[simonb]

Re: How to beat the recession

Yes i do see your point here, i used to charge a higher rate than what i do now, sometimes almost double than i do now initially but iv found through trial and error and i make my customers very aware that i try to charge the same price each time £50 i also give a free warranty on full washer for a short time after, thats what i go for each time, now if i get a bearing job on, i advise them to scrap it as the cost of replacement either new or reconditioned as they are so cheap, that goes for timers and most modules iv give up on them, as well my catchment area now iv reduced in distance im well known locally and have a good reputation for being on the customers side instead of a rip off (their point of view not mine!!, i personally think as skilled engineers were worth far more as same as gas), this iv found all works in my favour and gets me a good supply of work without advertising,my overheads i keep to bare min i use my car now but can get 2 appliances in the back if needed 😆 dont bother with premises anymore dont bother with yellowpages or thomson or evening news

Now i can literally walk to the next job in comparison to when i started also my area is very price conscious so i have to keep it keen, iv never tryed call out charge, the only time i do charge if i get a call from someone out of town, mostly point blank refusal

yes id dread trying it with call out charge in the evening news last week their was about 8 adds all offering domestic appliance repairs all offering free call out and estimates,

I talk to local independent businesses as well none of them charge either
now to be fair and honest when i first started out on my own i used to go were the work was and could drive miles and sometimes out into the sticks and yes i can identify with your stress here i remember feeling like id just been had over a few times by complete and utter time wasters probably an hour or sometimes more down the pan.

Its just what works in my area, things have worked ok for a few years now, but last 6 weeks or so id say iv took a dip down in sales, doesn’t seem like the normal ups and downs as people are beginning to talk about a recession so it may be back to the drawing board soon 🙁

[simonb]

Re: Accepting Credit & debit Cards

Never heard of them Toni and first time aware of mobile phone text being used for transactions but i agree it seems very attractive if your missing out on credit cards for sales and repairs im home based but my wife has a business that most payment is by credit and debit cards so i use her machine if i need to process it so im lucky i can avoid the charges that come with it, flat rate of £15 monthly and then additional £17 if you dont hit £1200 monthly transactions now thats off the top off my head so dont quote me, each transaction comes with a percentage charge also!

The only thing that springs to mind is ask how long the merchant takes to pay up?

[simonb]

Re: How to beat the recession

Well madmac i see from your from Scottish Highlands now i have family in Aberdeenshire, Huntley and i know the area quiet well, now believe me iv very gald i dont work up there, and if i did and offered free callout i would be a mug for sure! and maybe id even start to look like muppet?who knows 😆

My aunt lives in a house about 10 miles from any form of life whatso ever, the closest thing for miles is maybe a sheep or a cow i certainly would’ent like to do a service call to her house. and then nip back to shop for parts 😯

[simonb]

Re: How to beat the recession

i quote

“The biggest dis-favour we are done happens to be by those who offer “No Call-out” It encourages customers to look for the free meal ticket. “

i agree with this because at the end of the day i only choose to offer Free Callout because others already do who are in competition with me in my area,
yes and i dont know a gas engineer who offeres free callout either but i think here at some point the fingers got to be partly pointed at manufacturing costs of new appliances and sales because how much is a new gas boiler supplied and fitted? in comparison to a washing machine, if most brands of washing machines etc were average priced at what they really should be in 2008 at about £500-£600 each and not these stupid £200 machines , well our repair bill of £100-£150 per customer would id say be fine.were not in demand as much gas enginner or a plumber thats in my personal experience of course, and yes i also agree we are just as skilled espeically multibranded work as most independents do.

Personally my fear of charging callout is my workload would drop, hey and after all that i went out tonight to guess what a BER i drove 3 miles just for the 1 job just after writing my reply earlier 😳 and before i left he insisted on paying me for my time 🙂

[simonb]

Re: How to beat the recession

I dont understand the difference between free callout and estimates and service engineers who charge? i find say out of 10 jobs for example 2 might be ber on average so just back in van and onto next job(after trying to sell them a new appliance of course) so the 8 appliances that are repairable subsidise the other 2 ber’s

so how do enginners who charge callout earn more money then? i fix most i go to see?

obviously im not seeing the point somehow?

[simonb]

Re: Tumble dryer fires

Hey i dont know about anyone else but this sort of stuff scares the hell out of me working in this trade. i once repaired a dryer on an estate not far from where i live that night on granada reports (our local news) reported a bad house fire on the same walk that had wiped out the full family, turned out to be right next door.

