessary to do so. Personally after reading this I will get a friend who is a roofer by trade to go up and reposition the Ariel even after giving him a drink for his time I should have saved enough to buy a new dvd recorder. I can not help noticing how rude & arrogant some of the riggers are here I dread to think what you would be like if I had a problem after you had got my money.
Not once have you said that you think its bad the way some of the people here have been ripped off
You should be ashamed of your selves.
Liam
Thursday 26 October 2006 3:17AM
Could any Ariel fitters reply with out resorting to personal abuse and without
being bothered to read earlier posts where I made it clear that I believe that you should be paid a decent rate For a professional service.What I object to is the shoddy work carried out by cowboys some of whom are allowed to shelter under the umbrella of your trade association. Those of you who have resorted to the scare tactics & personal insults whilst being aloof & condescending are doing your cause no favours & would do well to go on a customer relations course. Once again how much should it cost & should you and your trade association sort out botched jobs with out leading the customer a merry dance?
Lloyd
Thursday 26 October 2006 8:48AM
if a company is poor and in the association yes they need routing out. the CAI does its best but with no goverment funding not easy. if you have had a bad expearience of a member company then report them to the CAI or trading standards. companys do get booted for bad workmanship. averge labour costs for our trade are between £35 and £65 an hour depending on your location. London being most expensive as overheads so high. average aerial install is 2 hours to do corrrectly + parts. hope this helps liam.
Ian
Thursday 26 October 2006 8:57AM
Liam, as for costs go I don't know how anybody can answer that, nothing ever seems to be 'like for like'. Do anybodies wages depend solely on profit from the stock they sell alone? How would you price an Office Managers Salary? They don’t sell anything. Surely his wages is based on his potential knowledge. Why does a Toyota Dealership want £19,000 for a HiAce PowerVan, when on the internet I can pick up the same van for £3,000 less they are after all, ‘like for like’. If it cost more to have an aerial fitted by a large company because they have bigger overheads than the ‘one man band’, then use a ‘one man band’, if you don’t like his prices, then DIY. I don’t care if anybody has an accident, hurts or kills themselves or others, as long as it is not my family and friends, nobody is here to live forever. My partner had problems over many months with the combination boiler in her property, the Gas Board seemed to be always out fixing something, I told her to ask the Gas Board to quote for a replacement and anything else they thought needed doing, One new ‘Gas Board’ (unbranded) Combination Boiler, one set of radiator values and a long list of H&S blurb…just over £3,200 I went and purchased a Potterton 28i Combi Boiler £495.00 + vat 7 set of Rad Valves, 3 bundles of 15mm copper tube (100 meters) and all the fittings…that cost me just over £1,100 and I replaced everything except the rads and plumbed the gas in myself. I flushed out all the rads and replaced all the pipework I did far more work than the Gas Board had quoted for yet I was, (or she was) over £2,000 quids in because I resorted to DIY. I know I should not have done the Gas connection because I’m not Corgi Registered, but I did, it was easy I even tested for leaks using soapy water, so what; nobody has died as a result…yet. We’ve sold the property now, who cares, I don’t. For your 2nd point regarding botched jobs, you are under NO legal obligation to go back to the original installer to put thing right when they go faulty. There is nothing to stop you employing a different company and seeking a reimbursement of the second bill from the original company; if they don’t pay you can take them to the Small Claims Court. Don’t think that once you’ve had a botched job done that you are stuck with that company, you’re not, they have failed to perform their contract, go elsewhere. Tracey, you’re wrong, you wrote, ‘not once have you said that you think it’s bad the way some of these people here have been ripped off’ excuse me, read my post near the top, I went one stage further and persuaded my potential customer to let me report her case to Trading Standards, unfortunately it was Trading Standards that didn’t want to know.
