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Re: Interesting Snippet
kwatt wrote:If you want a case study of that theory just look at Philco. From the dizzy heights of the early to mid-90’s they sold shedloads through both independents and the sheds but where is the brand now? We all know why.
Is it ‘cos they were swallowed up and flushed down the toilet by MERLONI? 😯
Martin
Re: One Million!
kheath wrote:Excellent post Martin.
At last, someone that possibly can see what I am getting at. We must thrash this out at Stafford, and Penguin…you must attend OK?
Martin
Re: One Million!
penguin45 wrote:As things currently stand, we are absolutely at the bottom of the white goods food chain and we’re going to stay there unless we come out fighting. This has the potential to be a powerbase to change the industry.
I take my hat off to this this late night candle burning whizz kid who has an uncanny knack of ‘hitting the nail on the head’ in many of his postings…..respect my friend Chris 🙂 And indeed so, we ARE the bottom of the food chain. Our opinions should and could well be listened to by the public at large if we are to make a concerted effort in that direction.
My last posting was to try to point out the reality of the present situation and was as Del said somewhat “defeatest/resignation to the status quo” (possibly so) but nevertheless is the present position we find our industry currently in. I am up for seeking ways in which to ‘turn it around’ and to ensure we all have an onward and upward future to look forward to. But I still fail to see how this can be achieved realistically speaking.
It is all well and good trying to cite a ‘parallel’ with the Motor Industry and their fear of ‘What Car Magazine’ and ‘JD Power Surveys’ etc etc.. and the tremors within their ranks when they produce a ‘duff’ motor car. Any whitegoods product as you well know costs a fraction to that of a motor car and is therefore (IMO) irrelavant. In our trade only ‘Which’ come close to telling (the vast MINORITY) what is good or maybe not so good in the Whitegoods game. They buy current machines and bench test them (fact) and sometimes they find faults in these new machines and report accordingly. It is obvious they do not ‘take the back off’ as they would realise many of the machines they test are the same but ‘rebadged’. Many of their reports we find later are well flawed in one way or another. Nevertheless they do give a relatively unbiased report that stands in good stead for their customers( numbered only in a few thousand) at least.
How could we (the guys that fix ’em) possibly give any credance or opinion on the latest (for example) brand new ‘Hotpoint WF865 1600rpm Washing Machine’ before one is sold by some spiv wearing a suit and tie in Currys and the wheels fall off?…….40 or 50 members that monitor and report to UKW possibly may come across one 6 to 18 months later and report “Hey guys the bloody wheels are falling off Hotpoint WF865’s!!!!!!!”
What is the point?…its too late by then, Hotpoint have realised the problem well before we do, but do bugger all about it and instead and very cunningly CHANGE THE MODEL NUMBER to disguise the fact they have a wheel problem that will cost them little in balance to overall sales! A few hundred aggrieved owners of WF865’s find reference to it via Google to UKW after theirs has gone belly up….all we can say is…”Yes we have heard of this fault, but can’t do nowt, would you like an engineer to fix it though, we can do that for you?
To “come out fighting” and for us using a “big stick” is beyond anything we at UKW can muster I am afraid.(I would love you to convince me otherwise) And in the hope my opinions haven’t bored you or made you angry at my impertinence as finally I will conclude with another example to try and make my point …..Judy Benoit Milner…….Whirlpool Tumble Dryer….burnt her friggin house down it did……..we all read the posts…..thousands and thousands of ‘Jo Public’ read about it also on UKW…………..BBC Watchdog did a splendid article about it in which MILLIONS of people saw it on TV………
………What was the conclusion?………..Does anybody know if it affected sales at COSTCO?
I rest my case…. 😥Martin
Re: One Million!
If I may just throw in some thought provoking comments into the discussion for what my views are worth, see what comes out 🙁
kwatt wrote:There is practically no independent advice available to the public about whitegoods in the UK
The vast majority of people in reality do not seek advice at all or even request it. Until that is when they step into Currys Superstore and ask a salesperson, leaving them at the mercy of their slick sales patter 🙁 However those amongst us that do ask for advice usually find it in the ‘Which’ magazine and from visiting this site. That’s where UKW can indeed score highly. 10 out of 10
kwatt wrote:I’ve heard the tired excuses about Currys/Comet etc. forcing price points on appliances, but really, there is a little word that needs to be learned and, it is “no”.
The word “no” is not part of the major retailers vocabulary, and it never will be. Lets just face up to it, they call the shots. All the manufacturers therefore dance to their tune. The advent of Internet shopping has exacerbated it even more, with the public at large demanding more for less. And if they can’t get it for less they will stop buying, forcing the retailer into reducing prices even more to meet sales targets and sell more, and on and on it goes.
kwatt wrote: What has happened in recent times is that (again only my opinion) we’ve seen not only the price erroded but consumer confidence in major brand names as well who appear to be losing ground to newer brands now.
Not so, stop 10 people in the street and ask them what they think of or have they heard of the brand name …say ‘Hoover?’ 80{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} will say they know of Hoover and think generally their products are good. Major brands will always win the the eyes of the public at large, who will turn their noses up at obscure makes. These newer brands will only take hold if Currys etc sell more of them, which I doubt because they are dictated to by the major brands who only tolerate them selling the likes of say ‘Beko’ just to show customers variety in their stores. But insist they have majority display holding (i.e. 20 Hotpoints to one Beko)
kwatt wrote: We’ve seen the errosion in quality of components and in the actual engineering in the appliances with many these days seemingly designed to be consigned to the tip at the slightest failure, even the lack of information of training on them shows us that let alone the actual build.
