Advice to hotpoint customers

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

timdowning wrote:
Steve, what would you do in this scenario:

9 years old WM52 with drum and bearings shot, door not locking easily and motor hovering around the 1Mohms?

.

Tim, What do you imagine Hotpoint would do?
Would that be £99 x 1, or £99 x 3 at 3monthly intervals?
Mike.

[aqualectric]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

timdowning wrote:

My viewpoint is always from the customers not the manufacturers.

Steve, its nice to feel there is someone on a similar wavelength!

Steve, what would you do in this scenario:

9 years old WM52 with drum and bearings shot, door not locking easily and motor hovering around the 1Mohms?

would you write the machine off?
advise them to go back to hotpoint (due their new pricing scheme?)

I would have always written off the machine with the intention of selling them a new one.

Considering I’m selling 3 to 6 new machines a week I’m obviously concerned for the implications of this new pricing scheme, especially if it becomes more widespread.

To answer those points, I would say the WM52 is BER. BUT… would I surrender the job – No. If the customer has no money then maybe; but generally, they are MY customer that called ME for MY service. Indesit will probably BER the WM52 and pressure sell them a new Indesit pile of s*** while they’re in the house. Your customer, that you looked after, who 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the time would choose you over big business anyway. I think the difference between the manufacturers service and ours is the difference between Tesco supermarket and the local greengrocer. People come to us BECAUSE we are flexible and provide a good service, not just for price. If pricing was their only consideration, then not a single ISE 10 would have been sold because they are from the independents with no publicized track record or glossy TV advertising. Never underestimate your worth in the eyes of the customer; conceding a job can also look unprofessional. You are almost saying,”This company is better than me”, but it depends on how you view it. When Zanussi brought out the “5 year cover” in the ’80s, many engineers lamented the end of the industry. Well, 20 odd years later, we’re all still here, despite their efforts. I would like to stay in business; so I will repair what the customer wants me to repair, and sell them a new machine when they want one. I will not be dishonest, but by the same token, I have a mortgage to pay. Will Indesit pay me a commission on the customers I hand to them? No chance. So will I jeopardize my business? No.
The point is, before it was raised in this forum, no-one was aware of this development.
The only bit I don’t agree with you Tim, is the willingness to put other people’s welfare way above your own, in the process maybe killing your own business. I’m sure you wouldn’t do that, so a balance has to be struck. So in the case of the WM52, I would write it off and let the customer decide what they want to do from there. Same as I have done for 25 years.

Steve.

[Penguin45]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Well said, Steve.

A little reminder might just be appropriate. Whilst we’re all engineers who get the little buzz from looking at a problem and going “I can fix that”, you must remember the reason that we do this – to make money. Our job may involve mechanical and electrical engineering; plumbing, psychology, social work, chemistry and a whole host of other things, but you are still selling a service. A 10 year old Hotpoint, I wouldn’t dream of mentioning company service. I actually had one this week which needed an armature and a door seal and brought the job in at under £100 and still made a nice profit. Longstanding customer who wanted the job doing ASAP, very happy that the job was done on the spot and is perhaps, even now, reading the ISE brochure I left. There are very few customers who are actually stupid (Yes, I know, we can all name some…) and this particular customer is perfectly aware that another year to 18 months is all that this machine has left. I have done the groundwork and in the fullness of time I shall get my reward.

We may be engineers, but principally, we’re salemen. Every time a customer says “Yes, I’ll have that fixed”, you can be an engineer – making them say yes is salesmanship. We’re probably quite good at it, but few of us realise it.

Chris.

[kwatt]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Penguin45 wrote:We’re probably quite good at it, but few of us realise it.

Most have no idea just how much.

Fewer still realise how valued your opinion is to customers.

On test the appliance indies provide a better service, cheaper and are far, far more trusted by people than any one company’s engineers. You provide world class service on a local level and are trusted by way in excess of 85{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of customers. And, you do it faster and better than almost anyone else.

The indies are rated above virtually every single household name in terms of service level and trust.

Don’t do yourselves down folks.

K.

[timdowning]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Steve wrote;

If the customer has no money then maybe

Advice given is variable to the money you guess the customer has??

I would write it off and let the customer decide what they want to do from there

So potentially you have lost a sale if you advised the customer of the parts cover offered by hotpoint. My dilemma exactly.

[Lawrence]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Maybe I am mssing something here but I have a very simple take on it, if a customer chooses to come to me that is there perogative ,they look in the phone book and choose me ,all the manufacturers and my competitors are in there.
It is the consumers choice where they go .
the only exception is If a customer rings with a noisy WMA we price it but tell them to go to hotpoint,we also take the opportunity to talk about ISE and sustainability.
Which reminds me Tim can I ask why you are selling a Hoover to make £70 and lose a customer ?,when you could be selling ISE and retain the customer and get paid for any work on that machine
I sell the ISE2 @£299 the 5@£499 & the 10 @£899 retaining my customers for my business in the future,and also making more than £70 in the process.
I am just asking a question ,not having a go .
Lawrence

[timdowning]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Lawrence wrote;

Which reminds me Tim can I ask why you are selling a Hoover to make £70 and lose a customer ?,when you could be selling ISE and retain the customer and get paid for any work on that machine

Good question. I was anticipating it would be asked.

My new machines stocked at the moment;

ise2 1200 spin 5kg load £269
hnl642 1400 spin 6kg load £299
oph714d 1400 spin 7kg load £329
ise5 1600 spin 6kg load £449

I don’t know what you find, but not everyone is keen on a brand they don’t know. Even customers that know and trust me.
Most familys want bigger than a 5kg drum and not all can afford an ISE5.
So I sell Hoover to make a sale. I’m here to make money after all. 😉

I think £299 for the ISE2 is overpriced, I could sell it for that but again I am selling it for what it is. One of the lowest spec’d machines in the market.

