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Re: HooverHD
Does it drain manually or not?
Water level is detected by pressure switch. If it drains manually, check pressure chamber for blockages. If it doesn’t drain manually, check sump and drain hose for blockages.
Re: Zanussi’s policy on early drum failures?
leavemetogetonwithit wrote:I wonder how many small independent retailers would be able to swallow a pill that size? :stir: .
Mike.Most indies I know, who have to trade on reputation rather than advertising budgets, wouldn’t be caught dead selling Zan Essential machines 😛
Re: Watchdog bait and switch scam
Martin wrote:
odom wrote:
If they want to save me a return visit I’m more than happy to give them £20 to seal the deal.When they “seal the deal” with you Chris, I wonder if you get your customers to relinquish their right to cancel under the terms of the current Cancellation of Contracts Made in Consumers Home or Place of Work Act 2008
Just curious because primarily they are ever hopeful their machine can be fixed and when they learn otherwise it forces them into making snap decisions, don’t you agree? Whereas when they purposefully travel to Currys (for example) their intent is to look at and possibly buy a new machine. There’s no doorstep high pressure selling from the little man in the polyester shirt! 🙂
I do tell them about right to cancel within seven days but don’t get them to relinquish it. I’ve only ever had two cases where it’s come into play – once a “Friday afternoon” Amica which I swapped and Amica, to their credit, agreed to uplift without prior authorisation. The other one was a bizarre lady who wanted to return a w/d she bought after 20 months because she “wasn’t using the dryer much” and started quoting right to cancel & sales of goods act at me. Offered her pro-rated refund which she refused, she wanted full refund so told her to get stuffed… politely :).If anyone ever wanted to return it within seven days would swallow the loss and resell at cost price to a punter who wanted a bargain.
As to pressure – well, I suppose that’s subjunctive anyway. TBH most of my customers seem to think their machine is knackered even for simple things like brushes – half are over the moon when I say it can be repaired! However, I wouldn’t ever get someone vulnerable, e.g. elderly, disabled, clearly strapped for cash etc. to agree to a same-day sale unless they specifically asked me to do it.
I’ve always been uncomfortable with any sort of “pressure sales” because I’d hate someone to do that to me. So if machine is BER I just have a chat about new machine options, tell them which brands I recommend and which to avoid. If they’re interested, I have a printed sheet which I give them, “These are the ones we sell, if you’re interested. They’re all selected by me, because it’s what I’d spend my money on. We keep all of them in stock so I could deliver it today, if you like”.
I then give them a chance to look through it whilst I pack up my tools and sort out the van. Pop back to give them a card, ask them if they looked through sheet. 75{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the time they’ll say yes, would like to buy a machine from you. If they’re “on the edge” of saying yes I drop in the £20 discount.
Yes, it’s sales. I don’t pretend it’s not, let’s face it, as a sole trader if I don’t sell repairs, machines, or whatever, then I can’t pay my bills. But I like to think of it as “zero pressure” sales, because I want to keep a good relationship with customer so I get chargeable work once guarantee runs out. I hope that most of my customers would agree with me.
Re: Watchdog bait and switch scam
gandh1 wrote:in theory, if they are going to operate that way they would be obliged to offer the payment paid for the diagnosis against the new purchase within a reasonable period of time, i.e 14 days…
But, as people keep banging on about, having to make a second visit costs us time, diesel and thus money. Why should indecisive customers subsidise those who can make decisions?
Let’s face it, when some uninformed punter decides to buy an Indes*it box at Currys, the salesperson doesn’t suggest they go away and think about it. My customers are in an even better position because they have an engineer on hand to ask questions rather than a teenager in a polyester shirt. If they want to save me a return visit I’m more than happy to give them £20 to seal the deal.
Re: Clamp on Ammeter questions
Sorry if this is a stupid question but what do you use it for r.e. fault finding? Or is it just to tell you when heater kicks in?
I’ve got a cheap inductance tester to find broken wires, but intrigued to know why it’s so useful robbra?
Re: Hoover washer wont spin even after new brushes fitted
Were the old brushes worn? Did you check the motor armature for damage/raised segments and use a comm stick to clean armature and bed in new brushes?
Before spending money on a new motor unplug machine and use a multimeter to check continuity of wiring from board to plug – tug all wires on motor plug to check none are loose. Check resistance through pins of motor and let us know what these are.