Liam
Thursday 26 October 2006 10:55AM
Ian soapy water! nobodys died yet ! my god man were you dropped on your head as a child because you are unbelievable
Liam
Thursday 26 October 2006 11:29AM
Thanks Lloyd thats more like it
Unfortunately in my experience the CAI do nothing of the sort after telling me verbally that I had received an inadequate service once it was made official I was told tough luck. I dread to think how poor a company would have to be before they were routed out.
Why should a profit-making organisation receive any funding from taxpayers money?
It seems to me the revenue the CAI receives from subscriptions & training courses is far more important to them than protecting the consumer.
£65 an hour seems pretty steep
mike
Thursday 26 October 2006 5:13PM
The CAI is A NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION
Ian
Thursday 26 October 2006 5:19PM
Yeah Liam that's right, I landed on you! Furthermore the CAI are not a profit-making association, their Article of Association don't allow them to 'make a profit, look at the info on Companies House. You'll have to pay Companies House for it mind. 'Engaged brain before opening mouth'.
Sam
Thursday 26 October 2006 5:58PM
Oh you guys are a laugh a minute... Waddya mean, nobodys died yet. I beg to differ. There are a number of cases of riggers falling to their death. You have the internet... Look for yourself. And the CAI is a non profit organisation if you'd had the brains to look and find out. This is better entertainment that East Enders! lol
Les
Thursday 26 October 2006 7:03PM
Liam

I can't comment upon your particular issue because I am not aware of all the facts. You say you have had a bad job done by a member of the CAI and that you made a complaint verbally. When you put it in writing you were told tough luck. The complaints procedure at the CAI is taken very seriously and procedures are in place to deal with them. In the first instance the written complaint goes to the office and our senior executive will look at it and then contact the member for his side of the story. It is only fair that both sides have their say. The member has 7 days to respond. If they fail to or make an inadequate response then the customer will be given the benefit of the doubt. If the member gives good reason why the complaint holds no water, possibly it was impossible to get DTT services even though the prediction from Freeview is positive (local factors such as trees can have a detrimantal effect upon reception) or since the aerial was put up a block of flats has been built which blocks the signal - factors outside the installers control, then more than likely, providing the installer has done the best he can then 'judgement' will be in the installer's favour. Price is between customer and installer, and should be agreed before hand, if not I'm sorry that is the customer's own fault. If the installer gave a price and then went way over, without telling the customer of any extra costs then it is upto the customer to seek redress, but this is not something the CAI gets involved with, but the customer shoudn't have paid the inflated price in the first place. The CAI can't tell the membership how much to charge for work as this would be seen as price fixing and is illegal. Even if 'judgement' goes against you with the CAI, if you still think you have a case there are official bodies you can go to, Citizens Advice Beuraux, Trading Standards, Small Claims Court etc. Please don't bleat on that you feel aggrieved, if you are that upset about it take it further.

As for the CAI being profit making, all subs and training funds are used to pay the ongoing costs of the confederation and to improve services for its members, and before anybody says anything YES FOR ITS MEMBERS, it is they that pay the subs etc and it is a trade association, not a consumer watchdog. Ultimately though improved services for members means a better job at the end of the day for the customer. The staff wages are obviously paid from these funds, but all the directors are voluntary - we do not get a penny. Generally, we are out of pocket as we pay for our own transport to get to meetings. Some come from far and wide, Northern Ireland, North West, South Wales and in the past one director flew down from Glasgow. Other trade associations have paid directors and are definitely profit making.

Oh pricing. I operate about 50 miles from London. I charge £38 for the first hour and £19 for each subsequent hour plus parts plus VAT. Yes I do mark up materials, every business does. When you last had your car serviced how much did you pay for screen wash? Did you complain about that? The average install using benchmarked aerial and cable on galvanised brackets and 6' x 1.25" alloy mast would take about 2 hours to complete to CAI codes of practice and would cost about £170 including VAT. How much does the washing machine service engineer charge for 2 hours work? Quite often it's £90 before he even comes through the door.

