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Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
Martin Said:
Oh please squadman, have you not noticed that Repaircare have been doing this type of service for years? The fact is, and the reason I brought the subject up today, is that I’ve just realised Comet are ‘at it’ too! So much so they are undercutting Repaircare by some big margin in fact
Why of course I am aware that RC have been doing this, as have Indesit.
I had not seen Comets T&Cs but now having had a look at them which I thank you for pointing out Martin I am still of the opinion that this will not harm us in any significant way. Whilst the math of your figures is correct in its essence and I see where you are coming from my views on this are based on my local situation. RC / Comet may have a much higher profile in your area or other engineers areas where you have been able to observe the effect of this sort of pricing system and if that is so and it became truly national and in my backyard we would need to look at ways as has been suggested in dealing with it.As it stands currently none of my customers or any enquiry from the public have made me think about this fixed pricing system, none of the other companies that are in my locality have ever discussed this with me and I can firmly say that for any company wanting to charge a fifty pounds call out will be a negative selling point that is much more likely to drive people towards us Independents.
I will watch this one with interest Martin and out of interest has anyone here been affected by Comets or RC fixed pricing scheme and seen a down turn of work as a result of it ?
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
oh martin your gonna love this ….
even better with fixed price , if parts are expensive take your ber fee , and then refer to our big brothers fixed fee where they will get repair done ..
£30.00 ber fee just to go out and refer to a bigger co …brilliant ? ..
ps i wish i had thoughht of this but i didnt , weve been in to loads of cals where customer have said local co came out , charged a call-out fee and then refered to online co as parts were expensive ..
genius ..
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
There always seems to be a flip side with this, in that we have been out to a number of calls where the manufacturers own service have BER an appliance or another large repair company who have said the same only to find out that its repairable at a lower cost !
For instance had an AEG dishwasher a couple of weeks back which was built-in with No Heat, An Engineer from a large company was booked to look at it whereupon he said that it would be close on £ 200 to repair it with a new PCB. Five minutes with the soldering iron the machine was back working much to the customers obvious delight, she thought that the company concerned was more interested in selling her a new machine and by her own words ! she will not ever be calling the likes of them again !
I know that we have had this conversation here before and no doubt it will be discussed again, but the fact is as independents we are able to offer many things to our customers and the majority of these customers are savvy and not stupid. They make choices based on mainly fixed criteria of how much, how quick. I am sure that RC and Comet will do ok with this type of fixed pricing but as with extended warranties the savvy customers soon work out that you cannot get something for nothing and that if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is !
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
squadman wrote:There always seems to be a flip side with this, in that we have been out to a number of calls where the manufacturers own service have BER an appliance or another large repair company who have said the same only to find out that its repairable at a lower cost!
Too right mate, don’t I know it, especially with RC and Indesit in these parts anyway, so can’t grumble at that. 😀
What could happen with Comet though is that should this fixed price take off, and I can’t see why it won’t for them in the fullness of time, they may well offer incentive discount purchases for BER calls anyway? For example : £99 paid up front, engineer BER’s m/c refund of £50 due but offers a ‘£60 voucher’ to replace the machine from them. Indesit already play that hand, RC can’t, I don’t think, but Comet will be well in front overall.
Besides indies that sell and service have been doing that for years anyway. So therefore in addition to that then also offer a fixed price repair service to their own portfolio. I can’t see that scheme losing TBH. Might well increase the BER rate and boost retail sales figures likewise. 8)
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
squadman wrote:For instance had an AEG dishwasher a couple of weeks back which was built-in with No Heat, An Engineer from a large company was booked to look at it whereupon he said that it would be close on £ 200 to repair it with a new PCB. Five minutes with the soldering iron the machine was back working much to the customers obvious delight, she thought that the company concerned was more interested in selling her a new machine and by her own words ! she will not ever be calling the likes of them again !
The relay usually overheats, and as a result of the local heat the solder on the tag melts. We strongly advocate a new board is fitted as the soldered joint inadvertently acted as a fuse, and the fault will self isolate the component. If there is a blob of solder, the relay will continue to overheat even further, and eventually the board catches fire. This is a known phenomenon.
There is a thread somewhere on soldering D/W boards, wasn’t able to locate it.
We had one where the customer was about to involve trading standards as he “fixed” it himself after we had called and inspected/diagnosed. He felt we had ripped him off with a quote for a board. He dropped the case as we had endorsed the paperwork that it was recommended not to use the machine, and we had left the D/W isolated. A few months later his kitchen was fire damaged, and we were called in to investigate.
Back to the subject.
No matter what we think or try these companies offering a full fix at a set fee will always happen. It is down to the punter, and if they feel they will benefit, then so be it.
