Business issue
Discussion
Breadvan72 said:
Short is almost always best. Send me your draft. Or send me a stream of consciousness spiel (not of Molly Bloom length, please) and I will bang you out a short letter. My work diary has gone dead, so why not?
Top stuff BV, a true star of PH, please ignore the trolls - the silent majority massively respect your opinion round these parts.wjwren said:
Letter below. The clipping of cables to walls - it was done then removed when she had painters in.
The clipping of cables to columns- i mentioned, verbally , at the time that the columns ideally needed replacing but she had no money so we agreed to put on outside.
No I didnt put any T&C on invoice.
She has not requested an amount - I dare say it will end up being the amount the local company charge to put anything right from the burglary.
The last line of the letter is the dig at me and the personal situation. Previous to this I was very good friends - met up at Christmas / birthdays etc. She is the sort of woman who once something annoys takes it very personally. Id always thought I wouldnt want to get on the wrong side of her!
There is no mention below of secret camera, but a staff member did email me about it last week bizarrely saying she couldn't get it to work. Im now thinking are they trying to get an angle on it's faulty but haven't mentioned it due to it probably illegal?
Also the letter states Potential Intruders - so did they actually get broken in to or has she just been on the roof and ripped the system apart to spite me?
Letter as below
As Headteacher acting for the Governors for XXX School, I am contacting you regarding the camera system installed August 2015.
Due to the inadequacies in installing it, it allowed potential intruders to rip out wires and defy what it is meant to do - catch them on camera.
We have had to contact insurers and arrange quotes for repairs. It is apparent from the reports back from all of them that the installation was not correct, and the following has been identified
A report has been made from a local CCTV firm. It is as follows:
I found that the plastic weatherproof electrical box had been vandalized. This would have contained a low voltage power supply is now missing.
Camera inside the entrance – cable has is loose and not properly cable clipped to ceiling.
Wires at the back of the DVR are loose and heavy these should be clipped to wall
I noticed the video cables were fed on the outside of the column to the cameras and not ran internally which could compromise the system and does not meet British Standards.
As a Headteacher it is my responsibility for safety at the school and its pupils and accountable to my Governers for what I spend. I have paid a considerable sum of money from a reduced budget for a system which was not installed to a correct level.
I will be awaiting your response back to what compensation you will be offering in view of the above failings.
I think your actions in lots of areas need accessing.
Schools insurers have asked for full information on security measures? Plus a rival cctv company finds mileage rubbishing a competitions work so they can rip the lot out and over install and charge. The clipping of cables to columns- i mentioned, verbally , at the time that the columns ideally needed replacing but she had no money so we agreed to put on outside.
No I didnt put any T&C on invoice.
She has not requested an amount - I dare say it will end up being the amount the local company charge to put anything right from the burglary.
The last line of the letter is the dig at me and the personal situation. Previous to this I was very good friends - met up at Christmas / birthdays etc. She is the sort of woman who once something annoys takes it very personally. Id always thought I wouldnt want to get on the wrong side of her!
There is no mention below of secret camera, but a staff member did email me about it last week bizarrely saying she couldn't get it to work. Im now thinking are they trying to get an angle on it's faulty but haven't mentioned it due to it probably illegal?
Also the letter states Potential Intruders - so did they actually get broken in to or has she just been on the roof and ripped the system apart to spite me?
Letter as below
As Headteacher acting for the Governors for XXX School, I am contacting you regarding the camera system installed August 2015.
Due to the inadequacies in installing it, it allowed potential intruders to rip out wires and defy what it is meant to do - catch them on camera.
We have had to contact insurers and arrange quotes for repairs. It is apparent from the reports back from all of them that the installation was not correct, and the following has been identified
A report has been made from a local CCTV firm. It is as follows:
I found that the plastic weatherproof electrical box had been vandalized. This would have contained a low voltage power supply is now missing.
Camera inside the entrance – cable has is loose and not properly cable clipped to ceiling.