Re: wae24162 poor wash results
Bit difficult for us to guess without knowing what the poor results are, e.g. not removing stains? Soap left on clothes? New marks on clothes? etc.
Re: Hotpoint WD440 dryer fan not switching on
Replacement board from EMW sorted it, must have been a duff one they sent me first. Have to admit was a bit worried when testing dryer cycle as very rare for EMW boards to be faulty!
As for the Mk4 board failures, still at a loss… same fault occuring on both washer dryers and normal washers too… 🙁
Re: Watchdog bait and switch scam
iadom wrote:
odom wrote:
Don’t forget, we’re speaking from a site that gives free advice to consumers on how to fix their machines in order to get spares sales
Total horlicks. :rolls: 😈
I did put bo**ocks actually but the forum filter has altered it. 😉
Maybe I’m missing something, but why else does UKWG pay for this forum? It’s not a criticism, it’s evidently a very successful business model compared to those selling crappy pattern spares on eBay for pennies.Re: new washers
adv wrote:are amica ok to repair an can you get parts ok?
Very easy, become a rep and you get access to all technical information and exploded parts diagrams online, UKW stock all parts.
TBH though had very little trouble with them – mainly torn seals and the like. Even went to one tonight where water had flowed out of dispenser drawer because they’d blocked it with homemade “soap” – PCB was soaked and had tripped electrics but dried out and was absolutely fine. Definitely wouldn’t get that, even on a Bosch.
Re: Watchdog bait and switch scam
To be fair, as someone offering free call out myself, I think there’s very clearly a difference between offering a “free” carpet clean, then trying to sell something expensive on top; to offering “free” call out where any reasonable customer will expect you to “sell” them a repair if you’re able to repair the machine.
For me, the free call out has always been an absolute no-brainer. I don’t need to spend anything on advertising with Yellow Pages etc, the magic “Free call out” on my van/website means I get approx four new customers every day, along with eight who are returning or recommended.
For almost all of these, I can fix the machine. If I can’t, almost all will buy a new machine, as I’m in an ideal position – they want a machine NOW, I have a machine in the van…
Yes, there will be some BER where I don’t make a sale… but in the end it’s surely the “cost” of the free advertising. I’m happy to pay a bit of diesel and my time for this – admittedly, as a sole trader I can afford this. If I was a big company then it may be a different story.
I appreciate a lot of you have strong views about not working for free – this is understandable. As I already said, I don’t see it as free work, just a cost of my business. Yes, there will always be rogues who use it as a tool to rip people off – but the reason why it works is because it’s quite clearly what customers, rightly or wrongly, want.
What’s needed is Trading Standards using common sense – if we all know the “rogues” in our areas, there’s no excuse for TS not knowing and shutting them down. Take Clive on Watchdog – thieving hundreds of pounds from scores of people before TS even take notice – AND he doesn’t offer free call out, he charges £55!
Don’t forget, we’re speaking from a site that gives free advice to consumers on how to fix their machines in order to get spares sales – far further than any “free call out” repair company would go. And good for UKWG too – it clearly works or they wouldn’t do it, and we’d be much poorer for loosing all the information on this forum.
Re: new washers
I just sell them Bosch or Amica – Bosch because I like them, Amica because they’re good machines and I get the service work for two years, then chargeable repairs after.
Works quite well as an AWP for £220 with two years guarantee, even tight fisted landlords can’t say no :). Stopped doing recons as too much hassle getting RAW and then having to do the guarantee work on some after.
Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up!
TBJ wrote:Came down in the morning and in attempting to pinpoint the faulty device threw the breaker – it tripped out immediately with a flash from the socket area and a scorched socket and plug.
I assume what you means is you were disconnecting components on the machine with it still plugged in. You shorted a component to earth and were extremely lucky that the appliance was earthed properly, and that the plug took the shock rather than you.
Firstly, you’re extremely lucky not to have been electrocuted. As for your machine – whatever the fault was, the cheap and nasty Indesit board will now certainly be absolutely knackered, along with wiring leading to the board from the component you were testing. You still have the original fault to sort as well.
To be frank, now’s the time to call an engineer – it’s going to be a lot more expensive than if you’d done this in the first place. Repairs@ will help you find your nearest. For future reference, the way to test components is with a multimeter or megger, not by taking potshots with a £100 PCB.
