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On A lighter note than some of the recent goings on in the industry there are some nice positive things happening as well as the not so good stuff that’s going off. I continually hear of people having a dig about UKW being all about agents moaning about stuff, well that’s simply not the case and to redress the balance a bit and put that argument to bed…
I for one have to praise MFI most highly for an excellent relationship as time goes on and it’s working very well so far. We get little hassles, I hope MFI are getting a decent service that they are happy with and the problems are minimal day to day stuff we all expect.
I’ve found MFI’s staff friendly, courteous and best of all they understand the customers and the type of stunts they get up to at times so they are aware and ask us before saying anything to customers. Brilliant! It’s so good to actually work together and get positive results for everyone as we all win; customers, us and MFI.
So in essence I was quite happy and comfortable with the promotion and work that some of us did to help out MFI in July last year and I’m glad that’s paid off for all the agents and, I hope, MFI as well.
Also so far, although it’s only just started, the EAC work has been much the same so far although we’re all still on a learning curve there and getting used to it all but it looks very positive from the outset.
D&G get praised all the time in here and with good cause IMO, since I started working with them a few months ago I’ve had nothing but support and a great relationship with them as well. Another company that is realistic with good, friendly and helpful staff that work with us.
Anglo Iberian Services, again praised in here all the time for working with us and with good reason IMO, the only snag there is rates.
Independent Services, again praised continually and only criticised on rates.
Graffters, one often missed and I can’t remember the last time they were mentioned but they’re great people to work with as well and offer realistic rates.
Apart from that there’s been slews of problems solved on many a contract without it even being mentioned in here as most of us are reasonable people that will make our best attempts to sort out problems without gobbing off in a web forum. 😀
We’re good at jumping on the people we don’t think are doing it right but, personally, I have no issue with praising the people that are getting it right and those are just some examples of a blend of the right people, attitude, rates (mostly) and all the rest that goes along with it.
What it does tell me is that service can be done right and that all the agents can work well with manufacturers and insurers to everyone’s benefit and its most definitely not all doom, gloom and having a go at people without justification.
K.
Re: Some Good News
Ken – I agree with most that you say, but with the exception of Graffters, we are continually putting them on stop for late payment/non payment. They only seem to pay when they have another job lined up that they need doing yesterday and then you wait months for that payment. I would agree that they are always polite but if you’re not getting paid does that help??
Re: Some Good News
k.
For the most part I agree with your sumation of the better networks out there. but there now seems to be a rush of certain manufacturers beating a track to thier door, because they have lost the faith of the agents who were originally working for them directly.
For some manufacturers it seems to be the same old story of abismal spares aquisition or technical back up on thier own products.
The reason we have to moan so much is the fact that, it tends to be the agents reputation that suffers most and not that of the manufacturers. This is because it’s the agents name on the van outside the house or on the jacket of the attending engineer.
If manufacturers want to sell thier products then they are surely honour bound to make sure that they have an adequate customer support base in place first.
It is a given, that the networks you have mentioned, are some of the better one’s in this trade. They too should be careful that thier reputation does not suffer as a result of being too keen to take on manufacturers with a poor track record of support.
There have been cases in the past of agents who have decided to part company with certain manufacturers only to be pressurised into continuing to have to work for the same manufacturer becase said manufacturer has been taken on by one of the networks you have mentioned. In some cases agents have had to part company with a reasonable network that they have been quite happy with up to that point. Rather than continue to suffer the headache they thought they had rid themselves of.The good news
MFI agents can see that this is an object lesson in how it should be done.
a)all info on CD both spares and tech info and even a section on common faults
b) reasonable rate for the job
c) small mark up on spares to help cover handling/stock cost’s
d) they pay on time
e) no problems with spares aquisition, they let you know if it is in or out of stock.Let me also say that there are some manufacturers out there who also give good support I wont bore you with the list, we all know who they are.
Suffice to say that the independant agent can only be as effective or efficient as the backing he recieves from the networks or manufacturers he provides service for.It is only a suggestion but Perhaps networks should request prespective clients to fill out the MFI check list before they take them on, rather than grabing for work irrespective of the problems that come with it. Why not make enquiries with your own network of agents before you strike the deal, not to ask thier permission of course, but rather to see what your getting into, or to see a way of improving the existing situation before hand.
Regards as ever Del
Re: Some Good News
bonzaco wrote:Ken – I agree with most that you say, but with the exception of Graffters, we are continually putting them on stop for late payment/non payment. They only seem to pay when they have another job lined up that they need doing yesterday and then you wait months for that payment. I would agree that they are always polite but if you’re not getting paid does that help??
I’ve never had a problem TBH bonzaco, give Howard a ring and ask him politely to fix it and he will 😉
K.