Alex
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
Alex Said The relay usually overheats, and as a result of the local heat the solder on the tag melts. We strongly advocate a new board is fitted as the soldered joint inadvertently acted as a fuse, and the fault will self isolate the component. If there is a blob of solder, the relay will continue to overheat even further, and eventually the board catches fire. This is a known phenomenon.
With all respect Alex you are totally correct in that the relay failure is a known phenomenon. Having repaired PCBs for a good number of years both on Domestic Appliances as well as more discreet electronics I have yet to have see or hear of a fire ! where the PCB has been repaired correctly.
PCB repair is just that, its a procedure recognised in many industries and provided that the actual board is not damaged then either effecting a proper repair and or replacing components is acceptable, sure I appreciate it was a customer who had a go at repairing his own appliance as you described but as we do this for a living I would like to think that we possess the required skills and knowledge to perform such a repair. Having repaired Bosch, AEG and Zanussi PCBs where it is safe to do so I have never had an issue or gone back on a failure. Many engineers here repair these type of faults on a daily basis and its difficult to offer comment on your customer and his failure.
The Heater relays on these boards should be rated at a higher current handling and is a design issue in my mind, you can purchase a real world 10 amp relay for a couple of pounds which will not fail if soldered correctly and the PCB design in many modern domestic appliances is dated and of low end technology compared with modern PCB design. Getting back to the Fixed Price Discussions I am sure that Comet will find some takers for their scheme after all if it appears you can get something cheap there will be those who will come running !
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
squadman wrote:
The Heater relays on these boards should be rated at a higher current handling and is a design issue in my mind, you can purchase a real world 10 amp relay for a couple of pounds which will not fail if soldered correctly and the PCB design in many modern domestic appliances is dated and of low end technology compared with modern PCB design.As long as the relay is replaced, then of course we are looking at component replacement. Not ideal but a lot better than just a spot of solder. If this topic regards boards is to be persued, may I suggest in a new thread, or re-invoke the old one (If can be found).
Don’t let this detract from the subject however. I guess Comet are jumping onto a bandwagon. They have seen others going all out to move their business this way, so I suppose them doing the same is inevitable.
If they start to get the bad press that some of the others seem to have courted, they may drop it rather than lose their reputation in a retailers market place. These others who happen not to have retail outlets therefore do not have the retailer affiliation/reputation to uphold, so there is probably little knock-on effect that could follow.
Alex
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
Is the the customer able to to “change their mind” and get all their money back the same as if they change there mind if we do a job in their house? I remember something comming up at a W.G. meeting a couple of years ago about trading standards and that we have to also inform customers of their right to change their mind in a set period of time for jobs of any trade completed in the home. Can’t think whether my brain just made this up tho! Heavy night!
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
nigegt wrote:Is the the customer able to to “change their mind” and get all their money back the same as if they change there mind if we do a job in their house?
Only appointments cancelled nigegt. Changing your mind once they are there is not a refundable option as the terms were already agreed prior to the visit.Comet Fixed-price plan wrote:Appointments can be changed or cancelled without charge up to 2pm the day before the original date by calling our Customer Services Department on 0844 …. ….
All these firms coming up with fixed price plans have mushroomed since BERR came out with the brilliant Cancellation of Contracts Made in Consumers Home or Place of Work Regulation: 01/10/2008 regulations. :rolls:
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
If I recall correctly, Martin, under the distance selling regulation, the customer can still cancel a booking up to the point they receive written (which can include email if booked online) terms and conditions outlining their cancellation rights. So if you don’t provide the correct written T&Cs, they are still entitled to a refund if they change their mind after you’ve started the work.
Re: Fixed price repairs at Comet
stratfordgirl wrote:If I recall correctly, Martin, under the distance selling regulation, the customer can still cancel a booking up to the point they receive written (which can include email if booked online) terms and conditions outlining their cancellation rights.
You are quite correct in that assumption.:D
stratfordgirl wrote:So if you don’t provide the correct written T&Cs, they are still entitled to a refund if they change their mind after you’ve started the work.
Let us make clear at this point that both you and I are now referring to ‘Distant Selling Regulations” and not my earlier reference to ‘Cancellation of Contracts Made in the Consumers Home or Place of Work’ as both are completely seperate by definition. Having clarified that I can say with a fair degree of certainty that neither Comet, or for that matter Repaircare or 0800repair, give written notice to their customers as to their 7 day cancellation rights. But they do go to some length to point out that within their T&C’s that (for example) …..”nothing in these terms and conditions will reduce or affect your statutory rights”.
Now in English law that statement is enough to cover their backsides (to put it bluntly) and you will find in instances where a consumer makes claim against them at the point where they have indeed called and “started work”. They will at least be fully and legally obliged to (in Comets case at least)) keep their call-out fee of £49.
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