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Re: Staff Sickness
bazza500 wrote: I think you`ll find ohreally that things have changed in the past 4 years since the last post here.
A lot has happened in 4 years as well.
We amended to a scheme where we pay an annual bonus of 10 days full pay 1st week of December, then every full sickness day taken is deducted off that. If there is a pre-planned need, for say a booked hospital visit etc. then they elect to take a day from their holiday, which is how it should be.
Works quite well, sickness tends to be genuine and although it costs me a huge lump sum once a year, all has agreed it seems to work.
Alex
Re: ISDAL
Assume most would have seen the e-mail sent out to ISDAL agents today. Richard being “Sidelined/Promoted” within the group; Julian taking his place and Dave Highton having his profile raised (slightly).
Richard may have seemed to be a bit irascible at times, but at least I could deal with the guy and talk him into my way of thinking when it came to issues. Have a feeling the passing of my ally from within means any favours and concessions will be stifled now.
The accounts are bloody useless and I’m about to bin them, unless Julian turns it round, and I have a feeling that won’t happen.
We e-mailed them May 2006 for a price on a Leibherr compressor, and the e-mail made it quite clear we only wanted a price. 3 days later a compressor arrived. After a lot of discussion they relented to send me a returns label. I thought no more of it. 10 Months later I get the invoice, naturally I demanded a credit note. Still waiting and now they are pushing for £200 odd. We ordered a stainless door again Liebherr, kept arriving damaged, had a credit note for 1 only, and they invoiced me for 4; including one sent to the customer who no longer wanted it as the machine had since been exchanged.
I now owe them for 3 doors 2 of which have been sent back, and 1 compressor returned over 12 months ago.
They sent me a call last Feb for a Luxair hood. The address on the request was the address sent by Luxair, which was the customers billing address. We completed the work and endorsed the paperwork why the address differed. 6 Months later they rejected, now they do not carry out work for Luxair, they’ve told me I’m on my own. Oh Yeah! It is a mere £83 but it is the principle.
I’ve told Dave Highton if I don’t get paid, he needs to seek another agent, and it will cost them more than £83 in Diesel and hotel bills to come down here and find someone. Plus the fact there is nobody down here in any case. He has until close of trading Monday, and I suspect knowing Dave, naff all will get done.
I was tempted to post this in the trade forums, but that will kill my chances of getting this sorted stone dead. I might be tempted at a later date though.
Alex
Re: NECHT Appliances
Your’e obviously not a happy chappy.
Local trading Standards, BBC Watchdog, Rouge Traders and of course local press. Olham Chronicle usually like to fill their pages on this lot. It seems they all know of Maple Kitchens, Kitchens and in particular Vance Miller.
I’m sure there will be a posting later today from “Iadom”, he knows this lot quite well and may be able to point you in the right direction.
Alex
Re: Corgi
£74 plus parts & vat. The point is I’ve just spent over £6k having 2 operatives re-assessed and regretfully the poor old consumer has to cover the cost.
Nobody else does gas repairs in my area, therefore even if frightened off by the cost, they usually come back after phoning around.
Alex
Re: Two Hats !
Del wrote:Hi Lads
One thing did worry me though and that was that It has been requested that a member of the WTA council requested access to this forum. As you know we deal with the sensitive matters of complaints agaiunst members and thier identities which I know that you guys hold with the utmost integrity and disgression. This does concern me as i dont know all the councillors of the WTA as well as I know you guys.
Thoughts please
SeanIn my case a flat NO. As I haven’t got access to the council forum, therefore I personally could not agree to councillors having access to this forum.
Sounds a bit like the West Lothian Question, but nonetheless very appropriate.
Alex
Re: Beko
Been on-going for over a year now. They visited me August 2006.
I don’t know the full picture but in some areas where the existing structure is working it will remain, and they may get all the work instead of part of it; in others there may be new agents recruited. I would suspect all done & dusted.
Alex
Re: firenzi oven motor
Several versions of this one. Does it have a pnc number that starts 9117115**? If so, Electrolux 3581950916 is the one you need.
Alex
Re: Sunday Puzzle
Could you amend the piccie with a pound coin beside the item to give us a sense of scale?
