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Re: A right pickle
20 Years ago Co-op were selling a Candy W/Machine for £169.00. Yes I did say 20 years ago.
One of our local cowboys drove down there & bought the entire stock for parts as they were such a bargain.
Says it all.
Alex
Re: Merloni
Del wrote:
When are you taking Bristol over Alex ?
Del 😉No bloody thanks. It is a poison challice.
They were booking 150 calls per day between 10 engineers. You do the sums.
When S/F set up Bristol as a direct centre they took a third off my area and gave me some sheep country instead. I’ve been fighting for that back ever since, and despite the fact they never could cope, I never got my old area back. I have now though, and I refused point blank to talk to them about anything else.
There is a hell of a story on this, which will come out in the fullness of time.
Alex
I am saying no more on the subject for now.
Re: Merloni
kwatt wrote:
Alex wrote:
I ought to shut up really as I’m bloody busy.And if you’re not busy you’re on holiday or a golf course! 😉
K.
I wish.
There is a lot going on at the moment up the motorway from me, which I’m sworn to secrecy on. It will all come out in the fulness of time & I cannot believe it hasn’t hit here.
Alex
Re: Merloni
Jason.
I too had a good relationship with Neil Taplin as well as the RSM Graham Cole. We did part on good terms, they took back all the stock and I was able to get credit on most after they finally found it. There was £9k worth of goods & I simply refused to pay for it. Things drifted on for 6 months and eventually the dust settled.
What happened in our case were swamped with work and I made the mistake of taking on more work. We lost £2.10 on every call as we had 2 engineers as well as 1 support staff dedicated to that work alone. The wages for those 3 failed to reach the income generated. I will reiterate that I terminated them, not the other way round. What gets me is the fact they fail to recognise that the fees were totally unrealistic and they think we still love them.
I ought to shut up really as I’m bloody busy.
Alex
Re: Merloni
There may be reason why it worked with MFI, being Tony Brown, and the fact he understands our needs as well as his own. They weren’t quite so desperate, therefore not seeking desperate measures. No matter how bold & powerful enough we as a group may appear on the surface, Merloni are big enough to wipe the floor with us.
Regretfully we as a group are a small minority, we have plenty of clout. I like to think we are respected as well as revered, but nevertheless we may not be able to call the tune and make the ground rules that all non-members would then enjoy.
The bigger boys are capable of fragmenting any service organisation, and then move the goal posts to the lowest level in line with some daft bugger who will work their ass off for little money.
I can see that Merloni are running out of options, and I’m not going to be one of them.
Alex
Re: Hotpoint Advertise Franchises!
Just tried on my home address and they have offered a week tomorrow. Again 6 working days.
I don’t think manufacturers service delays are unique to Merloni group though.
Alex
Re: Merloni
Del wrote:Some of us take the view that “shit happens” so just dust yourself down and go with the best deal you can get. Whilst others, after having given 110{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} to a particular manufacturer and lost money hand over fist will never go back on principle.
Alex there is no point in staying angry with Merloni, they dont give a shit if your angry or not and could’nt care less. The best answer is not to get angry but to get even, by makin’ the bastards pay through the nose for the work they want done.
Del
Not angry, I was looking for an interesting debate. Regards Merloni, there wasn’t much room in their system to get even as it were, not as long as I was an agent: and of course I terminated them.
I just think it is a case of what comes around, goes around. Had they looked after their better agents and of course that includes Jason as well as Del & many others, then they would not have had such a big problem.
I suppose I’m lucky in as much as I’m in the position where I can pick & chose my work providers. At present I could fill 2 more engineers happily, and have overflowing work schedules. Pehaps I should give Technics 1200 a tug, but he’s to far away.
Alex
Re: Merloni
JHuby wrote:
When colleges say they will not work no way no how with a manufacturer or work porvider , I personally think this is a bit short sighted. None of us should ever burn our bridges as you never know just what is round the corner.I take it from that you would have little hesitation in taking Merloni back on; surely I read that wrong??
I don’t like burning bridges either, however Merloni nearly bankrupted me. When I found I was losing £2.10 per call I had an emergency meeting with Neil Taplin. He told me before that meeting that I needed to employ a different accountant. When we got together I ran my figures past him, pulled out a few stats on Excel and he admitted we were losing on his contract. During that meeting his colleage asked me to take on extra postcodes. What they failed to grasp was, the more work I done for them, the more money I lost.