I'm not going to waste any more of my time with this forum, as I have tried to be reasonable with it and give an honest opinion but unfortunately some people will not listen to reason and have a made up their minds that all aerial installers are crooks.
Ian
Thursday 26 October 2006 7:36PM
Sam, 'nobody's died yet' relates to my Gas installation on my partners property, Like I said, it was easy, used soapy water to test for leaks, found none.
bovvered
Thursday 26 October 2006 9:06PM
Wow! It's taken me an hour to read all this sh*t! I could of earned £65.00 in that time, I wish. Due to the high cost of everything these days Diesel, Insurances (we are all paying for 9/11, apparantly, now that's a "RIP-OFF!"), wages costs, Employment Legislation, Health & Safety Legislation etc etc etc.
I haven't done it for a while but it actually cost me, last time I worked it out, £40.00 to send a fully stocked, insured and taxed van, with a man in it (preferably who knows what he's doing, suitably experienced, insured) with the correct test equipment and safety equipment to the front door of a house.
20+ years experience in the trade and I thought I'd heard it all. I continually spend thousands on trying to be as professional and as committed to this industry as possible opn going training etc. Where has it got me - consmumers who all think we're all the same as the bad apples and out to "Rip Them Off", a sizeable overdraft, more red tape than the Kremlin, a pair of dodgy knees, a recurring back injury from the ladder work.... and so on. Before any of you "Wiser than thou's" say it, yes I chose to persue this career and c'est la vie. But to read some of the conptemptable comments posted on here just beggars belief and does the majority of honest, hard working installers a great injustice.
Firstly, the CAI process of accepting a Company into membership isn't "Fool Proof" and some "Rogue" elements will sneek in. BUT ( & a big BUT here) if enough complaints are received about a particular member they will be removed from membership. This I know to have happened in the past. Also, if Joe Bloggs (Non CAI Memeber) aerials causes you some kind of issue addressable in a court of law, fine, go for it and see how you get on! If you win the case try and tie them down to paying up. If you have an issue with a CAI memeber most complaints or issues will be addressed by the company in question immediately. If not you can then approach the CAI who (if the complaint is valid) will put pressure on the member to sort out the problem. If, as one "Poster" said above, the complaint is not upheld by the CAI then chances are that their complaint is NOT valid, but of course you still have the other options open to you (Trading Standards, Small claims Court etc). Using a CAI Member doesn't "Guarantee" you Eutopia but, it's the best "official" support available to a Consumer looking to have an aerial installation carried out and does offer some form of back up. Go for a non member and you are on your own.
As another "Poster" said above, and a strange concept in "Blair's Britain" I know, "talk to a neighbour", ask how they got on when they had their shiney new aerial fitted. (Shiney ones definitely work better LOL!) Or if that's too much to contemplate, ask friends (if you have any, and I have my doubts about some of you on this thread!), or maybe family. Some of us installing companies are forced into spending excessive amounts on advertising (Another Story) to compete with the National companies who take full pages in all Directories but we, more reputable companies, rely heavily on our recommendation work. So seek recommendation. To all you DIY'ers... Good Luck, Fingers Crossed you'll make it down safely to appreciate your labours. To all those DIY'ers who have successfully installaed a DTT rig I just say ,/.xz,f;l#wa;amgm'#eqjgm oops, broke up a bit there!!!!!!!!!!
