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Okay, just got an absolute belter from Servis UK…
524022100 fan oven element £83.45 excl VAT for a cheap electric cooker model number TE600I.
That is just so bad it defies words!
K.
(edit: cooker retails in Tesco for £479.99 with free delivery and you even get clubcard points!! url: http://www.tesco.com/electrical/Product … mjump=true)
Re: Beko
LOL, poor 1st hit rate, crap rate, crap product (in my personal experience), bad spares service, poor admin and a refrigeration fee that doesn’t even cover the cost of the Lockrings!
How many Beko’s have I been to that don’t need a pot in them…ehhmm…not many! Or a washer that’s blown the timer and PCB…ehhmm….not many! Every one a double call, so think about it.
Oh dear indeed! 🙄
It’s like drugs, just say no! 😉
K.
Re: White Knight
Thanks Steve I was unaware of that, someone who will remain nameless told me that Whirlpool were being taken out of the equation for what ever reason and that EAC where to replace them.
K.
Re: Profit & Loss
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:Before anyone starts thinking “swings & roundabouts”, and then think “things are not that gloomy are they”?
I meant to answer this point the other day and forgot, sorry! 😳
There is an element of this in any contract and it is often cited as one of the reasons for a low rate, i.e. you get a walk in and walk out call, but it’s a very weak reason indeed. I’ll explain…
You, for the most part, cannot book calls on the strength that some might be two minute jobs and you certainly cannot price a contract on the strength of it! How do you work it out? Simple, you cannot do so!
Plus, the figures of first time completion, the rate and the cost per call are fixed costings that are in no way negated by the fact that on the odd day the engineer may finish early because he had a few easy calls that day. You’re not paying him any less for doing the work are you and he certainly won’t accept a cut in his salary just because he had an easy day or two?!
More food for thought. 😉
K.
Re: NESN & Rejections
Oh, lest i forget…
Before anyone starts to issue threats of legal action about confidentiality etc., which I’ve had thrown in my face by NESN on several occasions I would remind them that they have broken the terms of their own contract in several ways that invalidates it. Apart from which, if you don’t pay me or other members/ex-members you can hardly attempt to hold me or anyone else to a contract that’s not worth the paper it’s printed on!
Anyway, the contract was invalidated by NESN the second they changed previously arranged rates without the consent of the other party/ies involved in the contract.
Have a nice day.
K.
Re: Profit & Loss
Dave_Conway wrote:The trouble I found was, and many of you may find the same if you sit back and take a good look; I was too busy running around disappearing up my own arse, making no money on some contracts, in fact probably loosing money on them to realise what was happening until you stop and take stock of the situation.
And this is one of the primary reasons that I now pay so much attention to this subject, as well as the potential for it being far more in the way of *actual calls* as opposed to the volume of fresh calls being passed, that’s how you ended up chasing your tail most likely. Most of us do not consider the implications of that factor, myself included in the past.
This job, from a contract point of view, relies on an excellent first time hit rate to a large extent. Your profitability and capacity both rely on that being high, if it’s not then it is so easy to lose money it’s unbelievable but you’re too busy fire-fighting to see it. 🙁
Dave_Conway wrote:If the manufacturers and WP’s want happy customers, supported by a loyal, experienced and professional team of agents, they will have to start paying for it, the seeds of discontent are already starting to sprout, they have been sown for years. It’s not just us lowly engineers I am talking of, on a daily basis I receive calls from unhappy customers who cannot get a decent service from their insurer or manufacturer, why is this? Because we have started to wise up and there aren’t many of us left who will put up with the nonsense anymore.
It’s not even discontent really, it’s the seeds of commercial reality. Quite honestly a lot of the work out there just isn’t worth looking at let alone doing with the low rates on offer coupled with a low first fix ratio, it just can’t pay…end of story. That’s why there are so few of us about these days and if the problem remains un-addressed there will be even fewer of us around in the very near future. 🙄
As for customers being unhappy, of course they are! We have not got the finances to enable us to provide the service that they expect in this day and age. I mean, can any of us afford to make mobile to mobile calls to every customer to update them on the engineer’s status? Or can we afford to have an engineer that isn’t fully booked to provide same-day service? I don’t think so and that’s just two examples of things we cannot afford to do, the full list is far more expansive than that.
