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Re: Site News & Updates
Ken,
Are you checkin’ the page hit counter we are almost at a quarter of a million in just over six months. Would it be possible for me to buy a few shares 😆 😉
regards as ever DelRe: Electrue/NESN
Well it looks as though the penny has started to drop. The Insurance company’s have been quite happy to see the trade sueezed until the pips squeek and to see how low they could drive down the cost of a quality repair. They have even managed to have us all at one anothers throats agents, networks, spares suppliers including trade associations.
If ever the day came that we all banded together agents, networks, suppliers,yes and Dasa. ( I believe this state is called nirvarna or valhala )Then they would be obliged to negociate a senseable rate for the premium service that they have already sold to the general public.When they first approached the independant trade to carry out this work the rates set for that time were reasonable. I must confess I even used to make a small proffit on the work, Which like so many of my trade coleauges, I would duley plough back into my business to improve the quality of service that I provided to all my customers both corporate and private.
Please let us not fool ourselves (by which I mean, us the independant trade) We were not the first choice to carry out this work.
The history of this work shows us that the first choice used to be the manufacturers own direct, or appointed service organisation. But that proved too expensive.Next it tried to set up its own network of agents but the cost of its own administration seemed to prove to costly to continue with, so after stabbing many of these agents in the back, leaving them almost overnight with vast quantities of stock.
It found a tempory answer with both Service force and then GDA who took the decision to try multibrand servicing. But although they could be very cost effective at repairing thier own brand of machines they were loosing money hand over fist when it came to repairing other brands largely due to the ever increasing cost of genuine spares, so much so that both of these organisations handed the work back saying thanks but no thanks after having had thier fingers badly burned on unrealistic fixed price repair charges.
Having used and abused nearly everyone in the trade they then approach a leading spares supplier to set up a network as they themselves had lost all personal credibilty within the trade as honest brokers.
In my opinion they are now in the uneviable position of having nowhere left to go. and they seem to be of the opinion that the best form of defence is to attack which has just backfired on them via the nesn ultimatum, to which they have had to do a humiliating climbdown, as they don’t want to see themselves on T.V. over thier busiest sales period of the year not fullfilling thier committment to thier extended warranty customers.
I think that a lesson has been lear’nt by everyone over this fiasco and that is that the bigger they are the harder they fall and that even a worm will turn given enough provocation.
Mr. Trubshaw has been given his finnest hour by the support and solidarity of the individual agents within nesn I only hope he remembers this when it comes time to review payment rates with workproviders in hopfully the not to distant future.
Best regards as ever Del
Re: CORGI Training for engineers…maybe not!
Most corgi firms in our area wont touch cooker repairs with a bargepole as they only like to bang in central heating systems lets face it. at the end of the day its far less hassle to supply and fit a new unit, that is designed to be serviced, with one burner and a few radiators than it is to get the correct part for some of these cookers we repair. Most of us undertook this work to provide a one stop repair organisation for our respective manufacturers and work providers and I, like a great many other fools in the industry fell into the same trap ( LET ME EXPLAIN )
1] I now have the cost of Corgi registration for myself and my engineers
2] My insurance premiums have more than doubled since taking on gas work ( my overall workload has’nt )
3] I now have a higher wage bill due to the multi skilling of my engineers
4] The cost’s & time involved in Corgi training are very substantial
5] The average guarantee/waranty premium for a gas job is £5
which is the best joke that has ever been played on the whitegoods trade.Can you see the funny side lad’s ? NO NIETHER CAN I !
If I could go back to the hour before I decided to go down the Corgi route would I do it ? IN A HEARTBEAT !
Regards as ever Del
Re: Electrue/NESN
kwatt wrote:Well, I got a bit more info…
Looks like the agents are caught in the middle…again! 🙄
K.
between a rock and a hard place, as ever ! & the silence is deafening.
Alex wrote:
What really surprised me was, who got the contract. I thought they were too busy making a b***s up of Servis work to consider anything else.ces’t la vie.
You dont have to be too clever to see mr Moats hand in this one, as it seems to be widely accepted that he is the power behind GBDAR.
It would appear that he is not content with his salary from mr Merloni for his part time work @ servis uk. It would now seem his main ambition is to resurect Homecare ( who used to be widely advertised on national T.V. on the BBC watchdog programme) under a different name.