Liam
Thursday 26 October 2006 11:03PM
Les basically I had an Ariel moved from the loft to the roof when it was in the loft I had mediocre reception after moving it to the roof I had worse reception & traffic interference no (I don’t live near a busy road) my neighbours have perfectly reasonable reception. It made sense to have new cable mast & lashing kit so I did I was more than happy with the price I don’t get ripped off on price for any thing I have the sense to check out the deals on every thing I buy. No it’s not a cheap Ariel & is suitable as confirmed by you member. The guy was paid in my absence, results of the job were cable clips broken, I think he used about 5 in all 2 of which had the heads missing, cable not routed into the house but left lying in the garden not stripped & no plug, Ariel mounted low with about 18 inches of mast left unused & most important of all really crap reception. His reaction when contacted “You’ll have to pay again if you want me to look at it. It was ok when I fitted it”. “But I’ve already paid”.” £50 call out if you don’t like it take me to court hung up the phone “. I checked various facts about fitting & reception before I phoned the CAI. Your very friendly Tec guy agreed it was out of order suggested I contact fitter again mentioning CAI, I contacted fitter didn’t care wants more money contact CAI again told to use complaints procedure receive letter from CAI basically saying it worked ok when fitted, my distribution system was the problem (I don’t have one) and silliest of all there was no interference when it was fitted.
Phoned CAI again friendly guy not friendly any more I am now a nuisance or he was embarrassed don’t know which but suspect the latter.
At this point I lost my patience had a rant because I know my rights which resulted in being phoned back by CAI told if I contacted the fitter again I would get a full refund. Sent multiple Emails to fitter all ignored. Can’t use telephone because as soon as I introduce my self he hangs up. Intend to sue CAI & fitter so I contacted more of your members including some listed directors as a potential customer also contacted BBC, Tec dept DTG etc & out lining the symptoms all very helpful & they confirmed the diagnosis biased on my research in writing. Had a very busy time with work for a few months after which I decide life’s to short & DIY installed satellite. It’s not the money that bothered me so much it’s after reading the all the stuff about standards & double Guarantees on the CAI site I fell for it & made sure I used a CAI installer so that I would have a hassle free experience. How bad does it have to get before your double guarantee kicks in or you decide one of your members has behaved badly.
I hope you guys will one day realise that although most of us know very little about your chosen subject, why would we need to it’s not our chosen profession, but thanks to the wealth of information on the internet we can check out what you tell us & with out being derogatory in any way what I’ve researched so far isn’t exactly particle physics.
So although you stated you wouldn’t post again perhaps you can understand my lack of faith in your procedures
I would be very interested in your reaction to these facts as a representative of the CAI
dug deap
Thursday 26 October 2006 11:40PM
Liam thank goodness you have now resorted to writing a decent explanatory synopsis of your problem.It does seem a raw unfair deal that you have had.There are 2 sides to a story and this case should be investigated again by the cai and if you try and get in touch i would guess it will.

good luck and wow are you the same Liam who was ranting earlier,coz this new one is better.
bovvered
Friday 27 October 2006 12:16AM
I second "Dug Deep's" comment's above. As a matter of interest what is your postcode there Liam?
Liam
Friday 27 October 2006 1:41AM
Doug
If you read the earlier posts you will see I have given a basic account of the problem near the beginning of this forum and since the CAI have a complete & in-depth account of the problem I see no point wasting any more time on an organisation that can back a cowboy the way they have. I am perfectly capable of sorting out this problem & when I have the time & the inclination I will do so. I have up to six years after all.
What I object to is the CAI not living up to their published promises & people like my girlfriend & others who don’t like to make a fuss being exploited by these cowboys
As for ranting read my earlier posts I think they were pretty reasonable the so-called ranting is a direct response to some of the more aggressive, rude, condescending, & in some cases totally deranged posts. Try reading the post from Ian the guy who thinks its okay to do an illegal gas installation & is proud of the fact he used washing up liquid to check for leaks as though he was fixing a bicycle tyre. This Guy states “so what; nobody has died as a result…yet. We’ve sold the property now, who cares, I don’t” Do you really want people like that batting for your side for all you know you could be living in his old house right now. Or the posts that resort to personal insults because they can’t answer a straight question .So I’ll carry on `ranting` or using satire in response to those people if it’s all the same to you. (Maybe I should stop reading Ben Elton though)
So mate there’s no new Liam Just the same one that gets pissed off with cowboys at whatever level.

LES
Just reread your post
if you still think you have a case there are official bodies you can go to, Citizens Advice Beuraux, Trading Standards, Small Claims Court etc. Please don't bleat on that you feel aggrieved, if you are that upset about it take it further.
