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My name’s Oliver and I’m currently working on a new BBC consumer affairs series. We’re looking for someone who is planning on buying a washing machine/dishwasher over the next few weeks who might like the help of the show to get a cheaper deal. In the show our consumer expert will be teaching people the art of getting lower prices and he’s currently offering to help someone save some money on a home utensil (dishwasher, cooker, washing machine etc) purchase. If anyone is interested they should email me on oliver@flametv.co.uk Please leave the name of your desired product, contact details and your city of residence.
Thanks for your help.
Oliver
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Oliver wrote:…will be teaching people the art of getting lower prices…
Does this mean that you’ll be advicing people to buy the worse quality products on the market? 🙁
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Hi Oliver
As for looking for a reliable and cost efficient washing machine have a look at the new ISE washer from the engineers from this site
bryan
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Teaching people the art of getting the lowest price. Is this an art, I dont know many consumers whom dont get the lowest prices. Going back a few years 1999 in fact, between the sheds everyone through our shop door wanted £100 off a new washing machine. It was expected, and they didnt need a tv show to tell them they simply watched the adverts, always lowering prices etc. Any lower and they will charge the retailer for taking them off their hands..
Programs of this nature add to the myth the British public are paying far too much. As you all are aware, Its what they are paying thats killing the trade. Perhaps a programme how the makers of such could improve quality if the consumer would pay a little more….
Good look with the ISE,
I think Oliver is in the wrong camp, would you want him in your establishment.
Haggle and barter – I think not Kick him out of the door and let him waste someone else’s time.Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
burns wrote:Teaching people the art of getting the lowest price. Is this an art,
Indeed……… 🙁
Buy cheap, expect short life appliances with rubbish service/spares/back up (if any) 😈
Dave.
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Cheap? They’ve never been so cheap. The whole price issue is completely misunderstood. On the surface, low cost is good for the customer. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to start to wonder how this can be done.
Obviously, build quality is the first place to start. It falls on the low end appliances, often dramatically. The appliance is physically incapable of a long service life. Secondly, technology. The rise of electronic controls is sold to the public as allowing greater efficiency in operation and hence lower operating costs. The real reason is that it is quicker for an assembly line operative to snap on a couple of edge connectors to a cheap electronic board than to assemble an electro mechanical control. The trouble continues in that there is no circuit protection to these electronic controls, so any problems results in the board being blown. Blatant profiteering on the part of the manufacturers results in replacement part and repairer costs rendering even the most basic appliance beyond economic repair.
The result is that manufacturers can keep their factories running, albeit at reduced margins, due to the high disposal rate. This is where multi badge ownership is so useful – didn’t like the Hotpoint that only lasted two years? I’ll buy a Creda this time. Or an Indesit. Or an Ariston. No better, but it might take ten years for the man in the street to work his way through one manufacturers brands….
Given the circumstance of this thread, I feel we should mention Miele. No interest in mass market domination, Mercedes Benz build quality and the ability to sell every appliance they make. Also, no deals or discounts. If it were Stella Artois, we could say “Reassuringly expensive”. They sell to a market prepared to recognise the economic (and ecological) sense of purchasing appliances designed to last twenty years.
Regards,
Penguin45.Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
I fear Oliver and his project have long gone!
Time to play another record guys…. :rolls:
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Time to play another record guys….
Youve obviously never stood long enough in a shop, trying to make a sale out of customers with this type of attitude…
I want the best machine, service, delivery and warranty and dont expect you to make any money out of me brigade and they want to make a tv programme out of them. 😡
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
I can see where this is going for TV use and it’s not a like for like comparison in many ways.
Oliver, in the main the large stores or “sheds” as we call them, will have a fixed price and that’ll be that and that policy will often extend to their online extensions. They offer low prices, a reasonable service I suppose but you have to put up with the fact that there’s often not a lot in stock at the store and you will get hit with the extended warranty propoganda if you even want to buy a toaster these days. Despite what is said, from personal experience, the sales people in these stores are extremely aggresive about selling these warranties because it’s big money involved.
The online guys, well a lot of them appear to be “bedroom” businesses that have little or no assets and many don’t even have an industry background. A lot of the stores are the same companies masquerading as a different one and the service levels appear to be not so great. Just like a lot of the shed and other box-shifters, once you walk out the door they don’t really care too much and any problems are not theirs. Online sellers do offer lower prices but that is reflected in the service and the fact that they hold no stock. Many in the industry (and not just this one) feel that many of these businesses are not really real businesses as such.
With both the above watch for the hidden costs, like delivery and installation which are almost always add-ons.
