Badly Stuck here,No help-Country is a Joke!

thepits

Hi Everyone.First Thanks for taking your time to read my problem,I will try keep it short.

Following the collapse of the Economy,I found myself on Social welfare for 2 years.Having stared at the four walls for long enough,I decided to re-train,and I went to England (Luckily I had an Uncle to stay with)for 6 months to train up in Servicing White Goods Appliances.

I returned home Last August,and decided I would advertise in my Local Paper,shops etc etc. Unfortunatly not near enough work to go self employed just doing repairs,so My next step was To try Refurbish Appliances fully test them and sell them on.Big Mistake.

This "Great" Country of ours would Basically prefer me to stay on Welfare than help me out.I have gone for advice to the Welfare office only to be given Forms and never hear from them again?? I have gone to Appliance shops to see could I purchase their broken Appliances-Turned Away. Recycle Centres-Turned Away,(All say the MUST be recycled-Isnt That what i am doing!!?)I Have had Ads up everywhere,Nobody interested.

It is an absolute crying Shame that a man in his Mid Thirties,just dying to get off the Dole and go to work everyday can't because nobody is Out there to help.Anyone know anybody who could help,or Could ye help yerselves?It would be Much appreciated.

Kind Regards and Thanks for your time All.:(

horgan_p

I hate to say it but the system seems to be setup so you get an "OK" job working for someone else.
And then doing foxers after hours or on Saturdays for cash.

Marsden

I'd say appliance shops could be reluctant to give you there old ones as you could be taking business from them by refurbishing and selling cheaper than they would. Sourcing used appliances might be tricky but if you found somewhere that could get you a load of them you'd be laughing. Unfortunately I can't help you there, starting a business and generating an income wouldn't be something I've had success with. It sounds a worthy venture though.

If the margins were there you could offer a few quid for any old unused appliances. An ad on gumtree, adverts or the like might get you started.

thepits

Thanks,I appreciate your reply.

thepits

@Marsden- I have tried it All before.Sometimes these Machines are a five minut fix,and to think of them going to the crusher is like someone danggling a carrot over your head.When I was in England,The Lads on the Course Had people lining up to sell them Machines.I guess it must be this Country.Pity :-( Thanks for your reply too.

Chauncey

So, you did **** all for two years, then decided to make your living repairing fridges and whatnot seemingly without any research into whether there is a market for this type of thing?
I'm not entirely sure that the country is the joke in this situation.

I'm sorry you're having trouble getting your business going, but a lot of people, possibly the majority of people, won't bother with a repair because it's relatively cheap to buy new white goods, a lot of these things have fairly good warranties on them and they usually last for a good few years, in my experience.

However, if there are people lining up to sell these machines in England why don't you buy them there and bring them over, or move back there for a while and see if you can get work?

Are you WEEE registered? If not, why would you expect shops or recycling centres to hand over machines to you?
What kind of certification do you have, is it recognized here?
What kind of rates are you charging for a repair, how much on average do you plan to sell refurbished machines for and what kind of guarantee do you give?
How large is the catchment area you can service?
Do you have a website for your business?
Are your ads well written and professional looking and do they clearly state the service you offer, or are you just lashing up hand written notes around the place?
For Gumtree, are you using a logo to help make your ad stand out?
Have you done a start your own business course?

It's great to see you want to work, but it's no good wanting to be self-employed without having a very clear idea as to what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and whether the business is even viable in the first place.


If nobody is interested then you are just going to have to face the fact that you backed the wrong horse and find something else to do.

I don't mean to sound harsh but this 'Ireland owes me something' **** gets on my nerves.

Cushie Butterfield

thepits wrote: »

This "Great" Country of ours would Basically prefer me to stay on Welfare than help me out.I have gone for advice to the Welfare office only to be given Forms and never hear from them again?? I have gone to Appliance shops to see could I purchase their broken Appliances-Turned Away. Recycle Centres-Turned Away,(All say the MUST be recycled-Isnt That what i am doing!!?)I Have had Ads up everywhere,Nobody interested.

You should follow up with social welfare as to what has happened with the forms that you submitted.

Appliance shops with broken appliances would most likely repair them themselves or use them for spare parts.

If an appliance has been accepted in an official recycling unit they legally have to recycle it - they can't give or sell it to a third party.

