Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

Re: Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

Curious title Martin, taken from Monty Python “How not to be seen” I presume! Or was it intended that way so that it would appeal to those that are really interested and bothered?

I think there is a lot in the thread, but of course when you drill it down, it all relates to every ideal we have embraced since our inception as a group. Classic example, the access (or lack of) when it comes to information etc. It is their tough if they want to remain a closed shop. It won’t stop those customers who chose to shop elsewhere for repairs from going that way, all that will come from that will be some repairers who will throw in the towel and rubbish the product, so a no win situation applies.

I could witter on and dig up the past on how Merloni allegedly treated their agents; I could go on about staff disputes with the current regime, but it is all water under the bridge, and we have all moved on.

The point I was getting at there is a customer out there who has had a rum deal, whether it be the product or the after service does not matter as they go hand in hand. However that consumer should not be party to the debate that has followed.

The debate incidentally is a good one, and we can see the postings and bitching involved does not look good in a public forum. You can read between the lines the culture differences between Direct Service, Comet Service and of course Independent Servicing, and lets face it there is plenty of fuel in that discussion which could be opened up into anything you choose, but there is a time & place for everything.

So, are we going anywhere with this, and what do we have to play with if at all? Please remember one thing though, UKW is evolving and perhaps as a body we should be a little circumspect in what we say, but that does not forbid the troops to fire the shots.

Alex

kwatt wrote:Let me sum this up in a single sentence: Healthy debate from differing points of view.
I don’t see what the problem is.
K.

Spot on, there isn’t a problem, there is a a lot of fuel here, and a fair bit of angst. I’d like to see it expanded, and a few people can offload their sentiments and maybe we can arrive at the truth.

The problem I had with it was that this was on a tangent to the real problem and took the main issue being poor service/product for one consumer to new heights.

Point is, what is it with Merloni Direct Service from an engineers point of view? Same goes for Comet Engineers on the same product? We are geting conflicting messages here, yet under the surface there seems to be a few matters that need clarification. Instead of an argument, let’s have the facts. I’m not talking general issues etc. but what really goes on regards who does what etc.

Alex

Re: Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

Martin wrote:I’ll tell you what the problem is (as well you realise anyway 8) ) the Indesit company being the bigshots of this trade have closed the door to all. They do their own servicing and keep all the tech info to themselves.

Spot on IMO!
We Indies (repairers, not sales) don’t like them much if we talk truthfully because they would see us get in the sh1t with a repair, waste our time, refund a customer and get a bad name in the process rather than assist us to get the repair done (which is just as much in the customer interest as it is in ours)!
As for employing their own engineers…. how long is that going to last? They are allready trying to turn engineers into franchisies, so in a way, they are also looking to use the self employed to do their work, but without paying tidy amounts! If we would work for £19 per call, we would all have tech info etc too!

Re: Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

I used to work for Indesit (in the good old days, honest they did exist!), and to be fair we tend to be in a bit of a glass bubble. It wasn’t until the redundancy came and I started working elsewhere that I realised how limited my knowledge of the trade actually was.

I don’t mean to patronise Kiddo, I don’t know how much previous he has got. But personally getting away from Indesit and some of the people there was the best thing that happened to me.

But to comment on the original subject: MDS appliances are a laughing stock and disgrace that the general public never see until it’s too late. The designers and quality control must be on something to let these things leave the factory. Unfortunately ever since Ariston merged/took over Indesit it’s been the ‘bean counters’ that have been running the show… and we all know what they’re like :/

Re: Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

kiddo66 wrote:So convince me what are the benefits of being on the outside p*ssing in rather than on the inside p*ssing out.

It’s not a “them and us” situation.

Both have their pros and cons.

I just value the ability to be able to tell anyone I like to go forth and control my own destiny rather than having someone do it for me enough not to work in that sort environment where you are so far removed from any decision making about what you do.

I take it that your multibrand experience was the point at which Hotpoint had the little foray into it when they had a go at the Currys work and that’s you’ve only worked for Hotpoint/GDA and now Indesit?

K.

Re: Who can shout the loudest and be heard I wonder?

Kiddo take a deep breath…….

This is a discussion forum where people get to air whatever views they wish. It allows for good debates.

I think you`re taking this too personally. People are having a go at Merloni, not you. 🙂