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Re: Worst Week Ever
lee8 wrote:
Takes around 2 minutes to replace every component in the appliance.Not in my average day, although I do see what you are saying about replacing the whole drawer.
I do go to a lot of these where an engineer or customer has had a go and buggered the machine up.
For such a “simple” machine I see a lot of mistakes 😀Re: Worst Week Ever
I know that i am probably tempting fate but i struggle to see how it can possibly get any worse. machines at an all time low in price and quality (manafacturers can’t really get much lower!), parts are way to expensive,throw away society, customers are more demanding, advertising more expensive, fuel way to high, restricted practises and information used by manafacturers etc etc etc.
We may aswell all walk round with a sandwich board on saying “the end is nigh” but we all still make a living from it granted it can be rocky but it still is a living. I have only done 2 calls today but already earned more money then if i was employed so i’m happy! Yes it could be better but it could also be a lot worse!!
Right now there are 1000s of people in the country who would give their right arm to have what we have in terms of skill and flexibility and the ability to make money like we can i think we take for granted and forget just how lucky we are!
I think things will get better we are just coming out the summer holiday period so work should pick up usually does. In the future i think the way forward is to look at other avenue’s high value appliances,gas, refrigeration,commercial,intergrated etc etc stuff you would never usually touch but you have to be flexible thats the key.
It can also benefit us i now a lot of engineers are retiring or retired but for us younger models on a selfish note that has to be a bonus for us demand for us has to go up its simple its supply and demand.
The great general public, wp’s, manafacturers,estate agents, hair dresser’s, laundry’s,nursing homes, schools,reasturants etc etc will always need us they will not admit it but they do as long as they have appliances they really do. More people then not have not got a spare few hundred quid to throw away on a washer or fridge etc and are left with the only alternative’s to repair it pay double for a new one or go without.
I think we all owe a big thank you to ukwhitegoods and everyone who runs it and uses it because i think the trade would be in a far worse position then it is now without it! It has certainly taught me a few lessons which i would never of known or would of learned a very hard and costly way.
I will keep going until the trade implodes on it’s self then waste my time worrying about it then! but until then i will keep plodding on taking no notice of all the doom and gloom stories i keep hearing i have been in the trade nearly 15yrs and was told the same thing back then it still has not happened and doubt it ever will.
Rant over.phil
Re: Worst Week Ever
worst week ever?……….yes this is it….proberbly everyone is takeing advantage to get away before the kids go back.. but that aside there seems to be real hardship out there and I agree with other posters more DIYers and people putting up with leaks,noises and part working appliances where as a couple of years ago they would have had a repair
wilf
Re: Worst Week Ever
My local Gas/Electrical Assesment centre have a reduced number of training placements by the large appliance employers, not just white goods.
But on the flip side there courses are full, due to ex forces personnel and Jobcentre referals.
The industry both white goods and plumbing are not goin to fall short of potential recruits.
Re: Worst Week Ever
To be fair my weeks seem to be getting busier, long may it continue.
Went to a machine yesterday that had shredded belt,which wrapped around the wires of motor and element and shredded them all ( quite common with zanussi’s im finding ) , repaired it as customer said shes had enough of taking her washing to her daughters for the last 11 month, billed her £40 and off i went, she wrang me later to thank me for a good service at a good price, first time iv’e had that i must say, mind you shes one of these who just won’t shut up so i guess she wanted someone to speak to.
Well done for fixing the appliance LJDomestics but, Wow parts and labour for £40!, seems a bit cheap to me.
Dont sell yourself too cheaply, When I worked for Service force it would have been £75 labour and about £15 for the part, certainly no change from £90 notes.boselecta wrote:Well done for fixing the appliance LJDomestics but, Wow parts and labour for £40!, seems a bit cheap to me.
Don’t forget boselecta, Lee is ‘upt north’ and ‘they does it for nowt or less up theer!’ We don’t know we’is born down in the softy south, handed on a plate for us down here! 🙂
Re: Worst Week Ever
She already had a new belt to go on it Bo.
