- This topic has 165 replies, 50 voices, and was last updated 19 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
You just can’t work it out can you. The phone never rang all morning until about 10 minutes ago when we received 4 calls one after another. This job never fails to surprise me. Non of them sound decent to be honest but at least its ringing.
But it still hasn’t been this quiet on a Monday morning for a very long time!!!Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Yeah Andy It seems to go up and down ….Now that Alex from Sedgemoor Domestic Appliances has sold out l do not get so much information on the state of the calls and manufactures info now,so you seem to be the nearest to me here at Weston Super Mare
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
I am in Bristol and the work is just as busy as last year.
You can never tell in this trade I am busy this week but next week it could be dead.
Lucky enough I get very few slow weeks as I specialise in refrigeration and it is a big city with little competition for fridge repairs.
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
This business is amazing. I was absolutely dead this morning, thinking is this the end and now I can’t fit another job in until Thursday. This afternoon went mad. I just wish I knew what caused it to go quiet all of a sudden and then change. There is just no routine anymore.
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Hey Samuri …Get in touch with me via email as l get a lot of refrigeration enquirys and would be only too glad to send them to you info@bdbgb.com We stopped going to Bristol some time ago due time taken on travel etc also the blanket 20 mph did not help
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
I get a lot of Refridgeration calls in Exeter but I assume it’s too far bob
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Andy, this might be a mental idea but, have you not considered learning how to fix fridges?
It really isn’t rocket science, just the same old logic you employ to repair most everything else, albeit with a slight skill set upgrade.
K
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Hi Andy
Yes Exeter is a bit to far for me as it would make it difficult to maintain the service I give in the Bristol Area.
Hope to See you in Feb
Cheers
Bob
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Always used to do them Ken. Still do the odd stats etc, found more and more coming in where system faults which I didn’t do and not sure it would pay to get compressor etc
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
Last time I posted on this thread I commented how slow work was, I checked the sales figures against last year and strangely enough fewer jobs but quality of work was high. The turnover was higher than like for like. To be honest most of the jobs were fixed on the spot without ordering parts as I had them on the van. I was in the right place and right moment when you get a run of jobs using up van stocks. Made a huge difference then come next month, the van stocks was hardly used and the parts were ordered.
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
very erratic one day busy all day then you sit there thinking the phones disconnected. with finished goods prices so low and still falling is it any wonder? I’m pushing 60 and just hope I can hang out until retirement, long standing customers help whereas the younger generation seem to follow the “bin it” routine and who can blame them, under £200 for a perfectly functional washer?
wilf
Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
I got out of the appliance rat race two years ago, I’d had enough.
With prices very low and most of the quality of the new machines as low as the prices. I think the trade has had its day, it is dying for the little man.
Those of you with a retail side to your business you are better placed to carry on while you can.
I hear the argument from the same faces saying “you have to adapt, to what the customers want”What the customers want, is a repair that is guaranteed for life, at a price so low you cannot make a living. Who can possibly adapt to meet that expectation.
I’m afraid it is a sad fact, people no longer see appliances as something to keep for 10+ years so the cheaper brands sell well making repairs less viable when the machine gives up three years later.
I resisted giving up for a few years, then one day the phone went quiet once to often. I did miss it at first, in a strange way, but if I’m honest, closing down and walking away was the best thing I ever did. I still run my own one man business but not doing appliance repairs. I no longer work weekends, or crawl around on kitchen floors. I do not earn a fortune but then again. I never earned a fortune in the appliance repair trade. Now my Work is steady all year round, I could never say that doing appliance repairs.
With the skills we have collected as a tradesmen all of us must be able to apply those skills in another occupation. It is just a matter of biting the bullet before it is too late or we are too old. I genuinely do not see this trade existing 10-15 years from now. 30 years ago nobody could have seen the closure of all the TV repair shops, try finding a little man who is fixing TVs now. I know this post will no be popular with many on here but it is a fact white good repair is not the trade it once was and nothing id going to improve it, no matter how you try to adapt.Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?
I have to agree. I retired in June after 33 years, the last 15 self employed. For the last couple of years selling appliances kept my head above water. Even existing customers wanted new instead of paying too much for PCB or tub changes. I didn’t want to go to work and be a parts swopper, real repairs died some years ago. I was bored.
I thought retiring would be difficult but 2 cartilage operations eased me into it and it is great, good pensions help but crawling about on grubby floors for not much reward isn’t something I would recommend to anyone.
I’m glad I’m out and can’t see much of a future for the small repairer unless the do refrigeration ,regassing and american. It was too late for me to go that route Gas where I live was a non starter, none around.
I know some will say adapt and survive and I see the point but much depends on how long you have to go.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.