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Interesting headline on our ‘Homepage’ today! (11/7/04)
Nothing new in that revelation I’m sure you will agree. But unless we do something to instill the idea of better quality, longer lasting goods, we are all going to be without a job sooner rather than later š
Merloni the brand leaders have chosen the doomsday option, (i.e Cheap tin boxes that work for a couple of years then dump and buy new) No service back-up, no dealer back-up, no service back-up š
Pretty soon folks will be replacing their duff dishwasher with as much concern as throwing a Mars Bar wrapper on the floor!
What’s the answer? Who the hell cares eh?…. anybody out there got the answer?
Martin
Martin,
Have you been listening to me at all for the past year or so? š
I’ve been telling people that this is how it’s going to go for the past three years at least, it’s not the just writing on the wall, it’s spray painted in Day-Glo!
This is what is going to happen, make no mistake and the proccess is already well underway. Sadly it would appear that this is a problem around the globe but specifically in higher income Western Hemisphere countries. This is because the goods are comparatively cheap in relation to income and the cost to repair, due to the same equation, is high. But I’m wandering off into social economics again. š
Already we are seeing a decline in repairers, few still exist that have all three skillsets in any given region of the UK and it’s a trend that is set to continue unless it is addressed soon.
But here’s the real kicker in this…
We can’t too very much about it!
Primarily manufacturers but also work providers and insurers will have to face up to this at some point and some point soon. The question I have is are they prepared to help us help themselves as otherwise they will be left with a “swap-out” only option and what with the environmental concerns and the upcoming WEEE Directive, which I still don’t think that they are prepared to cope with, they all could have an awfully big headache to look forward to.
K.
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
its a great read that article and I would like to point out the guy who quotes appliances generally lasting 12years…..
Put your hands up all of you who expect Ā£170 washers to last more then 2 minutes..
Which is twice as long as sĀ£${e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}^& do škevin
You having a bad day Martin? This state of affairs is what we’re all about isn’t it?.
Keep sending the message on the public side. We’re getting that many hits, there is obviously public concern about the state of affairs, even with their more restricted view of the industry.
We are building to influence public opinion, lets keep it up.
Penguin.
kwatt wrote:Primarily manufacturers but also work providers and insurers will have to face up to this at some point and some point soon. The question I have is are they prepared to help us help themselves as otherwise they will be left with a “swap-out” only option and what with the environmental concerns and the upcoming WEEE Directive, which I still don’t think that they are prepared to cope with, they all could have an awfully big headache to look forward to.
Indeed so, all of us in every aspect of the trade will have to address this problem sooner rather than later. In fact in many industries in general if the truth be known š
Possibly the only way to control this is through EU legislation (i.e the WEEE Directive) imposing stiff penalties on those manufacturers who produce goods that cannot be recycled. A good enough reason perhaps?
But I still have to wonder why this should happen in the first place? Surely the manufacturers can see the ‘dayglo’ writing on the wall too? How come such historically respected brand name goods are taking this route? Why cannot someone ( Merloni for example) produce a ‘Top Drawer’ brand name of their own (Like the Lexus Brand did for Toyota) a different name targeting the ‘quality end’ of the market (with full dealer/service back-up though!) Just to see their market expand into a longer lasting, quality demanding standard of production that we in the civilised world are truly capable of and quite possibly may well demand. š
Martin
Penguin45 wrote:Keep sending the message on the public side. We’re getting that many hits, there is obviously public concern about the state of affairs, even with their more restricted view of the industry.
Good idea Penguin, shall we move it (or copy it) there I wonder?
Martin
P.S. And no I’m having a great day, worrying about my forthcoming Tax demand actually š
When I was a young engineer, we were taught that an autowasher should last about 7 years, dishwashers 10-12 years, fridges 8-10 years and so on. This belief is still prevalent among the public, who buy and large have not embraced the idea of “You gets what you pay for”.
Premium brand from Merloni? You know whats going to happen when their first SuperUltraSpecialPremium washer goes wrong don’t you? One of us’ll take the lid off and say “Hey, it’s a Merloni!” and blow the whistle on it. Still they have bought Asko, so maybe there’s hope.
But I doubt it.Penguin.
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
Without doing too much analysis of the market…
For the manufacturers it’s all about market share, we all know that there are “X” million appliances sold per anum, that figure doesn’t really vary too much and the proportion of new purchasers remains a pretty steady figure. So, the belief is that to thrive you have to have market share in a stagnant market, bean counters you see as they all think the same, I sometimes actually suspect that cloning has been perfected in some ways. š But none of them are willing to take a chance and break the mould.
The other thing is that we’ve pretty much covered all the bases with the actual appliances themselves, as in products, other than a limited coffee machine market it’s pretty much dead. The people that have space for and can afford a dishwasher have one and likewise with washers, fridges etc. Although I have noted a distinct trend to push buyers into buying larger US sized refrigeration which is far more lucrative for the manufacturer and us. Cooking is stagnant and driven by price as is the normal refrigeration, dishwashing and washing segments IMO.
