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😳 Sorry a lot of this goes on my head and sometimes it doesn’t quite translate well to the ramblings at the time. 😉
What would happen is that any complaints or problems that came in as being unresolved by the member would be dealt with by the AC. If it really needs kicked up then it’s easy to do so and very scaleable the way I’m thinking. As far as I am concerned their decision on matters such as these are the final word and they will have the power to sanction some measures if they feel that a member has acted against the best interest of UKW and/or a consumer/client, it’s that simple.
The reason for using an elected body is that we all have the chance to cast our vote for who we want to see there. Since there are essentially three (well four if you count the national repairers, but we won’t ;)) different business classes in our industry then, broadly speaking, it makes sense that one from each sits on the AC IMO. No director can sit on that body, ever! For one simple reason, the two make up different facets with different viewpoints and I think that having a situation where there is debate and someone to challenge any idea is great and makes us stop and think. That’s the bones of it.
There is a bit more on it, but I have to keep my gob shut until during and after the Stafford meeting.
By all means if anyone else wants to give me a shout for more on this then feel free to do so.
K.
Rob,
Sadly that’s a sign of the times, consumers demanded cheaper and cheaper appliances and got them. Now they have appliances where spares pricing is ridiculous in relation to the cost of a replacement or the original purchase and, as you say, there is a huge waste problem being created but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Cheap washers have also killed the laundrettes off as well as the local spares and repair shops to a large extent and there appears to be no let up in that either. Also the vast amount of the actual manufacturing processes are carried out outside of the UK and, in fact, there are practically no UK owned manufacturers left, certainly no mass market ones as both Hotpoint and Hoover are now under the control of Italian owners. So litte of the revenue or wealth of the jobs created actually helps the UK at all.
I never seem to stop reminding customers that, when I started in this trade 20 years ago you couldn’t buy a 1000 spin washer for under £300, now you can get a 1200 for under £200. On a primarily mechanical device, how do you think manufacturers have managed to beat 20 years inflation and lower the retail price at the same time?
Had washers tracked with inflation then the minimum you’d be paying today would be about £6-700 for a new one and most of the goods in this industry follow the same pattern. This is why we hear, day in and day out, “but my old washer lasted 15 years and this one is only two years old and it’s broken”
When you look at it in the light of what I just said, is that statement any wonder?
K.
Yeah Gregg using the helpdesk is just fine but you may not get a full answer until tomorrow and we all return to our desks. 😕
K.
Re: Cricket, lovely cricket.
Don’t mention Troon to me, it’s a taboo subject until they stop knocking little white balls round the big green field! Traffic like you’ve never seen holding up production for a silly game! 🙁
Plus golf is just …..:sleep:
Oh sorry, I nodded off. 😉
K.
That I’d have to check the MFI info, which I don’t have access to this weekend, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a valid model number.
For a Diplomat appliance it should read ADPXXXX where the numbers are represented by “XXXX”.
Hopefully somebody can access the MFI info before Monday and answer this conclusively for you.
K.
Re: smeg A42-5 top oven fault
smcnamara wrote:Second having used the top oven twice it seems quite below par temp wise. The botton (fan) oven works perfectly.
Hi,
The lower oven uses forced air, i.e. a fan with an element around it at the back, which effectively blows air quickly and reasonably evenly around the inside of the cabinet. The benefits over a conventional non-fan assisted oven are that the temperature is more stable within the cavity, the thermostat is (generally) more accurate and the foods cooked more evenly and faster as well as a faster start up time reaching cooking temperature.
The top oven is a conventional static oven, i.e. non-fan assisted, which is actually of great use for more delicate foodstuffs, like pastries or sponges etc. where a prolonged cooking period is required. The heat will not be as even nor will it be ready to cook with as quickly. Think of it as a slower method of cooking but still a very useful and valid one.
That’s about the best I can explain it, hope it makes sense. 😕
K.
Re: DASA!
Well Alex there’s only a select few that could have written such a piece and so well. It’s also very, very accurate IMO.
As for people letting membership lapse, is it any wonder when there is little communication and even less of any real value? The trouble is that the change may be a case of too little, but more too late. It will now be a huge uphill struggle to get DASA back on the map and I really do not think that the current members have the energy or resources to take on the endevour either. Nor do we have the funds to employ someone to take it on for us and, even then, how do you secure the correct person to do it? I mean, with all that’s gone on within DASA and the current views within the industry of the association who would take the job on?
