Some people should NOT be allowed to buy things

[adamthemieleman]

Hi all, title says it all. No point, just wanted a rant.

Had a customer today arguing with me about their Dyson. It's an old DC07 Origin. They said it was smelling of burning and not picking up. My mind instantly went to the filter. Took it out, and the thing was covered in dust. They said they'd had it 10 years and never washed the filter, they said they didn't know it was there and that they had to! 10 years without a wash, no wonder it was struggling. I will laugh a repair is refused, it's basic maintenance.

I had lady some time ago with a Miele. She said it wasn't picking up, getting hot and cutting off. Hmm what could that be? Opened her up, and the bag was chocker full, it was like a bag of cement. I asked when was the last time it was changed, she told me a couple of years! Christ! I sold her new bags, she asked whether they would solve the problem. Yes they would, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's already damaged.


I saw a Samsung washer dryer returned as it apparently had flooded and the pump was not working. The filter was thick with lint. I had no idea what they were washing or drying but for a very new machine, it had seem some abuse. They kicked off and it was exchanged, even though we should have refused point blank, it's in the manual, Check the fluff filter regularly!

I swear to god, some people should not be allowed to buy things that they don't understand, and what worries me more is that people either can't or won't read instructions yet flip when we refuse to repair or replace.

I've even came to witness products such as blenders and grills with a warning symbol, such as 'sharp blades' or this product may be hot.

I'm sorry but if you need to be told that a toaster or the like gets hot, you really shouldn't be buying one in the first place.

Think I'm going to buy a baton and take it to work, to punish idiots.

 

[vintagerepairer]

This certainly puts all that nonesense in France into persepctive.

 

[adamthemieleman]

Yes, yes it does!

 

[suckolux]

I worked at auto service and cookware store, have heard it all I think! Stupid has NO limit.

 

[citroenbx]

I can't grumble because I would be out of a job

I fix vacs,washers

 

[vintagerepairer]

There speaks the voice of reason. I am confused by the original post, because it sounds like the customer is getting some sort of a repair in Currys on a ten year old cleaner. I am not sure how that works?

 

[adamthemieleman]

vintage repairer, it's under product support. But I don't think it will be covered if the motor has burnt out due to a blocked filter

 

[vintagerepairer]

Who underwrites the support policy?

 

[vintagerepairer]

Forget that last one - I have just been reading all about it on google. Says the are plans are not insurance and thus have no underwriter.

 

[human]

I knew a guy years ago who had a TV repair shop. He said a lady brought in her set and said the picture had gotten dim and fuzzy. She was a heavy smoker and had never cleaned off the screen, which was coated in smoke residue and dust. Some Windex and a few paper towels brought the picture back to life.

 

[sebo_fan]

I MUST play devil's advocate here because I feel that it has to be said and has been said so many times before, not always by me but by other members on this forum and in other threads.

It isn't the fault of the consumer but what we buyers have continually been sold the idea of in the last twenty years: if it is broke, replace it, especially if it was cheap to buy in the first place.

Other marketing false promises are "lifetime filters." Which, we all know back in the day, Dyson forever threw about versus the constant bitching about clogging dust bags. Thus I have no surprise when owners come out with these "holier than thou" marketing promises that accompany each vacuum cleaner.

It IS a real pity that buyers are swayed in this instance, but small appliances are not alone, let alone large white appliances; the same happens in electronics, computers and many other lifestyle products.

We may be returning from a recession but buyers in general and at the moment are still being hard pushed to pay over the odds, let alone wash a filter or simply do basic maintenance.

Brands are also out to make money - some washing machines on the UK market are now machines with sealed drums which makes it impossible to get at selected components.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Sebo-fan, to continue with your excellent points, the brands are not 'also' out to make money, they are always out to make money, given they are providing goods via a private business and not offering a nationalised service. I think it is sometimes easy to forget that anyone in business exists principly to make money and not to satisfy the consumer.

In respect of this Dyson, my concern from the original posting was that the shopworker and a would-be paying customer got into what was described as an argument. However, having read-up as I then did on the basics of the Currys care plan, I see that rather than being underwritten by a 3rd party insurance company who would, based on my own experiences, authorise a repair (or not) following a phone call to their contact centre, Currys (or DSG Retail as they are known in the wider name) fund their own care plans. To that end they are not even refered to as insurance plans, presumably because they are not underwritten by an insurance company.

