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For many of you its AGM time and Im not going to be there cause its my little ones birthday. So I’ve decided to stir it up and provoke some thoughts into the morons who DON’T think. So apologies if any of you are going to be pissed with me but……..unless you push and push hard now’t will change. You are about to be told exactly what you already knew and you’ve shelled out a couple of grand for the privalige. This guy who’s done the survey is going to tell you nothing new, weve discussed all the problems before.
If he is honest he should tell you your underfunded….wow
you have no plan…and no-one on board to make a business plan…wow
you need a leader….wow
more exposure, more public awarness….wow
more credability….wow
get real guys…I’m not taking the piss, I’m really pissed that we still have done fuck all.So will I re join Dasa ….NO. I will not be a trainee member for a year b4 being granted full membership. See thats a glaring fault with the system, one that you could fix, but you need a agm to alter constitution, another error, you should have the power to alter the course of things mid stream if you want too.
Add the constitution is too restrictiveoh, no need to pay me for the predictions, they’re free.
ps talk about sticking your head above the ramparts 8)
kevin
pps ..just remembered that I read in the minutes that scott wants the new members to serve 3 years before attaining full membership. Is he fucking stupid? Hope you all realize that no-one will accept that!
kevin
Re: gloves off week
Kev,
It seems more than a bit strange that I have to try and defend DASA to the same person who was instrumental in getting me more involved in dasa in the first place.
To be fair we are only 8 months down the line from getting shot of C.H.
The only money we have spent in that time has been used to seek the views of the members, and communication with the members was the single most important item as agreed by all the council including yourself.The reason we hav’nt spent any more is because we are trying to raise enough funds to get an effective Director to get DASA back on it’s feet.
Was’nt that the battle plan we came up with at the meeting at P.K.I.The original plan was for dasa and ukw to work closley with one another what and why has that changed. Why pull the rug out from under dasa’s feet in the week before the AGM.
If you did’nt like what you heard from the AGM, then that would be the time to kick off surely, not the fuckin week before.
Next time you chair a UKW meeting take the time to look around the room at the faces that give ukw most of it’s support, a lot of them might be familiar to you from your old dasa day’s.
There are plenty of enemy’s out there to fight, without lookin for a rumble with your OWN allies.
If it should come to pass that DASA fail’s then so be it. but at the very least dont let it be due to the damage caused by UKW.
The quote “et tu brute” seems to come to mind.
Del
Re: gloves off week
So tell me what I’ve said that is untrue and why it can’t be said in public. Or do we realyy have to hide this.
The comments in the forum are mine and not UKW. If Dasa is to raise funds, then make sure its discussed and voted on at the AGM. Two years ago at a council meeting it was deliberated on as to how Dasa could generate funds. SILENCE. Not a single idea was forthcoming. Listen to Oldtog at the agm if Dasa Fees are discussed, every year he complains that a raise of more than a tenner would see him rethinking his position.
Sorry Del, I think this week is exactly the week to get you all thinking about the problems. And if the AGM is more lively because of this then thats exactly what is needed, more members to realize that all is not well.
If Dasa has a plan to raise funds to set on a leader, they are locked away somewhere. No-one has circulated it in the 8 months since CH was ejected and I stand to be corrected that the leaders job description has not even been written and approved yet? This is the point Del, no-one is actually moving things forward. The constitution requires a rewrite to bring it into line with the modern world…is it on the agenda?
Just read oldtogs reply to the Dasa thread in which he completely ignores the problems to get upset instead, then read Penquins.kevin
Nearly forgot this……I will gladly look all in the eye at any function wether it be business or pleasure. Why? Because we are in the repair business and when something is broken we fix it. Dasa is in need of repair and theres no way I am investing into it again if there is not a repair plan on the table. Ken quite rightly says what we discuss at a UKW meeting should be actioned before the next meeting, I simply agree with that. Dasa should have closer links with us, but first it has to raise itself out of the hole its in.