Dave_Conway wrote:We all have a common goal, happy customers, plain and simple. Good service equals increased sales equals happy manufacturers, good service equals happy customers equals reduced complaints, happy everyone. You can’t please everyone, we all know that, but you get what you pay for at the end of the day as the old saying goes.
Exactly! That’s what we all want, but we are not being given the correct tools or rewards to do the job the way it wants done.
K.
Re: Most ridiculous part price
😆 Try a Servis at ~£190 retail, we were told to repair it as it needed a module, motor and wiring harness.
Total cost of spares, RRP…£297 excl VAT!!! 🙄
Go figure.
K.
Mark,
Yes along with a host of others recently as well.
Maybe we should start a “Most ridiculous part price” thread in the *PUBLIC* forums and fill it with some of the crazy prices we get.
K.
You know I just read over the whole thing that started this again and I have to say I’m a bit agast at it all. Everyone involved argued their case well, all the points were valid and the reasoning sound in every single post.
But, as I said to Ted earlier, the one thing that I have to say I’m over the moon about in it all is the way that everyone behaved. It was exemplary to say the least, everyone involved was an absolute gentleman about it all and that impresses the s**t out of me.
Here’s a thought for you though, that can’t look too good to a WP or manufacturer can it, especially one that wishes to “divide and conquer”? 😉
K.
Re: Profit & Loss
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:The people who have a lot to say on here do it not for their own benefit but for the common future, and because we bloody well care. Be part of it.
Quite, many of us do care and not just for our own sakes although that is admittedly a part of it but not the sole reason for this site, DASA and Network DASA to all exist. We do it because we care! I, personally for all my flaws care about this trade and I want to improve everyone’s lot, irrespective of what rumour may say to the contrary.
What do I want to see, I want to see a trade that works towards common goals, that is respectable and respected and that we can actually make a decent living from. My fear is that the way it’s headed now and, I’ve said this many, many times, that unless many of these issues like this one that is vitally important to our futures, is resolved soon there will not be an independent trade to worry about in a few years.
Yes, that is a gloomy outlook, but sadly it’s correct IMHO and that is largley to do with the topic of this very thread.
Just ask any of the manufacturers or WP’s how easy it is to find decent quality repairers these days that can cover *ALL* the products that they need repaired.
Also, before you get the idea that many of them could go direct, that is a folly that many have learned is not true over the years by experimenting with it and, in some cases, causing great harm to both their own reputation and the trade in general. Many a painful lesson has been learned over the years. So, to those WP’s and/or manufacturers that think they can go direct, just try finding staff and getting the same dedication from that workforce that you carry the can for that you would from using a network of loyal independents that will support you through thick and thin. Just remember though, that’s a two-edged sword. 😉
K.
JP, you should post that in one of the forums the rest of the trade can see as well since you’re obviously very passionate on the subject.
K.
Re: Profit & Loss
ted wrote:I have shed over 55 calls a week during the last 4 months …WHY?
Easy they ranged from £27 to £35 a call and were not profitable for me to do.
alex wrote:I calculated that Merloni cost me £2.10 per call. I also considered they were 40{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of my workload and constituted 3 engineers and 1 office staff to manage the workload.
As I have said to many people over the years…
Being busy and being profitable are two things that can easily be and often are, worlds apart. Volume does not always equate to profit, although some people will try to sell you a different story.
K.
Re: Customer database system.
Bryan can you give us any more details on that here as a few people have been asking about some sort of software system?
Ta
K.
Re: Electrue/NESN
For a more in-depth look at the profit and loss go to:
http://www.ukwhitegoods.com/postt370.htm
K.
