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I got a spam email from eSpares which has really got me going! It says:
“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. This was proved in a recent survey that showed, on average, UK consumers save £100 every time they fix an appliance themselves. Next time your appliance needs a bit of TLC visit the eSpares website and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.” (total bull****. What survey? Who did it?)
On their site (link below) they state these savings (more total bull****):
Part eSpares Price Average Repair Saving
Dishwasher spray arm £12 £112 £100
Oven element £19 £114 £95
Washer/dryer door seal £22 £114 £92
Washing machine hinge £24 £111 £87
Freezer door seal £27 £113 £86Nobody but an utter cowboy would charge £100 to fit a spray arm! What cobblers! And slander!
My point is:
1) These spammed lies-by-email are damaging our income and reputation
2) It must violate Advertising Standards as it is lies
3) It put the untrained public in danger telling them they can fit electrical parts in electrical appliancesMatthew Henton (Marketing Director) also says (more slander of our trade) “How many of us have taken a day off work to wait for a workman who never arrives?” (We do evening calls for the folks who work all day)
I suggest that some strong emails to Henton and eSpares bosses is in order (I have already sent mine, challenging them to send me the actual “survey” they quote from. It is not a polite email).
Can anybody suggest a stronger course of sction? Can we threaten a legal “class action”? Can we complain as a group to the Advertising Standards Authority ( http://www.asa.org.uk )?
We shall no longer use eSpares for any parts, and I shall tell them so.
Link to eSpares is:
http://www.espares.co.uk/news/a/1219/uk … rce=emailsThe average repair cost from independent repairers, the last I checked and I will admit it’s been three years I think, maybe two, is around about £65 per completed call. Even allowing for inflation etc. it’s still nowhere near what eSpares are quoting. But you have to bear in mind, they just want the sale, repeat business I don’t think they give a stuff about.
Like any survey, it depends what you survey and also what questions you ask that will dictate the results.
Hence, I don’t tend to put a huge amount of faith in surveys unless they are totally open.
But eSpares are rather aggressive with this sort of stuff and, whether it’s true or not, they’ve now put it out there and it will have gotten into some people’s heads for sure. Knowing them, they’ve probably put it out as a press release as well, they do that sort of thing quite regularly to get attention.
They are also partially responsible for driving down the online prices of some spares although, they’re hardly alone in that endeavour which is taking even more off you guys as well as me, so I ain’t ecstatic about it either.
It cracks me up though the irony in this, we get pummelled on occasion for selling parts and yet the question I always chuck back at everyone is simple this…
What has any other retailer, any single one, given back to the industry, ever?
Before anyone tries, I really don’t expect an answer to that one. 😉
K.
Those figures seem quite accurate if they are from the manufacturers. Obviously a reputable sole trader would not charge those prices.
I remembering charging over £100 for a AEG spray arm some years ago.
(for Service Force)Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
But what is most ironic about this is that Espares nicked UKW’s “Repairs @” Code Of Practice a couple of years back. Copied almost verbatum.
Funny that……… 👿
Steve.
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
They don’t care Steve, never have. eSpares has absolutely no concern whatsoever for the wellbeing of the trade in general as have many others, it’s just a case of “I’ve got mine” no more, no less.
So long ago I decided we’d just get on with our thing and let everyone else get on with theirs.
Where that leads remains to be seen.
K.
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
As boselecta comments, eSpares “survey” may be based on the average call-out charge many manufacturers are currently charging these days. So perhaps they’re not too far of the mark there. The much paraphrased “..and our survey said!” no better appropriated in this case than when they want to flog a few spares over the Internet. eSpares have been rather successful in that of late!
They’ve got the spares and they can also tell you how to fix it and then publish :-
eSpares-Winning Stories wrote:And finally we come to the star prize, the Weekend for 2 in Paris. We’ve awarded it to Keith Joy. His story epitomises all that eSpares is about. Well done Keith, have a top time in Paris:
After getting a quote for over £150 to fix the door lock on my washing machine I thought I’d be better off buying a new one than getting it repaired. Before splashing out I thought I’d surf the internet to see if anyone had any tips on repairing it myself. When I chanced upon eSpares and found that I could get hold of a new door catch for around £20 I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it out myself.
The part was easy to find by searching eSpares for my make and model and the order process quick and simple. The part arrived within a few days and I set about swapping it over. This is where I got stuck as I could not work out how to reach the door catch from the inside. I tried from the top and even laying the machine on its back to try from underneath but could never comfortably reach it.
