[Lawrence]

Re: LCD TV for the van

Do you know what ,Until I logged on via the other computer that is windows 98 not XP I didn’t realise it bounced ! :lol:apparently its a bug
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: Archive of best TV adverts

😯 😯 :rotfl:

Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: Contract vs Chargeable (A History)

Dave_Conway wrote:

Well, I’d have to say, whichever works best for your own personal business. There’s little point in listening to or reading the praises of anyone in particular. All I would say is, don’t get bogged down by the contract work, chargeable is always there. I made the huge mistake two years ago of completely overwhelming my business with that work and it took me 6 months to get the chargeable work back after I chucked it out, I was running about like a blue arse fly not making any money. That was two years ago and much has changed ;)Dave.

I echo all of that Dave ,I was in pretty much the same position I think you and I joined NESN about the same time ,And whilst I don’t want to put words in your mouth, I found the work was pushing us in a direction I didn’t like ,But because of the contract ,Performance clauses ,intransigent management etc…I had to stick with it ,Then I had both my engineers leave and was left with huge volumes of work that nearly crippled me ,So took the decision to lose some of the contract work ,used subcontracters to see out my notice periods on various contracts ,As I lost contracts so my cash work seemed to come back on stream with all of the advantages
it has attached ,Now I am left with
CDA Fantastic to work with ,and increasing work levels all the time
D&G Prompt payment ,Back you up wherever they can
Smeg not huge volumes but pay okay ,and the cash work is good
De Dietrich Now through D&G so see above
MFI prompt payment strong agent back up
And a string of commercial clients who are prepared to pay for good back up
Having experienced lots of contract work for what its worth I think the things to bear in mind are
Know what youre bottom line is ,And don’t accept work at any less
Look out for a thing called “aborted call rate ” this means they will pay you half the normal labour rate for a write off /report
don’t put all your eggs in one basket ,spread your incoming work out dont let one source of work dominate your’e income to the degree that you have a house of cards effect i.e one source dries up and undermines everything else .
But I think ultimately it depends on individual companies and the direction there owners take them in ,I suppose the trick is to know what works for you and your’e business

Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: I think Kwatts wrong

Penguin45 wrote:Well, I’ve read the article three times now, and this thread several times and confess that I am at a loss to see what the fuss is about.

As have I ,A lot depends on the customers that you meet during your day ,When I was working for GBDAR it never ceased to amaze me how many cust’s wanted to spend approx £200. for a washer but wanted Miele style back up ,and reliability,It is also a personal opinion ,A lot of people put a disclaimer at the bottom of there posts stating personal opinion Surely this is no different ,if anyone feels it is unbalanced then post an alternative

Penguin45 wrote:
I thought the article was a very clear overview of the how, why, where and potential pitfalls of trying to get an exchange. The part looking at customer attitudes amused me, but may be a salutary warning to those looking to change a machine.

Because of the likes of Which, Watchdog etc the customers have an awful lot more information BUT a lot of people misinterpret this legislation to suit there aims

Penguin45 wrote:
I say leave it alone

as do I

kwatt wrote:
The mantra that “the customer is always right” only stretches so far.aying goes, the best policy.
K.

I work on the principal that the customer is right when they are right and if they are wrong then I will politely inform them of there misconception of the situation ,I have had too many calls from manufacturers asking why I told there cust that there aplpliance was a write off etc etc when all I did was ordered parts

Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: W/machine perfect for Noahs Ark!

We had an old dear leave a message this afternoon stating that we sold her a Philco in 1889 😯
It has died ,can she have a new one.
got to phone her tommorow to break the news that they are no longer made
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: 30,000 Reasons To Quit

Ain’t that the truth 🙄
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: 30,000 Reasons To Quit

Bear In mind its Baumatic ,I am still waiting for an element I fitted in a GBDAR job to a cooker I used my stock charged back ,had it rejected was told Baumatic send the parts out FOC to us that was 2 Mths ago !! I quit with GB but am still waiting for the part .
Lawrence
Just had a thought going by their record of parts delivery if you took the job you wouldnt have a hell of a lot to do would you

[Lawrence]

Re: A Vision of the Future?

