At the recent bi-annual UK Whitegoods meeting held at Sibson (near Twycross Zoo) members of the site agreed to form the Whitegoods Trade Association to promote and aid the independent repair and retail businesses that make up much of the membership of the website. The room unanimously voted to press ahead and form the association officially as of Friday 28th September 2007.
This meeting was enjoyed by all and has been hailed as the best one ever, so far.
In addition to the introduction of the new trade association there was also the announcement of the new ISE2 range and lots of information and discussion on the WEEE Directive and spares and technical information.
Lawrence Carey (Carey’s of Ipswich) wrote the following piece in the forums:
“The associations aim is to “ Support the Independent Service Industry” in whatever way we can.
Some of the issues to be addressed by the association are:
“¢ Lack of Technical information
“¢ Spares pricing
“¢ Training issues (Including CORGI)
“¢ The development of an accountable identity card scheme for WTA members.
“¢ These are to name just a few
This will be a stand -alone organisation alongside UK Whitegoods and will use some of the UKW resources that are placed at its disposal. And will be operated by its members for the mutual benefit of its members.
What was the Whitegoods Subscribers Forum will become the Whitegoods Trade Association forum and all members will have access.
If you are not currently a subscriber and wish to be a member of the WTA then please follow THIS LINK which will put you in touch with the team and THIS LINK to find out more about what the association is about.”
Please keep an eye on the Whitegoods Trade Association Website over the next few weeks for regular updates.
The minutes of the first official meeting of the new association are available freely in the General Trade Forum as well as the TA Forum.
Of course it was mentioned at the meeting that the new association could be seen as being just another part of UK Whitegoods due to the close ties but, since the very inception of UK Whitegoods we have strived to support the independent repairers and we view this new association which, after all was formed from UKW members, as being a part of that effort. Therefore UK Whitegoods will be helping the association in many ways to aid its success.
DASA was also mentioned but many people felt that something new and fresh was required however, there was consensus to work with DASA wherever it was deemed appropriate to do so.
All in all this first meeting, the aims and aspirations of the members for their association shows great promise and it only remains now to wish them the best of luck in their new venture and that we will of course report any developments.
Of course ISE2 was also introduced, a low cost machine built to our specification to meet the needs of the budget market with the ISE core values built in as standard. The first machine in the range, an AAB washing machine, is due to be released before the end of October.
The new machine comes with a two year parts and labour warranty as well as the usual support that is expected from the brand.
Also, arriving in the UK this week, much was discussed on the new ISE10 range of appliance which you can find out more about on the ISE website
It was a fantastic meeting with the usual social side that we all enjoy and the bar was kept busy until very late as usual with lively chat and laughter.
See you all in February for the next one.