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Completely un advertised on this site is the fact that the Dasa AGM is this weekend.
This is surely worth of mention in what has become the most read news pages of this industry.
If Dasa wants to raise its profile within this industry and attract new membership, it should consider using this site as an outlet for news.
After all, anyone can post a news item, for free.
Kevin
Re: A sign of the times?
Strange you bringing this up Kevin, I thought the end was in sight for DASA as no one seemed to want to talk about them after the last meeting and the DASA forum disappeared from our pages. I have asked a few times of various people what was happening with them but no one seemed eager to discus anything about them
Richard Scanlon SnrRe: A sign of the times?
No, it’s just that some people within DASA seem to think that UKW is the Spawn Of Satan I think, sad as there are quite a few people there that actually wanted to do something with DASA and progress it.
I don’t know that the end is in sight Richard, to be honest, I just don’t know as I’ve been out the loop with DASA for months now. And this is also why DASA hasn’t been discussed as every time a discussion does kick off someone always seems to scamper off in a huff for some reason or another, so it’s a subject best avoided IMO.
In many ways it’s a great shame as there are people there that are very capable in many ways.
Is it this weekend that the DASA AGM takes place, I seem to recall that it is?
To be fair though Kevin, we’ve been way too busy with other things to keep up with what’s happening in DASA really. We still are.
K.
Thanks for that Kev , obviously totally overlooked.
It’s been a quiet year for DASA. Hopefully things will get moving again after the next meeting.
Yes we should have made an announcement on the site, and I for one apologise to anyone who wasn’t aware and would like to have gone.
Briefly it’s at the Novatel ,Nottingham
15/10/2005.
VENUE IS THE NOVOTEL IN NOTTINGHAM
BOSTOCK LANE
LONG EATON
NOTTINGHAM
NG10 4EP
TELE 01159465111
FAX 01159465900AGM starts approximately 10am
Open forum approximately 11 – 11.30
Lunch approximately 1pm
Open forum continues approximately 2.15pm.
We aim to finish between 5 & 6pmTo cover costs for the room and lunch the day delegate rate is £30.00 . But anyone can come down the night before for a beer and chat.
Philip Dill Council member
P.S. From memory teddies were thrown out of the cot from all parties ( myself included )Re: A sign of the times?
I was a member of DASA for over 10 years. My subscriptions were getting to quite a high level and I questioned value for money.
After getting no answers and finding there whole set up appearing to be an old Boys Club and swathed in inertia, I decided to opt out. (I felt quite young and I was in my early 50’s when I decided to quit).
I did say to one or two members who I respect, that if you guys can talk me back, go for it and convince me. Well it never happened.
This AGM or whatever, I found out by default. I was asked by senior employees of both CDSL and Electrolux if they were going to see me at the weekend at the DASA meeting. This was the 1st I knew about it. Crazy really, that would have been the opportunity to court me back; distance is no problem either as I have contacts and places to stay in the Nottingham areas.
The point is, unless they raise their profile, keep reminding us they are still there and importantly talk to us instead of about us, they may actually get more members.
Ostriches instead of Turkeys voting for an early Christmas I must assume.
Alex
Sorry Phil, but I need to correct you. The day delegate rate is for those people who wish to attend for the full day including lunch.
It is every bodies right to attend the AGM and this costs absolutely nothing. Any member can attend. Also as far as I am personally concerned and I know many other Council members feel the same way any one who wishes to attend and see what goes on in my opinion are more than welcome.
Many of Alex’s comments are true DASA has had its head stuck in the sand for a long time, but DASA internally has come a long way since its past days.
There are a number of very forward thinking people within DASA as well as UKW and all these people are working for the good of the industry as a whole. Yes a lot of critism can been thrown at DASA, but please remember all of the people working there do so on a totally voluntary basis , they are trying to do their best for for everyone whether directly or indirectly.
The industry needs representation and support from all sides to move forward for the good of everyone involved within it.
Re: A sign of the times?
Thanks for the link Dave, I’m glad to see that their site is up and running now and more accessible than it was last year. Unfortunately after looking round the site and seeing how many members there were I am astounded that this organisation can claim to represent anyone let alone the domestic appliance sector.
With so few members and the obvious lack of interest I can only wonder how they can keep afloat, I can only surmise that they have some backing from the industry itself, the page on joining DASA does not show the subscription rate just pound signs which leads me to believe that they are making it up as they go along.
I have stated on these forums that I believe we as a trade need a professional organisation such as DASA to look after our interests and this is something I still believe yet I cannot in all honesty say I am impressed by what I have seen and read.