As most people know, Merloni took the action themselves with the agents, the same agents that were subsidising them. In some cases the work stopped almost overnight, and in most cases it left businessmen like us over resourced. In extreme cases it forced some agents to set up a dialogue with the likes of NESN. Out of the frying pan into the fire maybe.
Candy took a slightly different approach, in that case we all saw the writing on the wall. They gradually phased us all out, yet prendending this was not actually happening.
Basically, I cannot give a shit if these companies are now floundering, in as much as they couldn’t give a shit when we were floundering. Now they think they can come crawling back, Oh Yeah!
We are still suffereing the effects of Merloni and unless the figures equate to the levels that would redress the balance, Bollocks to em!!
That was passionate this time of the morning, I’m now off to beat some engineers.
Alex
Re: Lux TR1056 stat
Depends whether single compressor with a diverter valve, or twin compressor. They used the same model number for both types.
If twin compressor, a VT9 will do. If single with the diverter; the stat is configured on the switching. In which case you will need to use part number 572595859008 rrp £25.52 + vat from Distriparts and they have 55 in stock.
Re: Cheap electrical good, everything electrical, was it a s
Royal Mail GB Mailing confirms private address, looks like it is a long road as well.
Sorry not good news.
Alex
Re: Technics1200 Bowing Out
This is sad indeed.
I appreciate your reasons are sound, and can understand your exasperation. I really think your talents can be put to good use, and am wondering if you have considered becoming employed again? No I don’t mean GDA. If you feel you could stay in this business why not make a few phone calls, or even ask some of us if we have any leads for you.
Pulling out of the trade should not exclude you from the site however, so it would be nice if you remain in touch.
May I wish you all the best.
Alex
Re: Cheap electrical good, everything electrical, was it a s
If there is a post code, let us have it. I have “GB Mailing” which is the thing that brings up addresses from postcodes, you know the same as you get when you phone for car insurance etc. Where the operative then can tell you where you live.
Chances are they could be using a mail drop or what is known as a 99 postcode which is totally non-descript. Looks very dodgy indeed.
Alex
Re: Merloni
Kevin I think you may be right. I picked up on the Gias thing a couple of weeks ago, and Dave Parker would not be drawn into a converation on it. He told me what now appears to be common Knowlege regards Merloni, how they approached etc. All about the 2 years etc. But he would not be drawn into anything on Candy/Gias. He does admit they have something fairly big in the pipeline which will kick in early January 05.
Want a laugh, Gias in Bolton tried to pass yet another call to us yesterday. I don’t understand what part of piss off they don’t understand. I’m still awaiting my reply from Tony Games re. the letter I sent August 1999 They still owe me money from the last time I helped them on a gas call. They agreed to pay £60 but only paid £25.75 & I was stuck with the bits because they replaced the machine due to their delay. I refused to pay for the parts and eventually their demands dried up. I’ll put that bit into the main forums one day in the week.
Alex
Re: Technical Fault!! Please Help!!
You say you are an electrician, therefore I assume youv’e taken an earth loop reading between a known earth and the cabinet as well as an insulation test, L/N to Earth with a meggar. With it unplugged then with the use of a meter it would be a safe 5 minute job to isolate the cause.
The use of a meggar is a better way of determining the fault than taking a voltage reading between the shell & earth. I’m sorry if I’m questioning your methodlogy but I would suspect the moment you try & read a potential difference between a live point & earth your RCCD would pop out anyway.
I do feel you need to investigate that the appliance does indeed have a sound earth of less than 0.1 ohms before you start looking elsewhere. Sounds like you may be using from an adaptor or extension lead. Whatever, I don’t recommend “Live Testing” in this instance.
Any doubt, call in the experts.
Alex
Re: Merloni
I have made it more than clear to Dave Parker, I will NOT touch any Merloni Hotpoint products. If they come to me with that lot I will pull out of CDSL. Dave assured me if they did go that route, CDSL would set Merloni up as a seperate skill set, and therefore would pass to selected agents.
I’m sure we can control this especially as D.P. knows there is an ill feeling about the contract.
2 of my Currys superstores are telling me 3 weeks delay no matter what!!
Alex
