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Hi all,
Just received this years contract, anyone else want to chat about parts mark up and guarantee terms please feel free to pm me.
Don’t really want to post too much info for obvious reasons.D&G Contract
Yep your call rate has gone up but they’ve screwed you by putting the parts mark up down.. Therefore your actual rate has been reduced.. Simples
It’s another way of slight of hand.. Old samsung trick.
Bryan
Re: D&G Contract
Exactly! although its the guarantee period I the biggest problem with.
Connect give 90 days, Masterpart 6 months (no guarantee on any pcb’s) yet we’re expected to honour a guarantee for 12 months when most of the appliances are cheap chinese rubbish.
I’m getting more jobs coming in after 7-12 months especially failing oven elements and Beko modules that I have to supply part FOC and can get no credit for original part.
Surely everyone else has noticed this?
WTF!!D&G Contract
You could always play their game, it’s not always the same part that has failed.. ( cough ) therefore it’s a new call and not a warranty one. But I wouldn’t condone that.
Bryan
Re: D&G Contract
I note they start the letter where they “Have pleasure [sic] in writing to advise repair rates are to be increased”
They go on to say that the increase is for contractors that have provided a quality service to their products. Well that can’t be us then! Disappointing really as we are constantly in the top 10, as well as winning an award for outstanding service for 2010.
The increase on average in my case is 1.97{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}. The BER rate has been dropped.
The parts mark-up down by as well.
Regards the warranty period of 12 months. We have had to bear that for years and practically with regard to most contracts we operate. Connect are one of the good guys in that respect.
Alex
Re: D&G Contract
From what I see this is a cut in rates really and with the cost of diesel the way it is among many other things it is not well timed.
I also note a lot of confidentiality things in the new contract, I wonder if that is an attempt to suppress any chatter on here about the rates and how different rates are being paid to different companies.
Or is this a reaction to the people that did not accept the fixed repair rate.
Re: D&G Contract
For me there is a reduction in the parts markup of 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} and from speaking to others it seems the actual mark up can differ.
I gain under £1 with the rate increase.
That means on an average of £30 parts per job I am actually £2 per job worse off than I was.
To add insult the terms ask more of us yet pays us less.
Since the last rate increase diesel for the vans has risen by over 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}.
I think someone in domestic and general is having a laugh at our expense thinking that we all wouldn’t realise that we were being screwed over.
Re: D&G Contract
Hi
You also need to LOOK very closely at the rest of the contract as it will bring a few surprises.
Bryan
Re: D&G Contract
r600a wrote:Hi
You also need to LOOK very closely at the rest of the contract as it will bring a few surprises. Bryan
Where do we start? From what I can see much about the same as before. Written by a jobsworth who simply hasn’t got a clue.
Unworkable, unrealistic as well as open to abuse.
When will these organisations learn that working with us instead of against us will create harmony and better results.
I wonder how they expect a mark-up of 15{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} can cover the possibility of component failure.
Some time ago an employee of D&G moved over to Connect, and managed to upset everybody. (Since moved into obscurity) I don’t suppose there are any more in Wimbledon who read the same manual.
Re: D&G Contract
Ok..
Lets take it a step at a time.
12 months warranty on all parts that you fit.
Can you tell me of ANY supplier that will cover that part you’ve fitted for 12 months. ? If D&G want 12 months warranty then ask them to advise which supplier will supply under D&G’s terms of warranty..parts and labour no less.
For a whole 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} profit.Bryan
Re: D&G Contract
Really sad this, D&G used to be a company worth dealing with now they seem to be making the same mistake as all the rest. Once you lose the goodwill then you’re on the downward slope. They give all the good work back to the manufacturers or take away the chargeable work. They threaten their own network and only pass the dross to us and then they wonder why we don’t support them in the customers home. Oh and of course they back the wrong pony with Comet. Sad so sad
Re: D&G Contract
i dont work for them – but why doesn’t everyone stop working for them for a week or so.
it sound as though the work isnt there anyway – re giving the cream to manufacturers and passing the lucky agents all the built ins or Chinese or any other crap that you spend 2-3 hours chasing spares thus loosing all of the mark up.ally
Re: D&G Contract
Organising something like that would or possibly could be deemed as industrial action, in other words, the dreaded unionisation a thing to which I am vehemently opposed by nature. Therefore, I personally would never condone it without the circumstances being akin to the sweat shops of the Victorian era.
It could also be construed, if you want to frame it that way, as the agents working as a cartel. Something that competition law carries very, very heavy fines for. Bear in mind that many of the companies that we work for do have deep pockets and lots of resources to throw about along with their teddies.
So mass action against any company is, IMO, a non-starter and always has been.
Asides from which, it isn’t really productive without some form of dialogue before you get to that point. Nor would I think (personally) that it was acceptable to take action without all discussion of the matter being exhausted first.
The problem is that, other than the WTA and DASA there aren’t any organisations that I am aware of which represent the interests of the repairers in general so any company ends up doing any talking on a one-to-one basis. You then end up with different deals done on the basis of how much the agent is needed or wanted for whatever reason and/or the negotiation skills of the business owner. Which, when it’s uncovered and, it pretty much always is eventually, can often lead to resentment or the feeling of the agent that they’ve been cheated.
Thing is, the companies involved are incredibly unlikely to talk to a third party as there’s no stipulation for them to do so. They just move on to the next contractor that will do the work under the terms or, as close as they can get.
Most won’t even comment let alone discuss any issues with a third party.
So arbitration is an alien concept here. Which is a shame as it’d probably do the world of good and could have saved a lot of heartache offer the years as well as I believe being compulsory if it were an employed workforce.
Due to that though, we all are usually offered two options, take it or, leave it.
Don’t you just love our fractured industry? :rolls:
To be fair to DAG though, I did ask some questions and they came back to me with some reasonable answers. Not that I’m over the moon about the cut in the parts margin, but any sane and reasonable person wouldn’t be.
K.
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