UKW has stated that it is not in the business of being this type of organisation and I respect that stance; but looking at what it has done form many of the independents that have joined this site with such as repairs @, Training and now Project X it is offering more for nothing than DASA has offered at anytime.
Being pals with people in the manufacturing and work providers is not IMO representing anyone but yourselves and as for NVQ’s they do not provide specific training on products which is what the repairer needs and most independents have not got the time to undertake them.
So I say to DASA it is time to get real and take the blindfolds off, if you really want to represent this trade get out there and do it don’t sit on you backside debating policy and how much you can screw out of the members this year get on your bikes and make people WANT to join you.
Good luck
Richard Scanlon Snr
These views are strickly my own.Re: A sign of the times?
Gentlemen,
Please take time for a moment to realise that WE are all in this together for better or for worse. To use the DASA AGM as a topic of conversation is all very well and good and has (as no doubt was the intention?) flushed out those directly involved in DASA to comment after what, for the most part, has been a long time coming. Although (IMO) they, with some justification, have shown great decorum in so doing.
How I long for the day that all respect the principles of DASA and that they in turn adopt a more meaningful policy of unification within the trade for the benefit of all. Had they made an open invitation for all to attend their AGM, I am sure many would have taken an interest and stuck their heads around the door?
Lest we forget, DASA do represent this our trade, DASA are the only officially recognised body within it. So why don’t all interested parties bang their heads together over this fact and at least form some common ground?
So for starters, how about DASA publish the minutes of their recent AGM on this site for us all non-members to chew over? After all their recent meeting was for the most part, behind closed doors! Let us all in on your thoughts, hopes and aspirations and I guarantee a meaningful debate will ensue. 🙂
OK, let’s get real here, I know full well that will not happen. And that unless one is a signed-up member, nothing of the sort will be forthcoming.
So the conclusion here and the stand-off solution I reckon, is that DASA use this site directly as the only effective means to inform those outside their association of their aims and intentions. To pose questions and invite debate in a specially allocated forum. Free and open debate on all aspects of the trade to then put to the committee and instigate whatever is their conclusions.
Thereafter many and possibly a greater majority will unite rather choose, what at the moment at least seems apparent, to simply criticise and ignore. 🙁
Your call DASA 🙄
Re: A sign of the times?
As per the above post. Now is the time for DASA to enlighten us and keep us in the picture.
I heard today that there are some radical changes taking place, in particular to the constitution and the fees. From what I can gather it looks like good news. Looks like they may well be re-inventing the wheel.
The membership is somewhere around the 70 mark, hardly a representation of the industry, and certainly not a number to keep credence and respect regards staying a recognisable association.
Therefore something drastic must be put in place to encourage new faces, and importantly to call back into the fold some of the membership who has felt fit to drift away.
The last AGM meeting I attended in York, was very well subscribed, and indeed very passionate and forthright. It was said by more than one person that it was the livliest and best meeting that DASA had for many years.
What went wrong? Among other things they failed to convince us regards value for money, and a lot of us voted with our feet.
One thing DASA need to do is to work with UKW, accept we are here to stay, we have our station in life, and by God DASA have theirs. We need to work together to make it work or DASA will die on the vine. Some of the DASA membership may have opionated ideas about UKW but they have to accept reality. This is why I said they need to talk to us and not about us.
I am very surprised that no senior members of DASA who grace this forum, and there are a few, have not thought about passing on some of the new ideas at least. Strike whilst the iron is hot and show us you have the will and fire that is damn well needed in your organisation.
In the Words of the Chairman of Norwich City F.C. (Delia) WHERE ARE YOU?
I can only speak for some of us, but we are here! The floor is yours……
Alex
Re: A sign of the times?
This is a personal view only….
Having been a Dasa Council member I think they have a mountain to climb, to resurrect the better years.
Things have changed in this industry, its no longer guaranteed that you can survive by being a member of Dasa or anyone else. Manufacturer agents are under pressure from lack of funding to survive, these manufacturers once courted Dasa members for their assistance.
Rising costs, depreciation of the pound in your pocket are the driving forces these days. Efficiency and costs per call are all important, ignore them at your peril.
UKW is becoming the 1st port of call for companies wanting to do things a different way, companies who are interested in the survival of the independent business, companies who are willing to invest into the independents.
Dasa, has a mountain to climb to reach the level we are at, they have to do it at our level and invest the time into the development that we do. The present (new) Chairman is not even a member of UKW, perhaps thats where they should start, but that requires him to completely recognise UKW, something he has been unwilling to do for 2 years now!
As both the last two posts have said, it’s upto to Dasa now.
Re: A sign of the times?
