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wanted some smeg built in fridge hinges told the customer they would be “quite dear” and would have to be ordered. then he says he can get them from amazon and pay me to fit them “if thats ok?” with the sad state of work at the moment I said yes but when I got back I looked on amazon, among other things genuine hotpoint 1600474 brushes £4.34!!!
we’re all doomed!!!!!!!!!!!
wilf
Re: amazon
Yup.
No doubt some will say that were still needed as there are numpties who cannot fix the appliances we work on, Blah Blah Blah.
Whilst I have a high regard for myself and my abilities, I’m also a realist and learn’t yrs ago that the job I do is hardly rocket science and was not likely to bring the rewards it once did.
Stripping and rebuilding appliances is become rare and honestly the hardest part of my job now is dealing with the odd Dishwasher motor change or a compressor.
Maybe I’ve been doin it too long and it feels too easy, I don’t no, but there must be a reason for so many companies selling parts via the net, someone must be doin it, there not trade, so there obviously finding the appliances easy to fix.
Re: amazon
you have to move with the times and diversify, its a case of either do that or slip into oblivion. Thats what running a business is all about seeing where the problems/change of markey forces are and then doing something about it. 1 on 1 business sense !
Re: amazon
Market forces Jeremy said.
We have to go with it and it is unstopable.
The customer is halfway to buying a new appliance when they call you.
So sell them one!
Steve
Re: amazon
the ideology of being a ‘service engineer only’ has long gone if you are s/employed. those that want a repair and are prepared to pay then you do it. where the economics for the machine or what the ‘punter’ is prepared to pay dont stack up sell them a new machine. not all will bite but thats business again, walk away with a call out charge from those ( they add up).
the industry imo isnt doomed it has just changed !
‘if you cant beat them join them’ i sell the better brands if they want a cheapy or a merloni product i take my call out chrage and walk away, sell them some reasonable quality and they will come back down the line, sell them crap and they will tell their friends u sold them crap when it gives them nothing but hassle and poor service. imo its a key point to selling appliances to retain some integrity on what you advise them on for the future.
if you cant adapt to this then you will be left behind without a doubt.
Re: amazon
I think it’s best to cover all the bases if possible, some service work, some sales and selling spares.
I do wonder though what the customer success rate is on DIY repairs, I seem to get quite a few ringing in after failed attempts and how many simply throw in the towel with a new m/c ?Re: amazon
My view of this is that there are a very small percentage of people who can perform simple tasks. Many of these folks are older say 40 plus, the younger ones are not blessed with the dexterity to handle and use tools and its amazing how many people seem to have no common sense or logical approach. As engineers we are logical and Lateral thinkers ( well I am on a good day ) 🙂
Many buy parts that are not required and a lot of folks just have not got the time or can be bothered to try a fix their appliances. I do not think our trade is doomed but we have to find different ways of selling our services to the public and go with the flow.
Re: amazon
This is ‘partly’ why ‘Free Estimates’ or a ‘Tenner’ for looking at it should vanish from our trade totally (IMO)!!!
Can you imagine the amount of people that get a free estimate, or pay a tenner to get the machine looked at, get told what the problem is, say to Mr Engineer, “Thanks, but Ill think about it”… Mr Engineer leaves, customer logs on to eBay / Amazon and gets the part for peanuts, either fits themselves or calls someone else to say “Hey, how much to change a motor on my washer”!!
I get quite a lot of ‘Ill think about it’ people ring me after the engineer has been to ask what was the part number etc… But as they’ve paid me £35 + VAT for the Diagnostic, they’re welcome to it.
Also, by offering a decent guarantee on parts that were supplied & fitted by us, will quite often win the customer back from Amazon etc, especially when looking at a ‘More expensive’ part…
Adrian 🙂
Re: amazon
I’m finding people have already been costing new m/c’s before i arrive more & more. Yesterday called to cooker tripping consumer unit only just got meggar on it and she told me not to bother ” I’ll get a new one”.
Now I know why I have a call out charge, to get back to spares though people do seem very keen to waste money on parts they don’t need or can’t fit.Re: amazon
I don’t think selling appliances is moving with the times, I was doin that in the 80-90’s with Hotpoint etc etc, hell I was even a Tandy Dealer 😆
There was a sudden shift to larger retailers such as the Comet, Currys that opened less than a mile away from us.
We even did internet selling and now that has reduced thanks to the “bigger boys”.
