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Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Lawrence wrote:In my experience ,better a Muppet than a Pedant.
Oh I don’t know, if you are a Muppet 24/7 then I would consider that worse than being pedantic. 😀A real over the top pedant is just a PITA, 😉 but a complete Muppet can be costly and dangerous.
Jim.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
i think its fair to say that there are some good engineers out their that are not necessary good with customers and end up getting bullied/coerced into agreeing with aggressive/pushy customers that appliance is xyz .. this not necessary the engineers fault.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
kwatt wrote:It is intended as a particularly derogatory term, as you seem to have assumed.
I merely made that assumption based on the few examples given and from that deduced the blame for it would be bad management and management training. Muppet is a derogatory term on many levels, not friendly jovial and nice in any way, but rather critical, sacatistic and belittling.
But you are quite correct in that we can learn a lot from the many examples there are and try to avoid doing the same or repeating our own mistakes.
I would like to propose the title be extended though to include management. Just to, as it were, balance out the whole thread : –
“The Most Stupid Things Engineers and Managers Say”
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Customer Service = B995858it.
Unless you got plenty of cash nobody in any business in any part of the world gives a rats ar8e about you.
And our industry has some right arrogant k0000 heads, even the MD of a brand in this country that I’ve had to deal with, which is a pile of s888te thinks his crap is chocolate, I personally would be embarrassed to work for them never mind walk around as if I was some kind of god ignoring E-mails and messages.
Rant over thank god its Friday.
As for Engineers, One came back to the office a few yrs ago complaining that the factory had not fitted a motor/belt to a clients washing machine, told the client the motor was left off, that is why its not turning the drum. He spent a day or so telling all who would listen how crap ServiceForce was for accepting LG repairs and how it would never work out etc etc.
LG direct drive, nobody informed him that these don’t have motors and belts.
I think he qualified as a Muppet.
Muppet’s tend not to learn, they prefer to be the source of all knowledge, the teachers of children, leaders of our society, they can be mistaken for di88s, but Muppet’s tend to have a good sense of humor, di8s don’t.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Lee I think you could do with an anger management course. 😉
Followed by a diplomacy one. 😉
K.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
lee8 wrote:
As for Engineers, One came back to the office a few yrs ago complaining that the factory had not fitted a motor/belt to a clients washing machine, told the client the motor was left off, that is why its not turning the drum. He spent a day or so telling all who would listen how crap ServiceForce was for accepting LG repairs and how it would never work out etc etc.
LG direct drive, nobody informed him that these don’t have motors and belts.
I think he qualified as a Muppet.
I have to take issue with this, if ‘nobody informed him’ then the person whose responsibility it was to inform him is the Muppet, not the engineer. 😛Jim.
Re: Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
lee8 wrote:As for Engineers, One came back to the office a few yrs ago
This “office” you refer to, is it located within the ‘Ministry of Funny Walks’ or at the ‘Department For The Permanently Bewildered?
Re: Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Martin wrote:
lee8 wrote:
As for Engineers, One came back to the office a few yrs agoThis “office” you refer to, is it located within the ‘Ministry of Funny Walks’ or at the ‘Department For The Permanently Bewildered?
Mmmm??? What departments were those?
‘Ministry of Funny Walks’=(Persons with fist up backside)
‘Department For The Permanently Bewildered’=(Muppet Department)Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
kwatt wrote:Lee I think you could do with an anger management course. 😉
Followed by a diplomacy one. 😉
K.
Do you think I’d last long on either. :rotfl:
Management have to put up with Engineers and vice verse.
If the engineers/contractors are given 7 calls instead of 10, van stock accurate, updates and tech info accurate, proper product training etc etc there would be no issue with a proper guy doin his job.
As the saying goes, “piss on me, I piss on you” :rolls:
Take any brand and there training of Ex engineers into the role of Managers, most base there training around controlling rogue engineers and instill an attitude of contempt for the field engineering staff, many could do with some people management skills updating. For brands who promote customer service and premium brand products most lack even the basic skills of employee management, some even goes as far as to be completely incompetent in this field, so its hardly surprising that the face the clients see of the company is just as p888ed off as the client. :rolls:
To quote another saying, “Put a pig in a dress, its still a pig”.
Seems to be the 2 most basic points our industry suffers from
1) Understanding a Service Dept and its limitations impact on the business.
2) Understanding the importance of staff moral and the true meaning of Teams and Team work.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Lee, you really have issues with “stuff”.
TBH one of the things I used to do and, still do to this day, is when I come across an appliance I’ve not been to or seen before is look up the parts for it. You can tell a lot from a blowout diagram (except some of the bad ones, i.e. the Chinese ones etc.) on how to get into a machine and where things are.
If you’re familiar with the brand, you get a sense of what’s in it and what controls are employed.
From that you start to understand how it works. If you don’t understand how it works, what hope have you of repairing a fault? All you’re doing is guessing and you end up playing what we call “Parts Bingo” where a field engineer just swaps parts until they luck out and get the right one.
Meanwhile the customer is left with one of two impressions, either you haven’t a clue what you’re doing or, the machine is so dire that all these parts have failed at once.
I get it all the time with ISE where there are non-ISE agents attending.
Got one call asking how to get the back off a tumble dryer. Seriously, this from a supposed service engineer and, he’d not even seen the dryer.
Got one the other week that wanted a mains filter, main PCB, motor and inverter card for a 1606. Apart from the chances of all those being failed at one time is nigh on impossible unless it’s been doused, they’re almost completely unrelated and have no mains between them, so how can they all go at one time?
What I’m pointing out is that, if you don’t actually diagnose things properly and just chuck parts at it, in the eyes of others looking in you can be made to look like a muppet. I’m sure that isn’t what anyone wants or, the impression that they want given about their service.
To my mind, the two above were/are muppets who probably didn’t have a clue what they were doing, didn’t bother to diagnose at all or even really think about it. Or, in the second instance, he didn’t want to do the job and just made a blatant attempt to have it written off.
Thing is, these things get monitored.
I know of at least three manufacturers that will test any returns for the accuracy of the engineers report and I’ve heard rumours that, due to the high level of misdiagnosis, that as a part of the contract they may reserve the right to charge back all replacement costs, including the appliance, to the engineer.
Now, that might seem unfair to some but, if you think about it from the other side of the fence a bit, why should the manufacturer be held liable for the subcontract engineer’s incompetence to do their job?
I guess that, if you do the job right, then there isn’t a problem and there’s nothing to worry about.
K.
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
Now from Ken’s last post it is all too apparent what prompted him starting the thread. And I am more than satisfied that my take on it has been realised. His findings and feedback from being directly involved in ISE and Amica have shown a void in agents abilities. Directly related no doubt to poor product training and then the ‘lowest common denominator’ (referred to as the “muppet”) is blamed. I referred to it in no uncertain terms as a management issue and it seems that lee8 has also picked up on this, but perhaps a little less succinctly.
A fascinating thread this has turned out to be…. 🙂
Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
one thing it has highlighted is the need for more training to be accessible wether through face to face or digital media.
One thing that hacks me off no end is the assumption made by some insurers and WP’S that we should be able to repair anything ,which we can given access to the correct info .
But thats another thread altogetherRe: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say
I’ve been vocal on peoples abilities on here for a long time.
Our industry has no qualification of use, sure some NVQ course if you can find a centre running a course.
Which is why there are no White Goods “Engineers” as there is no bloody qualification, duhh.
We are relying on brands to train people with a technical backround, they get them on the road ASAP and complain that the standards are no good.
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