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Re: I think Kwatts wrong
Andy, that’s the “Tesco” approach to marketing, not many people subscribe to the theory outside of the supermarkets. I may explain that one day but it’s a lengthy thing to go into.
Lawrence is absolutely correct. The vast bulk of appliances that are sold from what i can see are low to mid-range appliances and I experienced exactly the same with Servis as well. It is, IMO, a cr@p product that is sold into a band of comsumers that actually need a decent appliance as many of them are low-income families that are either large or involved in manual labour, which equates to a lot of washing. Yet the appliances are not built, again IMO, to handle the workload and yet the customers are available for same-day, next-day service calls and they expect it. Why?
Why should the customer buying a cut-price appliance recieve top-notch service on it? I don’t get it at all. Surely, like most things in life, the service recieved should be relative to the amount paid for that service or the product, or am I missing something here?
Fine when the customer is paying for it as it’s then down to the individual company to determine the level of service offered to the customer, but when you’re on a flat rate that is often far less than others as is the case here, really is there any sense in it?
A large part of this phenomenon can be laid squarely at the door of the retailers, but also with us as we’ve been stupid enough to pander to these people for years. Now we’re reaping what WE sowed. My view is that it’s time for a change.
Lawrence is also totally correct in that customers will often, shall we say, distort the truth a little to get their own way. I too see this on an almost daily basis, some of it makes me laugh and some of it really angers me as the customers often make me or my engineers out to be liars or put words into our mouths that were never uttered. Thankfully almost without exception, the manufacturers and other clients that we work for now know this only too well and get our side of things before answering the customer. The personal relationship I have with many of them goes a long way to making that work far better than it has done in years.
The article I wrote may well not be perfect, it may not be 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} factually correct in law but it is totally correct in sentiment and delivery as far as I am concerned and I will make no apologies for it. Customers have to realise that they are not always correct and that as soon as they start to issue threats that there is no magic wand being waved that will get them what they want. If they want what I suspect most of them do, then they should have paid the extra £300 for a Meile!
K.
Re: yesterday I lost £37.50
CJ you are absolutely correct. It does indeed cost one lost call and one that was not done, so in effect it’s a double loss.
With the first time completion rates that most of us are on it’s no surprise that we’re not making any real money and merely scraping a living.
K.
Re: rumours
It’s not often that I do this, but this has to be seen as an exception to my usual. In 1929 the famed Indian master scholar and philosopher Krishnamurti gave a talk which none of you will be interested in and if you are there’s Google. But in it he recited the following story…
Krishnamurti wrote:You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of Truth,” said the devil. “That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to help him organize it.
K.
Andy,
Soounds like a thermostat failure, should be pretty easy to have repaired and not too expensive either.
K.
Re: Basic Electrical Safety
Hypothetical situation…
Customer asks what colour wires you connect to a stat. He’s partially colourblind and you obviously don’t know that, but neither does he. He wires it incorrectly but per your (correct) instructions as HE sees it. It’s wrong, the house burns down and he blames you for giving hime the wrong information.
Who’s at fault?
He didn’t know he could do the job before you told him how to, you may have given the correct information but you cannot gauge the competency of the customer to actually do that job can you? Of course not, you’ve never met him or know of any impairment that he may have. Therefore, from a legal standpoint, you should not have given the information as you were unaware of the chap’s ability to competently repair the product.
So effectively, in law, you’re at fault whether you have a disclaimer or not which, whilst it may provide some defence in a court it can be taken apart by a half decent lawyer. Been there, had the legal advice on it.
We live in a culture these days of “blame and claim”, it’s best to never forget that.
K.
To my knowledge yes, there is a seperate special insurance to cover this and it ain’t cheap either from what I gather.
I’d get it checked out if I were you Martin.
K.
Re: Hotpoint Advertise Franchises!
In issue 138 of RETRA’s November 2004 issue of their newsletter, Alert, page two, there’s an interesting snippet…
Merloni
Some Council members reported continuing problems with after sales service and with inaccurate delivery dates quoted on CustomerNet. The Chief Executive reported that he had written to teh new Managing Director on the latter subject and was awaiting a reply. It was agreed that a meeting with the new Merloni senior management tean should be sought as soon as possible.
Still got the problems then and RETRA ain’t happy about it either. 😉
K.
Loads of choice then Dave, trying almost any of the companies listed in the Directories should resolve that problem for you.
For your postal area it is here:
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … ent&tid=23
K.
Yeah Martin we know only too well that every abortive visit made either as a no-access or a spares call is an instant loss situation, hence the importance placed on the first-fix rate. Also the reason that many of us now pre-diagnose and before even going try to jump the gun and get the spares in first, when it works its great, saves the customer hassle as well as us. Sadly it doesn’t always work.
Containing the losses is the trick here.
Now, when we’re asked to do an inspect and report call for anyone I close the call and bill it. Ditto if the customer refuses the repair and it could have been done there and then especially, but many a manufacturer seems to think that we’ll run back, often weeks later and carry out the repair for free under the original call. At which point I often ask them if they travel to work and do their job for free as well. 😉
K.
Oh yeah and we see so many done incorrectly, Mark posted a topper of a picture the week in the gallery of one. But the thinking is that if there is a failure there the fuse will blow, the mains fuse will blow, MCB/RCD trip out before causing a life-threatening situation whereas with a repair internally it may not. The other thing you have to remember is that even disconnected from the mains, an appliance’s capacitor can still hold quite a charge and, as was pointed out to me, it’s enough to cause a pacemaker to fail. Obvioulsy you can’t go about asking for the customer’s medical history etc. before offering advice and, even if you did, you’re not qualified to make a judgement call on whether they are safe and competent to carry out a repair.
Bummer I know, but that’s the reasons.
K.
Hi,
The oven shelf, the wire one, is available no problem and is £10.05 excluding VAT and shipping. Part number is 082297501.
If you want to order one just let us know on spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk
K.