There's a job advertised n the FÁS website for a Spares/Service Agent, but it's in Dublin: http://jobseeker.fas.ie/Default.aspx?q=iSRIxZhfcq1m5f+Y0OsKti+tyY9zujTi9rzovoG7CsPUqBtxdOmantZ8HyOj7VNTcDPtpavyFzxuVhv4GH5Wzh9erBMgVt96EYmazzmeNHmz9uHVP0Fl8YXvXuu7WLTbZxlmZf9QF9HJVm5tNZCttN2TiO9sgzlco3d26rfpVnGm2YIRnxqyOq+lxnhTrJIVxqyI/wepwMlw9kattB3bhphUEFH+BVzNExX/XUKjDJoBBjUdY78sbJCLE/9rwIOymPzdWsOlkWO70H/drxSiKifl/uhekdNtL7KQfwAmNNsYFTng66QLM+JP2px/6Xkw

murphym7

Chauncey wrote: »

So, you did **** all for two years, then decided to make your living repairing fridges and whatnot seemingly without any research into whether there is a market for this type of thing?
I'm not entirely sure that the country is the joke in this situation.

I'm sorry you're having trouble getting your business going, but a lot of people, possibly the majority of people, won't bother with a repair because it's relatively cheap to buy new white goods, a lot of these things have fairly good warranties on them and they usually last for a good few years, in my experience.

However, if there are people lining up to sell these machines in England why don't you buy them there and bring them over, or move back there for a while and see if you can get work?

Are you WEEE registered? If not, why would you expect shops or recycling centres to hand over machines to you?
What kind of certification do you have, is it recognized here?
What kind of rates are you charging for a repair, how much on average do you plan to sell refurbished machines for and what kind of guarantee do you give?
How large is the catchment area you can service?
Do you have a website for your business?
Are your ads well written and professional looking and do they clearly state the service you offer, or are you just lashing up hand written notes around the place?
For Gumtree, are you using a logo to help make your ad stand out?
Have you done a start your own business course?

It's great to see you want to work, but it's no good wanting to be self-employed without having a very clear idea as to what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and whether the business is even viable in the first place.


If nobody is interested then you are just going to have to face the fact that you backed the wrong horse and find something else to do.

I don't mean to sound harsh but this 'Ireland owes me something' **** gets on my nerves.

Bit harsh and very direct. I am struggling to find any fault with anything you say though, all you say is true, with a sprinklng of good advice there too.

lostinsuperfunk

You could try scouring sites like freecycle or adverts.ie to find stuff being given away. Also it would be worth walking or driving around the UCC/CIT areas at this time of year, looking for skips. A lot of landlords refurbish rental properties in the summer and most would be quite happy to have old appliances taken away. The student appliances probably have lived hard lives and mightn't be repairable but it might be worth a try.

worded

White goods are very cheap. Consider honing your talents to do something else? Get trained in a field where there is demand? I've no idea doing what.
Keep positive !

yellowlabrador

This used to be a good business up to 10 years ago. You could start small, and with word of mouth, get quite a bit of work after a while. I had a friend who did this in West Cork. He gave up when white goods began being made by being out sourced to a variety of cheap labour countries and the parts wouldn't be consistent. The same machines would have different suppliers for a part like a pump or control board. Also spares became less available. Another problem is that some machines, like washing machines became economically unfixable. Where before you'd be able to fix the brushes on a washing machine in half an hour and parts about 10 e, the machines need now to have the drum removed and split to get access. This can take quite a bit of labour and skill.
Also things like toasters and kettles etc are not worth the cost.
Attach yourself to an independent appliance shop, and see if you can work through them. There's various schemes to help you start a business, but the sad economic fact is that, we need to consume and buy more new stuff to keep the economy going. A washing machine is less than an average weekly wage now and there's your problem.
Go into IT?

thepits

@chauncey-I hardly Did f*** All for 2 years,I just said staring at the 4 walls as basically saying there no work out there. I am far more trained than the Poor fellas here who do a 5 day Course,with no on site training and are certified to fix peoples applliances. Yet another example of this Failing Country.I have all the Certificates,Qualifications,Licences needed,I Did not go Into this with my eyes closed.

Anyway Thanks for your Lenghty response,Might finish reading it another day.
I must go back to staring at the Walls.

Xantia

Hi,
I can understand all the comments here etc.
However - Original Poster - you now have a skill - 'fixing broken things'
That can be applied to any type of 'thing'
So you could add extra training now in a more defined area and those skills you have learned will still be of use to you.
We now live in a 'recycling' society - however the recycling consists of breaking up and melting down rather than re-using in the most part.

bobmalooka

thepits wrote: »

@chauncey-I hardly Did f*** All for 2 years,I just said staring at the 4 walls as basically saying there no work out there. I am far more trained than the Poor fellas here who do a 5 day Course,with no on site training and are certified to fix peoples applliances. Yet another example of this Failing Country.I have all the Certificates,Qualifications,Licences needed,I Did not go Into this with my eyes closed.

Anyway Thanks for your Lenghty response,Might finish reading it another day.
I must go back to staring at the Walls.