Wires at the back of the DVR are loose and heavy these should be clipped to wall
I noticed the video cables were fed on the outside of the column to the cameras and not ran internally which could compromise the system and does not meet British Standards.
As a Headteacher it is my responsibility for safety at the school and its pupils and accountable to my Governers for what I spend. I have paid a considerable sum of money from a reduced budget for a system which was not installed to a correct level.
I will be awaiting your response back to what compensation you will be offering in view of the above failings.
I think your actions in lots of areas need accessing.
I'd raise the question of secretly filming staff.
Vaud said:
fat80b said:
Top stuff BV, a true star of PH, please ignore the trolls - the silent majority massively respect your opinion round these parts.
As do the vocal minority. Or majority. Or an even split. BV has helped me before and it was much appreciated.I also miss Loon however
Breadvan thank you for your reply, very much appreciated. I should add the school is in a 'co-operative trust' not an Academy. I thought they were in an Academy but looking on their website they are in a Co-operative trust. They were going for Academy status but the head wanted to steer them in the direction of a Co-operative. Would this make any difference at all?
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
You are welcome. The co-op point will make no difference, and the change of entity is not a winning point for you anyway becauase if the old school entity had a claim it could assign the claim to the new school entity. Just tweak the wording in the letter to replace Academy with co-op.
They have repaired the cctv and want me to pay £1400 as well as previous compensation for the faults before.
Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
Edited by wjwren on Friday 3rd November 23:15
wjwren said:
They have repaired the cctv and want me to pay £1400 as well as previous compensation for the faults before.
Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
Will begin with the usual "not a lawyer" disclaimer but I do have a few years experience in the construction industry and working with the JCT suite of contracts and others.Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
Edited by wjwren on Friday 3rd November 23:15
From what you have said, it was a small value job so a basic contract was formed by you giving a quotation for the works and receiving a corresponding response from the client to proceed.
It would be helpful if you had written down exactly what you planned to install at the time (including details of cabling, conduit etc) but I'm assuming that wasn't the case.
I am also assuming that no security consultant was employed by the school and as such, there was no specification relating to either materials or installation methodology.
If you were paid in full at completion of the job, then by implication someone must have examined the system and approved it and your associated workmanship at that point.
You then say that the installation carried on working for a further 2+ years without fault. The most onerous standard JCT contract only has a "rectification period" of twelve months after practical completion for defects to become apparent for which the contractor is liable for making good.
On the face of it, I would tell them to take a running jump, especially after the installation has worked for 2+ years without complaint.
What if the break-in happened in 6 years time rather than this week - would they still come back to you?
As my first line though, IANAL and as BV has chipped in you will get some extremely valuable advice that would probably cost you several hundred quid an hour - listen to that bloke, he knows his stuff.
NB. One other point that just occurred to me, if it is a school then they should have complied with "Secured by Design" regulations. If you Google it there are some prescriptive standards to adhere to.
If they didn't mention it to you, then they may be lacking in other departments. Might be helpful if you need leverage.
Good luck.
Edited by OzzyR1 on Saturday 4th November 01:36
wjwren said:
They have repaired the cctv and want me to pay £1400 as well as previous compensation for the faults before.
Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
What was the total cost when you supplied it?Also said the hidden camera wasnt working properly. Im surprised they mentioned that as im sure it must be illegal. Didnt say the word hidden as such just the 'staff' camera.
Edited by wjwren on Friday 3rd November 23:15
Thank you to the above posters. Breadvan - thank you again.
The cost was 4k so I'm unsure how putting some cables in conduit came to £1400 unless there is other work done and they want me to pay for it all. I'm guessing they want me to pay for this £1400 bill AND have some compensation off the original bill. Ridiculous.
The cost was 4k so I'm unsure how putting some cables in conduit came to £1400 unless there is other work done and they want me to pay for it all. I'm guessing they want me to pay for this £1400 bill AND have some compensation off the original bill. Ridiculous.
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