Repair Costs & Marketing and Pricing

This could be a few posts in different topics, but since it is all the same saga…

The LG washer died at 6+ years. Mr Google was sure it was a particular sensor and no big deal, so I rang my friendly repairman who showed me the underlying problems with an ambit cost to repair quoted at $400~650; the potential parts list included bearings, the sensor, and related bits. The current new equivalent LG is on sale today for $848 as a reference point. I passed. The call out and look-see was $98, reasonable in metro Melbourne.

Choice suggests mid-range washers should go 8 years and are cheaper to repair until 12+ but decided not to pursue it. Even though a repair would be cheaper than a replacement would it be the smart thing to do (save for recycling issues)?

The repairman was not big on LGs and said they are going about 8 years for the most part these days, and felt recent Electrolux washers (including Westinghouse and Simpson) were better made today based on his service business, this after a few years of being behind the curve. That was his opinion of one.

My personal salesman (in the family and who sold us the LG) said his store records (from their extended warranty program) indicated LG washers are tending to have problems starting at 5~7 years, which supports the repairman’s advice.

Moving on to buying a new one, the Choice reviewed model of choice is shown at an RRP of $1,088 in the test. The manufacturer’s web site shows it on ‘promotion’ with no pricing just links to the major online retailers. The ‘promotional’ prices varied from $1,079 to $1,347 with most offering to price match with their pesky asterisks, eg if they could.

I got a better deal from ‘my salesman’ but it reflects so much of our pricing is spin on RRP although there are indeed discounts on clearance items or last years models and sometimes even on a current one - if you know the price to be sure.

As always, caveat emptor and never assume an online price is the best you can get since it is looking more and more like another instance of a lazy tax. As with accommodation booked directly with the property, ring the business and talk to them for the best deal they can offer.

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I have been looking for a new oven as ours is slowly dying.

I looked at the Choice reviews and as I don’t have a salesman relative I started looking at prices on the internet for the 60cm model I selected. Usually Choice’s quoted RR price is well above what I can buy for, but now prices are often over the quoted RR price, IF they even have the product.

Not long ago I had been looking at the price of a new fridge, which we ended up repairing, only to find that the one I wanted from the Choice reviews along with many other models were not available due to the inability to get products in from o/s.

So when the prices were higher on the ovens I put it down to supply shortages.

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I have heard ‘the prices are high’ because:

  • it is popular so there is high demand (although unsaid there is lots of inventory available!)
  • supply is scarce
  • it is an agency arrangement (eg Miele and others) out of our control
  • pick a reason that sounds good

Normally when I find a product out of stock (backordered) it is discounted to buy now and wait for arrival. Sometimes the same for pre-ordering new products. Excepting for the fan-folks who need the latest greatest and pay RRP or a premium to get in on the first day (or first shipment).

Considering the few competitors for so many products the reality of what is essentially RRP (or within dollars of it) is not surprising, especially when online purchases are so common these days.

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I am in the same boat with a Bosch Dishwasher, paid $600, only had three and a half years, looked up YouTube and followed all there suggestions to fix. To get to the back of the dishwasher, you need a Special Torx T20 screw head, which l purchased, this is what YouTube suggested. To call a Bosch repairman is $158 for first 1/2 hour, plus $6 / 5 min thereafter, Aldi had a dishwasher on special this week for $350, so l ordered one as a back-up if needed, l have found their products to be of good quality.

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Have you considered your Aldi warranty starts now, but if the dishwasher is on ‘standby’, unused in the shed, you do not know if it was DOA or what. You might not need it for years or ever, yet if it then lasts only 1 day when put into use some years after purchase, it is likely so sad too bad. Although you could ‘fight’ using the Australian Consumer Law time often defeats the best of intentions.

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PhilT,
Yes l considered all that and decided to take risk, the Bosch warranty was 2 years, Aldi is 3 years, their specials on Dishwashers only come up maybe a few times / yr. What l have found in the past you call a repairman, you pay $150 for call out, they say it will cost $400 to fix and they say you might as well by a new one !!!.

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One of the frustrations with repairs is the core fault finding knowledge comes from following the manufacturers product service and repair manual. The added value the specialist brings for the average appliance owner is a degree of familiarity with the terminology and past practice on similar appliances. And where required the appropriate license for any work that is restricted or prescribed by legislation.