Re: gloves off week
We all realise that things have got to change, but it seems such a shame that just when things were starting to happen the real movers and shakers are walking away.
It is not enough Kev, that a lot of people agree, (myself included,) with your vision for DASA i.e. a rewrite of the constitution, to bring it more into line with with the faster pace of change that our industry and trade is facing.
Also to get rid of the rediculous probationary period for a member to join instead of increasing it. etc. I was always led to believe that in this country a man was innocent until proved guilty. ( not too sure about Scotland though )But as a democratic organisation DASA has to guage the views of all it’s members, not just go along with the dictates of those who happen to hold office at any one partuicular moment in time.
That is why DASA had to spend the time and money before we can move on.
It’s not enough for one person, no matter how well informed or clued in to say he know’s what all the membership want. We actually have to prove that by personally contacting each member and spend five or ten minutes each, asking them their views and what they think and compiling the soddin’ answers.You think that the exercise was a waste of money, but I think it was the best money spent by DASA in the last ten years. It is a classic example of democracy at work and provided that the council can act effectively on it’s results then no one can point a finger and say it’s only an old lads club.
My particular view since I became active with both DASA and UKW is that if we could get both organisations working together in tandem but as independant seperate bodies, we could achieve a hell of a lot more.
We have seen some movement from the big players over the last twelve months as the industry starts to wake up to the fact that there is a serious skills shortage and that they wont be able to get there appliances fixed at any price unless someone takes the lead over training.
This is an avenue that DASA should get involved with more deeply.The single most effective time for any single member to get his proposals onboard with any organisation is at it’s AGM. so if you cant be there in person at least send along a proposer or a letter to see how much support you can get for your proposals from the floor of the AGM.
Dont leave the job half done see it through to the end and leave the trade a dam site better than you found it.
Re: gloves off week
Things do have to change with DASA as, quite frankly, it’s almost dead.
Here’s my thoughts…
DASA is from a bygone age started to combat the “cowboys in the kitchen” and to promote good service agents and alienate the cowboys. So it became a vehicle for standards and the Code Of Practise was born and subsequently written and re-written by Chris Hayter, a man with no experience of the industry at all and absolutely no practical experience of what we do. He also, IMO, had very little interest in the industry other than what he could personally gain from it. Another fucking leach!
So DASA has the COP, which is unworkable and totally unrealistic for application in the real world. What is really, really sad is that subsequent council members over the years have backed this plan up and, I have even heard plans to introduce further hurdles in it as well. Frankly that’s just fucking stupid.
I talked a bit with Roy Fisher who stated that at the last UKW meeting that people at that table couldn’t reach the standard set out in the UKW Charter never mind the DASA one, that illutrates just how unrealistic it is.
So take that away.
Then we have the communication thing. The new website is grim, really grim.
There’s fuck all information there for anyone that wants to know about DASA and what it is or does, tell me I’m wrong. The forums are okay, but Scott is deleting stuff carte blanche there and, IMO, not running it correctly given that he and others said and agreed it was to be “formal” then continues to be informal. He bans knicknames, insisting that people use their own real names, berates Johm Mac for using “johnmac11” then allows other spurious names. So the standard seems to change as appropriate.
There is nothing there. Certainly nothing to encourage people to have a look around and find out more about DASA and it is, in effect, a two page website with a forum.
The one with the re-direct and pictures is so unproffesional, I can’t begin to tell you on how many levels it’s wrong.
Now we have this Steve Roachfort thing.
Okay, I understand why it has been instigated and I can see some call for it to be done, what I don’t accept is the cost of it, just stupid. Anyway, what are you going to learn from it?
The old stallwarts will praise DASA for doing fuck all.
The ones that don’t care will simply be miffed and offer no useful inpput.
The ones that have a go will simply reitterate the sentiments posted here.
That’s it! You’re probably not going to get much more than that. Kevin is quite correct in his analysis of what’s going to come back and I’d lay money that those are almost the answers you get from the exercise.
