CDSL

[admin]

Thought I’d share with you a little problem I’ve run into with CDSL….

A job we were sent required 2 men to lift down an appliance ( brandt microwave) as it was 5′ 8″ from the floor, all my engineers are 5′ 9″ tall. Therefore I reckon its 2 men to lift it out, no arguments from CDSL on that.

So when I asked how I could charge for the second engineer I was told that the only way was to invoice seperately, ok, I asked for 1 extra call rate to do this. However when CDSL phoned to organise with my office they only offerred £15.00, Bridie swiftly told them to sod off, where the price rose to a maximum of £30.00 and no more.

I’ve now told CDSL that we won’t do 2 man jobs without a mechanism in place to pay us fairly for our efforts. When I explained that Brandt were getting a job done and should expect to pay for it ..I was told by CDSL that
1) We should just do 2 man calls and pay for it out of our operating profit
2) That CDSL did not remove the “gas premium” from a dual fuel cooker when an electrical call was completed on it, so that should go toward it.

Also in my “heads of Agreement” all installs are to be negigiated seperately to the contract, not sent through as a routine service call. I have now cancelled 3 installs sent me (all brandt) where they have just been sent as a service call. One even instructed us to dispose of the old appliance. Brandt will not uplift appliances where they do an in guarantee exchange.

As a consequence of telling Gary Ainscough that hes taking the piss with me, he has now threatened me with a visit by Roy Fisher, scheduled for the 21st July. I have asked for an agenda and fully intend to have a go back for all the crap dished out…PNE rubbish, spares returns rubbish, damaged spares, invoicing errors, no technical help ect ect..

Will let you know when they kick me off the network

Kevin

[Del]

Re: CDSL

I have held back on here as most of you guy’s know on the subject of CDSL.

Kev, the general consensus of opinion in the war room is that Gary (The Bishop) Anuscough (I call him the bishop because he expect’s everyone to kiss his ring) sees himself as the the next head of service for CDSL.
He is obviousley out to set a few examples and does’nt particulally care who he steps on to drive that message home to CDSL’S network of service providers.

Having just experienced his backstabbing methods myself, I can assure you that the minute you have a dissagreement he will be approaching other service providers in your area to take over your work, even as we speak.

The decission to use those service providers will obviousley be taken on the outcome and result of your meeting. He cares little if the quality of service matches that which CDSL. already enjoy in your area, as total domination and control over all and any disputes regarding terms and conditions is all that seems to interest him.

It is my opinion that it is his intention to use more smaller company’s so that he has a greater degree of control over them by providing the bulk of their work.

It has already been pointed out to me that although the number of contracts run by CDSL are increasing, the work volumes to existing service providers is not.

All of us in the past at some time or other have had serious diputes with work providers. On the odd occasion some of those disputes can even get a little heated but you should at the very least expect a little loyalty
especially when at one stage you were asked to support them in their hour of need.

I’m affraid loyalty is a word that Gary has yet to include in his vocabulary.
I would strongley suggest that unless the guy’s in this war room can find a way to clip his wing’s, you will soon be faced with what can only be best described as …. ‘ SON OF TRUBSHAW ‘

Sean

[Alex]

Re: CDSL

K. Heath A job we were sent required 2 men to lift down an appliance ( brandt microwave) as it was 5′ 8″ from the floor, all my engineers are 5′ 9″ tall. Therefore I reckon its 2 men to lift it out, no arguments from CDSL on that.

You know the pisser in that one don’t you…. Brandt!! Bet if anything else it wouldn’t cause so much passion. I know in my case I’d give shit mainly because it is a Brandt product. Of course I’m not biased and and if it fell on Manoj’s head I would cry, (with laughter). You can bet there is bugger all in place from Brandt to cover this cost as they have divorced themselves from all aspects of service. CDSL have a set rate and have to put up with it. Saying that though, there is no need for you to take the hit.

So when I asked how I could charge for the second engineer I was told that the only way was to invoice seperately, ok, I asked for 1 extra call rate to do this. However when CDSL phoned to organise with my office they only offerred £15.00, Bridie swiftly told them to sod off, where the price rose to a maximum of £30.00 and no more.

We always advise the customer they have to arrange assistance if installed in an unconventional manner. How the hell does the owner even expect to use this at that height? Let alone expect a simple repair (I’d need a step ladder to cook a pie at that height) No comments invited please.

I’ve now told CDSL that we won’t do 2 man jobs without a mechanism in place to pay us fairly for our efforts. When I explained that Brandt were getting a job done and should expect to pay for it ..I was told by CDSL that
1) We should just do 2 man calls and pay for it out of our operating profit

Bullshit. AIS & Servevast will pay double rate if 2 engineers reqd. Health & Safety issues kick in here, and what would CDSL do if you were a one-man band? They do have them

2) That CDSL did not remove the “gas premium” from a dual fuel cooker when an electrical call was completed on it, so that should go toward it.

To me that is Bollocks, I send a CORGI tech to any cooker that needs a gas supply, that way I’m covered & it costs me to train & maintain a CORGI guy.