Most local independents will generally deliver and install in the price and be there to help in the future with any issues. Often they have their own engineers and well trained staff installing appliances if it’s not an actual engineer that will install which can save a LOT of hassle.
Where the independents score massively though is on the quality of advice and guidance that they will give as they will almost undoubtably have many, many years of experience. Due to that they will steer their customers to the product that suits their needs best and offer all the alternatives that you should consider. You don’t get that in the sheds as a general rule and you certainly don’t get that service from some clinical website that only trades on pricing.
So the indies may not always be, on the face of it, the cheapest option but often getting the cheapest price isn’t the best solution. But I can tell you that you’ll almost always get a good and fair all round deal with any indie I’ve ever come across.
I only took the time to tap this out because, if you’re going to air this on national TV, then people should be made aware of the pitfalls and benefits between the different retailers when they make their choice and not just be another “look how cheap you can get…” show.
K.
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Penguin45 wrote:Cheap? They’ve never been so cheap. The whole price issue is completely misunderstood. On the surface, low cost is good for the customer. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to start to wonder how this can be done.
Obviously, build quality is the first place to start. It falls on the low end appliances, often dramatically. The appliance is physically incapable of a long service life. Secondly, technology. The rise of electronic controls is sold to the public as allowing greater efficiency in operation and hence lower operating costs. The real reason is that it is quicker for an assembly line operative to snap on a couple of edge connectors to a cheap electronic board than to assemble an electro mechanical control. The trouble continues in that there is no circuit protection to these electronic controls, so any problems results in the board being blown. Blatant profiteering on the part of the manufacturers results in replacement part and repairer costs rendering even the most basic appliance beyond economic repair.
The result is that manufacturers can keep their factories running, albeit at reduced margins, due to the high disposal rate. This is where multi badge ownership is so useful – didn’t like the Hotpoint that only lasted two years? I’ll buy a Creda this time. Or an Indesit. Or an Ariston. No better, but it might take ten years for the man in the street to work his way through one manufacturers brands….
Given the circumstance of this thread, I feel we should mention Miele. No interest in mass market domination, Mercedes Benz build quality and the ability to sell every appliance they make. Also, no deals or discounts. If it were Stella Artois, we could say “Reassuringly expensive”. They sell to a market prepared to recognise the economic (and ecological) sense of purchasing appliances designed to last twenty years.
Regards,
Penguin45.
Funnily enough! Stella Artois is the most cheap brand of beer you can buy in Belgium!!! So all thought your example is flawed it actually serves to prove your point. Branding is everything!And to be honest the retailer are the biggest villains in this. The manufacturers provide good products. The retailers pretend to be making a better deal for the consumer where all they are doing is cutting their costs on purchasing and maintaing their margins. I.e. more money for them whilst manufacturers then have to close factories and move to lower cost countries. ! Oh but then the consumer complains about loss in quality to the retailer!! and then the retailer hits the manufactirer!!
Retailer and consumers are the evil ones!! Pay the price you would expect for quality. And respect it accordingly!!!!!!
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
ScottD wrote:consumers are the evil ones!! Pay the price you would expect for quality. And respect it accordingly!!!!!!
A sound observation indeed Scott 😉
If you have ever had the chance to ‘go shopping in Germany’ the first thing you will notice is the quality of the goods the shopkeepers their have for sale. They do not sell junk as Hans Publik ( 😉 ) would not buy it! That is why all the best furniture, all the best automobiles all the best whitegoods etc, are produced in Germany.
Here in the UK by stark contrast we Brits will buy any old rubbish as long as the price is right. The retailer is forced by such a demand to comply accordingly. A German shopper would be deeply suspicious of anything for sale that was cheap, a Brit would not think twice about it.
Price wins over quality every time over here and Joe Public will never see it any other way 🙄
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Seems like another low budget no brainer show coming our way. Why dont the BBC do an indepth report on cheap disposable appliances and the problems this is causing. It would be a good chance to give Indesits new sealed drum some free advertising. We could for sure help them out on this one. I think someone should have a word with Oliver about this.
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
OR why not do something positive for once, and have a show showing innovative ideas and new brands (ISE) that actually want to give something to retailers,repairers and users. I guess it just wouldn’t be good viewing, typical 👿
Greg
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
Would agree with that one but as the saying goes BAD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS 😥
Re: BBC TELEVISION WANT TO HELP YOU!!!
oliver.why are you asking for people who are buying a domestic appliance on this site.your programme.DON’T GET DONE GET DON.we see him asking people on the street what they are buying.he then says give me one hour to get the item cheaper.can he barter for me and get a cheaper tv licence. ❓
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