Alex
Re: Evolution
The AC, as it stands now, was democratically appointed.
The only thing I’d do is add two people to it and leave it unchanged. The reason that I say this is that we already have the people in place and, whilst I appreciate that they’ve been on that body for a while, they represent a good spread of opinion and the industry. However, the big plus to my mind is that it hits the ground running with no need to reinvent it.
Further to the above taken from the subscriber forum.
I’m happy to stay on the AC. Who are the 2 additional names you have in mind?
Alex
Re: Tumbleweed
Martin tried to get things rolling with BG a couple of years back with the posting from Blue Flame. Looked good and hopefully we could have pulled a few other disillusioned BG customers out of the woodwork.
What happened, went off onto a tangent and got diluted with Dross, and in no time at all sunk deep into history.
Always the same, see something on here and think, “Brilliant this is what we want”, and then it drowns in tittle tattle. Take something that isn’t even worth debate and it rolls for weeks.
That’s life
Alex
Re: British Gas To Drop Appliance Servicing?
funkyboogy wrote: its funny to see the change in their attitude regarding brit-gas, i was the same when i worked for them rosey tinted glasses and all that (corporate brainwashing)…
ally
Yes, I recall when you worked for them I asked if you had the Gas Council Number for rose coloured spectacles. I wonder if in fact it was better a couple of years back, and since deteriorated, or have the staff woken up?
Alex
Re: Poaching Staff!
Comet, thats who! Can’t believe you didn’t get that one.
They have finally taken all in house service across the whole of the UK, starting today, and they are getting very smart at locating engineers to get them out of trouble.
Rumour has it they have bitten off more than they can chew.
Alex
Re: September 2007 Meeting
Typical, it is all there, last time I went to Sibson my lap-top found a signal, and when I spoke to Mike, he said all it needed was connecting/configuring and he was awaiting BT. That was 6 months ago.
Can we put some pressure on him?
Alex
Re: Yellow Pages Ad
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 on all p.c.s 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. Bear in mind as well, broadband is rising rapidly, I’ve heard of 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of households. When I started over 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} didn’t even have the phone. Managed then without Yellow Pages.
Now looking at it from the business point of view:-
I cannot justify an excess of £5k p.a. for what I think is a diminishing return. I believe the type of person who feels inclined to shop around these days for a repair is on the brink of a replacement machine, and only lightly considering the options. A lot of our customers don’t even ask or care what we charge.
We used to have saturation in 2 categories, now there are 6, and my Y/Pages only covers the centre of my area. We cover 4 counties and all I get for my money is a part of rural Somerset. The only bit that works well for me on Y.P. is Yell.com. The rest is dying on the vine. Next year I am looking at Yell.com only.
Alex
Re: Yellow Pages Ad
I’m due my visit soon from the Yellow Pages rep, and I’m tempted not to bother this year.
I spent over £5k on the last 12 months on Y/P advertising, and I’m beginning to question is it justified?
The way I look at it is to recoup that investment I need to include in my profit on a successful 1st time fix of a chargeable call, at least £5 toward that cost. Therefore take that £5, divide it into the sum I spend & I need to clear 105 chargeable calls in that 12 month period, just to clear the investment. Factor out of that a 65{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} 1st time fix rate, and it gets worse.
Without boring you all with sums, I think I need to clear around 3 to 4 chargeable calls where the whole/total labour income will be absorbed by this spend every week. Then I need to wonder, does Yellow Pages give me those 3 to 4 calls every week. You could say yes, but out of the general traffic we get a lot of enquiries regards makes we do not repair. These makes (Hoover/Hotpoint) we pass on to a local competitor. So I’ve spent a wad of money, and then gave the enquiry to someone else.
The last 6 months I’ve set a tab on the computer with drop downs: Being Yell/Pages Recommendation, Exist Cust, Insurance co, Retailer & Manufacturer. Surprisingly very few Y/Pages enquiries turn into a successful visit.
I’ve found that due to the nature of our business, we don’t attract the “browsers” but we get the brand loyal and image customers. We can tell a Yellow pages customer as they are usually the ones who are shopping around, and even if we quoted a £20 call out, put the phone down.
Apart from Yell.com, I’m looking to take a big plunge, and save on the advertising budget.
Alex
