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Yep, Scott was on about a good one, a Robin 2 IIRC.
Anymore info on that Scott, or can you point us in the right direction?
K.
What more can anyone say, brilliant post Rudolph that seems to me to be an excellent summation of the whole sordid affair.
K.
Nice timing Daf and I’ve had this very problem again this very week with island hoods!
This time it happens to be Luxair I think, but it’s an AIS product anyway and AIS have been very reasonable about it all, but here goes with an explanation:
If I need to put 2 men in to lift one of these things, which you do to comply with H&S in many cases, I have to take an engineer from one area out to meet another. Instant double call, but is that enough? Think about it, if I didn’t have to take a guy from his own area how many calls could he do rather than traveling back and forwards, IMO at least another two on top of the one he’s meeting the first engineer for. So, in effect I look for a triple or quadruple call on these.
The point is don’t sell yourself short with these things they cost a lot to buy and cost a lot to service end of story and if you don’t ask/insist, you don’t get! 😉
Old De Detriech (IIRC) paid me about £200 to go exchange an island hood about the tail end of last year. I’m perfectly willing to do the work but I want paid for it.
K.
Is there any merit in trying to get a deal for everyone either using DASA or UKW? Would there be any interest in such an idea?
K.
andy_art_trigg wrote:However, regardless of the politics of it, from a customer’s point of view, with the current situation, £350 for a brand new washer that’s guaranteed 5 years is an attractive deal and on the other side of the coin, an extra £175 on top of what they paid for a quality machine isn’t worth the money.
True, but with the strong possibility of major repair costs in the 3rd – 5th year of ownership to the insurer and a possible write off then, if not before, as we’re seeing a lot of major bearing failures under a year now, which a few years ago was unheard of. Thing is, that repairs of that nature are not profitable for us nor particularly nice for the customer either. Personally I would rather buy a better appliance and have it last the distance without the higher risk of failure and the hassle that goes with that, a philosophy I do actually practice with other products.
You will also find that many of the guys on here that do retail will not sell the cheap rubbish as they don’t want the hassles from their customers and they want them to come back, but then they are making money from selling appliances, not warranties. I think that says it all really.
K.
I take your points Andy but I have to disagree.
The extended warranties have, to an extent, allowed the manufacturers to produce cheaper machines and, by default, cheaper parts to build them over the past few years and yet those cost savings in the price of spares has not been passed onto the customer at all. What they have done and, I have heard this said to a customer, is that if the appliance fails out of warranty you should have taken the extended warranty that was available and that would have met the cost. That, to me, is only delflecting the blame of the failure or the cost elsewhere and shirking the responsibility.
High spares costs are built into the pricing equation for a manufacturer as they are neither stupid nor that greedy and these are then used to offset the low retail prices, a model that many Japanese industries have followed since the late sixties, spreading the profit over the lifespan of the product. The nice, cosy and convienent thing in the UK especially is that in many cases the insurance companies are picking up the tab as well as us by stocking over-priced spares and thereby subsidising the low prices. Ironic isn’t it? 😉
To illustrate the point, a pump that a manufacturer (who shall remain nameless) that retails for £32 or so actually pays just over £1 for it landed in the UK and gets us, trade, to pay £20 odds for it. How generous!
So the next time you see a “special” just wonder how special it really is. 😉
Also, when you think on the value of the EW’s bear in mind just what is being paid for and it puts a slightly different slant on your example when you think in those terms. AS well as which with the EW’s as I always remind customers, it’s a numbers game, the insurer isn’t providing the warrarnty for the good of their health they are making money off it and it’s just as easy and as risky for the customer to play the same game.
K.
And the saga rolls ever on….
More on the front page this morning thanks to Alex for that little gem. 😉
K.
What’s all this about a letter with threats of legal action against everyone and their dog then? 😕
K.
I’ve put up a document in the downloads section that gives the basics on how to use the chat room.
K.
Alex wrote:What did I miss, or is this something to do with the company he kept after we all turned in for the night on Friday?
Let’s put it this way, he didn’t get a lot of sleep. 😕
Alex wrote:Just being nosey, nothing like a good scandal. Excuse the pun, Wheelin & Dealin may be the theme here. Think about it!
You’re on the right mattress…err…track. 😉
K.
Well that was good and I’m sure there will be more discussion on the AGM over the coming days but does anyone have a decent cure for a massive hangover? 😉
“Keep drinking” is apparently not the correct answer! 😀
K.
They seem fine so far Phil and they always charged the postal charge unless sending to the customer, but that did not happen with NESN either, you may have been treated differently as you did not have a contract and, I assume, no account with MFI.
MFI allow a 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} mark up on all spares to allow for this, it’s not enough on small orders so I always batch them and order when there is enough to justify it. MFI realise this as I told them I would do that and they were fine about it.
It’s exactly the same deal through AIS as well.
K.
shane wrote:It may interest anyone doing NESN/MASTERCARE
work that the fee paid by mastercare for PHILCO
appliances was £41.00 + VAT with spares at cost.This was in 1998 !
So, fast forward 5 years and we do almost the same work, often for manufacturers with more of a range than Philco had, which means more stock and more double calls as well as more technically challenging. In the meantime our costs have risen, engineer’s salaries and fuel in particular spiralling out of control way beyond inflation and we get paid even less to do that work!
What bright spark thought up that plan then?
And here’s a thought for you, if it couldn’t work at £41 a call in 1998 how much do you think it would take to actually pay you to do that work now?
K.
Thanks.
If you get an error message or something telling you that you need Java installed, you do and MS fell out with them so it does not automatically load. However if you go to http://www.java.com and press the big “Download” icon you can get it easily installed and it’s pretty easy to do so.
K.