Surely your own site gives the impression that you will shield the customer from having to go through this long drawn out process if I wanted to end up at the Citizens Advice Bureau then I wouldn’t have bothered to check for the CAI logo or to use your site for a list of approved local installers.
As for Please don't bleat on that you feel aggrieved,
Bleat on why must you people always use a derogatory term for a justified complaint about bad workman ship, if only you lived up to the ideals of customer care expressed on the CAI site the consumer is assured of a quality installation at a fair price then I and others like me would not have to bleat on, or as my colleagues & I tend to think of it `complain when the level of workmanship falls below acceptable standards
Bovvered
I have great respect for people who care about the quality of their work I would not want to do your job & I know that the majority of you do a good job it’s just a shame that your badge of quality can be obtained by so many others who have no regard for their customers.
As for my postcode, never mind DTT after this guy finished I can’t even get any terrestrialChannels & as a former AV technician I know how to use my test equipment to check cable runs etc.
`
Ian
Friday 27 October 2006 11:50AM
Liam, my point in writing that I admit to doing a gas installation was purely to 'put over' my point of view regarding DIY. I know that I should not have done it but, as a 'layman' I did what 'I' considered necessary to test for the soundness of my gas joints and connections. A qualified Corgi installer may view it differently. Likewise those that attempt aerial installation also do it with the limited knowledge that they have, 'in their eyes' it is correct whereas an aerial installer may have a different opinion. I do have the correct equipment for testing BER, MER C/N etc but I didn’t have the correct equipment for testing for gas leaks. At the end of the day I was happy with my gas installation even though it may not have been passed as 100% by a Corgi installer, likewise people who do their own aerial installations I presume are equally happy, even though in ‘our eyes’ it may not be correct. Life goes on, be happy.
Liam
Friday 27 October 2006 3:12PM
"I don’t care if anybody has an accident, hurts or kills themselves or others,
so what; nobody has died as a result…yet. We’ve sold the property now, who cares, I don’t".
I do
Ian
Friday 27 October 2006 3:42PM
You've taken 2 statements and put them together to make one. This is what I actually wrote, "I don't care if anybody has an accident, hurts or kills themselves or others as long as it is not my family and friends". I was refering to anybody who does a DIY aerial installation and ends up causing pain and suffering to themselves or others, I honestly do not care, the same as if somebody was to die as a result of a car accident when they are not wearing their seatbelt, I don't give a stuff, it's their own fault, why should I care. As for the gas installation, I did the job and even without the correct equipment I know there were no leaks. The fact that it still worked for 18 months up until we sold the property proves that I did a perfect job just as well as a registered Corgi installer, and a lot cheaper. If the new owners did not have the installtion checked before or after purchase, that is now their problem and not mine.
Ian
Friday 27 October 2006 3:44PM
If you cared about everybody that died as of a misfortune you would spend all your life attending funerals.
Liam
Friday 27 October 2006 3:51PM
IAN just a minute fault in a soldered joint under a floor board or any confined space a build up of gas over a period of time and you could take out half the street & you reckon a bottle of fairy liquid takes care of the safety requirements. Or Carbon monoxide, About 50 deaths a year, You can’t smell it, see it or taste it, which makes it very difficult to detect especially with the washing up water. Even if by some fluke you managed to do a safe job your callous disregard for the lives of the people who purchased your house is inexcusable
Ian
Friday 27 October 2006 4:17PM
A bottle of Fairy Liquid did it for me, I didn't need expensive leak detection equipment, and as I said, we've sold it, it is no longer my responsibility. That's OK Tracey, my mate is an undertaker, glad to put a bit of business his way. On the other hand I may have saved somebody some money, it costs about £1,500 to cremate a body, if they are blown to smithereens they’ll be nothing left to cremate. Now that is a wothwhile saving. None of us are put on this earth to live forever, some have a long life, some a short life, get over it.
