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Re: THE FUTURE????????
It’s a common problem today. Companies selling products at unprofitable prices and making profit on services and consumables.
Ultimately the greedy public have got what they deserve for not wanting to pay proper prices for products and being gullable enough to fall for the too-good-to-be-true prices on goods such as mobile phones, printers, games consoles ete then complaining at the costs of accessories, consumables etc.
My suspicion is that this whole business with cheap products and extended warranties could be on the way out.
I reckon the current status quo has been artificially sustained by high pressure selling of the extended warranties. As you say K, companies decided that’s where the profit was and sold the goods as a means to an end. The products became cheaper and cheaper but now they are so cheap, that most customers I talk to don’t think it’s worth bothering with an extended warranty as they are now ridiculously priced in comparison with the goods they are supposed to cover. They are content to take the risk and just buy another if it goes wrong.
Prices like £220 for a product and £144 to cover it just aren’t sustainable any more so maybe the tide will turn?
[edited to put in real figures for a Candy washer and 4 yrs extended warranty]
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
Had a look K. It’s crazy. So the only logical conclusion is that it will cost so much for a Corgi engineer to visit a consumers home that they are priced right out of a job. We will all end up being covered by insurance and maintenence schemes for all household repairs in the end and paying considerably more in the long term for it too.
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
Will do K. But my beef isn’t just about high charges as such, it’s about charging a fixed price, which includes “parts” which may or may not even be needed and insisting on payment up front when all businesses have people who don’t pay. You can’t treat 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of your customers like scum just because 1{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} have caused you problems.
The only way you should be able to charge a set price is for servicing, as with cars, when it’s accepted that at a certain age/milage, certain procedures and parts should be replaced. A repair, could be anything from a 10 minute trace and fix dodgy connection to a big job and you can’t fairly do a fixed price without most customers paying too much (and many way too much) if this wasn’t the case the company concerned would be losing money.
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
Cheers Alex, I just checked them out and the recommended repairer
DOMESTIC HEATING (UK) LTD, Nottinghamshire charges £39.85 for the first hour and £25.52 per hour after + parts of course. This shows how outrageous £170 is.Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
These companies can make those decisions because they are usually manufacturers who make their money making and selling. They can shut down or farm out servicing when it becomes unviable and remain profitable with their main business. For most white goods repairers, servicing IS their main business so if they put prices up to become properly profitable – they will simply go bust. If they only do chargable work they have to keep repair charges artificially low and make no profit or go under (in the end)
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
There is another explanation. That is that they have made a commercial deision not to do chargable work because they can’t make it pay. Therefore, if anyone wants to have one of their engineers they will have to make it worth their while. Just like British Gas, and others, they are making their money on maintenance schemes and are busy enough thank-you-very-much dealing with those customers.
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
Hi K. I agree, that the prices major companies usually charge are not outrageous, they are simply the charges needed to make a profit. It’s just that customers won’t wear the same prices from a small firm or sole trader, they expect us to do it for less than half the price of the majors.
Our problem is simple, the appliances are too cheap to replace. I don’t think even the white goods manufacturers are making anything on chargeable work but they know they can’t afford to send someone out for less or they’ll simply be running at a loss.
Ultimately, costs are irrelevant to consumers. If I set up a business to repair toasters and kettles in people’s houses, and my legitimate and conservative running coasts dictate I need to charge £30 + parts to repair one ? I can’t complain that people wont pay because new toasters and irons are only £20 odd. To me, it’s a simple case of repairs being made obsolete in similar ways to what happened to Blacksmiths, Milkmen etc. It’s not economically viable to trade any more.
Of course, this is entirely different to the rip off Potterton company that charges a set price for all repairs so that other customers are heavily subsidising the customers with expensive faults. Why should a little old pensioner lady (little old pensioner lady example gratuotously used to add unnecessary weight to my point) who has a minor fault, have to subsidise people who have expensive faults and who are Potterton to dictate that should happen?
I hate the throwaway society. I hate the cheap washing machines which have ruined my repair business. However, I am talking purely from a customers point of view looking at options in the present climate and not letting my personal interest interfere.
I don’t think I disagree with anything you say K. I understand that these days the warranty costs are affected by the issues you raise but don’t forget this is recent. For many years washing machines were much less likely to go wrong and if so nothing serious. This is the period when the warranties gained their over-priced criticisms.
I too advise everyone to buy a quality washing machine if they can aford it, but if you compare a servis or Ariston Candy Indesit etc purchasing price of (approx) £200 and add £150 for the 5 year warranty, you get a washing machine guaranteed to last 5 years with no repair costs for £350.
If you compare this with buying a £350 Hoover, Hotpoint Bosh etc -all of which could break down and cost a lot to fix in the first 5 years, it’s not necessarily a bad option to go for the cheap one with 5 year warranty.
It’s not something I’d necessarily recommend, but I have decided it’s certainly an option that some would be happy with.
I take your points too K 🙂
However, regardless of the politics of it, from a customer’s point of view, with the current situation, £350 for a brand new washer that’s guaranteed 5 years is an attractive deal and on the other side of the coin, an extra £175 on top of what they paid for a quality machine isn’t worth the money.
Extended warranties have been branded a waste of money..
I’ve always felt they were vastly overpriced and advised customers never to buy them. However, I’ve recently adjusted my opinion on extended warranties, at least for the cheap washing machines. After attending a 16 month old Servis washing machine (cost £180) with a module fault that was going to cost about 70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the purchasing price (guess what – the customer scrapped it) I now wonder if £200 + £150 =£350 for a washing machine virtually guaranteed for 5 years is such a bad deal. It’s £70 a year (£1.35 a week) and you might even get a few more years out of it on top 🙂
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Is this restricited to the telephone or verbal advice only? Otherwise all the DIY leaflets in DIY stores, and all the DIY books with diagrams and pictures would all be taking great risks.
What about health books giving health advice? Haynes sell millions of books showing how to repair car brakes and show wiring diagrams too. They also do one for washing machines. Why doesn’t the law apply to them too?
Is it possible that as long as disclaimers are written down the onus is shifted to the person doing the job and the problem lies soley with a company being unable to prove they gave a warning verbally?
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My understanding is that it isn’t a legal requirement to have public liability insurance because the insurance is taken out to cover the repairer and not the customer. Therefore it’s highly unlikely to ever become a legal requirement.
However, Employers liability is a legal requirement because people working for someone need to be protected.
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I got out of sales about 5 years ago. What with interest fee credit and crazy prices it’s pointless.
I only really found the pensioners (and the uninformed) willing to pay “extra” for good old fashioned service as I used to unpack, install, then tested and demonstrated them. However, pensioners are a dying breed (excuse pun) and the under 45 generation have all now wised up to the fact that they are so cheap in the big stores.
The only way to compete is on service (take the old washer away etc)
