E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Martin wrote:

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…………
………..
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.

Agree with Kladave. Keith is a fictitious character for sure. (Or is possibly on the board of directors.) Very unlikely he had friends and family all in the position of needing repairs done and using e-spares and all in time for him to write his review. Anyone who takes that review as read is very naive. Just the sort of mug customer they’re looking for in fact.
Mike.

[Allsorts]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Martin wrote:So thank you eSpares, you saved me a fortune on having to repair or replace my washing machine

Maybe if this had been an electrical part this happy customer would have saved all that money and more.. because maybe he would never have needed a washer ever again.

[Madmac]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

I think the job i attended yesterday sums up the average diagnostic skill level of the public at large..
Hotpoint WM52, tripping RCD a little while into wash.. what would be your first thoughts? Gotta be heater surely.. maybe motor related but heater most likely.
Sure enough, heavy earth leak on heater, fixed in 20 mins, £55 & customer beaming with joy.

She’s a single parent on a fixed income so her father, neighbour & a ‘friend’ all had a pop at tracing the trouble before i was called in :rolls:
Anyway, long story short (which she went into in great detail all the while i was there :rolls: ) several items were bought for this machine including a pump :hmm: brushes & door seal ( the old one did at least have a small hole)
She had paid a similar amount for these parts as i charged her to actually fix the thing, kinda felt sorry for her but lesson learned i think 😉

So yeah, anyone CAN buy parts, but years of experience & the ability to use a multimeter/megger quite often makes all the difference 🙂
Thats our edge.. thats why i never get involved in the public forums.

[Martin]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Madmac wrote:Thats our edge.. thats why i never get involved in the public forums.

Indeed so, we do have the edge in that regard. We also need not fear the likes of eSpares and the plethora of web sites that give advice on fixing appliances or flog spares on the cheap to the general public. Just on the public advice aspect then the apparent expert advice given is often distorted out of all proportion by the information given by the public anyway. In other words they enter information on a web site that is far from the actual facts of the case, then the replies are distorted and barkingly wrong! Simply put duff information in and you get duff out. And that happens time after time after time…hence Madmac’s example where his customer has been buying pumps, brushes and door boots to little or no avail.

How fantastic would it be then based on that fact alone to be able to flog spares to punters that don’t really need them? That have put the wrong info in and got the wrong advice back then got the part and found it hasn’t cured the problem. The more I think about that the more I’m convinced I should capitalise on those punters that reject my call out fee as ill-affordable but go out and buy spares across the counter somewhere or more likely over the Internet.

I had one the other day in fact as it happens. He checked on the Internet and all info pointed to his Hoover w/m not pumping. He asked how much to stick in a new pump? Long story short….he buys a pump from the Internet somewhere, goes to fit it and it still doesn’t solve his problem. I go out and find that the triac (TR5) has blown on the module as a direct result of a faulty pump but no-one advised him that it could also be a faulty module as well, ’cause he didn’t realise or know to check if there was 240v to the pump!!

That’s just one of many examples I can real off over the recent months and years. But overall for the most part the golden rule is if they have to ask how much you charge then don’t be at all surprised if they either go elsewhere or even more likely to surf the web for a solution. It’s a lost cause to even fathom as to their motives but primarily avoiding the cost has got to be well up there as a reason. If you get a come-back after all their duff advice and wasted spares buying so much the good for you. But again I would advise caution as they’ve probably cocked-up their machine to a point of BER by then I expect?

eSpares is well in profit over it’s marketing techniques and you have to admire their bottle. As to illegal, dangerous and outrageous claims? I think not. I just wish I could have the where-with-all to get on and share in their bandwagon or figure out a way of gaining commission from them for any custom I may put their way. Only joking on the latter option by the way. 😉

Finally to end this diatribe….Often many folks on here parallel the motor trade with the white goods trade in more ways than one. Here’s another potential similarity….

How many motorists fix their own cars and buy spares over the counter from motor factor dealers, or go on the Internet search for answer to their automobile problems?

Answer: Between .2{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} and 2{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the UK population (region dependant) that’s all. The rest take their cars to a repair shop.

Ask the same question of the white goods trade? No more than 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} is my guess? The remaining 95{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} are spilt evenly between those that call for professional help (55-65{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} maybe?) and those that simple scrap it and buy new ’cause it’s over 3 years old anyway!'(30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d})

…as Madmac says so perceptively…..”that’s our edge”.

I’m off for a late lunch…….cheers! 😀

[burns]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

http://www.espares.co.uk/part/fitting-t … dle-s.html

£13.49 for this poor quality tool, its less than a tenner at halfords and still crap.

[kwatt]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Madmac wrote:Thats our edge.. thats why i never get involved in the public forums.

And yet, as a serial tinkerer, you’d look for help online with other things and that’s okay?

I’m not having a pop at you madmac or anyone else with that quip, it just strikes me as somewhat ironic that it often appears to be a case of, “it’s okay if it’s someone else that suffers, just not me”. It’s a natural reaction to a change in the way things are.

Fact is, people can get good advice and trust the source then return for whatever they require. Or, they can get bad advice and just think that there’s no help or reputable services out there.

Your choice.

