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I have done repair work for the local council Social Services & Education Dept’s for well over 20 years now. Most schools now run their own budgets so they still contact me direct. The various Social Services homes and other establishments also phoned me direct and issued me with an SSD on my arrival. On completing the repair I have been paid by BACS for years now.
A while ago I got a phone call from someone saying that they had taken over all the work and I would have to go through them. They did once ring me to go and look at some completely obscure catering appliance which I do not do and I refused the call. I have until recently still been contacted by the various homes but have noticed that the calls whilst only amounting to about a dozen a year have tailed off.
I have had a phone call from Social Services this morning informing me that all future calls must go through Kitcheneers Ltd, ( had a quick Google and the name seems to cover several companies, the local Oldham one look like the ones involved here).
I have never done contract work for any manufacturer, I have absolutely no intention of doing sub contract work for someone who it appears is only going to feed me the rubbish thay cannot sort out themselves, so I have told Social Services to remove me from their list of approved contractors. No doubt someone at the Council has had a nice backhander for this contract but it will be their loss, not mine.
Thankfully I am virtually always very busy so I can tell them to take a hike without any worries.
Jim.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
My suspicions about Kitcheneers Ltd feeding me the stuff they couldn’t handle was spot on, I did reluctantly agree to do the work they passed me after constant phones calls from the MD of Kitcheneers, it seems their speciality is Pizza ovens and other large commercial equipment, why on earth they got the contract for all work on Social Services sites is a still a mystery to me, however events earlier this week prompted me to contact the Director of Oldham Social Services direct.
This is the e-mail I have just sent her.
Dear Mrs Jackson,
I am sorry to burden you with this, however starting at the top will save me time and effort fighting my way through the various channels below you.
Firstly let me introduce myself, My name is Mr James ( Jim ) Banks, I have occupied myself for the last 28 years as a self employed domestic appliance engineer.
My company name is IADOM Domestic Appliances.
For the past 25 years until quite recently I did a small but significant amount of work for Oldham Social Services, in a variety of establishments from Franklin House, Greenacres Lodge, The Gables and many other homes and nurseries throughout the borough.
The quality of my work has never been questioned and I was always paid on time via the SSD system, also via BACS for the past few years.
A little over twelve months ago I was contacted by a company called Kitcheneers Ltd, based on Honeywell Lane, Oldham. They informed me that they had been given the sole rights to all appliance repairs for all of the councils sites.
Unfortunately this company specialise in large kitchen catering equipment and have virtually no knowledge of the domestic type of kitchen appliances, washers, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc. they informed me that any such repairs would be passed through them to me, a situation that I was very unhappy with to say the least.Whilst I am aware of the major reduction in many of the sites I used to visit, the number of calls dwindled dramatically. I got the distinct impression that Kitcheneers would go along and look at any appliance, only passing it on to me if was something they could not easily fix. Futhermore I have had great difficulty in obtaining payment from them, I have one invoice outstanding over two months, e-mails and phone calls are ignored, promises of returned phone calls also fail to materialise.
I had decided that I would inform Kitcheneers that I would not be undertaking anymore work for them when I received a phone call on Tuesday that led me to write to you directly.The call was from a lady at Boston House, Broadway St, Oldham, asking me to visit to examine a washer and separate tumble dryer. I agreed to do this thinking it was a private residential home, as It was my first ever visit to Boston House I was surprised to see on my arrival that it was a Social Services establishment. On being shown to the two faulty appliances I questioned why Kitcheneers had not contacted me direct. I was informed that Kitcheneers had been out to examine the appliances and declared them obsolete and unrepairable.
The machines in question are less than 3 years old, whilst the washer does need a fairly expensive but extremely viable repair, the part needed to repair the dryer would cost £10.00. They staff at Boston House ( several of whom are also private customers of mine) have agreed to obtain an SSD and I am going to return, hopefully tomorrow (Friday 13th oops) to complete the repairs.
The total amount of work I do for Social Services is, to be honest only a very small part of my workload and if I never did another job for them it would have little or no impact on my business as such, however as a council tax payer I am appalled that this sort of wastage is allowed to take place. I would also be very interested to see just how much Kitcheneers Ltd load onto the top of the amount I have charged them for the repairs I have done since this new procedure was instigated. I was always proud to do work for the local council, I still do many calls for local schools, thankfully they now control their own budgets. It is just a shame that someone like myself who has always tried to do the best possible quality of work at a very reasonable rate of remuneration is now prevented from doing so.
If there is anything you can do to redress this situation I would be more than happy to continue to work for the council as an approved contractor but will not be involved via Kitcheneers Ltd from now on.