Lawrence, if you don’t get a sale do you wonder what they have bought or why they didn’t buy through you?

Cheers,

Tim.

[Lawrence]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

I don’t wish to sound conceited but the only sale that I know that I have lost was for a washer dryer which I could have got for the cust but my usual supplier didn’t have any stock.
I sell the Ise on the premise that I reccomend and repair it so therefore I must trust it and people buy into the sustainability aspect as well.
Take the point about the larger capacity machines though
The Ise 2 may be a basic spec machine but it has 2 year guarantee and my price includes installation and disposal of old appliance .

Lawrence

[timdowning]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Lawrence wrote;

I don’t wish to sound conceited but the only sale that I know that I have lost was for a washer dryer

Not conceited at all. Thats good. I wish I had that record of write-offs to sales.

my price includes installation and disposal of old appliance .

As do mine.
😉

Cheers,

Tim.

[aqualectric]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

timdowning wrote:
Most familys want bigger than a 5kg drum and not all can afford an ISE5.
So I sell Hoover to make a sale. I’m here to make money after all. 😉

Now I personally wouldn’t sell anyone a Hoover / Candy because I don’t believe they are a quality machine. Also, as Lawrence says, no after sales service to benefit your business. So why would you do it? “I’m here to make money after all” is the quote above. Well I am here to make money too, not mentioning the Hotpoint cover is equivalent to selling low quality machines (and knowing it) to a customer if you really adhere to the moral compass. So…..we all do it….because we are all trying to make a living and it ain’t easy. 😉
And the “advise given is variable to the money you guess the customer has?? ” comment is a bit harsh, don’t you think? I simply meant that if a customer is not prepared to spend on their machine or is griping about the cost of fixing a machine, I will pass it on as I don’t need the hassle. Just as I would not sell an ISE to a serial washing machine killer based on price alone. Am I wrong to do that as the customer would benefit from free repairs under warranty. With ISE it would pay me to sell them to such people as I am paid for each repair. I don’t want or need the “your machine has gone wrong” quip being said to me. So I don’t do it. That’s my opinion.

Steve.

[andy_art_trigg]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

I haven’t had a chance to read every single post on this thread but has anyone asked the question why Hotpoint have all of the sudden offered to repair any of their appliances under their five-year guarantee no matter how old? Why would they suddenly do this? Are they struggling for money or desperate for work for their engineers?

[timdowning]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

Steve wrote;

not mentioning the Hotpoint cover is equivalent to selling low quality machines (and knowing it)

I don’t know why the majority are against Hoover machines? I don’t believe they are low quality. As i don’t believe i am selling low quality i can’t agree with you on the above comment.

I simply meant that if a customer is not prepared to spend on their machine or is griping about the cost of fixing a machine, I will pass it on as I don’t need the hassle

So this means you would advise them of hotpoints cover? And not go for the sale? You see this is the grey area i’m struggling with, we either tell all or none about hotpoints cover? we can’t pick and choose can we??

I am selling ISE as you now know but we don’t know how good they are yet do we?? We are all putting a lot of trust into ISE and our good names into the equation as well.

I can’t judge whether the ISE2 or ISE5 are better quality than the HNL642 or OPH714d.

If somebody can tell me how we know an ISE2 is better built than a HNL642 please tell me.

Anyway thats going off topic isn’t it, sorry.

Tim.

[maltheviking]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

andy_art_trigg wrote:I haven’t had a chance to read every single post on this thread but has anyone asked the question why Hotpoint have all of the sudden offered to repair any of their appliances under their five-year guarantee no matter how old? Why would they suddenly do this? Are they struggling for money or desperate for work for their engineers?

Quite simple, “business” I suppose the British side of it want’s to keep their employees in a job, as for the Italian side of it I don’t think they will give too much of a toss as long as they can rip off the British public for as much as they can. I can’t see the spagetti munchers having to much concern about the Brit. workers either as we have seen with Creda 😥 The worst that can happen is they sell off the company when they have done enough damage or the public loyalty to Hotpoint dwindles :rolls: I will still be in business though 😀 😀 😉

[andy_art_trigg]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

The 5-year parts guarantee has been in operation since the mid-1980s by several companies. To my knowledge this is the first time it’s ever been extended in such a way. For it to happen at the height of the credit crunch and with the recession looming ahead I think it’s very significant indeed. If it was such a good idea financially to blanket cover all products there is no way it wouldn’t have been done before. I doubt this is a genius new idea to make money, I suspect it’s more a desperate (and probably ultimately futile) action.

[Martin]

Re: Advice to hotpoint customers

andy_art_trigg wrote:I suspect it’s more a desperate (and probably ultimately futile) action.

Don’t forget the fact that all the while this type of deal is done ‘in house’ as it were. Captive audience sticking faithfully to a seemingly respectable brand and offered a deal any like minded person cannot refuse to resolve their problem. The cost of which is minimised accordingly and ensures continued faith in their product and the likelihood of recommendation as a spin-off for more to have faith in the brand.

Today’s production costings and labour rates are keyed very closely to their market value and after sales costs. Indesit have fine tuned these levels to a point now where their master plan can take affect. Coupled with the fact that over the last 18 months sales charts have headed south of which they have no control of whatsoever. Their latest move has at least been a positive move to retain what custom they have at minimal cost.

Just my take on it anyhow.

8)

[Author]

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