Using this additional manufacturers workload, you will see his tried and tested method, you can bet he’s already working out his mark up on the Beko’s spares price list, just as he did when he took over at servis and last but not least on the sweat of the poor sods he can convince to do the work, not to mention the overdraft facility they will need to fund thier van stocks, for the crap rates that gbdar offer.Regards as ever Del
Re: Reports, Reports, Reports
Can I please nominate INDEPENDANT APPLIANCE SERVICE LIMITED as the very worst in the trade for lost faxes. I dont think a day goes by but thier on the phone to say they hav’nt recieved this or that fax/spares order. Perhaps we should give them the order of St. ANTHONY ( the patron Saint of lost items ) either that, or chip in for a ream of fax paper for thier machine, or simply reqest that they PLUG THE BLOODY THING IN !
Re: Unbelievable repair practice – move into boiler repairs?
It would appear that Pottertons have taken the commercial decision to apply a flat charge to call out and repair any fault on any of their products.
They, just like us, sell and or service their products in a free market. Were they not able to sustain their required workload or service to thier products, then the price they charge would be reflected in thier fees. otherwise, they like many of our number, would simply go out of buisness.Obviousley joe public is paying thier price otherwise Pottertons would not be in buisiness. They are aware that it is the cost of getting the skilled engineer to the property with the required spare part that represent’s the majority of thier own cost’s and are relecting that fact in thier charges. So it would seem that what some people see as ‘Rip Off’ others see as ‘Reality’ .
I dare say Pottertons will still be in buisness long after any of us. Perhaps they have realised that they are an independant buisiness who must stand and fall on the profit that thier company does or does not make.
Therefore we would all do better to take a leaf out of thier book, instead of seeing ourselves as an another unfunded unofficial branch of social services.I think you will find that the national coverage was for refrigeration products only, unless we were mis-informed by caremark, But it now seems as though they’ve got the lot, a cherry pickers charter I do believe.
another kick in the teeth for the many agents who provided a service for caremark in areas where they could’nt make it pay themselves. I can only think that Mike Twinn must have seen the writting on the wall.Hi Ken,
I would just like to agree with all the coments so far and add my vote of thanks to Li for his time and effort, just like Dave could you make it a bit clearer where to send the donation.Best Regardsas ever Del
Gentlemen,
Might I just start by congratulating you all on one of the finest topics yet, and the quality of the reply’s thus far show this community working at it’s best.
I just hope I dont let side down with my twopenneth. From the reply’s we can all see that there is a very diverse approach by members to thier particular circumstances and the w.p.’s they work for. To carry enough spares for first time hit’s, as far as I am concerned is a non starter, because like so many others I work for, in excess of 20 manufacturers and w.p.’s and it is very hard to work a fully loaded eighteen wheeler pentacnican for every engineer into the price, especially when I am expected to fund the stock levels from my own pocket and make no mark up on said spares.
The closest opinion in the reply’s to my own position, is that of Dave Conway i.e. to monitor the call’s closley and try and send the engineer with the part.
The problem with this is, that if the part is out of stock or a special order you then get the customer complaining to the w.p. that we havent even called to the appliance, they usually omitt to tell the w.p. that I have discussed thier appliance with them and told them that I am ordering the most likley part.
We are all aware, that we somtimes have to send an engineer along just to show his face or when the customer can,t be bothered to look for a model / serial number. IMHO we should demand certain information from the w.p. and customers before accepting the call, such as model no’s and serial,no’s or reject the call. The w.p.’s are quick enough to reject our invoices for far less important information.
The most important item of all IMHO is the issue of vastley overpriced spares. We should approach all interest parties i.e. Insurance companies, trading standards, office of fair trade, the press, cosumer agencies, etc etc. to stamp out this total ripp off by manufacturers. Only then, will we see the return of correctly priced appliances and the possibility of a return to economical appliance repairs and fairness to all.Best Regards as ever Del
After the last one, I would’nt miss it for the world, excellent venue, exqisite food, and the company was even better ! see you there.
Regards as ever DelFor every member of this forum that actually takes the time and trouble to post a question. there are at least ten more members who view the topics. Anyone can be certain of this by viewing the number of hits each topic gets. Can I just strongley advise all interested parties to attend the DASA open forum, remember you do not have to be a member to attend the open forum where you will be given the oppurtunity to raise as many questions as time will allow. You can then see for youself the kind of dedicated, informed, and enthusiastic personell that the Dasa council have onboard. I too have had my doubts but at least I went to Peterborough last month to see for myself and make my own mind up.
You may believe it or not, but there is going to be a shake up in this industry and I want to be a part of it not just a bystander who wished he’d caught the bus. Do what I did go along to the open forum ask your own questions and then you can at least make an informed choice.Regards as ever Del