This is directly coupled to the actual retail market place price standing based entirely on ‘supply and demand’, when the demand goes up the cost of manufacturing actually goes down. It is cheaper to make 100,000 than 10,000. Costs can also be shed by the manufacturers forcing the raw material suppliers into submission and relocating their output to third world countries. Failure rates on high volume goods are kept at a very low percentage rate, less than half a percent (.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}) of their total output. So they can well afford to bin those that give problems. Down to component level is slightly higher at 2{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} on average withing the guarantee period, so again no big loss the them.
kwatt wrote:I think there is a large potential niche in the market for a range of solidly built and well supported appliances and I honestly think that customers are fed up with the muck they’ve had for the past few years.
I sadly have to disagree, 😥 I cite my comments about asking “10 people in the street”…etc. Many people are indeed unhappy with their product that fails or continues to fail and will buy another brand but go for another major brand name again. Blissfully ignorant all the while that that brand too is as fallable, possibly even worse.
Sorry to be so negative, by just commenting on what I believe is the business in which you and I find ourselves. I too believe more could be done in a pure engineering sense, but that costs money that will never repeat never be spent by those we wish would 😥
There are few positives in this game but UKW and all that it stands for and the direction it is going will be a big positive….Heres to the next 1,000,000 !!!!!!!!!….Cheers guys!!
MartinRe: England Flags.
Dave_Conway wrote:I guess there’ll be a couple of million of these going cheap now if anyone wants one for the World Cup
Not at all Dave!
They will be waving now for our boys in Rugby about to thrash the Aussies again, you wait and see them waving like crazy again 😉
Martin
Re: WMA blows board
streetlighter wrote:But I think i’d better check the harness pump/motor ete before I fit the new £60 board.
Paul,
Best advice mate, don’t!
It’s OK for the likes of Merloni to send an engineer (if they have one that is?) ‘cos they just throw new parts in ‘willy nilly’ in the hope it fixes the problem and it costs them NOWT! 🙁 The likes of you and I have to make a full check throughout to ensure we haven’t overlooked anything before ‘switching on’ !!! And if we have and bugger up a perfectly good module…who pays eh 😥
Don’t risk your money AND your good reputation in the hope you may fix it and make a bob or two. As if it goes BANG even after a couple of weeks washing, YOU will be to blame and YOU will pay.
God I hate these modern electronicals, don’t you 😕
Martin
Re: indesit flashing/timer going round
Lotusray,
Could I ask you please to post the Indesit/Ariston Washer/Dryer error codes for us as well 🙂
Thanks 😉
Martin
Re: Online Jukebox
Only one snag I have found is that the tracks come as the latest Mpeg4-audio and my software to make DVD’s doesn’t recognise those music tracks 🙁
Ipods, CD burning no problem but if you want to play around making AVI movie DVD’s with audio tracks added, check your software compatibility 😉
Hopefully Itunes popularity will ensure their library is extended more than it is at the moment (Can’t believe they didn’t have any Paul Carrack tracks 😯 )
Martin
Re: UK Whitegoods Meeting No.3
Richard wrote:I used to think that guys who were or had been Service Engineers had a good sense of direction but I am beginning to wonder. ❓
“And its only 1 inch on my map north of Birmingham I reckon!” 😉
I agree with the Southerners thing by the way Richard. The fact is I live in the ‘bellybutton’ of Britain, Alex lives by ‘the wedding tackle’ and Dave ‘the smelly feet’. Kevin and yourself closer the ‘the heart’ whilst young Ken lives around ‘the mouth’. Poor old Mark is located at ‘the backside of Britain’. 😉
Martin
P.S Figured out the bit about the salt by the way, just working out the last one (NTBTS) 🙄
Re: Hotpoint T-dryer,TDL30 Belt Replacement
eastlmark wrote:The tumble drier tool is useful and probably worth the money
Mark,
Based on this subject I pushed the boat out and purchased this tool for £11, which arrived today. (Bit of steel tubing with a collar welded on 😕 )
A treasured addition to my toolkit I very much doubt but I will give it a go if ever I come across one of these belts jobs again? Just one question….will it be obvious to me how to use it ❓ ‘cos I can’t figure it out just from its looks (no idiots guide enclosed with it 🙁 )
Martin
Re: New Bosch WFL 1660 with poor spin performance.
Valvo wrote:At the top of the door seal is an outlet for a cascade of water for enhanced moistening and rinsing but that doesn’t seem to be functioning, maybe it’s an option on another model?
Valvo,
I don’t think the WFL2400 has a water inlet nozzle in the door seal, rather think it is more likely to be a ‘water guide’ that dispenses the water scooped up by the 3 drum paddles and directs it toward the centre of the drum. (Possibly ? 😕 )
I’m pleased all is well nonetheless and I would agree with the estimated life span by the way 😉
Martin
Re: UK Whitegoods Meeting No.3
eastlmark wrote:When you say Stafford I guess you mean the same place as last time, Right?
That was near Nuneaton at Sibson. Stafford is due north of Birmingham about 40 miles further into the ‘Black Country’ 🙁
Martin
Re: Ariston Integrated D/W help?
My thanks to Grooster and Eastlmark for giving me guidance over this one. In fact I had to cut the handle away to access the plastic latch mechanism thus avoiding damage to fascia.
Once released I then could find the model no. (KLS61SUK) and order the Door Latch Assy (which includes the handle I broke!)
Thanks again guys!
Martin
Re: INDESIT W103 / W113 etc info about timer constant rotati
lotusray wrote:i will post fault codes tomorrow as i will hav acsess to a scanner then
Thanks Lotusray,
Any information (i.e. Fault & Flash Codes etc) for Indesit/Ariston and Hotpoint machines will be much much appreciated. Many thanks in anticipation.
Martin
