Support your local registered gas engineer

doitall · 22 May 2014

ringi said:
Dan_Robinson said:

No it is about them using the information we are forced to part with in order to take OUR customers away from us.

We are the customer of the boiler manufacturers. Not the home owner.

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This home owner does not see it like that!

I have never had someone complain about their boiler not working telling me the name of the person that fitted it, they always tell me the manufacturer.

The only time I hear someone saying who fitted a boiler is when BG did it, for some reason people think paying double the going rate is something to be proud off.

The owner is telling you the maker of the boiler not who fitted it. Rocket science is wonderful.

Methinks ringi protests too much, any bets he's a spy for a manufacturer

FiremanT · 22 May 2014

Piers1989 said:
FiremanT said:

Piers1989 said:

FiremanT said:

Agile said:

Whilst I agree with what Lee is saying its unfortunate that the home owners are largely encouraging the manufacturers in this respect.

Many do not go to the local one man and prefer the call centre job number situation.

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And it doesn't help when YOU recommend, on here, BG or the manufacturer.

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recommending the manufacturer isn't always a bad thing... they offer great call outs that save the customer money. How is that bad customer service?

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When was the last time you went to buy a car, and the salesman suggested a cheaper garage? Or the last time your local Landlord recommended you went to Wetherspoons?

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When was the last time some of you on here did something to benefit the customer and not your wallet or reputation?

If a manufacturer can repair a fault for half the cost due to fixed call out prices they offer then why wouldn't you try and help the customer out. They are more likely to recommend you as someone who's honest and out to help them out. After all all this negativity towards manufactures seems to be based around customer loyalty and ensuring that the customer is dealt with in the best possible way.

Manufacturers have it every way. I don't blame consumers for looking for the best price, that is their job - but we are all in business as well. and our livelihoods are dependent upon finding work - which is difficult when there is such an imbalance in the playing field. Manufacturers can only offer there low cost parts replacement service because they presumably get the parts direct from the component manufacturer or importer. No one can explain why we have to pay such a large price for a PCB - the manu's fit them almost FOC but rake in profits when we try to conduct our business.

At what point am I supposed to redirect a customer? As soon as he phones me? After I have done a telephone assessment? or after I have visited the job? Am I expected to provide this service free of charge?

And i repeat - name me another industry that routinely is expected to tell customers to go elsewhere?

ringi · 22 May 2014

FiremanT";p="3113230 said:
Piers1989 said:

At what point am I supposed to redirect a customer? As soon as he phones me? After I have done a telephone assessment? or after I have visited the job? Am I expected to provide this service free of charge?

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As a customer, I would expect to be charged if you come out to look at a boiler, even if you then recommended that I got someone else to fix it.

Offering ‘free’ telephone support to your current customer is likely to keep them as your customers.

Being the first GC person I think of, can also lead to work installing boilers and get you recommended to other landlords that need the safety certs done.

As I landlord I need to get Gas Safety Checks done, even if I take out the cover for maintenance with Baxi, I still need to use a local person for the Gas Safety Checks. I am unlikely to keep the cover in place once the problem has been solved, so the local person can pick up the service work as well.

Terry lambert · 22 May 2014

If an engineer comes out to look at your boiler and can't find the fault, he shouldn't expect to get paid.

If he comes out and correctly diagnoses your fault but you want another quote to repair, you should pay for diagnostics

Piers1989 · 22 May 2014

Dan_Robinson said:
No it is about them using the information we are forced to part with in order to take OUR customers away from us.

We are the customer of the boiler manufacturers. Not the home owner.

We went out and found them nurtured them, suggested the best solution for them. They manufacturers are dishonestly using that information provided by us as nothing more than a proof of purchase in order gain an unfair advantage.

It is not complicated. But you certainly seem to be struggling with the concept.

im not struggling with your concept at all... I get exactly what you are saying and partly I agree... however you seem to be very narrow minded in your approach and you are missing out on the larger picture.

Manufacturers can offer a great after sales service, due to being experts, having the parts readily available and being able to offer great prices for certain repairs. Whether you like it or not... this is the case.

I get what you are saying about the installation etc and using those details but you are missing out on so much.

If you buy a car from your local garage... does that mean you cant buy parts from the main dealer? does that mean you cant get a dealer to service it or carry out repairs? are those car manufacturers trying to screw over local garages? not at all! they are offering a service as experts on the product...

