SUNBURST ELECTRIC: A BURST OF SUNSHINE

We are estate agents, involved in a deal in which the property is in JHB but the seller and conveyancing attorneys are in another city.

In the transfer process the seller is required to procure an electrical certificate of compliance (COC) and, if the property has a built-in gas stove, a similar gas COC.

I am asked to get the original electrical and gas certificates.

I call the gas contractors, then the electrical guys.

The difference between the two is so marked it deserves a shoutout on Hello Peter.

Let’s start with the gas contractor.

“Hello, this is (name) Gas. Yeah, we’ve got the certificate. Nah, we don’t deliver. Nah, our technicians are too busy. Anyway it’s such an important certificate we don’t give it to the technicians. Come fetch it yourself.” Every angle I take draws the same languid reply: you want the certificate, come fetch it yourself. (We’ve made our money; why should we bother?)

After this none too enchanting exchange my next call is to Sunburst Electric.

The ring goes to an “our operating hours are…” message, then the phone cuts off.

It’s turning into a bad telephone day…

Or is it?

My phone rings. It’s an 064 number.

“Hi, this is Sunburst Electric, you tried to call us?”

Pleasantly surprised, I explain who I am and why I need the original COC.

Nicolette or Odette (I’m not certain which) of Sunburst Electric can’t do enough. Give me a few minutes and I’ll find it, promises Sunburst Electric. Surely enough, five minutes later my phone rings again. Odete of Sunburst Electric can’t do enough; she undertakes to have the COC delivered to my front door.

Sunburst Electric’s handling of a non-profitmaking inquiry gets their name up in my agency’s Whatsapp group, plus this Hello Peter shoutout.

By contrast, if it’s a gas contractor you’re looking for, PM me and I’ll tell you which ones our agency recommends…