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Yes they have been saying that the ESD side has been making money, but that lumps in the alarm side on which they make good cash as well as the electrical work also a money spinner thus far, but Part P has still to bite there.
I should doubt very much that the appliance repair business is as profitable.
What BG is aiming for is to insure the entire house by the looks of it and, when you actually analyise the figures, it’s actually not such a good deal for the customer. Albeit I would concede that the concept has been extremely well thought out and marketed thus far.
That does not however detract from the damage that BG are doing by way of their marketing currently and the methods employed to gain staff. It also does not excuse them from the shocking ways in which they have shown a total disregard for the damage that they have done to the independents, I’m just glad I never took them on.
K.
Re: SARENA Dishwasher (who makes them?)
Yes they are serviced by AIS, on 01245 320992 who will advise the local repair agent.
As far as I am aware (and I’ve seen a few calls for these) they can be either Fagor or Brandt, I’d have to check but I’m 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} sure they can be either as I’m pretty certain that even AIS can only identify the manufacturer from the serial number. The reason being that PABL switched the supplier but didn’t switch the model number (bright huh?) so you have basicaly to entirely different machines that get repaorted as being the same. Same drill (IIRC) with the Eurolec stuff as well which, if memory serves me, is either another PABL brand or Maurice Lay.
After a while all these brand names that are just that, brands, gets a bit confusing to say the least and, we’re in the trade! 😕
K.
Funnily enough I was thinking the same thing Alex.
But WHAT THE FUCK!
Seriously are you telling me that they have been told that if they are caught on UKW that they will be subject to disiplinary action? That’s beyond Draconian that is and if we can prove it with a copy of the memo I will do something about it. In fact that’s just so shocking it’s unbelievable!
K.
Dave must have cleared his access as I didn’t so I dunno the first thing about the guy other than what’s there.
I have spoken with the old man and basically fired up what he said about a couple of them up here that are fiddling the books to get the money. But his initial reaction was “no way he’s earning that!”
K.
Re: British Gas Homecare
Yes but if BG find out that you called in a faulty socket when there wasn’treally a fault and were getting the extra job you’d be out the door faster than you’re feet could touch the ground, or booking in the easy jobs like door handles and the likes for the Saturday for extra bonus on OT.
Just because BG management is either too complacent or too stupid to see the ways in which engineers fiddle the bonus figures right now doesn’t mean to say that they won’t eventually cotton on to the scams. You see, when you run your own business and you’re watching the pennies we have to care about such things and believe me, many of the guys here running any size of engineering force has probably tried multiple different methods over the years to fairly allocate bonus and we’ve seen all the scams before. One day they will cotton on and if you happen to be consistently high with your bonus you’ll be put under a big microscope to find out why.
Any manager worth their salt will look for abnormalities like that and take action based upon the findings.
That aside it wouldn’t be long, as has happened to me in the past, where you get cries of “foul” from the engineers that have not got a prayer of hitting targets due to the area or the type of calls that they do. It’s only a matter of time.
But you’re right FB, BG is a hornets nest as many here have been put out a lot by their antics and it’s left a very bitter aftertaste.
K.
Re: British Gas Homecare
The Penguin’s right!
Apart from that FB what you have to bear in mind is the damage that BG are doing to the industry as a whole as they’re stealing valuable knowledge and not then passing it on to new blood into the industry. The long term effects of what they’re doing could be quite catastrophic at best and, in doing so, they are forcing others, such as Merloni, BSH and the likes, to also play the same games.
On top of which they are luring people with training that goes beyond what they actually want them to do, i.e. they are swiping CORGI registered engineers and yet that is handled not by the appliance repairs side, but by the gas side and we’ve all seen the results of that.
BG do seem to fare rather better in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, particularly in the central belt where you have the population density to support the efforts but outside that it’s hardly all sweetness and light. There are huge problems with coverage and with technical knowledge around the country as well as quite a few compliants about the service. I couldn’t care less about that to be honest though as that’s just competition which is healthy.