Also in my “heads of Agreement” all installs are to be negigiated seperately to the contract, not sent through as a routine service call. I have now cancelled 3 installs sent me (all brandt) where they have just been sent as a service call. One even instructed us to dispose of the old appliance. Brandt will not uplift appliances where they do an in guarantee exchange.

I’d leave the machine outside the customer’s door and tell the customer someone will be along to pick it up later. Then I’d tell them if is still there in 3 days to give Brandt a call. Brandt dumped a F/Freezer on us once and expected us to do an exchange. This was 2 weeks after Manoj had shit on us. I sent them a fax told them to get D&G to do it as I was no longer their agent & then I charged them storage. They paid after a fuss and picked the thing up, cost them best part of £200 by the time I finished.

As a consequence of telling Gary Ainscough that hes taking the piss with me, he has now threatened me with a visit by Roy Fisher, scheduled for the 21st July. I have asked for an agenda and fully intend to have a go back for all the crap dished out…PNE rubbish, spares returns rubbish, damaged spares, invoicing errors, no technical help ect ect..

Well I’d call his bluff, suspect he is all piss & wind, I don’t know the guy but nobody tells me how to run my affairs. I love Del’s character reference to Trubshaw.

Will let you know when they kick me off the network

John Ashford who happens to be Service Force from Bolton and covers a chunk of South Yorks, asked me if they are any good to work for. I think it was just a polite enquiry as it was during a meal and we discussed all-sorts of diverse topics.

Keep us informed by all means, be interesting to see if they climb down.

Alex

[kwatt]

For a start with the two-man jobs you have the issue of H&S which CDSL or any other contractor,Brandt included, are liable to uphold whether they like it or not. If the appliance is over 25Kg you cannot lift it with one man, just ask them to send a courier topick it up and deliver it to your premises for repair if they don’t believe you. Fuckwits, they should know better,do they really thing we’re that stupid.

As for the gas rate call, I’d ask him that if that is the case then I will charge the by the 1/4 hour rate of a standard CORGI RGI plumber in that case for every call where gas disconnection is required. Idiot, that’s why they negogiate a flat rate FFS, to save that expense.

I still would argue that a two-man call is actually a far higher cost than just two calls. You have to have one man there for the job anyway, usually after an initial inspection, only to send another engineer from out his patch at considerable inconvience and cost in missed calls by the second engineer. So the cost is far greater to do this kind of work than most people actually realise. Frankly, I don’t do it unless it is totally unavoidable and I HAVE had 4X calls from Brandt to do gas range cookers like this. So they will pay for it.

However, the wider debate is with the CDSL situation and their treatment of the agents and here’s my take on what’s going on…

CDSL now have enough power to do what Currys/Mastercare did all those years ago, many here will know exactly what I am talking about here. They have a degree of control that is, in many ways, unsurpassed and, of course, now they have the power of spares directly instead of indirectly this time around. There still hangs a shadow of doubt over Mr Fisher’s involvement with Connect from the last time as there was accusations of dirty dealings in there. Now he turns up working for them bringing the Currys contract and driving a 5 Series. Hmm.

So they now have control, or a silly degree of it over all that work for them and I don’t blame Kevin or anyone else for playing ball with them but I would not allow myself to be put in a position whereby I’m beholding to them too much.

Just my opinion.

K.

[Alex]

kwatt wrote:
CDSL now have enough power to do what Currys/Mastercare did all those years ago, many here will know exactly what I am talking about here. They have a degree of control that is, in many ways, unsurpassed and, of course, now they have the power of spares directly instead of indirectly this time around. There still hangs a shadow of doubt over Mr Fisher’s involvement with Connect from the last time as there was accusations of dirty dealings in there. Now he turns up working for them bringing the Currys contract and driving a 5 Series. Hmm.
Just my opinion.
K.

To quote the Churchill advert “OH YES”!

I know exactly what Ken is trying to say. That is why I made a point at the DASA AGM in York by asking Roy Fisher during his presentation, if we could be assured this time we would not be tossed aside like some discarded toy. I reminded him of the way Mastercare from Nottingham had dropped us back in 2000. I didn’t quite catch him on a back foot, but his face was a picture as he knew that I’d put him on the spot, and kept it in mind for the future.

He sat in my office once and told me I may compromise my relationship with Mastercare if I failed to settle a customer dispute. The customer was claiming floor damage which was the other side of the kichen and where he had a bistro table & chairs. I was having none of it, so Roy appeared on the scene. 1 Month after I got my cheque book out, we had the “Dear John” letter.

Our friend Rudolph was the first to tell the word about R.F. moving and it looks as dodgy now as it did then.

I can also remember some strange little insurance thing going on where I had to send invoices to a home address. Less said about that the better.

A leopard never changes his spots.

[Alex]

Re: CDSL

Update.

We have been asked to swap over a Brandt machine, and it is out of area. It was sent to us electronically 3 times, and 3 times we phoned and said this is well out of our area. Friday 15th had a begging phone call from Stephanie Tamburrow.

