UK Whitegoods

[kwatt]

Here’s one for you all to think about.

What do you want from UKW? What do you want us to be doing or not doing? How do you see it progressing and evolving?

If you don’t want to post it in public PM or email myself or Dave by all means please, the nore you tell us the better we can address your needs whether it’s good or bad we really want to hear it. So please take a couple of minutes and tell us what you want to see

K.

[eastlmark]

Re: UK Whitegoods

kwatt wrote:Here’s one for you all to think about.

What do you want from UKW? What do you want us to be doing or not doing? How do you see it progressing and evolving?

the nore you tell us the better we can address your needs
K.

How about spell check Ken! 😛

[kwatt]

Heh, it was late, I’d had a few 😳

😆

K.

[kwatt]

Just to give an example…

On Saturday night Dave and I were asked about a forum for off-topic stuff, could it be there? Well, look, inside 5 minutes of us agreeing that it was a good idea it was done!

I’m not saying that we can do everything that is requested, I’m not even saying that we’ll think it’s a good idea but if you don’t ask… 😕

We have polls, we have discussion, we have meetings, we generally do things democratically…where do you see it going?

Now there has been some discussion on UKW doing more for the trade as a body of people and this can be a fantastic melting pot of different ideas as, as far as I consider it, you lot aren’t stupid as if you were, you wouldn’t still be running your own businesses. So it’s over to you lot, you have to input a bit to get an output.

What do you want from UKW and the trade in general or where or what would you like to see it doing? Positive or negative I’d love to hear some opinion and comment.

K.

[Del]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Might it be an idea to put up post code maps of the U.K. and mark off areas covered by members of ukwhitegoods, perhaps even three maps to cover all the three skill sets. So that anyone can click on the area or post code of thier locality and see a list of All ukwhitegoods members covering thier area. Obviousley stating that all of the members adhear to the set level of service quality that was laid down when we set the site up. I don’t think anyone would have any objection to that, as we would all then be compeeting on a level playing field. I am not proposing
set national charges I hasten to add, just set national quality of service.
There would obviousley have to be a disclaimer to ukwhitegoods as it would be a self administering code of practice. But people could be advised that any member found to be breaking the guidelines would be removed from the site if they attracted too many complaints.
Dont shoot me down in flames its only a suggestion, that might or might not work. I do think it’s worthy of disscussion though.

Regards as ever Del

[kwatt]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Del wrote:Might it be an idea to put up post code maps of the U.K. and mark off areas covered by members of ukwhitegoods, perhaps even three maps to cover all the three skill sets. So that anyone can click on the area or post code of thier locality

It’s reasonably straightforward to do that but very hard to do in an intuative way TBH. A better idea would probably be a serchable postcode database, but that would cost money. I’ll have a think about it though.

Del wrote:set national charges I hasten to add, just set national quality of service.
There would obviousley have to be a disclaimer to ukwhitegoods as it would be a self administering code of practice. But people could be advised that any member found to be breaking the guidelines would be removed from the site if they attracted too many complaints.

No, we’re not trying to set prices and a code of practise may be an idea. But the only fear I have of that is that we may be seen as trying to undermine DASA in some way, any thoughts on that?

Del wrote:Dont shoot me down in flames its only a suggestion, that might or might not work. I do think it’s worthy of disscussion though.

Not at all, any ideas are good input if nothing else and gives us something to work with.

K.

[Del]

Re: UK Whitegoods

As nearly a quarter of a million hits have been taken by the ukwhitegoods site it is quite obvious that a lot of people are taking notice of what we have to say.
I was just thinking that it might be good to run a “MACHINE OF THE YEAR” award given by ukwhitegood. voted for by us the independant repair trade. We could have members doing reviews on washers and have different catogories. who better to advise the general public than the people responsible for keeping them going.
Remember which magazine who could’nt tell the difference between a crosslee badged whiteknight/zannussi was the same bloody machine and gave it vastly different ratings.
We could have awards for the best engineered/ servicability / availabilty & price of spares ( sorry Servis you’ve already lost ) We could even have the ‘SKIP DODGER OF THE YEAR’ award for the worst macine on the market ( why did an indesit dishwasher spring to my mind just then)
The posibilities are simply endless. Well you wanted idea’s seems I’m on a roll, for god’s sake somebody stop me.
Regards as ever Del

