Workman continuously knocking on my door at 7am

[Lauriepop95]

I am probably being a bit U....

DD is 8 months and is in the middle of an awful cold, she fell to sleep at 1am last night after a lot of crying. We were both exhausted and I ended up cuddling her in my bed to sleep.

At 7am in the dot this morning, I hear a loud knock at the door, i jolted awake and checked the time. My parents are on holiday and I don’t have family that close where they’d turn up at 7 without telling me first. My baby’s father wouldn’t randomly turn up either. So confused as to who it is and since I’m a single woman with a baby I thought I’d just ignore it.

Well the knocks keep coming and I just can’t be bothered to get up as I’m still knackered. There must have been 10 seperate knockings now, spanning over 5 mins. DD started to wake up crying at this point.
Then the person at the door started constantly pressing the doorbell which is impossible to ignore as it’s so loud. I had to get DD up and went to the door.

At this point I’m worried it’s some sort of emergency as they’ve been constantly knocking.

Well open the door and it’s the plumber.

“Oh hi yeah you’re due a gas safety inspection and you haven’t answered our calls, been calling you loads”

Me- “I haven’t had any missed calls (this is truthful)”

Plumber- “well we have tried I think, anyway you need to get this booked in before 12th February”

Me- “right what about tomorrow then?”

Plumber- “oh you can’t book it through me, you’ll have to look the company up and give them a call”

Me- “so you’re here because?”

Plumber- “to remind you”

Anyway he went after that and I am now sitting with a crying DD who has only had 6 hours sleep but can’t get back to sleep as she’s over tired and ill.

AIBU to feel pissed off?

I just don’t like how he knocked constantly without letting up and then moved to the doorbell until I answered. He did t apologise either when I opened the door with crying snotty DD in my hip and rubbing my eyes

^^ This.

He would have had a mouthful off me too 😠

He’s woken you up on purpose, bastard

Would be so easy to write a note “URGENT. Book gas check ASAP please call 0....”

I’d have been fuming

And when someone knocks on the door, you get up and answer it especially when you have a poorly baby who might be woken up by it

How bossy are you?? You get up and answer it? Don't tell us what to do.
Fuck off.
I do not get out of my bed and answer the door in my pyjamas and/or dressing gown. It could be anyone.
Depending on the area you live in, it could be very unsafe.
Similarly if I'm in the shower I don't get out and rush to the door with a towel round me dripping wet.

If people are going to knock on doors unannounced at 7 am they can't expect an answer - many people would be in the shower at that time or even still in bed.

It's extremely rude to keep knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell for a long time.

I don't really think he,was out of order. He didn't know you had a poorly baby who hadn't slept and a lot of people would be up or getting up at that time.

I have a 9-5 job and a school aged child and I would not be up at that time. Knock on my door at that time and it had better be because something is on fire (and is still tell you to call the fire brigade).

Christ, I’d have told him to fuck off 😡 what an arsehole

when someone knocks on the door, you get up and answer it

No you don't. My house, my rules. I answer the door when I want to, not when someone decides to grace me with their (unwanted) presence.

Same with telephone.

(and the "my house" applies whether rented or bought)

At most he should have just put a business card through the door asking to call. Just because your neighbour was happy with a 7.30am appt doesn't mean you should be disturbed at 7am. Possibly knock after he'd completed the neighbour's inspection but tbh I'd say before 9am is out of order unless you'd specified that time previously.

Best thing to do is call your gas provider, update your contact details and complain about your persistent bell ringer today.

Do book your overdue safety check. At risk of sounding like I'm lecturing you- leaks or blockages with gas appliances (common esp. If you have an Aga?) can cause undetected carbon monoxide leaks which can kill in a matter of hours if left, you'd fail asleep and be poisoned. You'd have no warning of carbon monoxide in your home, it's worth getting it all checked.

Hope you and dd feel better soon

Was he illiterate? If not why not just leave a note? P.S. just disconnect your doorbell.

The engineer won't be anything to do with the gas provider, it's the landlord or property management company, if LL uses one.