Where will DASA go, hell knows. Frankly I can’t see a need for it now as I think it has become irrelevant in today’s world and I regard it as a wounded sloth from a bygone age in all honesty. That said, it could still do something and become an integral part of the industry but only through massive change, which would undoubtedly be massively oppossed to. We all know this is the reality, just that no fooker wants to admit it or even say it.
It took YEARS to get rid of CH, any further change is liable to go on much the same timeframe.
To raise public awareness of DASA is fine, but let me ask you, do you think the public care? Manufacturers don’t, they use the DASA list as a convienence as it saves them loads of cash tracking down agents, don’t kid yourself they don’t do it because DASA members are any better. They want work carried out and carried out to a budget, being a DASA member toward that goal is pretty much irrelevant.
I know that many of the people at the meetings are both UKW and DASA and I do appreciate that fact, however these are also the people that care about the industry and will do what they can, I really think that the banner that is done under is irrelevant to them. It’s only that DASA is like an old cosy pair of slippers that many people continue to keep it alive.
As I said, take away the informal discussions at DASA meetings and on the phone and what’s left? Fuck all if we’re honest.
All you get from DASA is some contacts that MAY lead to some work at some point, other than that to answer the “what’s in it for me?” question, is nothing right now.
K.
Re: gloves off week
ok del.
1) Each council memeber to be assigned a group of agents to be his “chapter”. The council member reports the minutes of the meeting to his chapter and relays back to council the feedback. Written in 3 lines but it will take some organising. That wat a council meeting brings the grass root views to the meeting.
2) Pay one of your own to be leader for 3 months and cycle throughtout the year. £5000 for three months work. Discuss the objectives first and task a member to achieve.
I’m gonna stop there cause I aint a member and I’m not sure I should give you too much too chew on.
whilst i dont own the ideas you know where you read them first.
Kevin
Re: gloves off week
Del,
I had a few ideas a couple of years ago and more, I took them to Chris and they probably never even saw the light of day.
In response to that, hello to UK Whitegoods!
Many of the things that NEED to be done cannot be done under the guise of a trade association as it’s going to get dirty and messy in time if we are to get anywhere and by that I mean we will upset people. WP’s and manufacturers are my first concern and we’ve already given them a right old kick in the ass. There is no room for complacency in that endeavor, nor any room for hesitation. Being a trade association introduces a time factor that is unacceptable in reacting to situations as they arise.
I have a plans to get UKW massive exposure through time, that will not happen overnight but it will happen if I have my way for not a lot of money, something DASA should have been doing years ago. But it’s been so bogged down in it’s own internal politics it’s gotten nowhere and done squat.
Kevin’s suggestion is fine but I have a strong suspicion that it may well be a case of too little, too late and getting the council members to invest the time into it will be a challenge at best. The notion to pay for those services may help in that endevour but I don’t know that it would produce the desired result.
What you have to do is sit down and think, what is DASA’s role? What does it provide to members? What can it provide to members?
But the most important question that should be asked is, what can we do to get people interested in DASA?
K.
Re: gloves off week
Well this is getting interesting now and we’re getting a brilliant debate on DASA not that you guys with “DASA” stamped on your foreheads will like it too much, so sue me! 😆
This HAS to be done! We either sort DASA and get it back to where it should be and what it should be doing or we bin the thing and start again fresh. It is stale, I don’t think anyone could argue that point and it needs a shot of life injected into it.
From that debate, which no doubt some people will be reeling from, there has been some excellent points made and some fantastic ideas as well to go forward, there is very rarely a debate such as this that does not produce a positive result even when it seems damaging. But this sort of empassioned debate on what DASA is and where it’s going is what we should have been having at council instead of fucking about with training and all that other crap. We got rid of Chris, we can now change it and mould it into something worth the while but it will take more than attending the odd meeting to do that.
The question is, does the council and in particular the officers have the stomach and the time to get it back on the map?
K.
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