[Del]

Re: UK Whitegoods

WORK PROVIDER OF THE YEAR AWARD

I wonder who’d get the skip dodgers prize for that one 😆 😯

Del

[Martin]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Ken,

I think the whole concept of UKW is brilliant. 21st century communication within the trade…bravo!…..The Forum topics for members to enjoy reading and contribute, a fantastic innovation…! Exchanging knowledge, ideas, experiences, trade tips and advice is the way forward. I welcome any further advances this forum could provide. It would be nice to know what your competitors charge and what speed of service they provide but would only lead to local aggressive opposition and ill will, an area I would not wish to enter.

With UKW one can remain relatively anonymous if you so wish (not me though) but still contribute for the good of the industry. For the future?…personally I would like us INDEPENDENTS to have a greater influence with the MANUFACTURERS. In 2003 they are producing total rubbish for which we have to scrape a meagre living from what they produce. Appliances built by computers but not built for the job and ultimately uneconomical to repair means the future of our trade is all too apparent.

The Brown Goods Trade fell foul of this effect just a few short years ago. Today few people get their VCR’s repaired as you can buy new for £40 or £50, thats if you can find someone to fix it?

The whole trade is in danger of imploding due to sub standard products. If there was some way our little group could communicate with the major manufacturere/suppliers to realise this, so much the better. In todays market ‘Quality’ and ‘Quantity’ do not go together. Sooner or later the whole trade will go ‘Belly up’ as a result.

Once upon a time not so long ago, many of my customers asked…..”What machine would you recommend?”…….”Hotpoint” I replied! …..Ask me the same question today….”Don’t even think of buying a Hotpoint”…….the answer…..WHY?….The drum bearings pack up after 6 months. If the sump valve blocks, the machine overspills water all over the electrics…and BANG!!…”Can it be fixed”….”No Lady, not at a price you want to pay!”

The only time manufacturers listen is when TV programmes like WATCHDOG slag them off. I welcome the day when UKW has the same effect 🙂

Martin

[kwatt]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Del wrote:As nearly a quarter of a million hits have been taken by the ukwhitegoods site it is quite obvious that a lot of people are taking notice of what we have to say.

I hope so and the figures seem to be increasing as well. I just think it’s an ideal vehicle to promote ourselves and the industry with.

Del wrote:I was just thinking that it might be good to run a “MACHINE OF THE YEAR” award given by ukwhitegood. voted for by us the independant repair trade. We could have members doing reviews on washers and have different catogories. who better to advise the general public than the people responsible for keeping them going.
Remember which magazine who could’nt tell the difference between a crosslee badged whiteknight/zannussi was the same bloody machine and gave it vastly different ratings.

Bloody good idea! Anyone up for that? Can we ask if the manufacturers are interested in sponsoring some little award plaugues or something? Do we want products in different catagories etc.? I’m well chuffed with that idea Del, damned good!

As for Which, yes they’ve done that for years, the first one I spotted was the old Bendix against the old Philco, same machines exactly different ratings, very poor.

Del wrote:We could have awards for the best engineered/ servicability / availabilty & price of spares ( sorry Servis you’ve already lost ) We could even have the ‘SKIP DODGER OF THE YEAR’ award for the worst macine on the market ( why did an indesit dishwasher spring to my mind just then)

😆 I don’t see why not!

Del wrote:The posibilities are simply endless. Well you wanted idea’s seems I’m on a roll, for god’s sake somebody stop me.

Nope, don’t stop with ideas the more the merrier.

Now all I have to do is work out how to collate votes. 😕

K.

[kwatt]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Del wrote:WORK PROVIDER OF THE YEAR AWARD

I wonder who’d get the skip dodgers prize for that one 😆 😯

😆 Best not go there eh? 😉

K.