Would any of us give up our businesses to run it, even for £60K a year plus benefits? How secure a future is it?
All that can be offered is a telephone and a challenge in effect adn that simply will not attract the kind of person required to re-vitalise DASA IMO.
So where do we go from here?
K.
I think it best if some of the comments made here stayed here for several reasons, not least of which is that I don’t really want tarred with the being the guy that shot DASA in th head. What I attempted to do I have done.
I opened up an interesting debate and made people realise the fact that DASA has to move on and got them talking about that, which is what was was needed to spark some life into it. I also made clear that I will not let DASA stand in the way of what I want to do from now on. I have remained restrained on some issues as it would be seen as traditional DASA territory by some people and I thought I’d give DASA some time to sort itself out.
It hasn’t and doesn’t look as if it will in the near future either, if ever, so I’ll just get on with it as, unlike DASA, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and I’m up for a fight or two. And, all I’m doing is the things that I think DASA should have been doing for years but lacked the impetous due to its leader and now no-one seems able to donate the time to it.
However, going back to the comments, what’s said in here is private and I think that the more opinionated comments should remain here. Fine if we want to thrash it out then be my guest, but to do so publically would most likely do more harm than good for everyone. Apart from which, the whole “Is it ever worth it?” thread has ended (for now) on a kinda positive note but has made a lot of infomation more available. Should the membership choose to ignore that, including the council then I’d have to agree with Kevin in that it is doomed from this point onwards.
Sean is correct, it’s a chicken and egg, without a leader it will vanish into obscurity I think and yet without funding we can’t get a leader which will only happen by raising the subscription or finding new blood. Since new blood is not going to happen sufficiently that leaves upping the fees, which will undoubtedly lead to a drop in membership.
The only way forward would be to bring something to the table that people want and, yet again, it comes back to…what’s in it for me?
K.
Details of the subscriber stuff is above Andy off the link there and the meeting details are in the downloads in both Word and PDF sections.
24hour callout? Are you mad or just donning the Dick Turpin outfit? 😆
Actually I’d be interested to hear the results of that as it’s years since anyone I know tried it and any that did soon dropped it unless they were doing commercial.
K.
Re: Hotpoint Advertise Franchises!
Don’t you just love corporate gobbledegook! 😕 (I was going to use another word, but that involved cursing 😉
Is it some kind of code I wonder? Anyway, the bones of the thing would appear to be that they want someone to run and hopefully improve their aftersales service.
For example…
We are now looking for an individual who can champion our operations, increase our productivity and maximise our return on investment.
Translates to, get more from the engineers and support staff without paying them any more than as is. In other words, prepare to be a real hard nose. Again, I refrained from being crude.
Operationally and commercially strong, you will understand meeting today’s business challenges is one thing, but supporting the growth of our business is quite another. You’ll need a strong grasp of dealing with quality issues, training, work scheduling, and ideally be from within an After Sales service environment.
Means to me, that they want to poach someone from somewhere else within the industry and they are not going to tell you what duties will be expected until your in the post. Nice. Again the re-iteration of the “hard nose”. 😉
Oh and also that you will be held responsible when it all goes South.
The psychometric for this one would be a topper to analyse. 😉
K.
Re: advertising
simonb wrote:so can you be totaly honest and still make a living?
Yes. But not easily these days.
I tend to tell customers up front the charges we make, which are fixed and charged regardless of the outcome. We do loose a few but ce la vie, if they are not prepared to pony up for the expertise than tough really, but I can understand that competing with the rest of the pack in the local rag or YP is tough. What is important though is that you build a reputation for honesty and reliability and then you will get good repeat and refferal business, which is what almost all my charge work is as I do not advertise.
I tend to apply the same ideaology to contract business as well, I’m as fair as I can be and I expect the same in return.
Not that I’m perfect, far from it, but owning up when you do make a cock up helps a lot I find with both contract and chargeable clients and it also builds a trust.
Apart from that I can sleep at night. 😉
K.
What do you mean by heat deflectors?
You get deflector plates on some built-in ovens to use whilst grilling if it’s a model that requires grilling with the door open.
You can, for some machines, get a trim that fits around the face of the oven to try to protect the adjacent doors from being scorched.
Other than that I can’t think of any.
K.
Re: Shop@
Oldtog wrote:Ken what is this about subscribers. Please tell more.
All the information is available off the link on the front page, it’s on the site intro (which I do change BTW ;)) or you can read it using this link:
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … age&pid=48
Any questions, please ask.
K.