Unfortunately getting access to the manufacturers repair manuals is mostly a matter of good luck.

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The Austrian Government offer up to 200 Euros (50% of the cost with that 200 being the max rebate) for repairing broken household items (per item and no limit to the number of items) such as a washing machine, a fridge, a laptop, a smartphone with a Repair Bonus voucher scheme. The idea is to get people thinking about fixing rather than throwing “broken” things away.

The City of Vienna goes further in their scheme, it allows repairing of clothing, bicycles, and furniture as well as the more techy items.

Repair Bonus voucher scheme news item by the BBC is linked below

About the Vienna scheme

Could Australians benefit from a similar scheme? Are there downfalls? Would it significantly change the amount of goods we throw away?

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The main one that comes to mind was demonstrable by the pink batts fiasco and a few other more recent initiatives in Victoria.

With government money on offer all sorts of dodgy companies spring up to sell whatever a program is about. When getting a repair that is not a repair it would be left to us consumers to press our rights and get the dodgy operator prosecuted.

A downside for the government of the day is that despite problems usually being dodgy operators, they are often hung out to dry, copping it all. I can understand government reticence to avoid ‘setting themselves up’ based on our history. Does Austria protectively filter out dodgy companies as well as vigorously prosecute them when they get through the filters?

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They changed the scheme from the user paying 50% and then the company/business being refunded the other 50% of the claim, as they had about 7% of claims that were fraudulent. It now requires the user to pay the full amount and then after the repair and the use of the voucher the Government refund the owed amount in about a month.

Shonky businesses would still appear I am sure, a user of the scheme would be well advised to do research into what businesses were worthy of trust before paying out for a repair. It might also encourage new businesses to start up and provide repairs, increasing employment, taxes, and a greater push for repairable items rather than disposable tech/electronics. This is something CHOICE has raised before i.e. The Right to Repair Can we fix it? Building a meaningful right to repair for Australia

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Sounds like the dodgy companies have a thriving business. Bad repair done but not yet noticeable, customer pays, business goes missing ‘now or later’, consumer gets the rebate regardless of quality of repair.

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May I suggest some products that fail or break do so because of the quality or standards to which they are made - or not made. I could suggest furniture and larger household products from some large chains such as A-Mart, K-Mart etc when they fail may not give much more life regardless of the genius of the repairer.

The lower cost Arclec AC ceiling fans with capacitor derived speed control also come to mind. These fail often well before the fan motor etc resulting in a loss of speed control. The wall unit is replaceable by a sparky. The fan motor capacitors are also a sparky job and less accessible. Some basic changes to improve the design for access and quality of the blade coatings could make all the difference for a few extra dollars when manufactured. Not everyone can afford the better spec fans recommended by Choice.

Would such a program as suggested drive businesses to sell better quality that is worth repairing? Or would there remain a market for cheap and cheerful where the low upfront cost to replace with new is less than any subsidy to repair, technical obsolescence also a factor?

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In the BBC article there is some discussion of the ability to repair items (including a nod towards getting that Right to Rep[air in producing the items) and the culture to buy, use for a short period, and then discard. It also has highlighted a lack of people in the industry who are able to do repairs, it has sparked an interest in people skilllng up to do so.

But he says the financial aspect of repair, while very important, is just one part of the picture.

“Another very important point is that the products have to be repairable. So, we [need to] work on this at European Union level and more effort needs to be taken to really get things going there.”

Markus says it’s all about changing policies and mindsets.

“For many people, it’s still very positive to have always the newest product and to throw away your clothing after half a year or even less. And so this is also something where we need awareness raising.”

And he warned that while the number of repairs was rising in Austria because of the voucher schemes, there were still too few technicians and craftspeople to do it. “We have a problem that we don’t have enough repairers. So we also need a system which is promoting repairs as a job. We are working on this at the moment.”

Perhaps the subsidy of repairs might highlight to a Government the items that are not meeting a good product standard, as the ACL tries to engender by it’s statutory consumer rights. This in turn may hasten their, a Government’s, move towards a better “Right to Repair” system and better product quality as items could be called out for their failure rates and standard of manufacture.

As of April 2023 560,000 vouchers had been redeemed. The Austrian Government has provided a list of approved repair places for the people to use, the number of businesses is around 3,500. Having stipulated business might reduce the rate of dodgy repairers.

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