Yours sincerely,Mr J Banks
IADOM Domestic AppliancesProbably won’t make a hap’orth of difference but I felt better for doing it. 😆
Jim.
Sounds like a return to the dark ages- I thought local management was meant to do away with all the centralised crap?
Locally, the equipment I tend to deal with in schools- balances, microscopes etc- used to go to board-wide tender. Now, each facility running independently, the smaller operator like myself gets a good turn, and yes, the Dept. saves money.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
Nice letter, Well put.
Unfortunately it may never get to the people that count.
Which would be a shame. Hope it does.Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
I do have other avenues, 😉
Did the repairs today, refurbed drum assy on a WF000 and a V4 shaft & seal kit on a VTD00. total cost to the council taxpayer £150.00. Considerably less than new replacements.
The WF000 had suffered a drum support failure, haven’t had time to open the displaced one yet but suspect it will have the shoddy Indesit spider in it, the one I fitted has the heavy WMA spider.
Jim.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
iadom wrote:
Did the repairs today, refurbed drum assy on a WF000 and a V4 shaft & seal kit on a VTD00.Maybe a nice letter to their purchasing department could save them a few more quid in future 💡 .
Bryan
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
Several avenues to pursue Bryan, at least two of my customers are local councillors, one the leader of the local Lib Dems, the main opposition to the Labour incumbents. He likes nothing better than exposing this sort of thing, no matter how trivial.
I have been known to contact the local press on more than one occasion but as I have already mentioned the loss of all Social Services work would not really impact on me that much, I just like a bit of a rumble now and again. 😉 😆
Jim.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
Well as I suspected I got no response or even the courtesy of a reply form the Director of Social Services, so I wrote to the leader of the local Lib Dems, the current opposition round here at local level ( have to say I never voted for them or Labour for that matter 🙂 ). This was my short letter,
Dear Mr Sykes,
I am contacting you as someone who has an interest in looking after local people and businesses.
Our paths have crossed many times in the course of my days labours, I have repaired your domestic appliances and indeed your parents machines for some years now.
I recently had cause to send an e-mail to the director of what used to be Social Services ( not sure of its current name) Veronica Jackson. Whilst I appreciate this may well be a trivial matter I did not even get the courtesy of a reply.
I am not sure if it is something you could look into, it seems a shame that someone like myself is now excluded from working directly for the council, who have seen fit to give all the contract work to a company with absolutely no experience in the repair of domestic appliances, their special subject appears to be Pizza ovens.
…………………………………………………………………………………
And I am glad to say that I got a reply, although knowing the person concerned I would have expected nothing less, he wrote.
I am pleased you have drawn this matter to my attention.
For a couple of years now I have being doing some work behind the scenes on the council’s procurement policy and the fact it should not disadvantage local businesses and in fact, competition rules and tendering permitting, we should encourage contracts and services to be bought from local people.
Your email tell a different story and contracts should now be designed so as not to favour the ‘big boys’ and exclude people like yourself.
There is no excuse for the none reply.
Will let you know when I have anything to report.
Councillor Howard Sykes
…………………………………………………………………………….As I said earlier, I don’t really expect to get anywhere with this, I just love a good ‘ruffle’ now and again. 👿 8) 😆
Jim.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
Well if it’s any consolation I like to kick some apple carts as well when I think something’s unjust or just plain stupid. Needless to say I’m not short of work in that regard. 😉
K.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
It seems like the local councillor was true to his word. I have just recieved a short e-mail as follows.
…………………………………………………………………………….
Mr. Banks
Thank you for your email below, Veronica Jackson will respond to you as soon as possible
On behalf of Veronica JacksonExecutive Director
Adult and community Services
Mary Blanksby
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Well it is 14 days after I sent my first e-mail to them but hey ho, wheels are turning. 🙂
Jim.
Re: Kitcheneers Ltd
Just to put this to bed, for now at least, 😉
According to Adult & Community Services ( ex Social Services ) they have never had a contract with Kitcheneers Ltd and have agreed to put my name back on the list of approved contractors.
The funny thing is, when I was first contacted by Kitcheneers to tell me they would be handling all Social Services work I also had a call from someone at Social Services confirming this, furthermore until the call to Boston House mentioned above, I have not had a single call to a local authority site that has not come via Kitcheneers Ltd. Somewhere along the line somebody is telling porkies or bending the rules a little.
Fair play to my local councillor who did ruffle a few feathers, I have not heard from Kitcheneers Ltd for months now but have had a couple of calls from other Adult & Community establishments so it was worth taking the time to complain. 8)
Jim.
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