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I’m pretty sure I’ve had one Samsung under warranty from EAC but that’s all. Struck me as odd at the time but sometimes there’s some weird and wonderful stuff comes through the fax and, unless there’s a few instances of it, I normally register it but don’t pay much heed to it. I only remember that as it was within a few days of stopping with DAG on Samsung work.
Shame that DAG lost it in a lot of ways as it was a nice enough contract if Samsung could have sorted out the spares side and I was even starting to get on with the people in the Samsung call centre. But they’ve lost that personal touch again I fear and that’s twice that Samsung have pulled this sort of crap on me, there won’t be a third if it can be avoided.
K.
Re: new networks and existing.
Alex wrote:Are the parent company in the States aware of the history with J.T. and his dirty dealings?
I should bloody well hope not and, if they did, then they deserve all they get!
At least they can have plausible deniability when the shit hits the fan. 😆
Alex wrote:Can I assume they have found something on the net? or is it an idea to perhaps point them in the right direction?
I would assume that one of them has found this software in the search for something appropriate when they were setting up, one thing led to another and this is where it ended up.
However, for in here only, we got a copy of a job sent out well, two now actually, by this outfit and lo and behold, it appears that they’re using the NESN call management system to operate. Hence my comment regarding the software.
Now, think about it a bit…
That software could only have been obtained by one of two people there, Dave Ince or JT. So one of thm just broke the rules of the game big time.
But, more than that, if they’re using that for now and not the Service Power stuff then what the fuck is all this deal about? My only conclusion is that rather than just give them the software that they have to earn it or pay for it from the US parent. Obviously they’ve bugger all money and certainly not enough to pay for a package like that, so they have to fudge it for now.
I need more facts before pushing that one any further but it’s very, very interesting and pretty much the way the Yanks would deal with it as, if there ain’t a buck in it they won’t do it.
K.
There’s seven possible faults listed on that machine for that error so you’d need to check the spray arms, thermostats, wash pump and the PCB to elimnate the possible failure. 😕
K.
Re: The reason you can’t give technical information out!
It would be very difficult for anyone to argue that a member of the trade was not “competent” to carry out the repair if that is the mainstay of their business or main employment but, to my knowledge, it’s never been tested in a court.
As everyone is aware we do vet the members of UKW trade sections to the best of our abilities so anyone in here IMO can be considered to be competent to repair in terms of information as they are either employed in or own a business within the industry,
K.
Re: Service Power?
Done a little digging now and from Service Power’s US website…
The early customers in the consumer electronics industry have been actively encouraging us to support their European operations. After investigation the Directors are convinced there is a similar opportunity in Europe as the US and with the advantage of little competition to our established claims processing business.
The key to the company’s success has been to recruit Chris Smith who has a strong background in the retail sector at a senior level, the staff of Keyprestige that understand the independent servicer market and world-leading IT technology from ServicePower. To duplicate the model in Europe the Directors looked to recruit recognised leaders in the industry and the Company is pleased to announce the appointment of David Brock as Managing Director of ServicePower FSS Europe. David has extensive experience in the retail sector having been a director of the Powerhouse Retail group and a director of a warranty logistics management company. David will bring with him a strong team including Jonathan Trubshaw, formerly the managing director of the National Electronic Service Network (NESN).
ServicePower has acquired the IPR of a recently formed company, Xpoint Solutions for a nominal amount and commenced trading on 4th January 2005. The new business has already won a number of contracts, worth in excess of £250,000 per annum, to deliver a total service solution for the repair of in-car, home entertainment and computer products across Europe.
“The key to launching a service business is to have the very best management who know the industry well. I am proud that David Brock and his team have agreed to join ServicePower and I am very confident they will quickly become the leading supplier of service solutions via independent servicers to the UK and Europe” commented David Brisco, CEO of ServicePower.
So JT is definitely involved in this venture, end of story.
There is an interesting little bit of financial reporting at http://www.servicepower.com/intro/financial.shtml which seems to me as if they’ve made a loss on the first five years of trading in the UK but these results only go to year end 2003. However a snippet was picked up on that they have, effectively, had a £1.5 million loss in the first half of 2004/5 I presume as the statement was issued on the 5th Feb. 2005.
Upon reading through the sales pitch at http://www.servicepower.com/intro/overview.shtml there would appear to be some points I’d take up or highlight, like the fact that the solution on offer is…
designed to reduce the cost involved in managing a large, employed mobile work force
…which I don’t think really applies to us.
It goes on however to point out that…
The SERVICEPower product is now moving to the next stage of its development by working with partners to sell the solution as part of a Service Management product set. These “OEM” sales will lead to a higher volume, or individually lower value, sales that will help to smooth the revenue.
Which says to me that using the likes of us offers a lower value but helps their cashflow whilst they are not selling volume licences on their FSS software solution.
