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I hope that you’ve all seen the current version on the engineer search.
If not then please catch up. 😉
One thing that I’ve seen happening, apart from a bunch of calls being missed as people haven’t updated the appliances that they repair or the brands with all the new ones that have been added, is that on occasion people (punters) are putting the call into two or three agents in the one area.
I’m sorta thinking about this and might allow people to send the same enquiry to multiple repairers or, allow you to publish rates or incentives so you can try to encourage people to choose you over others.
Why I’m posting this is for comments and ideas on what should and shouldn’t be on there in such situation so I can try to engineer a way to make it work for the best, for all if possible.
So, comments please if you have any.
K.
Re: Beauty Contest
kwatt wrote:allow you to publish rates or incentives so you can try to encourage people to choose you over others.
I’m not happy at that idea for a number of reasons: –
1)The smaller companies and one man bands can easily undercut their competitors. Especially if they are aware of each others pricing.
2)Whilst plying one company over another purely on pricing may be a priority for some, that doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality or speed of service offered.
3)In the average postcode area several companies are listed, some (as in my area) are based over 60 miles away yet have engineers covering locally to me. Therefore publishing each others charges could easily put them at an immediate disadvantage. That doesn’t worry me one bit, but I’m not sure they’d too chuffed?
Re: Beauty Contest
My fears also. It becomes a “who’s the cheapest” affair.
But then, isn’t that what they do already by calling round different repairers or sending enquiries to a few?
Then consider what you’re up against, fixed call repairs, sell you a warranty with the repair and so on, all of which have published pricing even if they can be “unclear” at times.
Point is, they can get some pricing anyway but what can’t be done at the moment is point out how much cheaper going direct can be.
K.
Re: Beauty Contest
……yes but, I thought the whole concept of the ‘Find An Engineer’ was that each is recommended by UKW, each adhere to the COP. That many listed are indeed fully paid up members of the WTA. And that each come up to a certain standard criteria in order to be on that list. The vast majority are independent companies offering a cheaper and more effective service than the many national companies and manufacturers.
Over and above that information I suggest the only remaining improvement needed is to show exactly what products that company repairs. And to avoid a potential ‘price war within’ developing.
kwatt wrote:But then, isn’t that what they do already by calling round different repairers or sending enquiries to a few?
Indeed so, knowing what a company charges is very much a ‘need to know’ basis, agreed. But I would venture to suggest that there’s sufficient information on the Find an Engineer for that person to select their choice, then ask the question.
You won’t be surprised to know I wasn’t best pleased when Hampshire Trading Standards wanted their ‘approved traders’ to list their rates. In the end we reached a compromise of sorts and if you click HERE you’ll see what they came up with to appease sceptics. 😉
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