I get what you mean about new products etc (I PERSONALLY don't see the big fuss) but look at the bigger picture!

It appears to me that some people just don't like a bit of competition in the market... and those doing well out of it seem to be the targets on the firing range...

could manufacturers come on here and have a dig at installers who do a s*** job and give their products a bad name? so many of them suffer because of poor quality installers... but its the manufacturer who gets the stick for it.

when an "engineer" (I use the term lightly) is on site blowing up PCB's because they don't know their arse from their multimeter, filling them with sludge, wiring them up wrong, loosing parts, they don't put their hands up and say they got it wrong... they blame the manufacturer...

so much blame in one direction...

ALEC1 · 22 May 2014

You don't need to be a business genius to raise standards, protect your product and develope decent relations with installers for the common good, soft ware makes that easy.

It's not that we don't like competition, there is plenty of that, it's the deceipt in being asked not to contact a customer and then do so.

All manufactures have considerable resources to hand and the management could engage with installers, but they choose not to..

doitall · 22 May 2014

Piers, the bigger picture as I see it.

Is the cost of spares, PCB for example Probably 10 quid from Taiwan, put a premium on it say £200, and no independent in the country has got a chance to compete on price.

Manufacturers can give it away for all they care as the industry is paying through the nose for spare parts.

gas112 · 22 May 2014

PCBS In telles ,dvd, satellite equipement etc last for ever now and get far more use than a boiler pcb .
Shame they can`t build them out of same components

Dan Robinson · 22 May 2014

Weren't Baxi charging over a fiver for a couple of o rings that didn't come with the part that needed them.

Anyway my gripe in all this is predominately down to abuse of data.

JBPHS · 22 May 2014

Piers1989 said:
Dan_Robinson said:

No it is about them using the information we are forced to part with in order to take OUR customers away from us.

We are the customer of the boiler manufacturers. Not the home owner.

We went out and found them nurtured them, suggested the best solution for them. They manufacturers are dishonestly using that information provided by us as nothing more than a proof of purchase in order gain an unfair advantage.

It is not complicated. But you certainly seem to be struggling with the concept.

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Manufacturers can offer a great after sales service, due to being experts,

Don't make me laugh, I've been to jobs where manufacturers own engineers couldn't correctly diagnose faults. One particular example was a fault on a Worcester 28Si (if I remember rightly). The heating would not circulate but hot water was fine. 3 different engineers went to the job (all from Worcester). They arrived in vans where

Piers1989 said:
the parts readily available

and swapped virtually every part on the boiler (including the primary heat exchanger). Long story short, they said boiler was fine and was something wrong with the system, customer got a local company, I arrived and found that the pipework inside the boiler that connected to the boiler CH isolation valve was blocked. Cleared blockage and job was a good un.

Its all down to the individual that attends the job, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

James.

transam · 22 May 2014

There was a case on here a while back concerning a 5 year old (at that time)

weissman that required a spare pt exp vessel (?) never had one in the country

Biggest manu in Europe are they not ?

lucky that some boiler manus do not have any thing to do with the manufacture of electronics used in TV's & other electrical house hold goods

Built in obscelence (how u spell that ?) is what it is

doitall · 23 May 2014

obsolescence

But is it the right word

FiremanT · 23 May 2014

doitall said:
obsolescence

But is it the right word

it was, but is has been superceded

Piers1989 · 23 May 2014

doitall said:
Piers, the bigger picture as I see it.

Is the cost of spares, PCB for example Probably 10 quid from Taiwan, put a premium on it say £200, and no independent in the country has got a chance to compete on price.

Manufacturers can give it away for all they care as the industry is paying through the nose for spare parts.

Then slate your merchant for the mark up price all over a forum! I can speak from experience and say that some of them double the price... and the other double THAT price! that's not the manufacturer...

its all back down to business... like I said before... everyone has to make a living (profit) just like yourself... im sure everyone add a little bit onto things to cover the costs, travel, insurance etc...

Dan Robinson · 23 May 2014

Piers1989 said:
and the other double THAT price! that's not the manufacturer...

What about when you buy direct from the manufactuer?

On a side note I have just come back from installing a load of new smart controls for a house heating system.

When I powered it all back on I wondered why the boiler kicked in immediately.

30 seconds later I found that the installers hadn't removed the link wire in the boiler control box.

Dicks.

Don't know if it was a big boy, or a local firm.

But even worse was that BG had been servicing it for several years; and not a single person noticed until I went there.

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