Going on to…
A recent development is to address a part of the market that is not well catered for by any of the traditional software vendors; that is where the work is carried out by independent service companies rather than employed staff. It is estimated that as much as 40{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of all installation or repair work is carried out by independent service companies; these comprise a range of organizations from local repair shops, small businesses employing a few staff to franchises of many thousands of servicers. These organizations all lie outside the range of corporate administrative and information systems; and even if they did not, it is unlikely large corporates would give such companies access to their systems for fear of security breaches.
Which in effect states that they wish to garner accounts by using the software which will, of course, be proprietory at both ends and will have costs attached the likes of which we’ve discussed before at length on here. I’m not going to bore you with the in and outs and analysis of what this would effectively do to the industry, suffice to say it’s not exactly advantagous to us in the longer term IMO. There’s more than one way to skin a cat and certainly far cheaper ways than this.
A business based on long-term contracts, transaction pricing, predictable monthly revenue and cash that has the inherent capacity to grow very quickly, combined with a very high gross margin software business can deliver very good quality of earnings into the future.
And here’s the bottom line, they make money from the software that they sell which is fine, if you have the money (as a repairer or a manufacturer) to pay for it. There are dangers there for both, but that all comes down to whether or not you know what you’re doing with software licences and the ownership and intellectual rights of that software as well as the terms of the licence.
In effect it appears to me that this is a software solution vendor that has taken on the role of work provider to gain extra revenues, no doubt that bolstered by the recent staff additions in the UK at least.
In the UK though it may be that the software issue is not quite as straightforward as that, more information as I get it on that front.
K.
Re: new networks and existing.
So they’ve lost 1.5 Milllion GBP in the first 6 months of trading, off to a flying start then eh? 😆
Seriously, if I were looking at that as a potential account I’d be more than a little skeptical as they’ve bugger all record bar a bunch that have “history” in the industry, restrictive trading policies, poor rates for high maintenance service and they are losing money into the bargain. Not exactly an appealing prospect on the face of it, is it?
In the end as usual it’s up to induviduals to chose their own path but I won’t be (effectively) lending this outfit any of my money by working on account for them.
K.
Re: Faulty 8702 flooded our downstairs flat
Hi,
Valves on washers are really, really dumb things as a general rule and, in that appliance, they really are simple on/off affairs. They have two positions, fully open (energised) and fully closed (not energised so it’s a “fail-safe”) so there are really only two options for failure. Either the valve is energised and it fails to open (far more common) or it fails in the open position (very uncommon).
In that past few years and literally hundreds of repairs I can recall one instance of a valve being failed open as they seem designed to “fall” closed effectively if power is removed as it’s a simple electromagnetic valve and so gravity does it’s work at that point.I can only recall one in the last five years that was passing a bit of water.
The valves in this appliance are like that and to get one passing a little water would be, to say the very least, nothing short of a miracle IMO and I’d be looking as Dave pointed out, for the machine backfilling off the waste as that’s a far more likely explanation for the problem. So much so I’d offer good odds that the machine’s drain is connected to a spigot off the sink waste. 😉
K.
Dave,
It’ll have taken out the PCB for sure, every one we’ve been to has done so. It happens a fair bit and they’re a nightmare that’s best avoided, usually a total mess. 🙁
K.
Re: Service Power?
Call me skeptical but…
US trading is ever so slightly different from the UK, there’s not the same protection in law as there is in the UK and I’m always very wary of most things that seem too good to be true, still more so when it’s a US based operation. Maybe it’s me tainted from years on the net and seeing all the cons known to man, maybe its the old stigma attached to the Yank salesmen or maybe its the fact that I’m sat here in Las Vegas this evening (that should confuse :)) having seen all day “no refunds, no returns” on signs at stores.
Or maybe it’s just the history of the people involved and bitter, bitter experience that’s taught me to stand well clear of anything remotely dodgy looking.
Whatever it is, I’m still here and these people have had to re-invent, hide, mask or conceal themselves, I take comfort in that and I’m even more comforted by the fact that UKW exposes these things. Keep it up people.
Just remember… caveat emptor!
K.
Re: Candy Alise 105 Drum Bearing Maintenance…
Stripping down a Candy tub group is not a job for the DIY’r as Dave and Chris have already pointed out as you’ll need a lot of time (as a two-man job the fastest I ever did one was an hour) as well as chain-mail gloves if you don’t want to end up needing stitches for the gashes in your hands. I cannot stress enough that this is NOT a DIY repair, it reduces many an engineer to tears let alone the un-initiated to the joys of the job.
Also if they are still siliconing the backplate to the tub you’ll need a turbo-torch as well or you’ll wreck the outer tank trying to split it. This makes production easier, but repair an absolute bugger. 🙁
On the latter ones we were doing we’d have a tub group pre-built to swap the whole lot out as it was, at best, impractical to carry out the repair in the customer’s home.
K.
It’s Vegas Martin! 😉
But no, I doubt it would work in many other places and the tickets were $100 so about £60ish.
K.