So where as an insurance company would agree a repair, then an engineer would come along from whoever & whereever to repair the appliance (usually the manufacturer, and almost always a 3rd party who did not work for the insurance company) in this instance it seems an engineers from DSG retail would repair the appliance, and any checks to the likes of filters etc. may well come down to the store-staff to question & examine, in a way which would not be at all neccesary or appropriate where an insurance company has already authorised a repair.

In my vast experience of dealing with insurance companies (for myself, family, and customers of mine from my days in the shop), the people who are sent out to carry out work can often be totally misguided in terms of what the perimeters of their job is. For instance, if one has a flood at home, the claim is not likely going to be authorised there and then, so an assesor would be sent round to see how much the insurance company would be liable for. It is their job to report back their expert findings.

But once an agreememnt has been reached, and tradespeople are despatched to do the work, it is not down to those same people to then assume some sort of authority in saying what a customer should and shouldn't be entitled to. And yet I have seen this time & again; a plumber or whoever who is being paid by an insurance company to go and do a job and who thinks in his opinion the customer should not have been able to get that work done, someone in a shop who is resentful of a customers legal rights and whatever has been authorised by a company who is nothing to do with them, or a repairman who is disgusted at what he perceives to be miss-use of an appliance which he has been paid to repair regardless of the condition or his opinion and who fails to recognise the actual job role he has.

In electrical sales, I know that high street retailers are very worried about the releativly new online retailer who has two initials in it's name and advertises on TV quite a lot. I know this because I am very well acquainted with someone high up in a high street chain which is rival to Currys. This chain is significantly smaller than Currys but is probably only 2nd to them. The high street stores are suffering badly, and any poor face-to-face experiemce will potentially lead to more online sales. Customer service training used to be key at one time of the day, then it dropped off. In todays poor high street trading conditions, it needs to come back.

The days of a casual "take it or leave it" attitude from shop staff is long outdated as no retailer can afford to let a customer leave it. I am of course very old fashioned and come from an era where I was taught that those of us at the sharp-end and on the lowest wages are there to do our job and not worry about what the management are paid to worry about. So were I to be a young man in retail once again, it would not concern me who had done what to something which had been returned, rather to be polite and welcoming in explaining the procedues which my managers had compiled. I was taught from an early age that life is much easier when we all know our roles and reasons for being, and when this is adhered to. It is indeed most correct.

 

[sebo_fan]

Sounds like we need more Adam's in electrical shops

Thank you Vintagerepairer - I was hoping you would respond in a timely manner and you have.

There are a few brands out there who don't fleece the buyer and who aren't always out to make money based on the design of their vacuums. Some are designed to be repaired by the owner such as the SEBO X, or have parts that run the course of time such as Numatic vacs. Both need bags and filters though which means both brands make money. The emphasis of making money is different with commercial cleaning company vacuums, or so I have found.

It is of course a double edge sword on the expectations of how a shop worker should deal with customers, not helped by staffing cuts and companies being cut of profit from a previous recession. There will always be competition from other service providers. So too has the change of build quality from previously well built classic vacuums that are still popular today and are still ticking over such as Hoover's bagged floorcare ranges.

My generation comes from the late 1970s. So we were taught to put every positive skilled effort into the job we carry out. We were taught by the old school generation of teachers that a hard days work never hurt anyone. If you worked in customer service, you provided the best info you could about the service or product, having either sampled it or used it, or dug deeper past the marketing belief. Aftercare info was a role purely reserved for the manager.

But that was back in the day when a permanent role in a company also provided a good pension. Nowadays staff are on stripped zero hour contracts, very little incentive to buy into a company if you are hired and ultimately a lack of care for both employee and customer. This then filters down to either not knowing about products or services that reps or shop employees need to know, or adopting a care free attitude, or constantly primed to make a sale. No wonder consumers aren't taking care of their appliances.

The reality of which is, a lot of companies are also hiring young men and women who have probably never used a vacuum cleaner to the point of repair. It is good that whilst Adam is around because he might have a like for many brands, there aren't many other reps who would identify the "obvious" fairly without jumping on the customer to buy a new vacuum instead.