TBH it would of been £30 labour as thats normally the case with me, But as she talked and talked and talked some more about pure shyte i added a tenner on for doing my head in. 😉
Yes martin you are spot on, you guys have it good down the south, i did too while i was there ( 15 years of it ) but im back in my home town now, lots of poverty up here.
I ain’t looking to get rich, but i am looking to build a good reputation so my little earned money per week continues.
Re: Worst Week Ever
Couldn’t agree more Lee, 25 completed calls at £30 labour per week is better than 5 or 6 calls you would get if you tell them its £50 or more for minimum labour charge round here.
Martin wrote:
boselecta wrote:
Well done for fixing the appliance LJDomestics but, Wow parts and labour for £40!, seems a bit cheap to me.Don’t forget boselecta, Lee is ‘upt north’ and ‘they does it for nowt or less up theer!’ We don’t know we’is born down in the softy south, handed on a plate for us down here! 🙂
Still not sure how that works Martin 😕 I mean, i know general income is higher in the home counties & this is reflected in what the trades can charge ; in fact my sis who lives in Herts has paid for me to fly down from Inverness several times over the years for plumbing jobs, rather than use local labour! 8O.mind you, she pays me bugger all.
Anyway, like i say im not sure how this translates to our game, surely if you push it on price the customer is just as likely to prefer to replace than repair whether they’re in Aviemore or Amersham?Madmac wrote:Still not sure how that works Martin 😕
No it doesn’t Mac, I was only jesting as ever of course. Naturally it all depends on the patch we work and from Aviemore to Amersham there’s a whole mix in between.
Fortunately in my patch (Reading/Newbury/Basingstoke) has a diverse mix of custom. The poorer parts of all these towns rarely call, or at least when they do enquire as to my call-out charge, never call back. The no call-out fee guys cover that type of work and well for them.
The suburbs on the other hand are open season and the country piles are a pot of gold. That’s where I’m fortunate enough to be able to concentrate my business, and of course specialising in top end products helps too! 😀
Footnote: Like Iadom my formative years included a spell as field trainer with Hotpoint in the early 70’s and since that time have fixed 10,000’s of Hotpoint m/c’s. Today their m/c’s are such that I turn away from fixing them, avoid them like the plague. Can’t be a£$ed with the hastle they bring. WMA’s and WF’s and those damned dishwashers and integrateds…not likely….”go to ******* and company lady unfortunately for you I don’t touch them!”
Re: Worst Week Ever
Martin wrote Today their m/c’s are such that I turn away from fixing them, avoid them like the plague. Can’t be a£$ed with the hastle they bring. WMA’s and WF’s and those damned dishwashers and integrateds…not likely….”go to ******* and company lady unfortunately for you I don’t touch them!”
Whats that saying again .(snobby geits) Looks like it applies to some engineers as well. Ohh I carnt touch a Hotpoint I only do highend stuff.. 😉
Re: Worst Week Ever
The north and south have a very different economy,which in turn makes people spend and think very differently.
Please don’t ask me to elaborate as theres many reasons why this is, a whole book could be written about it, infact wasn’t there a documentary on some time ago about the very thing?Even so, i found the south very tight a$$ed buggers ( no offence ) But a lot of customers did have high end products and could be spanked a little bit more to make up for them. lol.
Re: Worst Week Ever
Martin is surely choosing what he specialises in because after many many years of trading hes probably only a pound behind jim and therefore can pick and choose, and who can blame him?
Looking foreward to the day i can do the same, but i wouldn’t of thought it was being snobby? + hes feeding other engineers mouths by leaving them a bit of meat? lolRe: Worst Week Ever
iadom wrote:Couldn’t agree more Lee, 25 completed calls at £30 labour per week is better than 5 or 6 calls you would get if you tell them its £50 or more for minimum labour charge round here.
exactly Jim.
I’m not interested in making a fast million and vanishing or plan on retiring any time soon so specualting to accumulate future work, as long as it “trickles” away with low labour charges im confident i will get reccomendations and a decent rep.
That’s the plan anyway.Ya can make up the labour sometimes on the parts too as ya know so that helps.
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