Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Flipper wrote:How many times have we heard of one of the largest of these only been kept afloat by it’s own insurance cover premiums ?
Well that little party may well be coming to an end dependant on what comes out of the upcoming CC report. We can but hope that there is more emphasis on profit from selling appliances, or goods, than selling financial services and using the goods as a vehicle to drive those sales.
Flipper wrote:That magical word ‘turnover’ it certainly helped Powerhouse and Northern Electric keep solvent ! I wonder if they would still have been around today if they had concentrated on PROFIT.
Well, it’s not turnover persay that drives these things. From what I can see it’s crazy consultants and bean counters that think that the only way to make a business better is to keep expanding, it appears to me to be one of the fundemental principals they must teach at bean counter school, in real life it does not always work. So anyway, they drive the expansion of these businesses, but that can only be achieved by cost cutting and price cutting as well as selling extra services, like warranties. It’s a new product that they can add on to the existing range of goods with absolutely zero costs to stock. The only costs to put it in play is a telephone line and a body to answer the phone, expand as required after that.
Then it becomes a case of reducing the cost of the goods as well as the lifespan of them to enable selling more and having a constant stream of punters through the door. Retailer nirvana to a degree.
There’s a lot there, as well as a lot implied. Think about it.
K.
Indeed, but going back to the actual topic title of this thread and taking into account many of the views here and in the “Going, Going…Gone” thread as well, can I ask one question…
What future do you all see for this industry unless we do something?
K.
I’m amazed at the quality of the replies to this thread and really glad that I started it now.
Maybe some manufacturers and WP’s will see that, from this thread alone, we are not a bunch of uneducated militant nutters that want to cause trouble, that’s not the intent at all. We simply want a fair crack of the whip and not to be getting shafted, which we are in many cases.
It also shows quite clearlythat we are reasonable people that only wish to make a living and have a reasonably secure future, right now I don’t think that anyone in this industry could say that they are secure? We also feel as if we’re often left to carry the can and risk for other people’s shortcomings.
I saisd recently, in respect of the threat of strike action against a WP, that if the WP in question actually sat and thought about the situation that they were in where agents may well stop working, what did it say to them? The point I was trying to make was that these guys needed that work to make a living and pay wages, it had to be a pretty damned desperate situation to make them take such drastic and radical action, or even to contemplate it. Whether they got and understood what I was trying to tell them is another matter, some people just won’t listen to reason sadly and work with others as opposed to dictating.
Sad state of affairs indeed. 😕
K.
The half fee thing by GBDAR is, in my opinion, a scam. I abhor taking a reduced rate for a BER and I recently got another one unexpectedly as well that does something similar, just nowhere near as bad.
It doesn’t cost any less to make the call, we don’t pay the engineer any less for his time, the fuel cost is the same and they expect to pay us less for the call. 😕
Added to which you have the additional labour to write out a report or make calls for prices and report it back as well as (as Bonzaco pointed out) any spares that were ordered as no bugger wants to know about taking them back!
Please don’t deluge this thread wih replies about GBDAR, there’s the Rumour Mill for that or start a new thread here and we can discuss them if you like. It’s a subject that’s cropped up many a time on the mailing list and I *know* a lot of you are very p**sed off with them.
K.
Whilst you get some toppers out on the road there’s a few crackpots on the phone as well.
The most entertaining one we ever had was from an old lady who’s parrot had flown into the ice box of her fridge. Of course the dim old bat didn’t spot it and closed the door didn’t she! 😕
Frozen parrot anyone? 😆 Oh how we laughed!
Anyway, how often have you heard these:
“We’ll be in all day” (only to get a no-access!) 👿
“No-one is ever in the house” Hmmm, so how do we get in then? 🙄
“Call me back” If we can ever get you in!
“It went on fire!” Do customer’s actually KNOW what fire is? Translation – a module popped! 🙄
“I know I wasn’t in, but I didn’t expect you to call when I nipped out for a loaf/bread/shoes (delete as applicable)” Well, we did say we’d be there, normally that means we will be and the engineer’s crystal ball is faulty so we don’t know what the hell you’re up to!!
“It’s jumping about” Translation – it vibrates. ❗
“I can’t sit in waiting for an engineer to arrive” Well just how do you propose that we gain access then?
“Do you know where XXX town is?” No, we don’t carry maps and haven’t a clue where we’re going! 😕
“Yeah I need it fixed before my mum comes back from holiday” I love that one 😈
“I was only out 5 minutes” says the cust, calling back over an hour after the engineer carded her/him! 😕
“Oh you’ll just have to bring me a new machine” Do I really have to explain this again! 🙄
Then there’s the long detailed sagas you get, I switch off now for most of it.
K.
Why is always the houses where the cockroaches are wearing hard hats and boiler suits that you get offered a coffee and something eat.
“No thanks, I have a flask in the van and I’ve just had some” is a stock reply. 😉
K.
Which all adds up to a lot of unhappy people out there.
Here’s a thought for you though and one I’ve heard mooted about…
Hypothetical Situation:
New WP/Spares Supplier wants you to sign a contract to continue doing work for the original WP. Don’t sign the contract and you don’t get the work.
Original WP tries to block this using their own contract which does not allow it’s agent to work for another network. Sign the new contract and the work you are doing may get removed.
Hobson’s Choice methinks. 😕
Until that is, you take into account the original WP’s recent performance and other factors in the case I’ve heard about.
Never mind, maybe it won’t all end in tears and court battles, but I know what horse I’d back in this race. 😉
Of course this is all total speculation and rumour and there is no grounding in reality for the hypothetical situation outlined in this post. 😉
K.
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:This source also tells me that there may be some similar fall out from another national work provider, where the insurance companies they are contracted for are very unhappy. There is concern apparently that due to a major contract and disharmony between this W.P. and some of their agents, there is a bit of unrest in the industry.
Funny you should mention that this morning Rudolph, I was a about to make a post on a similar vein this morning anyway as said WP from the middle of the land are still going about threatening their own agents. I mean, how stupid is that? Threaten agents and ex-agents with legal action or that you’ll kick them of the network just because they refuse to adhere to an unfair contract that effectively stiffles their own business, or that they have to shut up and not speak, or that they have to sign bits of paper to make the WP look good!!??
It’s silly and if they think that that type of action will gain them respect back in the industry, think again, it won’t! They should get their own house in order before attempting to subvert and steer other people’s businesses. As for threatening people, if they persist in that type of approach to their own agents, what do they expect is going to happen?
Of course there will be a backlash.
I’ve also heard on the grapevine that a few of that WP’s customers are not at all happy as well and have been looking for alternatives.
K.