What does bother me is that by “poaching” engineers and not breeding their own they are forcing additional costs onto the independents as well as the manufacturers and then they wonder why, when they ask to get bailed out, we (both repairers and manufacturers) tell them to go forth. Hardly surprising really is it?
It’s also the callous way in which this is done, like bribing their own staff with a £500 bonus to poach for them and the lure of high slaries which, in reality, are not just so easy to achieve. As you rightly state, if you’re in the sticks then achieving bonus or even the salary that you mention is nigh on impossible.
What you also don’t mention is the little niggles like two tub jobs in a day, which happens quite regularly, 14 calls a day and call centre staff that couldn’t find their way to a local pub let alone structure a sensible run. Then on top of that you do weekends and the 24 callouts for alarms and electrical problems, on top of which you may well have 10 calls or so booked for the day after you get called out at 2:30am the night before, the only way you get out of it is by calling the call centre and re-organising the run.
I know these things go on as I’ve sat and watched it happen.
In short, yes you can earn the money if you’re up for the workload, but it’s not just as easy as it seems on the surface and, whilst an independent my not match tht salary level, they won’t expect that sort of level or type of work to be carried out.
However none of that in any way negates the damage that BG are doing and have been doing now for several years. They’re also winning no friends with the industry due to the advertising that they do trying to insinuate that anyone other than they are cowboys, not a good move IMO.
Now we have the rumour floating about that they are not only trying to get their own brand for boilers but also a range of appliances as well, there is substance to this from what I can gather. That’s really going to help them get spares and tech. info from manufacturers isn’t it? Also I can imagine that RETRA, Currys and Comet et all won’t exactly be jumping for joy when news of that reaches them.
But hey, as I often say, what do I know? 😉
K.
Yep P’s reply is superb.
I’m thinking about it. 😈
I don’t think that he’s a plant but I do think he’s talking crap about 2K a month, or you’d need to be working your guts out to get that. I will confirm the 90 calls a month thing ASAP and I may even be able to aquire some of the bonus sheets.
K.
Re: Servis 1600
You won’t break anything by trying them. 😉
The spin with the line through it is spin cancel from memory.
The rinse one is liable to be an extra rinse or something of that ilk.
The vertical line one I’ve no idea off the top of my head. 😕
What’s the model number as that would help a lot and I can have a scout about to see if there’s a picture of it?
K.
The door lock is just behind the bit the catch on the actual door slots into. You may have to pop off the seal and release the retaining screws to get to it.
Remember the plug pulling as that’s live there!
K.
Well there’s feedback coming through that they’re upsetting a few people and that all is not what it appears there.
K.
Re: British Gas Homecare
And you’re not alone in that action.
Many of the independents have given it up, gone to work for the likes of BG or left the industry simply as they can get better working for someone else. They’re guaranteed money in the bank every month, none of the hassles or grief, none of the staff problems, you actually get holidays, you don’t have a major issue when a van breaks and so on and on.
It’s sad to say but you can often earn just as much working as an employee as you can working for yourself, even with contract work, as the money simply isn’t on offer to make it worthwhile.
But you do have one thing, a certain freedom.
K.
Re: Fagor Fridge Freezer – Problem
Hi Dundee,
As far as I have seen the Fagor refrigeration is desperately simple stuff with only two points of failure, the thermostat and the compressor and if you’ve already replaced the stat you’re only left with one conclusion really. There is an overheat/relay on the compressor that could possibly have failed but they’d generally either work or not and not be intermittent like that.
From what you’ve said I’d be looking at the compressor overheating and cutting out on the TOC, bad news and really not worth repairing as you’d be looking at the thick end of £200 normally to swap out a compressor and it sure ain’t a DIY repair by any stretch.
K.
Re: Phone number ident?
You need a MAC for this (I fear them but I may get one to play with)…
Li just ordered one to mess with and I can find out if it’s any use if you like once he gets it?
There are various Windows PC based solutions out there but none of them I tried were much use TBH. It is easier in the US as most modems are built to recognise the US Caller CLID which is different to the UK CLID and hence, most modems are flaky depending on the strength of the drivers for UK Caller ID use.
Hope that helps.
K.