2 Points here,

1 What has happened to whosoever is supposed to do it? being out of my area. (Perhaps he has a thing about Brandt)

2 Is there a machine that needed taking away? If so, sorry no can do. (Thanks to Kev for that one).

So I declined the call:- a) Rate + 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} please at it was out of area. b) Sorry cannot take away old machine as we don’t have a trade waste carriers licence. Happy to do it for extra dosh, but told them straight that we were not picking up the old machine. Went off with a flea in her ear.

Good old Brandt, I aint littering my store/workshop with their crap.

Alex

[Dave_Conway]

Re: CDSL

Alex wrote:1 What has happened to whosoever is supposed to do it? being out of my area. (Perhaps he has a thing about Brandt)

Was it in my area by any chance Alex ?

Dave

[Alex]

Re: CDSL

Dave_Conway wrote:
Was it in my area by any chance Alex?
Dave

No, Hard luck.

It was North East Somerset heading towards Bath. To be honest I cannot remember where exactly as I was too busy ensuring I done as little as possible to alleviate any Brandt service issues.

Slowly getting my own back, but there is a lot to be done yet.

Alex

[admin]

Re: CDSL

Nice one Alex……..

On Friday we attended a Brandt 900 mm 5 hotplate induction hob, 3 power boards on this one and the middle one we suspect, as faulty.

The hob is set into a large Marble worktop that does not seem to have joints, very expensive Marble tiles on the floor with 2 single ovens below the hob unit. Engineer estimate worktops cost more than his house and he will not remove the hob on his own for fear of damaging worktop/ floor bearing in mind he has to remove both ovens to remove the hob.

So I have asked for a second job for labour and that will be sat on Gary Ainscoughs email in box when he returns from holiday on Monday, we”ll see.

As several of this forums readers share my postcodes it will be interesting to know if you are approached to do what I am refusing. At least you’ll know what your letting yourselves in for.

Kevin

[kwatt]

To be quite honest I don’t know why anyone would do an install for them even at a double rate. Every one is a pain in the arse almost without exception and the customers are picky bastards, 1mm out of line and they’re whinging like fook.

I will say again, I ALWAYS got x3 or x4 calls out Brandt to do an install so they obviously have a problem with this why not, like me, take advantage of their misfortune and make something from it? And I’ll say that in an open forum as well, no problem. And, Kev has told me that there is no stipulation in the agreement from CDSL to do installs other than by negogiation, so take advantage of it.

What would be nice is if we could orchestrate this on the fly without them knowing, like Kev tells them to sod off and so does Phil, cause that’s exactly who they’ll ask next. But if everyone has the backbone to take the same line with such a minor thing as Brandt they’ll start to get the message quick enough and, if you don’t send a message soon it may well be too late and you’re just a slave to them that they can trample on as they like. Don’t be a doormat.

K.

[admin]

Re: CDSL

**** A result****

Gary phoned today regarding the Hob unit set into the expensive worktops…he got back from his holidays yesterday. Anyway no problems now getting two calls, just close the original call as fixed without parts and create recall. Then inform Gary of the “c” number and he removes recall, therefore 2 x calls for 1 job.

Easy .

I do know RF intervened but Gary does not know I know. But the stage is set, if you don’t stick to your guns you won’t get.

Still got RF coming to see me but he’s already told me whatever the problems he can solve them. And so it seems he has! At least this time around, I think Gary has had his wings clipped a bit, probably make him twice as keen.

Kevin

[Alex]

Re: CDSL

No doubt you will drop into the conversation with Roy that the Brandt contract stinks anyway. Not that it does of course, and being president of the Brandt fan club I will not hear a word against them. (Bastards).

Hope Roy doesn’t mention anything about your actions “compromising your business relationship”, if he does we are all due a letter soon.

Alex

[Del]

Re: CDSL

kheath wrote:**** A result****

Gary phoned today regarding the Hob unit set into the expensive worktops…he got back from his holidays yesterday. Anyway no problems now getting two calls, just close the original call as fixed without parts and create recall. Then inform Gary of the “c” number and he removes recall, therefore 2 x calls for 1 job.

Easy .

I do know RF intervened but Gary does not know I know. But the stage is set, if you don’t stick to your guns you won’t get.

Still got RF coming to see me but he’s already told me whatever the problems he can solve them. And so it seems he has! At least this time around, I think Gary has had his wings clipped a bit, probably make him twice as keen.

Kevin

Great news Kev but is this across the board (i.e. for everyone in the network) or a one off deal for those with enough clout to pull it off ? It will be interestin’ to see. 😉

Sean

[Alex]

Re: CDSL

Del wrote:
Great news Kev but is this across the board (i.e. for everyone in the network) or a one off deal for those with enough clout to pull it off ? It will be interestin’ to see. 😉
Sean

It isn’t so much the clout, I think we all have that, it is the balls to do that matters.

I think as you get older, you tend to become more resolute and stronger in your convictions. Well, that is my excuse anyway.

Alex

[Dave_Conway]

Re: CDSL

Alex wrote:It isn’t so much the clout, I think we all have that, it is the balls to do that matters

I find my balls have got a lot bigger as I get older as well Alex 😉

😆

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