So we all have the same features, similar performance and prices, on paper at least so how do you gain market share?
Why you buy up cheap brand names and knock out the excess production for less of course! š
K.
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
Pengiun45 wrote:Still they have bought Asko, so maybe there’s hope.
But I doubt it.It would appear not, the one’s they were selling through Makro were rebadged Servis apparently.
Let’s not forget, the two Balloney brothers are actauly in direct competition with each other, or are they ? š
Perhaps it’s the sheds we need to inform, but then public opinion will sway there buying trends ultimately, hopefully.
So, yes, we do need to keep up the “you get what you pay for” message in the public forums IMO.
Dave.
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
Dave_Conway wrote:So, yes, we do need to keep up the “you get what you pay for” message in the public forums IMO.
This idea will go along nicely with Kens project of an ‘Engineers Survey’ being put out in the Public Forums. It has to be neat and tidy, very factual, honest and open. It will go a storm IMHO š
UKW is getting 1,000’s of regular ‘hits’ daily via Google etc from the public at large, mostly queries on Diplomat, Hygena, Smeg, Servis etc. If we had reams and reams of stuff on Merloni, Hoover and Zanussi, the search engines will lap it up AND MORE IMPORTANTLY those that simply type in say “Hotpoint Washing Machine”, will find these pages top of the list.
We type daily on these machine of course but only within the Trade Forums which Google cannot access for info ( š at least I think I’m right on that š ) Therefore more for the public to see, the more the ‘Trade’ will take note š”
Needs careful organising though š
Martin
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
just read this thread with interest, i think the trend was started by a few factors
1. electronics (look inside its all plastic and a circuit boards) not so long ago it was like spagetii junction
2. credit (go to comet,currys with plastic or on finance)
3. price war with manufacturers because of cheaper mass production
4. who cares if buy british anymore
Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
a truly depressing but true thread.
sorry to echo from b4 BUT….
I can honestly see our jobs ending up where tv repairers are now. š„RRP’s are gone, currys sell cheap washers for less than 200 pounds, with hardly any margin. they buy in bulk and where they make their money is by selling coverplans.
everything is just built to throw away š„ š„ š„ or “dash weh” as we lot say in the caribs š š š
Nothing’s really changed – it’s 17 years since I left Comet, and even then the retail staff were earning more commission selling a “4 star warranty” (the extra 4 years……) than selling the appliance themselves.
The RRP was doomed from the time that Comet started to sell Newpol (Domar) and Solartronic (Balay) washers, Vestfrost, Polar Queen and King fridges, Tecnogas cookers and so forth. Buy your own, sell it for what you want.
Couple that to the big court case when Hotpoint sued Comet for not selling at RRP. The compromise arrived at (re-introducing English Electric so that Comet could have it as it’s own brand) is almost certainly the root cause of where things are now.
It’s perhaps depressing at one level, but Hey, this is where we’re at – now we need to bang on and deal with situation. We all accept that anything below Ā£300 on the washer front is likely to be cr@p, but the public don’t know that and need to be repetatively told until the message starts to creep slightly below the surface!
This is surely a part of our mission on this site, despite the “pointless” message from some of our correspondents.
Now I’M depressed……..
Regards,
Penguin.Re: When appliances quit, most of us don’t call a repairman
Basically the larger retailers have brought a lot of the current situation to pass, I agree. But the manufacturers and the buying public bought into it as well so there’s nowhere to really lay the blame as such it’s just the situation we find ourselves in now. The point is we have to either climb out the rut or find other things to do.
Educating the public will never be an easy task and it will take time, but the manufacturers and retailers are not and, probably don’t want to, take part in that as volumes would drop if appliances lasted longer.
However, the fly in the ointment as it were is the simple fact that there is now more information available to the public than ever before and I’m not just talking about the internet either. But we can at least try to change public perception to some degree, on review on the Servis M3022 which does not show it in a good light has been read over 500 times, how many of the 500 souls that have read that have been swayed away from that machine, or indeed that brand? How many people did that 500 tell not to buy that appliance? How many of the people that have read that Bosh/Neff/Siemens are all the same in effect have taken the hump over the fact that it’s not an “exclusive” brand have moved on to say, Smeg or Meile? Likewise with Hoover and Hotpoint as well as a raft of others. How many have stumbled on the Ariston threads in the forums and thought, “I’m not buying one of those with all those code problems”?
This information is available freely if the customers wanted to go looking for it on the internet or ask a decent independent retailer all we’ve done is make it all make a bit of sense and put it in one place.
Just maybe some of the people reading these pages will tumble to what we’re telling them and just maybe we’ll make a difference.
K.
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