Reasons to avoid cheap test and tag companies

At Jim’s Test & Tag, we are serious about safety.

Unfortunately, there are some ‘sellouts’ lurking in the tagging and testing industry, waiting to pounce on people who are looking for the best deal.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to save money and get the best price on a service. Feel free to inquire with our team and get a quote so you can compare.

It’s when cheap test and tag companies offer a drastically low cost — that should ring alarm bells.

What is wrong with finding a cheap deal? You may ask. Well, the problem is, a lot of these companies simply aren’t completing jobs properly. They can offer a cheap price because they are saving labour costs by cutting corners.

Common corner-cutting-behaviour we see from cheap test and tag companies includes:

generating log books without actually testing anything
labelling items without testing them
not using the right equipment
missing clearly high-risk visual damage

There are some technicians out there who are purposefully cutting corners, and others who just don’t know what they are doing. Some are easier to spot than others.

You can see some real-life examples of some of the things we find on the job in our other article about ‘epic fails’ in our industry. Take a close look, you may already have had a dodgy experience without noticing.

This highly dangerous behaviour puts lives at risk.

It also means that you aren’t compliant with local safety standards.

Safety testing is more than just a tick on your compliance list. You need to make sure whoever completes your inspections knows what they are doing. Otherwise you could be using equipment that will give you an electric shock or burst into flames.

Testing and tagging is not a task where you can cut corners. Make sure you find a reputable technician to complete your next job.

Finding a Dependable Test and Tag Company

There is a difference between cheap test and tag companies and affordable technicians. Most reputable companies don’t have a test and tag price list on their website — this can be an early red flag that the company is dodgy.

We don’t include a price list on our website because of New Zealand safety standards. We have to inspect every different workplace according to these rules — there are different requirements for each environment and type of equipment. Of course, this will affect the cost.

A proper test and tag technician will generate a quote based on your unique requirements.

If you are worried that you have already worked with a fraudulent company, there are a few tell-tale signs to look for.

missing details on the testing tag (name of company, date of testing, pass or fail, safety standards)
missing information in test report (should include electrical values and measurements)
obvious overlooked visual damage
no test report or log book of results

If you are concerned that you have worked with a cheap test and tag company that hasn’t completed the job properly, you can contact us for help. We will send you an example of one of our reports so you can see what information you might be missing.