(Martin, I’ll answer that post in depth later when I get a minute)

[kwatt]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Martin wrote:I think the whole concept of UKW is brilliant. 21st century communication within the trade…bravo!…..The Forum topics for members to enjoy reading and contribute, a fantastic innovation…! Exchanging knowledge, ideas, experiences, trade tips and advice is the way forward. I welcome any further advances this forum could provide.

Thanks, it’s nice nice to know that you guys like it. 😀

Martin wrote:It would be nice to know what your competitors charge and what speed of service they provide but would only lead to local aggressive opposition and ill will, an area I would not wish to enter.

I agree, not a good route to take, I think that’s a path that could be dangerous but I see no reason not discuss the pros and cons of rate levels. But I do take the point.

Martin wrote:With UKW one can remain relatively anonymous if you so wish (not me though) but still contribute for the good of the industry. For the future?…personally I would like us INDEPENDENTS to have a greater influence with the MANUFACTURERS. In 2003 they are producing total rubbish for which we have to scrape a meagre living from what they produce. Appliances built by computers but not built for the job and ultimately uneconomical to repair means the future of our trade is all too apparent.

Yes, I agree I think we should speak to the manufacturers more and I do know that there are a few looking in here. So far the feedback from them all has been positive which is very encouraging news for everyone I feel, manufacturers etc included.

Martin wrote:The Brown Goods Trade fell foul of this effect just a few short years ago. Today few people get their VCR’s repaired as you can buy new for £40 or £50, thats if you can find someone to fix it?

Indeed, that is the reality we face I’m afraid and sooner than many think IMO.

Martin wrote:The whole trade is in danger of imploding due to sub standard products. If there was some way our little group could communicate with the major manufacturere/suppliers to realise this, so much the better. In todays market ‘Quality’ and ‘Quantity’ do not go together. Sooner or later the whole trade will go ‘Belly up’ as a result.

Yes, sub-standard appliances do have a lot to do with it but that’s a symptom of the product being de-valued in the public’s eye as well as the trade’s. But you’re right I think on the dangers.

Martin wrote:Once upon a time not so long ago, many of my customers asked…..”What machine would you recommend?”…….”Hotpoint” I replied! …..Ask me the same question today….”Don’t even think of buying a Hotpoint”…….the answer…..WHY?….The drum bearings pack up after 6 months. If the sump valve blocks, the machine overspills water all over the electrics…and BANG!!…”Can it be fixed”….”No Lady, not at a price you want to pay!”

Funnily enough I have exactly the same problem, the last decent built machine I saw was that German built Brandt machine that Neil and I like so much. Apart from that I struggle to think of any other of late.

Martin wrote:The only time manufacturers listen is when TV programmes like WATCHDOG slag them off. I welcome the day when UKW has the same effect 🙂

Well, maybe this idea of Del’s could redress the balance to an extent, maybe it will have an effect maybe it won’t, but it’s worth a shot if you ask me. If enough people hear about it and sales are affected by it maybe we’ll finally get it across to the sales side of the manufacturers that it can pay off to build a machine worth having.

But there’s a far more important aspect to this that will have a far greater effect than going to the public directly. Dealers! If the retailers know that an appliance is not going to give them grief and they get a reasonable markup, they’ll sell it long before they sell a piece of and that could have a far more profound effect much faster.

Walk softly, carry a big stick. 😉

K.

[Dave_Conway]

Re: UK Whitegoods

kwatt wrote:Walk softly, carry a big stick

😆 😆 😆 😆

Good stuff, keep the ideas rolling in.

Dave.

[Martin]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Thanks for your reply Ken,

At last by being part of UKW my voice is being heard. No longer shouting at a brick wall !!!!

Martin

[sumphose]

Re: UK Whitegoods

Good quality machines, may sound better to any customer, than skip dodgers, but would we not be losing out on the repeat business, volume repairs and contract work. Replacing modules in the cheap and cheerful machines of today is so much easier than the 879 timers of the past, and the added benefit of not having to knock out taper bearings daily, for me is bliss. Customers on the whole accept the poor quality of their appliance, the only exceptions i find, are the customers who buy expensive and find after only a few years they need a repair.

[Author]

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