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A little tale concering Mrs Jenkins, of Brownberrie Avenue in Horsforth.
One of my first customers, dating back to 13 years ago. For about 6 years, I looked after her Hotpoint 9544W, until the day came that you have to say “It’s not worth it anymore”. So she went and bought an Indesit (apparently – I never saw it), complete disaster, then bought a new WMA Hotpoint on the basis that the last one did OK. It’s had two tanks and a motor through Hotpoint; a fortnight back the lock went, and took the board with it.
What happened next was rather curious. She’s a lady in her 50’s and being a Yorkshire lass, knows her own mind. I was instructed to “Find one like I had before, build it up like new and get it here”. A bit of discussion later I convinced her that the 9544 was a bit too old to rebuild properly…. and a 9454W was quickly found.
Like new? Hmm……… Bearings, spider, heater, tub seal, chassis plate, struts, pivots, rubbers, door seal, pump, armature (my last early gen one), belt, convert the motor to take the Mk3 pecker setup and the cleanest cleaning job of all time left something near as damn it immaculate.
With a years guarantee, I’ve charged her £220 ( 😯 ) and she’s absolutely delighted. Given the time and effort that went into this, I don’t think I’ve overcharged her. Unless the programmer packs in I’m not expecting any comebacks for a good while at least.
The point is that she’d got it into her head that the new stuff was rubbish and rather than risk further (expensive) dabblings in the “new” market, she’d go for the best of what she’d had before.
I didn’t lead her on – I pointed out the joy of Miele, the sensible value of Bosch, the value for money of Gorenje, but no, decision made. I even played the efficiency card, but no.
How many other people are this disillusioned I wonder? I was never Hotpoint’s greatest fan and would much rather sell a recent rebuilt Bosch if that’s what customers want, but in the end a sale is a sale however it works out. Mind you, this wasn’t a sale I suppose, more of a commission!
Food for thought maybe?
Cheers,
Chris.I’ve always said service beats price anyday
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Re: A Sign of the Times?
No Chris, she’s not the only customer that’s noticed such things, far from it in fact.
Read this;
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … ge&pid=101
😉
K.
Re: A Sign of the Times?
Thing is though, when that machine was originaly made, did we think of it as a good, high quality product? No, I dont think so, Back then Hotpoints and Hoover logics were the everyday bread and butter of our businesses and, aside from the revenue they brought in, we never had a good word for them. Compared to what we have today though…….
We had a similar request as yours Chris for the old AEG drop down door washers a few years back, despite haveing dumped plenty over the years, I couldnt find one. She bought an ASKO instead as the door arrangment was pretty similar and, AFAIK its still going strong.Re: A Sign of the Times?
Alexa
When you wax philosophical you truly stand among the great men of history.
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle would have been proud to include you in their company. 😉
Re: A Sign of the Times?
Chris, just what I said a few weeks back ! Those brilliant H/P 95 series. I was surprised at the response from you engineers saying that they were rubbish. Maybe it’s because I only see the electrical side of machines in terms of reliability – the timers were strong (OK they did melt sometimes) and the mods were unbreakable. Tony EMW
Re: A Sign of the Times?
I didnt say they were rubbish, but I cannot imagine anyone here took the lid off a 95 Hotpoint and proclaimed it a superb piece of engineering. For most of us it was our first plastic tub experience for a start, they were noisy as hell even when empty, the doors were crap, as was the pressure system and the very same bearings that were not so bad on the metal backplates suddenly failed in droves. And Tony, yes EMW must have done well out of those timer tags melting. Compared to the quality machines at the time AEG Bella/2003 and the 560/570 and the heavy old Bosch’s, they were junk. But yeah, time has told its own story and there are plenty still going strong and somehow I am pleased to see one in the kitchen when I walk in knowing that just the brushes wearing out wont have blown the damn timer and interlock etc,etc.
Re: A Sign of the Times?
Ken put up a post a while back and called the Logics and the 95s a “cash cow”, which is absolutely spot on. The machines were cheap and cheerful, the parts were cheap and freely available and they were pretty straightforward to work on. The issue of the under-engineered drums on the Hotpoints, the awful awful AWFUL suspension system on the Hoovers, the clagging water level controls, wiper contacts in the Hotpoint control systems instead of AMP tags are all gradually being forgotten as we start to look back at these machines almost in retrospect.
Mrs Jenkins circumstances are typical of where one of these applainces can shine. A lady on her own doing two loads a week at most, the machine subtlely tweaked by yours truly to be the best it can be, I won’t see it for a few years.
Personally, I’d still have sold her a rebuilt Bosch given the choice, but what can you do?
Cheers,
Chris.Re: A Sign of the Times?
Glad you said it Chris and not me for a change. 😉
Bleary eyes oft create a warped perception.
The 95 range I loved, sold a load of parts from that. Many, many made a lot of money rom them and the old Logics as they were simple and failed on a fairly regular basis as a general rule. Nothing wrong with that at all as it kept a lot of us in business, but there was a huge downside…
It also fed the “taxi drivers” as I call them, appliance “repairmen”, in the loosest possible sense, by day and taxi drivers by profession as the machines where so simple a trained monkey could repair them. Compared with any German or Italian appliance of the day I stand by the statement that they were pretty agriculturial in design and operation and the owners either too short sighted or tight to invest in new technologies/product areas properly, instead relying on bought in product from European competitors. Maybe that’s why they’re now under new management.
Ah well, it was good while it lasted eh? But oh how times change, but don’t, it’s all cyclical, China being billed as the new Europe in manufacturing terms.
K.
Re: A Sign of the Times?
Done properly, there’s nothing wrong with digital controls at all. They’ve been used extensively in other industries for years and are well proven, but when you cut corners and, costs, there’s an inevitable price to pay. Generally, that price in is the longevity or reliability of the component IME.
I need not lecture anyone here on cheap modules (sold at exhorbitant prices) with no protection at all etc. etc. Nor the suspision that some are actually engineered to fail.
K.
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