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Re: ISDAL
Well they are due to pay now, but as was a silly weekend I’m prepared to give them those four days. Will be keeping an eye on them though.
Thanks for the reminder.
Alex
Re: Have you put the bunting out this weekend?
So there we have it…..
Martin a.k.a. Mr Bridger.
Have a good weekend.
Alex
Re: Repaircare…
Nice to see it out in the open as far as we are concerned, sadly most agents will unable to reply to to confirm or deny this if there are Non-Disclosure agreements.
Alex
Re: golocal reactive
Allsorts wrote:Yup..professional looking site.. with the exception that the whole site is about fridge repairs and the guy on the picture is repairing a tumble dryer.
Generic picture I’m afraid. UKW & DASA use this image.
I have put my staff on alert should we receive a phone call or enquiry of any sort.
Alex
Re: Repaircare…
kwatt wrote:Could be a firing but, it’s unlikely they’d go to the trouble of hosting someone to do that.
The agent told me his letter said it was to discuss “An exciting new initiative, and due to sensitivity could not be discussed or divulged upon”
kwatt wrote:Could be that Dixons KnowHow (or not) is collapsing before it’s even begun and they’ve secured a stay of execution.
Possible, but all they have to do is keep it as is, and if it disappears then so be it. It was left open ended in any case. No need to call agents in to discuss.
kwatt wrote:I do know that they were systematically getting shot of smaller agents at one stage although that may have ground to a halt after they got the bullet from Dixons.
Yes they are branding some agents as “Prime Agents” and this has come about due to the loss of the DSG Contract. Looks like I’m not part of that though, as I was not invited.
I’m not too bothered, but would be nice to know what is going on, I don’t like cloak & dagger stuff. Today, Tuesday, back from a Bank holiday weekend, and not one call. Normally I can expect 25 at least on a normal Monday, and more following a long weekend.
Alex
Re: Repaircare…
Something is going on out there in Connect land, and I cannot put my finger on it.
Earlier today I had a phone call from an agent who received an invite to Connect house regards what looks like to be a new initiative, all sworn to secrecy and they could not divulge the nature of it? Wasn’t sent by e-mail, but hard copy with confidentiality written all over it.
Seems like there is one meeting tomorrow (9th May)and another in a couple of weeks. He told them he couldn’t make it, and asked what is it all about? They refused to say!
Now it gets more obscure. Being nosey, I make a phone call to another agent who is deemed to be one of their “good boys”. He knew nothing of this either, but wondered if was related to being picked as a “prime agent”? He went on to say he was invited to Connect house some weeks ago for this, but there was no secrecy in the agenda topic. So it sounds unlikely this “summon to arms” by some agents is related in any way?
Now I’m intrigued and I’m wondering what they are up to? Clearly I’ve upset them because I’ve not been invited to anything.
Re: VEET for Men,
We could carry out a survey on those that used this may well have rubbed their heads after use. 😉
I know I’m safe as my barnet resembles Ken Dodd’s
Alex
Re: 0800 Repair TWR
What planet are they on?
0800 Repair, the UK’s leading appliance repair specialist
As for this claim….
0800 Repair is one of the largest professional appliance repair companies in the UK, with fully-qualified engineers based all over Britain
And finally..
company now has 100 call centre staff and more than 400 engineers located throughout the UK, making the firm one of Europe’s leading appliance repair services
Was this written by the Murdoch press perchance? Loads of spin and untruths, and no doubt there is sleaze somewhere.
Re: Starting up an Appliance repair business
Lee is 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} spot on. Print his posting out & use as a template.
Best way to go for it is if you had to, such as redundancy or whatever. Nevertheless as long as you put in the hours & have the passion in the early days, it will work, above all don’t spend too much in case of lean times etc.
As Lee says keep it simple, run from home and be particular what you do & who for. Be careful of relatives and friends, they will expect something for nothing. You may need to remind people that they get paid for what they do, and you are no different. Above all don’t under-price yourself.
If you only get 4 or 5 calls a day & expect to go the extra mile in some cases and manage to keep a high first time fix rate, it should work.
Make sure you get insurance, find yourself an accountant (doesn’t have to be the dearest in town) and make yourself available, whether transferring calls to your mobile, or keeping on top of voice mails missed calls etc.
Factor in though, when you are ill and holidays. Anticipate you may lose work on some occasions. Things will work out very well if you have a similar person to yourself in the vicinity who is a competitor, set up a rapport with them, pass work to him & he should do likewise. Then if either of you want a break, you can look after each others customers.
Avoid partnerships, unless with your missus for tax reasons.
I started with just the Missus taking the calls and me on the road. I was a lot younger, hungry, with a mortgage, kids wanting to go to university etc.
The agencies came along, and then I increased staff to keep up. You should’t need to do any agency work I suspect. If it heads that way, you inevitably evolve into a capitalist and an unpaid tax collector.
Alex
Re: Manufacturer No 2 looking for agents
Add me to John/Jackal/Ken with ALL 3 Skill sets and the same postcodes as before.
Alex
Re: Work Up For Grabs
Two were possibly my area TA9 & BS23, or perhaps shared by a neighbour but we cover them both. Neither had come our way at all.
Alex
Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )
I’ve now got to the stage where I take off the polythene wrapper from the new one before it goes straight into the recycling bin. Being nosey the last time I done that (6 weeks ago) most of my neighbours had done the same.
It says it all when it is half the thickness and size.
I do have a link from yell.com to my website, and according to Google Analytics, not one hit in the last 12 months.
This is the posting I made in 2009. The difference between now & then is that I’m 3 years older, just as busy, increased my staff and nearly £24k better off.
I rest my case!
Alex
This is the way I look at it. From a consumers point of view, even a “silver surfer”
I’m in the plus 55 age bracket, I never use the telephone book, nor do I use yellow pages. I Google everything. Like many I have wireless B/Band and apart from accessibility in the office, the home machine is on-line all day. A few years ago we all had 1 phone and that would have been on the hall table with the books underneath, now we all enjoy cordless handsets, and consequently the books could be anywhere, (in my case so could the phone). So much easier to press a button, and see instant up to date information on the screen.
Therefore I have no need for books or directories which end up at the back of the cupboard or wherever. So being a typical consumer, despite a lack of youth, my first port of call is the web. If I’m doing it that way, you can be sure so does most of a younger generation.
Now looking at it from the business point of view:-
I used to spend £6k p.a. on Yellow pages, now reduced to less than £200 p.a. The Y.P. salesmen cannot deny they are finding life difficult. Even Yell.com is a no brainer.
When the Y.P. rep met me 2 years ago he told me I was mad. I keep everything on spread sheets, and I can confirm there is no drop at all in chargeable work. My warranty work and insurance work has increased, and so has the chargeable pro-rata. I was prepared to take a drop as I never thought I was pulling in enough traffic from Y.P. to cover the outlay, and I’ve proved it.
Re: Cricket 2012
iadom wrote:Its a little warmer in Sri Lanka and England are making a better fist of it this time around.
I knew this weather was cricket’s fault, it couldn’t possibly be due to me taking my winter tyres off last week could it. 😆
Jim.
Daughter in Mossley done the same (Well her husband did) She tells me nice & sunny there today.
Alex