Re: Some Good News
It is nice to see credit where credit is due.
MFI, ISDA and D&G are shining examples. AIS needs to look at the rates, but they do support us.
This may be hard to believe, but I must give some credit to Servevast. (Smeg Service). They have come on greatly in the last year. The rapport between us has improved no end. They listen to our needs and support us as much as they can. Not bad when you consider how they have grown and the size of their operation now. Normally as companies get bigger, so do the problems. The down side always used to be payments from them, but as long as you keep up to date with statements, no problem.
There must be others out there who deserve credit, so let’s see it up here, and leave this thread to indicacte who the good guys are.
Alex
Yes Alex I’d agree with the sentiments about Servevast as well, bar the constant updating of calls which is a bit of a pain IMO, but other than that I find Servevast very good to work with as well.
K.
Re: Some Good News
kwatt wrote:Graffters, one often missed and I can’t remember the last time they were mentioned but they’re great people to work with as well and offer realistic rates.
I can’t remember ever having heard of them, let alone seen them mentioned in any posts. Contact details please ?
And yes, let’s keep up the praise for the good guys here, it’s nice to see it 😀
Dave.
Re: Some Good News
Alex wrote:It is nice to see credit where credit is due.
MFI, ISDA and D&G are shining examples. AIS needs to look at the rates, but they do support us.
This may be hard to believe, but I must give some credit to Servevast. (Smeg Service). They have come on greatly in the last year. The rapport between us has improved no end. They listen to our needs and support us as much as they can. Not bad when you consider how they have grown and the size of their operation now. Normally as companies get bigger, so do the problems. The down side always used to be payments from them, but as long as you keep up to date with statements, no problem.
There must be others out there who deserve credit, so let’s see it up here, and leave this thread to indicacte who the good guys are.
Alex
We do not see the need to send statements to obtain payment for service work we have carried for a WP. We have no agreement to provide them with extended credit for an indefinite period. The legal position is. “We have no obligation to send statements to recover money due to us that has been properly invoiced”. That was a lecture given by a County Court Judge to a customer who did not see why she should pay us.
Her costs and expenses were more than the original invoice
If you have to take a customer to court, and win, you can claim mileage for the cost of going to court and the cost of the car park ticket, plus,of course, the cost of submitting the claim.
The car park ticket always winds them up, the last one we had in court nearly had a seizure when I threw that at him. He spluttered “That is’nt justice”, but the Judge took a different view. When I pointed out to the defendant that he was very close to being comitted for Contempt of Court
the Judge almost fell out of his chair with laughter.After the former customer stormed out of the court the Judge commented
“You can’ tell him much, can you”? we then then had an ammusing discussion concerning his place of origin.Shane,
Re: Some Good News
The only reason I put up with submitting statements is despite my praise, Servevast were in dissaray over the accounts a while back. Therefore I’ve never got out the habit of sending a gentle official reminder.
I for one tend to pay my bills to suppliers when I get the statement, consequently I am not in a position to refuse the same.
The thing that does seem to happen, despite legislation, is the 60 day regime lot of companies tend to adopt. They send you a statement for your purchases right up to the end of last Month, which was probably only last week, yet only pay you up to the end of the preceding month. When I’ve got 10 mins I’ll interrogate Sage & list my continual slow payers, I know of 2 without looking, but I will look before I name & shame.
Alex
Re: Some Good News
Dave_Conway wrote:
kwatt wrote:
Graffters, one often missed and I can’t remember the last time they were mentioned but they’re great people to work with as well and offer realistic rates.I can’t remember ever having heard of them, let alone seen them mentioned in any posts. Contact details please ?
And yes, let’s keep up the praise for the good guys here, it’s nice to see it 😀
Dave.
Grafters are at:Graffters
unit 18
Boundary Business Centre
Boundrary Road, Woking
GU21 5DH01483741681
They service a lot of pubs who they generaly lease the cheapest crap washing machine to (tricity CAW800’s). Usually with no warranty due to the commercial nature of its use. By the time we get a service call the machines are wrecked so most jobs are just estimates and reports. They do have some sort of link with Leisure cookers as we get some customer pre paid service calls which they supply the parts foc and we bill just for labour. they pay our “normal” chargeable rate for these but I found out from a customer that leisure has already charged them £150 so both leisure and or grafters are taking a fair slice themselves. There is not much paperwork, just a faxed job sheet but the brewery who owns the pubs insist on a managers repair certificate from the pub, requests for which are often met with a WTF is that response.
They dont pay on time in general but a cheque often arrives at the same time as a urgent request for another call arrives… funny that. Speak to Howard, a bit eccentric but a nice chap. They are very laid back and dont seem to suffer from the stress of this industry and often seem to be partying when I call them!
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