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In a conversation with Sean today it kinda highlighted a topic that I’ve maybe strayed away from or avoided for a long time as, frankly, I don’t care as I’m not directly involved with any repair work now and, nobody pays me to help others.
This is bad and this is good. It’s bad in that I don’t bother with it too often and good in that, when I do nobody can say boo to me as I’ve no stake in this.
I am very sure that this will be a topic at the next conference but in advance of that I thought I’d open this out first of all by insulting you all as, I look at this from an angle you don’t.
There’s a lot of really dumb people in this industry when it comes to charging for service and, a large part of the reason I bailed out of it.
Fact is, with more complexity, longer test routines that leads to vague sometimes guessed at diagnosis often meaning multiple calls that cost you, the repairer when it’s fixed cost repairs… you’re all doing nothing but buying yourselves a plot in the company graveyard.
Factor is the loss of margins on spares, the loss of premium rate insurance/extended warranty work that many now do (stupidly) for warranty rates or little more and the demise of chargeable work and it’s not hard to see why there’s less and less repairers every year.
You’re all metaphorically killing yourselves, all the above is commercial suicide.
Some literary killing themselves running about like headless chickens trying to scrape up enough to pay the bills every month.
Both include employed field techs as well as self employed ones.
It’s not sustainable.
Now I could go into the reasons why it’s a total crock of **** these days and break down the hour plus to fix a stupid tumble dryer, hours to diagnose a daft “smart” washing machine, fridge or whatever, having to disassemble a kitchen to get an integrated piece of **** out, hours to track down parts, your life wasted on paperwork and admin and all the while dealign with completely unrealistic consumer and client expectations but, I’ll let you all do that off the back of this.
Fact is, doing all that for a fixed price these days is just mental, total insanity.
Is it any wonder as many people have bailed, they saw the light.
If manufacturers, insurers and customers don’t change their attitudes then yes, as has been discussed on other threads, repairs will become “not commercially viable” and, we’re not a million miles away from that point. Myself and others have been warning for years of this.
But, what you have to realise is, you guys have the power to change that as, where else is anyone going to get stuff fixed? The ball, as they say, is at your feet.
Nobody that needs repairs can conjure up people to do it, I know, I get the adverts every day from people looking to recruit staff.
The first thing you have to wrap your head around is, fixed cost repairs on modern products… forget it, that’s a total waste of time and you sure as s**t ain’t gonna win playing that game.
K.
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
Unless you fix the cost sufficiently high to cover all that . Then of course you may not get the job….
Boy am I glad I’ve more-or-less retired…..Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
the only companies that can do this
have deep pockets
access to cheap spares
and have clever accountants writing off losses
ally
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
it all depends on what business model is being used and what type of work it is, private- sub contract etc, what type of customer is being targeted!, the catchment area is very important, population, theirs quiet a few variables to go into that model to make it work
customer perception on the type of job is also is a variable, they sometimes choose fixed rate over parts and labour if they think they can get a better upfront cost.
job filtering with good experienced customer care is essential coupled with sales with fixed rate repairs….
and more importantly than anything else no matter what way a business charges is the rise of the internet and how its influenced consumers decisions, were getting a lot of stripped down machines with half done jobs and yes ‘it does look easy on youtube!’ …. after turning up first thing to check, pull out the plug, lol 😆
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
Hi I was just thinking about the very subject today. Is it about time the likes of repair care up the payments for the calls they send out. As it was stated earlier in the thread appliances are becoming increasingly complex to strip down and diagnose.
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
Hi I was just thinking about the very subject today. Is it about time the likes of repair care up the payments for the calls they send out. As it was stated earlier in the thread appliances are becoming increasingly complex to strip down and diagnose.
And you think that’s gonna happen :rotfl: :rotfl:
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
Unfortunately, I suspect work providers are not particularly interested in what jobs are worth, as long as there are contractors willing to accept their rates.
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
The very point I was making.
Your version somewhat more condensed. 😉
K.
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
stratfordgirl wrote:Unfortunately, I suspect work providers are not particularly interested in what jobs are worth, as long as there are contractors willing to accept their rates.
When you hear that some engineers are willing to repair machines at £20 a pop, you can understand why WP’s get away with what they do.Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
I got out just over a year ago, do not regret it for one second. The trade has become a pain in the bum, with all the newer models headaches are built in. The fixed pricers and the awful customers. I just could not stand it anymore. One weekend, I parked the van on the drive and never went out again. I had already applied to take one of my private pensions early so I could reduce my hours, that last week was the final straw, every job had problems, nothing went right, I thought, s*d it. I look back on it all now and think why did I not blow it out a few years earlier. I wonder how many independents will be around in 5-10 years.
Re: Fixed Cost Repairs Are Dead
Gazman1000 wrote:I wonder how many independents will be around in 5-10 years.
In 5 years the number of indies will be at least halved. 10 years and only manufactures minions will still be around. Meanwhile the Internet will crush High Street sales into non-existence and fixed cost repairs likewise.
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