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Live Chat! Added To The Site
Okay, I got fed up with the debate about live chat, MSN, IRC, Yahoo yadda, yadda so I decided to sort it out! I went on a mission to find an add-in that can be used off the website and found the ideal thing for it that kinda kills two birds with one stone.
For a start you will shortly see “Live Chat!” in the navigation panel, clicking on this will lead you to a new page that may take a minute to load and it will offset the page a bit so it’s not just as pretty due to the Site Info panel, but I can live with that for now.
What it does , for those that want to know, is connest you to an IRC server using a Java applet so Java will have to be allowed in your browser to use it. Since most of you will be using the MS Internet Explorer it shouldn’t be an issue as it’s enabled by default in the last few versions. Other than that if there are any issues please contact me directly and I’ll see what I can do to help if you have a problem.
You are automagically logged into the IRC chat room using your username as used on the site and it is enabled for registered users *only*! The reason for this is that, as admin, I can see who’s online and trace any abuse like the toad that was stealing someone’s identity the other day and, believe me, since I personally know the people that built and run these servers if there is any abuse we will find out who you are.
You will find me logged on there most of the time with the name of “Lynchpin” (don’t ask, it’s a throwback to the heady days of online gaming and stuff when I had the time for it) because I use a pukka IRC client to get admin for the channel.
You cannot refresh the page once connected or you will be disconnected and you’ll have to wait a few minutes before reconnecting or the server will whinge about clones, so don’t do it okay! 😉
You can also “right-click” on the “Live Chat!” text in the navigation panel and select “Open In New Window” from the dropdown menu and that will allow you a window to browse the site on and one for chatting in.
There is a slight lag using the Java client, but only very slight indeed.
But most important of all, have fun with it! It’s so easy to use I really couldn’t have made it any easier if I tried as it is truly a “one-click” solution.
K.
A common one in the current crop of Servis machines is a blocked soap dispencer hose, but irrespective of that you really should pursue the retailer and not Servis UK as, in law, it is their responsibility under The Consumer Goods Act to provide an appliance that is “fit for the purpose”.
I’ve not seen any of that series with doors falling open during a wash and I’ve seen one or two, but I have seen the odd one that will burst onto spin during a wash which is the PCB that’s duff normally.
K.
Well I’m going.
I think that any DASA member is allowed to attend, you might have to let Chris know though.
K.
Sorry maggie, details of endeva can be found at http://www.endeva.co.uk or if you read through the news articles at the tail end of last month there’s a bit more of the “behind the scenes” info if you read between the lines a bit.
K.
Well now maggie, that’s the strange thing of it…
It would appear that some people are being allowed to do the work and others are not, whether it’s down to the fact that there is no-one else in the area, the agent cannot be replaced easily or simply that your face doesn’t fit no-one really knows. One thing is for sure though, it’s not too good for those that have a contract in place that does not allow them to work for *ANYONE* other than that one WP and when you stop and consider that they can pull the rug from under your feet as it were at any time you will realise the gravity of the axe over your head.
At the end of the day it’s up to you whether you work for such a company or not but I will leave you with this to think about, if somone has that sort of power over *YOUR* business you become nothing more than a glorified manager IMO as you really do not control your own business, yet you accept all the risks of owning it!
K.
Good for you Alex, maybe the more people that tell them that they don’t like getting, ehm, mucked about (the first thought was an expression very close to that 😉 ) like that will perhaps induce some thought about the long term effects of their actions.
K.
TBH Del sometimes I wonder if the WP’s or manufacturers have that right, by that I mean what do you do if you get a hood that only works on speed 2, why you order the motor and PCB/switch *before* you go if it’s under warranty as the cost doesn’t matter, you have to do things like that to get the 1st time hits up. Now if we all do that for all the calls how much is it costing them? Would they not be better just to give us a free stock and pay the right rate for the job in the first place? We’re hardly likely to blag the stock and it costs them pennies anyway, but the impact on the service levels that they recieved would be nothing short of profound, we’re happy and the customer’s happy, who loses?