john
Friday 27 October 2006 7:53PM
I think its a shame that a reasonable question, "how much should a quality, competetively priced DIGITAL compatible aerial fully fitted cost on average".
has turned into a very immature tit for tat argument.
most have had valid points.
cai is a decent organisation from what Ive seen as a member.
most of the aerial riggers I know are decent , honest people.
yes we had a bit of fun the other night, winding each other up.
at the end of the day, we decide how many jobs a day can be safely carried out and price our time accordingly. allowing for travelling etc etc.
where I live we charge £69 for 10 element, pole, lashing and coax to one point, analogue £49. we give a 2yr parts and labour guarantee.
I know you can buy the gear and fit yourself, ood on you.
I used to do all my DIY in the house but it meant spoiling days off so now I get the right people in to get the job done and I can enjoy time with my kids.we all decide what we do with time and money at our disposal.
Brian I have found your site a great mine of info, pete of abc talks very highly of you. do yourself a favour and delete a lot of the tit for tat childish banter.

also someone mentioned a company advertising who has a bad reputation for pricing, they are well known for it. they quote X on phone then turn up ooohhing and aaaghing, with catalogue and sell up, up up.
Ian Grice
Friday 27 October 2006 9:07PM
John where are you? I think that what you charge is a fair price. If you can do it for that price why do the ones round me want £150 +
2000 CAI ENGINEERS
Friday 27 October 2006 10:37PM
Boys & Girls.
What`s wrong with the CAI. They promote good hard working honest trandsmen that should adhear to approved standards,some customers as "Liam" have pointed out that he has not received the expected service. Can I ask Liam. What was ordered or contracted for the engineer to do?
Liam
Saturday 28 October 2006 11:41AM
Install an aerial?
Liam
Saturday 28 October 2006 11:53AM
John I envy your customers you sound like the real deal ever thought of moving to Dorset
Ian Grice
Saturday 28 October 2006 4:45PM
No John come upto the Midlands.
Briantist
Saturday 28 October 2006 5:03PM
john: I'll have to re-read it all to work out which posts to remove... might take a bit of time!
waigy
Saturday 28 October 2006 6:23PM
Took some time to read through the thread, but i'm not surprised by the rhetoric. I'm a member of the CAI and have been for the past 8 yrs. Its a family run firm that i have been involved with for the last 20 yrs. Most riggers in the past have been self taught and the only way i was able to test myself was through reading the problems page in the Satellite mags like a puzzle game. Since we joined the CAI i have been on most of the courses to give me further guidance and improve on matters relating to fault finding. We hate cowboys, this was the other reason for joining to put some distance between us. Unfortunately for the CAI, the good reputation, which it has built up over many years, is going to be tarnished with unscrupulous riggers using the brand name.
The CAI was formed for all the right reasons and brings together riggers from across the country for gatherings and a swapping of notes.
Getting back to the original thread about prices, I have no concern, whatsoever, for the prices others charge for jobs. I charge £65 + VAT for single 10 ele digital aerial and downlead. A further £35 for mast, lashing and bracket. £45 for a 4 way amp with additional £30 per point. I do not advertise and my van is not sign written. All my work is through recommendations and some don't even bother to ask how much it is going to be. I, like you are fed up of getting people to come round, pay good money, to find i could have done it better myself. I just want a good job and I'm prepared to pay a little bit more to guarantee this. I am constantly trawling the net to read up on the new technology and gadgets. From RF, composite, component analogue distribution through to HD digital and home networking, I read the lot, thus ensuring my customers get the best care and advice. When you consider the price sky charge for a call out, £65, and a monkey turns up, you can see why some very reputable riggers are up in arms at the suggestion of overcharging. Rogue traders are not exclusive to the aerial industry, its more to do with a sad reflection of our society and values, but thats a different story. There is a saying round our parts " if you're paying peanuts, don't be surprised if a monkey turns up"



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