[simonb]

Re: Will you please leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!

i quote “If the machine is live during test with lid off then I tell client to stand away from machine “

The type that leans on the machine starts pointing right into it as well normally scares the hell out of me, had a guy once who started wiggling the wires round and the best one iv seen yet years back when i started at merloni was put with an enginner to show me the ropes hed just finished a backplate he had the back off looking for leaks she stuck her hand right in on spin right into the direction of the pulley, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back, she wasent happy at all after we left the area manager said she was threatening with the police as shes claiming assault and wanted compensation!!!!! can you believe it!! what planet are they from at all?

Simonb

[simonb]

Re: A Real Bad day at work

Yer thanks gang! im on the mend now taken a few days off, the customer phoned me today to ask how i was and when will i be returning to finish it! she says her kitchen does smell of burning but apart from that no real damage, before i posted here i also sent an email to the manufactuer of the air duster and have promply telephoned up asking for the batch code i suppose ill put it down to experience now iv got to say though my hand is blistered but my face is developing a lovely looking tan! 😀 my eyebrows are singed and also my under my armpits is burnt! 😯

simon

[simonb]

Re: Renting Appliances

Hay thanks guys im gona go for it, iv recently been off work for about a year with prostrate problem, mostly all sorted now just a few aches and pains in my knackers 😯 it came out of the blue and i realised what a pit fall tempory ill health was, one min bouncing around next on my back and my business just fell, i dont have premises so manged to scrape by but lost customers so not working the full day so i have time on my hands at moment and like it was said it isent high capital risk,

i suppose ideally the target customer is someone who has expendable income but would prefer to rent?

and finding a association of somekind is ideal as probably gona cough up the money

hey thanks again any other ideas for ways to target customer would be brill

qualtex has whirlpool machine in for about 140 plus vat at moment? 5 kg any known common faults with these latest machine?

i suppose its worth paying the extra for more stable machines as less service calls, and also whats the chance of getting the manufacture out for breakdown within 1st year im presuming its now exempt maybe? or does it still apply as long as its none commercial usage by customer? even if it does they would have to wait depending on work load?

simon b

[simonb]

Re: NO CALL OUT CHARGE… (So how exactly does that work???)

The brutal and honest answer is No not really!! 😥

but it pays the bills, i earn roughly the same as i did for Britsh Gas

[simonb]

Re: NO CALL OUT CHARGE… (So how exactly does that work???)

Well i dont charge callout or for estimate and i get every job i go round to see accept for ber, and then try to sell them a replacement, i cant understand what all the fuss is about? maybe its my area i know this do differ from area to area.also im a one man band and try to keep overheads as low as possible

i keep my rates keen as i go for repeat and recommendations as a priority now, look after this and your in work, this is through experience only.i also give a short full parts and labour warranty on full appliance i started at 4 weeks as a trial then went to 8 weeks now 12 weeks i find this increases customer confidence in my service

everyjob i aim at around £50.00 all in, and try to keep it consistant, my area is dense so im not traveling too far to next job, yes i do get the odd idiot but its prob just a handfull a week, also i filter off the rubbish like what previous poster said over the phone

but customers have no confidence in us, they dont want to be slammed with a big bill at the end of the job thats all, as a new washer now is about the same price as a pair of trainers they dont want to pay out, i dont know if anyone else will comment here but i think the customer expects that an enginner to call round and start work in there house is going to be expensive thing and expect to pay a engineers fee, even though we specialise in domestic appliance repairs they still percieve a expensive engineers bill at the end over £100? and most in my area dont want to pay it not now as the cost of replacement has come down?

I find in most cases its not that they dont want to cough up and pay the bill its incase its going to be a very expensive bill, and they dont want to get ripped off, you cant help but side with the customer in some cases why would someone chance paying out for a product thats now underpriced ?i do hope sometime in the near future this market will revert and go the other way with quality first not price?

I tend to spend time on the phone and have a good chat with the customer first it seems to filter off the time wasters, Iv gone from charging a higher rate about 80-120 to now 48-58 with plenty of repeat custom just by trial and error

Simon b

[simonb]

Re: proline dryer

this rings a bell, last time this happened the bearings had give up the goose

[simonb]

Re: INDESIT WIDL126UK

cheers ill go and have another bash at it!!

[simonb]

Re: INDESIT WIDL126UK

Thanks for reply this machine is out in the sticks so will be going back out to see it shortly, the machine does turn the drum for a while first before going into fault mode so whats likley to be be the actual problem the tacho on motor? loose magnet or wiring? the tacho isent avaliable as a part for these motors if i remember?

simonb

[simonb]

Re: Hoover HW6316M NDA

iv had dry joints on the top board on hoover machines worth removing to check track side simon

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