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Re: Worst Week Ever
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Cannot possibly justify Lees £3000+ per annum advertising costs for my situation, thats nearly half the price of a decent cruise. 😀We cut our advertsing Budget from just over 20k to just over 12k per annum and have been busy with work, with the odd slow day, however im sat in the office on a Sunday away from the family trying to get all the engineeers booked up for tomorow, im not used to this and i dont like it 😡
Re: Worst Week Ever
Got out of Yellow pages last year, saving £6k. Since then, took on 2 new engineers, and we are booking Thursday, with a couple of odd available slots for Weds.
Normally I have at least one on holiday, but last week and this coming week they are all in.
Alex
Re: Worst Week Ever
I had my favourite type of client today.
Calls me on Sunday to book call for his Belling D/W (Baumatic).
So I call, he gives me the info about the repair agents charging £105.00 call out and repair.
I diagnose.
Door lock is broken and PC not sending signal to Door lock, so PC rogered, suprise suprise.
I quote £100-150.00 of the top of my head, but will need to source for accurate price.
He`s on laptop within a flash, using Partmaster.co.uk, he`s got module priced at £68 and door lock £3.99.
Great start to a Monday, so i say, order tem, I`ll charge you £45.00 to fit with no guarantee.
Not unreasonablee £45.00 fitted.
No, that apparantly is not acceptable and too expensive.
F88k off was my reply then (I was a bit more polite), pay me my call out and do what you want.
I get a phone call at 7pm.
Do I install D/W, as I`ve just come from B&Q and bought there last Electrolux Intergrated D/W for.
£89.00 😥
So add the Depression, Gordon Brown and the Internet were all gonna be f88ked.
Time to stack shelves in Tesco. 😥
Don`t people get it, for an economy to grown, you earn money and spend it.
Buying goods and services with low profit margins, whilst great short term for the consumer, will result in huge job losses and slower recovery.
Its not rocket science.
Re: Worst Week Ever
Theres many out there like that lee8.
Just gotta accept it and plod on!
Imagine having a retail outlet of ANY description and having direct competition opposite you, Wonder what that feels like when seeing customers roll into their shop and your twiddling thumbs.
Ya just gotta accept these things and keep working hard at it.Re: Worst Week Ever
After 22 yrs and inl different countries workin in the same industry i`ve seen the situation getting worse rather than better.
So I guess its time to look into a different industry.
Re: Worst Week Ever
lee8 wrote:So I call, he gives me the info about the repair agents charging £105.00 call out and repair.
I diagnose.
…but did you charge him anything? 😕
Re: Worst Week Ever
Yup, call out paid.
Its not so much that info is so easily available, but add the cheap appliances to the mix and our job is become less of a requirement.
Take Fisher & Paykill dishwashers, utter rubbish, but they can be repaired with nothing more than a small flat head screwdriver.
I give it 5 yrs.
Clients will be able to repair there own appliances or have a complete exchange with less cost than having a service call.
The boffins are already working on soloutions.
Re: Worst Week Ever
lee8 wrote:I give it 5 yrs.
As long as that?:D
lee8 wrote:Clients will be able to repair there own appliances or have a complete exchange with less cost than having a service call.
But seriously, I doubt DIY repairs ever taking over our role in a this game. It’s just that those who continue will no longer have the lions share but the odd meaty leftovers.
The average age of field service engineers throughout the UK must be in excess of 50+. And with no injection of young recruits perhaps 10 years will be the best most can stick at it before the whole trade implodes.
Re: Worst Week Ever
My “sources” are mentioning the consumer repairing there own appliance.
I guess the biggest hurdle is safety regs, but if an appliance can be designed with pull out push in components without breaking regs, it`ll happen.
That Paykill two draw d/w is an example, all control components are in the draw front and access is just unclipping.
The draw/basket contains the motor/heater in the base, it slides out and two push clips unconnects the hoses.
The heater is a simple copper coil, very compact and unclips from the base and the motor/pump is tiny and unclips.
Any failure of the appliance can be replaced by simply having the consumer sliding out the basket, unclip two hoses, reconnect new basket and slide back.
Takes around 2 minutes to replace every component in the appliance.
Ship old basket back to base for reconditioning and return to next failure.
Re: Worst Week Ever
Sounds fantastic. Bring it on. Could Electrolux and Merloni not learn a thing or two about where to put main boards from this? And Bosch learn how to build dishwashers which don’t need a total stripdown to access a heater element?
Anyway, there’ll always be something else to repair and always people who are scared to touch anything they don’t understand inside out.
Mike.Re: Worst Week Ever
leavemetogetonwithit wrote:Sounds fantastic. Bring it on. Could Electrolux and Merloni not learn a thing or two about where to put main boards from this? And Bosch learn how to build dishwashers which don’t need a total stripdown to access a heater element?
Anyway, there’ll always be something else to repair and always people who are scared to touch anything they don’t understand inside out.
Mike.I agree, we engineers could do with simplification on many makes, the return to open bases on dishwashers has been a godsend IMO,( open once you remove the steel plate that is)
We might loose a few more jobs to determined fiddlers, but TBH, those types i can do without anyway.
Had a job on Monday where a very brave soul set about changing the element on her fan oven.. left it switched on “so i could see what i was doing with the help of the interior light” 😯 luckily didnt kill herself but blew the selector sw & a TOC to smithereens, greatly complicating the job.Nah, i prefer the punters who are scared to even open the filter on the washer, much less hassle 😉
Re: Worst Week Ever
I guess lookin outside the conventional design hasn`t been an issue for most here.
You don`t need to totally strip down a BSH D/W to replace the heater.
Its a cost issue, but there will come a time of change.
Re: Worst Week Ever
am getin worried. reading this stuff took overs fathers buisness. 35 yrs in game am only 41 . dont want to stack shelfes. and certainly cudny handle working for indesit or bosch extra , doin 10 calls a day when i cud make same money prob doin ten desent jobs a week. ad loose will to live,. any ideas wats best repair stuff get in to for future. commerial . lot o hassle tho.an so strict wi safety . certificates . health an safety god i wish i stuck in at the football 😳
Re: Worst Week Ever
adv wrote: 35 yrs in game am only 41
Wow! That was an early start! You must really know the business. 😀
I’m thinking your worry, like all worry, is pointless and misplaced though.
You’ve got useful practical skills and experience which put you miles ahead in terms of survival.
Mike.
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