Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Re: Merloni
Perhaps we should come up with a list of safeguards we would all wish to see in place in case this Merloni work comes back at us under another banner.
The strange thing is that when something works well, nobody mentions it.
MFI work is a typical example of what I mean, £40 per call 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} mark up on spares and not one mention of any major problems with the work on any of the forums. In fact as far as I’m concerned the contract has run as smooth as as a silken codpiece (There, my secret is out at last 😉 )Could it be a complete coincidence that this particular deal was brokered by the guy’s within this very room who did shit loads of work behind the sceene’s and handed over work directley to agent’s without first hiving off the all cream for themselves unlike every W.P. in the land.
Might it be an idea for us all to get our heads together and do a repeat of the MFI deal with Merloni.
Of course we would have to agree a pact of solidarity of.. One for all and All for one. To hold the buggers in check.We all know that Merloni want to keep control of the spares, but apart from NESN every other W.P. would want to run the spares as this is where most of their money is made. Sometimes it’s just a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Thoughts Please !
Del
Re: Merloni
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.
We are all in buisness to servicee appliances and provided the work comes from a reputable trusted source with all the required safeguards, and technical support and most importantly at the right money their is no good reason that we should not do it.
But to take it on at any terms as Phil has just found out is quite simply not worth the grief. Some of you that never did the work before may be supprised to learn that members of this very war room still have mountains of Merloni stock that the bastards refused to take back and credit.
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.
They have already offered £37 through NESN, without any serious takers so when they get desperate enough due to the pressurse that the insurance companies and retailers are putting on them to improve their service levels and they have to go back to CDSL. lets hope we can all jump in for £40 a call, with at least 2 years work and the knowledge that we can return any unwanted stock. Because if we dont then you can bet your life that plenty of others will.
Del
Re: Technics1200 Bowing Out
Sorry to see you go Jeff, we will miss your input but all the best for the future. 😉
Best Regards Del
Re: Merloni
Jason I take your point over control of the work and the fact that when a manufacturer wants to take the work away he does not stand by his own stated change over period of three months as per Merloni they pulled their work back within two weeks.
What would stop them would be if there were a clause that said that they would have to pay your average bill for the change over period just as CDSL had to pay NESN for doing sweet F.A. when CDSL wanted to do it themselves.
Surley to god we’ve all learnt a few lessons over the last 18 months in this trade. We hav’nt even learnt the lessons of our own strength yet.
We moaned about NESN, now they are a shadow of what they once were.
We moaned about GBDAR, their agents are leaving in droves and retailers dont want to stock servis as a result of overpriced spares and poor service. Plus the fact that they admit themselves they cant get work from anywhere because their reputation has been splashed all over this site.
We moaned about Merloni, we have all seen them running around like headless chickens trying to get somone to do their work, and even when they try bribery it still does’nt work, because people who read this site have taken our warnings onboard.
The only ones who have taken heed of the warnings from this site are CDSL and ISDAL who have enough sense to go to both dasa and ukw meetings to keep themselves abrest of what we are thinking.
If we ever woke up to our own strength then we would be a force to be reckoned with. I fully realise that we are not the whole trade (YET) but even now there are enough of us to make a significant difference to the plans of any manufacturer or W.P who needs help from the independant trade.
As ever JMHO Del
Re: Merloni
It should now be quite evident that this site is doing the job that was intended, of fully informing the members of this trade with most of the relavent information they need to come to a commercial decision of wether or not to take on new commercial work.
I fully stress that the final decision will and should, always remain the perogative of the principles of the individual companies approached.
But is’nt it fantastic to see the members sharing information with each other so that some other poor sap doesnt fall into the same trap.Nesn are desperate for work and they must have thought that they had landed a big fish with Merloni, when they got £37 per job they must also have thought that the deal was done and dusted.
It is blatantley obvious that enough members took the same line that most of us did.
They decided that to be used short term and then dumped with no safeguards over their buissiest period of the year was quite simply not on no matter how big the bribe.Do any of us really think that Nesn did this off their own back, I dont think so.
I have no wish to see Nesn fail, but when they next go looking for work they will now be mindfull that the trade will not just accept any old terms and conditions and might even start to enquire what is required by us, instead of presenting us with a deal that we had no input towards.
They must be aware that they now appear to look like Dickhead’s as far as merloni are concerned. The one good thing to come out of this particular debarcle is that as Ken has suggested the bar has now been firmly set at a minimum of £37 for any new work coming from any W.P.
So where do poor old merloni go to now, and who really gives a fuck unless the deal is right and the safeguards are in place.
Regards as ever Del
Re: AEG vs Miele
check out the link for the full spec on the miele
Regards Del
Re: Merloni
As you all know I never signed the contract with NESN and since I started with them again they have paid me in full each month.
They sent me MERLONI work at the begining of the week and I phoned them to say that I could not handle any volume and If they insisted on sending the Merloni work, then I would have to withdraw from the network.
As I only get about half a dozen inspection reports a week, which are first time hit’s I’m not that bothered either way and they know it.Del
Re: Merloni
As you may be aware Merloni have some 1500 own employed engineers who complete on average 8,000 service calls per day. However with Merloni’s ever-increasing market share, they recognised that partnerships needed to be formed in order to maintain and enhance their reputation for customer service.
Do the Maths Ken,
Eight thousand completed calls a day by their 1,500 employed engineers/franchised agents means roughly 5 completed calls a day. These are their own figures, does’nt it seem a little strange that their own engineers with vans exclusively and only filled with Merloni spares can only complete half of their allotted (10) daily calls. What chance would we stand in completing any in one day.