Penguin45 wrote: my Mother. Had a Hotpoint twintub in the Sixties; complete disaster, never had a Hotpoint appliance in the house since. That’s 40+ YEARS! People DO hold grudges and WILL boycott what they perceive to be poor quality brands, and ESPECIALLY, poor service.

When we did work for GBDAR it never ceased to amaze me how many people had bought Servis because they had had a Servis Twin Tub many years ago ,Consumers are amazing creatures with very strong brand loyalities ,Mind you once their Servis had been written off after 2 yrs they were’t going to buy Servis again! .

Maybe Brian could enlighten us as to what the expected /accepted life expectancy of a washing machine is at the moment ,Also are they “lifed ” (built with a lifecycle in mind ) or is that just an urban myth ?

And on the subject of service I think mention has to be made of CDA here Just recently I have had a couple of CDA cash calls ,If the machine is within 5 years old customer pays my labour parts supplied direct FOC By CDA Quickly ! result no claim back on parts for me just one invoice to customer for my labour

Lawrence

Lawrence

[Lawrence]

kwatt wrote:Let’s just say it’s not the image that I would want presented for an organisation such as DASA.

Oh I dont know I think it says it all Really!
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: Code letters

We all end up with our own codes dont we given time ,ours being

NST not school times

OLC Out left card

NBI not booked in ( but parts in )

RBC Ring before calling

and finally
PITA Pain in the A**e

Any others out there ?
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: Anglo Iberian

They tried us the day before yesterday ,for a gas cooker that had a list of faults as long as your arm ,They even offered £74.00 double fee but we knocked it back as it was 40 miles away,not in our area ,and an almost dead cert second visit job.
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: DANCE WITH THE DEVIL

RS wrote:

Now back to it. So we have agreed that the way forward is through further dialogue with all concerned parties, very well next time you talk to the representatives of the manufacturers ask them for me why they think that there call out charge of around £80ish is ok but the thought of paying a decent rate to contractors is ridiculous? Also ask them if they get away with not paying their staff or cutting their wages due to a BER or an uncompleted repair? Ask them why they charge you for the privilege of ordering their well overpriced spares, or what is so important about fault codes that they cannot be freely available to the trade.

and also why they think it is acceptable to keep customers waiting weeks for service ,Speaking of half rate for a BER I once had a conversation with a service manager of a large manufacturer who told me ,That he paid half rate as it only took half the time to do a report ,And he wouldnt be moved on that. Interestingly I later found out that he was ex Hotpoint ,previous to that he was with another manufacturer have you noticed how the same names keep popping up at different places and they all seem to take there perception /misconception of the industry with them ,so the same attitudes prevail throughout ,And if that is the attitude that says its alright to treat agents as mushrooms (Kept in the dark and fed bu***hit) then we have a problem ,Or if it is the attitudes of MFI,CDA,D&G and the like we are treated with a modicum of respect which we then reciprocate with a higher level of service
hope that made some sense

RS wrote:
These are my view and in no way representative of anyone else.

Richard Scanlon Snr
Actually Richard I think you are spot on thank you

Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: A Tall Tale

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Just what I needed after a crap day

Cheers Ken

Lawrence
Roll on part two

[Lawrence]

Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales

I delivered a machine to a customer once ,first call of day and cust left key so I merrily walk in the house through the lounge with the machine on sack barrow ,Suddenly I heard what sounded like a snoring noise lo and behold on the settee is a guy half dressed and snoring like a pig ,I installed the washer and left on tip toes got back to the office and phoned cust at work, turns out he and his mate (the snorer ) had been out the previous night got hammered and crashed on the sofa he forgot he had left the key for me and merrily staggered to work leaving his mate to sleep it off .
Lawrence

[Lawrence]

Re: GB Domestic Appliance Repairs Ltd -Lancashire

Been There ,done that ,got 1/2 the T shirt due to the other half not being in stock .
My Advice don’t go there there’s better to be had .
any other info required PM me
Lawrence

[Author]

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