Oh man Maverick.
Five years warranty on Whirlpool. Nice, but I don’t need that. The device is and remains rubbish. Unfortunately, that’s how it is at Ikea. I love Ikea otherwise, although I also know people who prefer to buy furniture worth thousands of euros in furniture stores from expensive brands. So I am not allowed to come to them with Ikea furniture.
Of course... You already knew what was wrong before the customer called and were almost there. Especially with a flat rate of 35,-€, whether it’s 1 or 2 technicians at 10 p.m., they were there. The company is bankrupt, right???
You are pretty cheeky. The company I’m talking about last still exists and is doing great! I just don’t work there anymore for personal and health reasons.
The other one was our family business. A professional life (and human life itself) eventually ends.
An hourly wage of 50 euros net per hour fairly charged by the quarter hour is “normal”. Some want even more or charge half hours or whole hours.
The said 30-40 euro offer (depending on travel) applies to first visits. Afterwards, there is usually a repair, whereby additional labor (but no second travel charge) is billed on top of the inspection. And the spare part with a small profit margin.
And yes, many defects can be “clarified” over the phone, but of course not always. And you don’t immediately tell the customer over the phone what is broken, as they might hang up and try themselves, because many things are really easy to repair. (Motor brushes, a pump replacement, etc.) Many only come by for spare parts. Of course, those are sold without complaint. Ultimately, we sold a part and if the customer can’t manage, they might come back as a client.
When you speak with an 0180 hotline of some company (e.g. Ikea appliance service), you can’t expect anyone knowledgeable on the phone, but rather call center ladies who at most can look up instructions/fault codes in the system but have no own experience, because that’s the technicians’ job.
But if you have the master technician on the phone himself, who has been doing this for decades, it looks quite different.
If someone calls or writes to me with PC matters, I usually know what it could be, although
household appliances are MUCH SIMPLER, because computers are much more complex. Of course, there are also silly faults which sometimes require picking up the device and checking in the workshop for hours. But that is rather rare.
So if a device doesn’t pump out water, you take a pump with you just to be safe, but first check on site if there is simply a blockage – just a simple example of what you can already hear over the phone. Although this is really just a SIMPLE example. Even complex faults can be “guessed” with decades of experience. However, that is very individual, it depends on symptoms and how well they are described by the customer, etc.
That’s daily routine, customer calls, says what’s wrong, we assess urgency, latest next day or the day after, you are at the customer’s door.
Besides, 8-10 jobs a day just through municipal companies alone, it pays off to make decent initial visit offers like the mentioned 30-40 euros for private customers. Depending on how many employees are hired, that can be multiplied per employee, although that becomes very stressful. The example at 10 p.m. was one of 12 customer days, alone or with a partner. We promised them that and then something like this happens. Otherwise, the company closes at 5-6 p.m.
There’s no 5-euro ripoff behind this. That’s called customer retention and unfortunately also competitive pressure. You really can’t do a first visit any cheaper. Otherwise, that would be foreseeable fraud.
I don’t know what kind of cheap devices you buy, but our dishwasher costs a little more than 180.00 €. Our device is a few years old and costs even more than 180.00 € used. Furthermore, you should first read IKEA’s warranty terms and not just complain.
- First travel 35.- GROSS
- Electronics e.g. 150.- NET
- Shipping e.g. 6.- GROSS
- Labor hour (about 1h) 50.- NET
= 279 EUR GROSS
The residual value of a 5-year old Bosch dishwasher originally, for example, 599 euros, should at most (if at all) be limited to this value. (Usually much less!)
And! The device still has other wear parts that can soon fail too. You have to factor all that in. Labor is charged each time.
And even only if it “just” takes an hour, because dishwashers are sometimes very awkwardly installed. It starts with tiles laid in front of the kitchen afterward, so the kitchen is lower on the screed. Or the kitchen installer placed the device with an Aquastop (big box on the inlet hose) and then only built the kitchen around it. Ergo: half the kitchen has to be partially dismantled, sawn, etc.
And that’s for a repair of, say, a 5-year-old dishwasher.
If it’s “just” the water container or an AquaStop (which is expensive), it’s still okay, but eventually such an old relic is simply to be written off, offering it to a customer for repair borders on ripoff. Dishwashers always require more labor time. Freestanding washing machines are done quickly.