Location may be a factor, for us/me, every change I’ve made has only lasted a few yrs at best and didn’t bring in much reward once the cost of change was paid, we had to fork out £30,000 to become Hotpoint dealers, we just broke into profit when Comet opened up.
Its easy to diverse into other area’s, the hard bit is doin it before someone else comes along.
Re: amazon
Its easy to diverse into other area’s, the hard bit is doin it before someone else comes along.
‘nothing ventured is nothing gained’
‘speculate to accumulate’
‘survival of the fittest’
‘if at first you dont succeed’
The point is times have moved on, running a repair business 10-15 yrs ago was easy now its alot tougher.It doesnt really matter wether u are multi billion pound turnover company or a one man band, competition is there at all levels. Look at what bestbuy are attempting to do against comet and currys the scale is bigger but the principal is the same. So will the likes of currys/comet stand still and take the risk of being pushed downwards , unlikely, they will fight back they may loose ultimately but they wont roll over. There biggest weapon is pricing they will become more aggressive but they still need profit and lots of it. What they cant offer is that personal service/touch.
The point im making is we live in a very fluid economy/market place, there isnt much point in quoting the good old days as its irelevant now.
fight back until there isnt any more to go and use ones ‘enterprenial instincts’ to move that cause forward/create an exit plan for the future.Doom and gloom mind set isnt healthy or constructive imho.
Re: amazon
If prices of appliances keep dropping to suit us consumers, then I can definately see this in certain parts of the Rhondda Valley (Wales) soon 😆
Re: amazon
I don’t think we’re doomed.
I don’t think internet parts are doomed either.
I do think that some suppliers need to put a leash on some of the idiots out there and, some have, some are. It’s not in anyone’s interests to push margins down in an ever decreasing cycle. Just look at the browngoods industry for an example of the carnage it can cause… or the grocery industry.. or clothing… or…
Everyone is suffering from muppets on the net selling stuff too cheap.
But, likewise, there’s as many “traditional” businesses that charge or have charged too much for services or goods, the internet has levelled that out a fair bit but, in the process brought it’s own issues.
One of the big problems though is that, if you trade solely on the goods or services themselves and forget that there’s more to it then all you are is a commodity. Commodities are traded on price and price alone. If you really want to be there, feel free to do so but eventually the carousel will stop.
We’ve already seen several internet sellers go pop and I’m quite certain we’ll see more. They get into a bidding war, bidding on their ability to merely survive as you need to sell a lot of carbons with 50p profit on them to make a wage let alone anything else.
And, do these idiots not realise that people only buy bits when they need them? They don’t buy them because they’re on special and think, “oh that’s a cracking price on the carbons that my washer uses, I’ll get a set”… it’s stupid.
I can see the sense in some of the consumables, but not spares as they are worth next to nothing unless you have a buyer for them. Even at that though, good service sells.
K.
Re: amazon
kwatt wrote:
I can see the sense in some of the consumables, but not spares as they are worth next to nothing unless you have a buyer for them. Even at that though, good service sells.K.
That’s spot on.
I was looking on e-bay for an element last night and came across a seller in Cheshire or somewhere selling second hand parts at relatively high prices. He was only managing to sell about one in ten listings along with some re-con machines. However it was looking worthwhile, to my eye. Fact is e-bay gets you a worldwide audience. If somebody wants something unusual, that’s where you’ll find them looking.
Mind you, prices will go down a bit once we all start trying it.
Oh, and GEC Hotpoint motors are getting scarce and beginning to sell reliably for £25 – £35.
Mike.Re: amazon
jeremy wrote:
Doom and gloom mind set isnt healthy or constructive imho.
True.
Although being unaware of your business, the market place and current trends can also be just as dangerous if not more.
Many happy peeps have lost and will still lose money whilst there heads are buried in positivity.
I’m not stuck in the past, I was merely pointing out that I have got the t shirts in various shapes and sizes.I’ve sold new appliances, recon appliances and for 10 yrs turned over £800,000 a yr just on Electronics and toys with Tandy until the last few yrs when all there toys would break and was not worth the hassle, luckily I read the signs well, got out just before they crashed and left many dealers out of business.
I’m not struggling, far from it.
One thing I learn’t in the past was knowing the signs of good/bad business, when to walk away, knowing when you should not increase debt in the hope the market will improve and when to move before or change.
It may well be doom and gloom to some.
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