Ok ok maybe I’m not as eloquent as you lot but big words confuse me, I believe that things should be simple and uncomplicated, that if we are going to do something lets get it done not spend 30 years patting ourselves on the back and watching all our ideas and hope wash down the toilet. For god’s sake it’s not rocket science; we are a bunch of people that repair things, most of us work for ourselves by ourselves and for a lot of us huge profits don’t exist.
So how can we join DASA? We obviously cannot afford the extortionate subscriptions so where do we stand? At present, out in the cold. UKW threw many repairers a lifeline with its group knowledge of faults and personal experiences, the technical information on this site is second to none and if we get a problem not covered you can be sure that one of the members will know the answer and give it freely for the benefit of all in the trade.
Many members do not contribute to the site, but that’s ok they may eventually do so when they feel more comfortable in the trade and have gained the experience needed to perform better in the trade. No NVQ’s no pressure just information and assistance to improve their existing skills and quality of service to their customers so where is the harm in that? To whom is this site doing a disservice?
It is obvious to me and others that the originators of this site saw where the future lay and decided to do something about it, DASA was crumbling before this site ever saw daylight and in my opinion they could have done something like the UKW site themselves and got more repairers interested in the organization and if they had dropped their elitist attitude they could have had more members and really represented the trade.
I am sorry to say that I don’t think DASA can ever recover from the situation they now find themselves in and I believe it is now time for them to either embrace UKW as a ongoing part of the site or abdicate their so called position of representing this trade, lets be honest here, DASA has nothing to offer or has not informed us what it has to offer the independent repairer, the name means nothing to the general public and believe it or not many of those in the trade know nothing of it. UKW has forged forward in giving repairers work, training, a knowledge base and easy access to other repairers for FREE, oh there is a subscribers section but that is on for those who want to join it and no one is compelled to do so and now with Project X they are giving the members something they can call their own and be proud of, with sales and guaranteed repairs at a decent rate. Can you match anything their DASA?
I know that a lot of the DASA members will be talking about quality of service and cowboys, but UKW has even found a way of dealing with that in a fair manner. They have their own code of practice that the member has to sign up to and a customer feedback service that is taken very seriously and members who fail to give a decent level of service will find themselves taken off the repairs@ list etc, so in my opinion they are going about it in the right way, a way that is pushing the trade forward and being innovative at the same time.
Last year at your AGM you had a chance of really doing something, a chance to change and get back on track I no longer believe that is the case you have got yourselves stuck in a rut with no way out. You will be shunned by the manufacturers and WP’s alike as they turn to others who do really have some sway in this trade and you will die the death you have made for yourselves.
This is a statement of my own personal beliefs and in no way do they represent the thoughts of anyone other than myself.
Richard Scanlon SnrRe: A sign of the times?
I’m trying to stay out of this and just let it flow but it strikes me that there’s a swell of opinion from what has been said thus far that DASA tries to be less insular and work more with others in the trade. No problem here, that is exactly what we promote on UKW and always have done between all parties in the industry.
It also strikes me as somewhat odd that I recieve reports from the DASA AGM that a certain person (not DASA and not a repairer) made reference to UKW in a less than flattering light. I may not be there and I may not hear it first hand, but rest assured we hear and we take note. We also remember.
We also take note of other events when we get wind of them and I’m perfectly capable of joining the dots and seeing that some would like a fractured trade. It suits their purposes and if I can put an end to it, I shall, as I think we’ve all had enough of playing little political games to the benefit of others.
In some ways, on some levels, DASA and UKW DO work together, not as much as some would perhaps like to see (myself included) but we do and have, helped each other at times for common causes.
As Richard states, in many ways the ball is firmly in DASA’s court, it’s now up to them.
K.
Re: A sign of the times?
I am very disappointed that no one from DASA has troubled themselves to reply to the points raised in these posts, if I were a member of DASA and believed in the way we were proceeding I would be defending the route we are taking and make a statement qualifying our policies and methods.
I know that members of DASA read these posts and it must be very frustrating not being able to reply, I would suggest that you get on to your committee and ask for an official statement to be put on this forum.
It is no good playing the ostrich with your head in the sand; with over 265 hits on this post you are loosing potential members! And also any credibility you may have in the trade with regards to repairers which would make up your membership.
I think that the days of manufacturers and work providers calling the tune are fading fast so I would suggest you decide which part of the trade you wish to represent them or US
Richard Scanlon SnrRe: A sign of the times?
Easy guys, give them a break will you please?
DASA will publish a summary of their recent AGM on this site, possibly even the minutes of that meeting as well. Perhaps not as quickly as some would like but nonetheless I’m sure a communication will be forthcoming.
Meanwhile, chill out, and please don’t shoot the messenger 😉
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