Most agents, with more than one brain cell will realise that this is a very short term contract and will not want to be stuck with spares at the end of it. So when you build in the fact that most of this work will be double calls it does’nt seem so attractive.
Del
Re: Hotpoint Advertise Franchises!
The Devil is in the detail I’m affraid.
This addittional work is a pilot scheme according to NESN’S own press release and without wishing to cause any offence, it’s timing i.e. just before the Christmas mayhem is more than a little suspicous to say the least.
At first glance the suggested fee of £35-6 would seem reasonable for volume work but is there any premium for gas work or tub changes ?.
Remember NESN did’nt bother to ask their agents about this before, to the bitter consternation of their members who were expected to carry out tub changes for normal fee’s on Zanussui’s w.
Are there any cast iron guarantee’s for the return of damaged or incorrectly supplied spares with a credit note by return rather than the usual 12 month plus, if at all, as is the norm where Merloni are concerned ?.
If after Christmas let’s say by February the contract is not to be continued, will NESN undertake to remburse all agents for protracted delay’s by Merloni in picking up and refunding all unwanted stock.
With regard to the three month suggested call back clause. Does this refer to any other fault or same fault only. What if the fault is due to a failure of a component supplied by Merloni is it right that a NESN agent should be expected to underwright all spares supplied when there is no mark up on the spare in the first place.
Remember Hotpoint charge a minimum of £90 per completed repair !
We could all give a good guarantee for that fee dont you think ?Is’nt it a little rich for them to expect NESN members to provide a better sevice to their customers, than they can provide themselves, for a third of the cost, that they are prepaired to work for.
These are a few questions that I’m sure, we would all wish the answers too. Or will it be the same as always with regards to information, too little too late.
Del
Re: Merloni
E-JOBS is the way forward !
If we can make this work,( and I see no reason why it should’nt ) Then as a group we can project and promote ourselves as a national organisation.
This would benifit all of our members, from sole traders, to limited companies with several engineers. It would allow us to compete on a more even footing with the big guy’s. Let’s face it how many of us could get away with their charges.
We all have to get behind this because this is where we convert the site from a talking shop into a national organisation that deals directly with the general public, targeting the very best work possible, yes chargeable work!
It is my own personal view that we should put all other buisness on the back burner until this is up and running. When this is made to work then far more additional benifits and services can be bolted on to it.
We can all see that of late the public hit’s on the site have vastly outstripped trade hit’s. This does not mean that the trade interest is diminishing, just that we have almost reached saturation point with regard to reaching service providers.
So if we are to take advantage of this level of interest and internet traffic we have to stike while the iron is hot and get moving with the launch of E-JOB’S.
We already know that we can beat the big guy’s hands down when it comes to level of service, value for money and best advice. Just look at Merloni for instance their level of service at this moment in time is nothing short of a joke.
It is no good to any of us to be the best kept secret in the whitegoods industry. On our own we cant do much as we all have limited resorces but as a committed group we are capable of moving mountains. So let’s all get focused on our one big chance and go for it !
As ever JMHO Del
Re: Hotpoint Advertise Franchises!
Alex wrote:Most certainly short term. they aint giving nothing away.
They may well approach 3rd party work providers to help them out. Meaning the likes of CDSL or ISDA. All very well but this will only be whilst it suits them. Once Hotperloni see the light at the end of the tunnel, all the work will creep back to their own in-house service. In the interim, us poor agents will be stretched to the limit, which will reflect upon us and the service providers. At the end of all that, the likes of Hotperloni will move on and leave us to sort out the spoils.
The only way they could court these work providers is to guarantee they will stay with them and moreover, to provide a realistic rate. However, there are some of us out there who would not entertain this work under any conditions; so much so they may consider resigning from the W.P’s. That will leave said work providers with serious gaps in their cover.
I sincerely hope that no-body in their right mind is contemplating this work. They made their bed when they ditched their agents, now they have to lie in it.
There, I feel better now.
Alex
DITTO
Del
Re: Merloni
We all have to remember that a lot of independant’s have been caught up in the war between NESN & CDSL and may very well look at this offer as a way out, especially if they have been limping along carrying engineers without full workloads.
We must be mindfull that those of us who were bitten badly by the callous
treatment we recieved from our friends at Merloni, can only warn others of the pitfalls.We should avoid being judgemental of those who decide to fall into the trap. Let’s face it we thought it was a good deal once upon a time, until time and experience prooved us wrong.
The final decision on wether or not to work for twat’s like the Merloni’s of this world, has to rest with the principles/directors of these Independant companies, we are not in their shoes, thank god.
We could end up doing UKW a lot of damage, if we end up telling these poor suckers ‘WE TOLD YOU SO ! ‘
By all means warn people, and it’s even o.k. to report on the aftermath when these poor buggers are used and then dumped. But when it happens as it surely will, then let’s all try to avoid being accused of gloating.
Just a thought
Del
Re: Merloni
flipper,
Two years ago I was getting £28 per call plus £37 per call out of area plus £2 per completed call annual bonus.
If you want to spend £6k per van to get a reasonable 1 st call hit rate you wont have much room left on your vans for your other makes.Credit notes are as rare as rocking horse shit. They were changing modules on their machines almost on a monthly basis so be prepaired for some expensive dead stock. The dishwashers leak like a sive so factor in a good few free call back’s.
Your phone lines will be jammed with their customers chasing spares, some spares were taking forever to come and when you get there you find the machine has been exchanged and nobody bothers to tell you.
So you then have the choice of building a huge pile of their stock. or send them back for a credit note that will never come.Del