Regarding your comment on cheap devices: I’m talking about Miele, BSH (Bosch/Siemens/Constructa etc.) as an authorized company with ongoing training by Miele themselves.
Please don’t insult anyone here...
I did not, I just wrote that some customers like to go to those so-called “I’m not stupid” stores (that is what the advertising says) and then like to compare apples and oranges or buy washing machines there for 179 euros...
The above user complained about a one-week wait due to an overloaded service that has to travel far instead of just asking a local specialist what an inspection costs.
Warranty must be handled via the authorized service, every customer must be clear about that. Whoever doesn’t want to use it is to blame themselves.
If it were a refrigerator or freezer, okay, but this was about a dishwasher! There is nothing more unimportant in private households, at least you can bridge a failure. (No matter how big the family is)
I didn’t know you have laundry detergent in your kitchen?! My detergent is in the basement by the washing machine.
Yeah right, you know exactly what I meant. Oh, and I don’t have a dishwasher, no space. But the detergent is by the washing machine in the kitchen. So your nitpicking falls short.
And there’s no washing machine with salt or dishwasher with powder in my office either.
I have been in hundreds of offices where dishwashers are located, which tend to break especially quickly because nobody really feels responsible (“it’s not mine...”).
And customers have already reported cardboard packaging of a detergent and salt from the same manufacturer, almost identical packaging. Then the ion exchanger broke! So stuff like this happens, even quite often.
(Cleaning ladies without German skills at night in otherwise empty tea kitchens quickly ruin an expensive dishwasher just because they can’t read the packaging or notices or don’t properly close the salt container.)
It is about detergent (again now, I mean cleaning agents), which ruins the ion exchanger if it gets there because salt was confused with detergent or the salt compartment wasn’t properly closed or salt is never refilled because the 1000in1 tabs supposedly do everything automatically…
And 180 euros is just harsh.
Maverick, if you think you want to spend that much or more on a repair, then do it. It’s a Miele, 2.4 years old and cost 1000 or more, surely worth it.
But it only makes sense for certain device classes and individual situations.
So wear and tear,
technical age. Privately (family business) we once had a customer who washed THREE TIMES A DAY with a 450 euro BSH device (Bosch), we could replace the motor brushes twice a year. We didn’t care, but the customer thought we sold her junk or installed junk. And that comes back to you, because she tells the neighbors! EVERY DAY 3x WASHING! (365x3 = OVER A THOUSAND TIMES A YEAR)
Whoever needs a commercial machine should buy one, best a Hobart.. (Refers to the shock the customer gets seeing the price)
Yes, the price is justified and cheaper than a new dishwasher. Or do you have no clue about brand devices? Then just look at prices of reasonable branded devices. And I don’t mean Hanseatic or similar.
Sure, an authorized Miele service sells Hanseatic, AMICA or so?
These stores (even bigger ones) here were warned by Miele and had all their goods taken from stock and business relations ended because they advertised with Miele devices (pictures!) but sold Amica. Accordingly, many asterisk texts were included in the advertising.
Spare parts are of course available (from specialist services) to order and install for any device, but new devices from cheap manufacturers are absolutely taboo in a real specialist service company.
You wouldn’t believe how many customers have some cheap junk at home.
Repairing the electronics is not worth it.
But let’s leave it at that, we’re just going in circles.
PS:
There was also a 12-month warranty on every repair. Even if the damage could be fixed after the first visit (which is not uncommon) just by the flat rate for travel. So if it was just a simple fix or something. (Stuck hose, etc.) But if it’s, for example, the motor brushes of a washing machine, you always have those with you, so you can repair immediately. (But labor then comes on top because the 30-40 euros are for travel and cost estimate,
the actual time-consuming manual repair is billed normally)
Proper invoice and 12 months warranty. If the defect occurs again, it is repaired free of charge.
None of those 5-euro flyer guys do that,
if they are capable of anything at all, except cheating. Just “we repair everything” or “only 5 euros travel charge in all NRW”. Yeah right...
And if someone wants 80-100 euros just for a cost estimate at the first visit, sorry, that’s not acceptable either.
There is a healthy middle ground for repair costs in this trade that are still acceptable. It depends on 1. the customer, 2. the device and 3. the technical age of the device. If the customer has a lot of money and the device is still top and expensive, then sometimes a repair for 230 euros is done at customer request.
But that is the absolute exception!