It seems insane to me that some of the manufacturers have not tried this to any degree, there have been some in the past that have dabbled in it, but they know what’s being sold by what distributors or retailers in the area so they should have a fair idea what to stock. But as Daf said that is often times ignored in favour of the “one-size-fits-all” approach to stock which, IME as well, simply does not work. I can understand it with the big players and direct agents since I know how that game is played only too well, but with the small manufacturers with limited ranges I can’t really see an issue. A prime example from me is Fagor, they recently sold a shedload of boxes into the local council for the refugees but we had to buy stock basically, but for two models of washer! Now why not give us a starter stock of a few modules, a few pumps, a couple of doors seals and a few other common spares and have an excellent 1st time kill rate? It makes them look good apart from anything else and could well be make or break on a contract like that.
One of the biggest compliants I hear about manufacturer service, one in particular ATM, is the speed to get back with spares, now from us ordering I can see why that happens with delays etc., but direct??!!
The reason I mention the above is that said manufacturer may well lose several contracts over that one factor, the cost…
Millions and, I do mean MILLIONS in sales!
Go figure?
K.
And to ressurect this thread once again…
I assume we’ve all seen the post in the Rumour Mill by now regarding Endeva and Service Force, which is a bit interesting TBH in itself but no great shock really. What is a bit of a shock is that they have obviously not paid any heed to NESN by the looks of it and have basically done and end run around them.
Now, it gets interesting in NESN’s little world as Mike from Gwynne TV was in this evening and will have seen that, no doubt by noon tomorrow this will be spread around the ICE-D camp (browngoods) and if they swipe any work JT will either sink further into his breakdown or chuck his toys out the pram again! 😈
Thing is, I honestly think that they were thinking that they’d just mop up after the demise of Endeva as, when I mentioned it to JT, he was obviously ill at ease and shit scared of them for whatever reason. However, as I pointed out, Endeva had a *SHITLOAD* of money thrown at it and it wasn’t working (at that point) but he still seemed to think it was the competition. My conclusion is that he reckons that he can snare that work if there is no-one else about, oh how wrong he was, since there are other networks out there even if they don’t exactly fit the profile right now.
And then there’s Network DASA which, in all honesty, could destroy them in whitegoods if it’s right.
Happy trails 😆
K.
Can anyone intending to attend the AGM on the Saturday PLEASE contact Chris Hayter at DASA ASAP or send back the delegates form available in the downloads section.
Thanks
K.
Now can we have the real sentiments about Maria Wheelan attending please? 😉
Suppose I’d better dig out my Kevlar vest and hard hat again eh? 🙄
K.
Re: members
ted wrote:I agree , a good choice. 😕
Look dave no shades,BRRRRR pass me wooly hat!
I hope you all like my choice of picture…..thought it might be appropriate
and check out my new e mail address.Good stuff, I really want everyone’s okay on this given the sensitivity of the posts in here, but I do believe that Alex would be a valuable member in here.
Ted, you really should hide you know, I mean you are a marked man after all! 😉
What new email address?
K.
Daf wrote:I had a discussion with a large insurer recently who wanted to know why my office wasnt manned on a sat ,my response was that they dont pay me enough ,they were genuinely amazed at my response as they thought they were paying the “industry rate ” so theres the challenge we have to raise that rate to a standard we find acceptable I have been in this industry all my working life and I am becoming more and more disillusioned with it
there I feel better for that
Exactly! Well put Daf and that’s what UKW and to an extent DASA is all about.
You’ll feel even better after a glass or two BTW. 😉
K.
Dave_Conway wrote:Some WP’s may disagree with this practice, but from experience a lot of customers are quite happy with this, especially those who are at work, mainly as it means they will only need to be there for one appointment rather than two. It saves them money as well !!
This comes down to one thing though that *WE* understand and see the huge benefit in and that’s manning the telephones with people that know what they’re talking about, even many of the good ladies out there like Roni and Brenda have an in-depth knowledge of what they are doing and how to book calls and/or pre-order as needed. It’s not the cheapest option on the face of it, but it is the cheapest option in the long term. Hence I do almost all of the calls now as I can answer most queries off the bat and can kill a lot of calls on the phone, in particular customer errors etc., in the main this is extremely effective and can even save the manufacturer/WP/insurer a shedload of cash, but trained staff cost more, it’s that simple.
Dave_Conway wrote:And hey! If they want us to carry out double visits for 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the calls they pass us, then revue the rates, try double faxing/emailing 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of every call you handle. (But then some will try and tell you they already do 😉 )
LOL, like I can see that happening anytime soon and I have no idea to whom you are reffering! 😉
K.