Oh ok didn't realise property was rented. Well yes, contact whichever relevant company in that case. My point really was just to emphasise the importance of keeping up with gas safety checks.

Agree it's strange and annoying that the engineer was a bit anti social. It's possible (if you've been affected by recent storms) that there is a pressing concern to safety check the properties in your area if faults have been detected locally.

Off point a bit, but at home with a baby and sleep deprived; why not disable your doorbell? I would!

Sorry mumtown Just noticed you got in first with Disconnect Doorbell advice

Derailing slightly but do people not have carbon monoxide detectors? Do they not work? Yes, I know it’s dangerous and yes, I have yearly gas checks but in the meantime I trust my CO detectors will do its job. Will it not?

Back on topic: plumber was BVU. Inspection is not overdue if it has to be done before mid February. 7 am is not normal working hours. My alarm doesn’t even go off until 7.30 in normal days. If it happened to me I would expect it to be a neighbour needing urgent help and would be livid to find out it wasn’t.

At the moment CO detectors in rented properties are only required by law if properties have coal or wood burning stoves. This law is expected to change soon to require landlords to fit detectors for all homes with gas appliances.

New builds after 2010 have to have CO detectors as standard, older properties, it's up to homeowners to install.

Agree, 7a.m. is an unusual hour for a workman! By law trades aren't supposed to start work in domestic properties until 8 because of potential noise. Unless an emergency repair e.g. gas leak or burst pipe or something.

what a dick. I'm expecting my annual safety today . They said morning but haven't turned up yet.

Oh my apologies - the rented house I lived in did have a wood burner so I (mistakenly) assumed all rentals were required to have one!

I am a lettings agent. When the gas safety check is due, I book it in with the gas company. I then contact the tenants and inform that the test will be on X date at Y time. I ask if they will be available at that time, but inform that if they can't be in (as most people work), then please either let me know a more convenience day/time, or I inform them that the engineer will collect keys from my office and enter the property alone. They then have the option to say no to that, but to be honest, most people just let it happen.

I have never, ever, asked the gas company to contact the tenants directly, it all goes through me. If a property is landlord managed, then the gas company should only have contact with the landlord, unless there is a previous agreement, which it doesn't sound like that there is here.

Someone has dropped the ball here, either the agents have forgotten and panicked, or the landlord has. As PP mentioned, a knock and then a note through the door is the way to deal with this in this situation, but to be honest, if I, as an agent, had an appointment at the house next door like this, no way would I be asking the engineer to knock on a different house, it simply isn't part of his job.

I would have been fuming and he would have had a mouthful from me.

SmileyClare I think you missed that the safety check is not due until 12th Feb.

I rent, and get an email from the lettings company. They let me know the number will call to arrange a date, which works great for me. I'm reliable with dates, always stick to agreed times, etc, and in return, this plumber is very flexible and helpful.

He'd not dream of contacting me earlier than 8am.

He didn't know you had a poorly baby who hadn't slept and a lot of people would be up or getting up at that time.

^^
He didn’t know she hadn’t though! He didn’t know she wasn’t a shift worker or anything else.

You don’t just rap on people’s door. It also sounds very dodgy.

Wow. No your not being unreasonable at all. No one should knock on someone's door that much! Let alone at that time!

Safety check is not due til 12th February In the Op it does say the safety check is overdue. Possibly the landlord's realised this, panicked and given his lodger a few weeks max to get it done, hence the new deadline of 12 th February?

someone's dropped the ball yes I agree. Landlord has probably instructed the plumber he uses to try Op's door because he's panicking and can't get her by phone? I imagine a LL would be in the shit if there was a gas fault in his property and it transpired the safety check had not been completed on time.

Annoying for Op though. This sort of unprofessional attitude from (some) private landlords and lack of responsibility on their part, the plumber he uses doesn't sound great either and he doesn't appear to have the correct contact details for his lodger.

I feel quite strongly about this.
My niece almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning in student lodgings due to a very old faulty boiler that she had complained about. It was only luck that her housemate came home early and found her passed out on the floor that she survived.