This is where eSpares came to my rescue yet again. Through the use of one of the video tutorials posted on the website I was able to compare the machine used in the demonstration to my own and work out how to reach the catch by removing the door seal – easy when you know how!
So thank you eSpares, you saved me a fortune on having to repair or replace my washing machine and gave me a great sense of achievement. I have already passed on details of the eSpares website to friends and family who have successfully prolonged the life of their appliances and saved pounds they would otherwise have to spend out on repairing or replacing these.
myfil wrote:We shall no longer use eSpares for any parts, and I shall tell them so.
That’s the only positive thing that you can do as I’m sure they are not contravening any advertising standards in their claims? 😕
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
kladave wrote:LOL Keith Joy made up name shocker!!!
A weekend in Paris isn’t to be sniffed at and if they give away such treats to customers I may buy myself a pair of brushes from them and then give another glowing testimonial in the fervent hope that maybe………????? 😈
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
Only use it to compare prices,so I’m not selling parts too cheaply.
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
I guess we’re caught between manufacturers charging silly callout amounts, and getting the trade a bad name thereby (for being “too expensive”), and eSpares offering trips to Paris….
I was thinking of sending eSpares a testimonial:
“Thanks to you my poor mother-in-law was found dead on the floor from electrocution whilst her house burned down around her, because you people persuaded her she was capable of repairing her Ariston washer-drier…please cease and desist before you kill off any more of the general public…..I have written to the Sun newspaper………….etc”only kidding. But I had one customer nearly killed herself trying to reset a dryer TOC (no, of course she never thought to unplug it!)
There is a point here, that it is now illegal to rewire or fit new sockets in your own house – you need a “Part P” qualified electrician. We could see similar legislation in the future affecting our trade. What would eSpares do then?
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
I got the same E Mail.
Funny they sell elements at £80 and my local appliance repair shop sells them to customers at £35.00
Ironic.
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
Its possible that some of those spares prices they mention have posibly been copied and pasted from connnect!
another can of worms…
hehe.
😆Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
myfil wrote:There is a point here, that it is now illegal to rewire or fit new sockets in your own house – you need a “Part P” qualified electrician.
Actually that is not true, you can DIY in your own home what the hell you like. But if it’s beyond your means and you need an electrician to do it for you, then and only then does the law insist they be “Part P” registered.
myfil wrote:We could see similar legislation in the future affecting our trade.
Very little legislation similar in form to Part P will ever affect our trade it must be said. Gas safety and refrigerant disposal with a dash of WEEE disposal of used parts and packaging accepted. But that aside our trade is free of legislative constraints overall not to concern the majority.
myfil wrote:What would eSpares do then?
They just sell spares over the Internet that’s all. In fact as I type more and more folks are starting up in business flogging spares over the Internet. eSpares and CDSL (4ourhouse) currently have the majority it must be said. eBay are well up there and Qualtex are well up for it in more ways than you could ever imagine right now. It’s a friggin’ free for all and no mistake.
TBH I’m thinking of setting up my own spares on-line service to my own customers. Those that simply enquire as to how much I would charge to fit a door boot and then are put off by my the labour charge? Can’t blame many of the plebs that phone me, they’re on a budget and I don’t want to lose a potential customer now do I? So why lose out? Better I add a “fix it yourself” page on my website for those brave enough and a link to my on-line shop…..why the hell not?
As Delboy Trotter says “Who dares…..wins!”
8)
Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
Its a thorny old issue to be sure, i’m the first to slag off the DIY merchants who DARE to try to do our job, & sometimes the less competent ones genuinely do end up costing themselves more in the long run.
Recent ones i’ve been called to included a guy who turned his Zanussi upside down to get the pump off & got water all over the PCB making it BER.
Or the single mum who tried to fit a new oven element she’d got off the internet without turning the power off 😯 contacts blown off the multi switch & a 2 trip job for me (she hadnt told me she’d been near it :rolls: )However, if i wasnt in this trade i’d probably be doing exactly the same ill informed DIY fiddling myself 😳 what can i say, im i tinkerer.. cars, plumbing, joinery, i’ll give anything a bash.
One difference though.. i think i DO recognise my limits.. 😉Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims
Are they also suggesting ‘by offering-up prices of elements’ that the general public should be changing electrical parts too… wiring etc… with no prior testing of the parts… I have had elements that have been supplied to me NEW that have failed insulation tests and therefore could give someone a shock or worse if they didn’t know what they were doing.
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