However, as Martin has pointed out, albeit with flaky stats, there’s the three basic groups…

The ones that won’t call anyone out, full stop, end of story.

Those that will perhaps give it a go if they think they can do it. If they think it’s too hard they’ll get someone in.

Those that just want to find someone good that knows what they’re doing as they’re never going to try it themselves.

We’re not in the least bit interested in the first group. We’re mildly interested in the second, but we have to convince them. We’re VERY interested in the last group as they are our bread and butter in respect to repairs.

The middle group are the ones that learn, often the hard way, that they were perhaps not so smart trying it themselves, then call you or another repairer when they muck it up.

But, this basic way of looking at things is why we have repairs@, to try to capture the second and last group, then direct them to you.

I seem to recall that when B&Q et all came up the ranks that all the painters, among others, thought the sky was falling and that their world would end. It did, to a degree, that’s true. But we still have painters, joiners and whatever else to this day despite a plethora of TV shows detailing how to do it, internet sites, books and goodness knows what else. All that has gone is a lot of the cowboys as they can’t survive when you need a good reputation to continue getting trade.

I suspect we’ll follow.

K.

[Madmac]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Yep, i thought i’d tempt you to the keyboard with that last line Ken 😉 You’re right though, i am being slightly hypocritical in the stance i’m taking.. what can i say.. its my livelihood! 😯
Plus, TBH, i simply wouldn’t be comfortable giving advice to someone i had no clue about with regards to their ability to work on an appliance operating at 240v :zap:
Regarding my my tinkering, I make around half the money on an average week as i did 15 years ago.. no wonder i need to do DIY!! 😀
Cant blame the internet for it all,no, but i think all us indies feel we’re being squeezed from every direction at once with falling income yet steadily rising costs year in year out. very,very stressful.

But, we are where we are, i noticed the Highland council’s advertising for a foreman to oversee/train ‘socially problematic’ young persons ( just oot o’ jail in other words 😉 )in their appliance recycling HQ in Inverness paying 25k year plus Bonus.. maybe i’ll go for that.. thats the real growth area in white goods, lets face it. 😉

[boselecta]

Yes I agree with you Madmac, giving technical advice to total strangers is more than potentiousley dangerous, that is also the reason I stopped posting on the public forums.
Well that and loosing jobs as customers said they had sorted it out via this website.

(Sounds like I am trying to be contentious but Im not, Im gratefull for the jobs I have completed that I otherwise wouldn’t from the tech advice from this forum)

[Madmac]

boselecta wrote: Im gratefull for the jobs I have completed that I otherwise wouldn’t from the tech advice from this forum)

Aye, me too boselecta, and the irony isn’t lost on me either, expect this site to run for nuffin i do 😀
Look, if i was as busy as i was in the past i MIGHT be tempted to type a few lines for a reasonably intelligent sounding individual on the public forum, but really only if it involved a pretty non technical job..sorry but 95{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the general public really,really are not safe working on an object containing 240v & water, so how would i know if i was dealing with the 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} who might be ❓

But im not as busy as i was in the past, in the past i wouldn’t be sitting in the house on a Friday morning typing this rubbish waiting for the phone to ring 😯 i’m just a skint, bad tempered middle aged man longing for the good old days to return.. you really wouldn’t want me on the public forums
Anyway, i think i support the site in other ways, i always order from shop@ if i’m after a single item & have done since i joined..so there 8) 😆

[kwatt]

Madmac wrote:Look, if i was as busy as i was in the past i MIGHT be tempted to type a few lines for a reasonably intelligent sounding individual on the public forum, but really only if it involved a pretty non technical job..sorry but 95{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the general public really,really are not safe working on an object containing 240v & water, so how would i know if i was dealing with the 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} who might be ❓

I can point you in the direction of some engineers that are likewise. 😉

The thing is, that’s why there are the rules that there are in the public forums.

K.

[bagman]

kwatt wrote:

I can point you in the direction of some engineers that are likewise. 😉

K.

I was in my local parts distributors (trade section) the other week when one of the ‘engineers’ from a different company stood there with a capacitor in his hand, and was asking anybody who walked in if they knew which way around the wires went. 😯

He also happened to have a can of Special Brew in his other hand, stank to high heaven of stale booze and cigarettes, yet still manages to get joe public to pay him for his ‘service’… Go figure!

[Martin]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Martin wrote:TBH I’m thinking of setting up my own spares on-line service to my own customers.

Update:

Just getting into this eBay lark (got a PayPal account too) and have sold a few bits this last week direct from the eBay site…..brilliant.

4 pair of motor brushes, one pump and a couple of door interlocks. Bagged and posted off at the Post Office this morning…money in my PayPal account just sitting there building up.

It’s true what Ken say that eSpares are forcing the spares prices down somewhat but even so I have found another string to my bow now. Next step is setting up a proper eBay business and rub shoulders with the big boys!

I do need a source for smallish cardboard boxes and packing materials though as that’s the only slight problem right now!

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: E-Spares Illegal, Dangerous and Outrageous Claims

Martin wrote:

I do need a source for smallish cardboard boxes and packing materials though as that’s the only slight problem right now!
You could try e-bay. 😉
Mike.

[Author]

Posts