I'm struggling to see how your business won't take off with such good people skills, you're right blame the country.

the beer revolu

OP it would seem that you did go into this with your eyes closed. You did no market research but you would prefer to blame the country for the fact that nowadays there is very little market for appliance repair and virtually no market for refurbished appliances. That kind of attitude probably won't get you very far.

As others have said, I think you are going to have to go back to the drawing board and maybe the skills you learned would be useful to get you into something like instrumentation or automation but it would mean retraining.
I understand that it is frustrating and down-heartening to find that the course you went and did of your own initiative seems to be of little use but blaming the country is of no use and will get you little sympathy (which is also of little use).

And harsh as it may be you really should read chauncey's post in full - it has some sound content.

crusher000

I'd say advertise locally and in the papers to collect items, Not everyone has a car or van when buying new white goods. Okay if you buy a new item will be delivered and old appliance taken away. Fix the second hand goods and sell on yourself.

thepits

@bobmalooka -Fantastic imput,Thanks Pal.

thepits

Thanks For Responses. Well the positive ones anyway. Please people without a positive response,Please Don't bother replying as Ye are Not exactly helping,only trying to stir the pot in my eyes.I will keep Looking -tks again.

Allumni

How about doing door-to-door leaflet drops? Particularly the more settled, city areas where they're likely to have older appliances.

Faith

thepits wrote: »

Thanks For Responses. Well the positive ones anyway. Please people without a positive response,Please Don't bother replying as Ye are Not exactly helping,only trying to stir the pot in my eyes.I will keep Looking -tks again.

If you're just looking for people to agree with you, this isn't the right place. If you want constructive advice and to actually get somewhere with your rant, then I strongly suggest you read all the replies and note the helpful advice contained within. You've a poor attitude on this thread, and I'd hope that it isn't reflective of how you deal with people in real life.

Half the country is up the shítter, you know. It's not that Ireland has a personal vendetta against you. Your choice is simple: Either change your approach, or accept your lot as it is.

bladebrew

It's certainly a brave move trying to set up a business nowadays,
The problem has been mentioned by other posters, appliances that are faulty go back to the manafacturer, this is how stores get credit for them no appliance goes back generally no credit back to the company,
Weee Ireland have all the power nowadays and returned scrap machines are monitored that is why companies can't give you appliances it's actually against the law afaik, so machines can't simply be given away,
Years ago you could sell scrap machines for the metal and make a good few quid,
I am assuming England has different rules on this, appliance repair is also in bad shape due to pricey parts,

Chauncey

thepits wrote: »

@chauncey-I hardly Did f*** All for 2 years,I just said staring at the 4 walls as basically saying there no work out there. I am far more trained than the Poor fellas here who do a 5 day Course,with no on site training and are certified to fix peoples applliances. Yet another example of this Failing Country.I have all the Certificates,Qualifications,Licences needed,I Did not go Into this with my eyes closed.

Anyway Thanks for your Lenghty response,Might finish reading it another day.
I must go back to staring at the Walls.

That's fine but if there's no market for what you do you're in trouble.

If you are determined to continue in this line of business then, at the risk of repeating myself, there are a few things that might help a little:

Start your own business course: http://www.corkceb.ie/ - they're short, free and easy to do and you can pick up some good information by doing one of these.

If you haven't got one already then you can get a free website and hosting here http://www.gettingbusinessonline.ie/ It doesn't need to be anything amazing, even one page with a quick description of what you do and your contact details is enough to begin with.

You might consider setting up a facebook page for your business, too. Ask your friends and family to help you spread info about the services you offer.

Make sure you are printing the ads you're placing in shops, hand written stuff looks dodgy. A leaflet drop is a pretty good idea too.

As Cushie said, follow up with social welfare about anything you submitted.
lostinsuperfunk is right about targetting landlords, if you can manage to do it cheap enough they would probably be delighted to get a repaired or refurbished machine if it's in good condition, anything they can drag a bit of extra mileage out of. So I guess it could be worthwhile to see if you can source that stuff in England or on the ad sites here.

If you are going to use gumtree, you might as well use all the others too: locanto.ie, vivastreet.ie, olx.ie and any others you can find.
It will only take ten minutes to fire the same ad onto all those sites.
Use a logo of some kind to help your ads stand out, replace or update the ads regularly so they always appear on the first page of results near the top, and make sure they are in appropriate sections of the site.
Check your spelling and make sure you break the text into paragraphs.
State the hours/days you work and the areas you can service. Make sure it's clear that you can come and collect stuff and are licensed to do so.

Have a think about any other ancillary service you might be able to offer, e.g if you are removing old machines for a landlord could you do a bit of cleaning or painting around the area where the appliances were too? If yes then you have scope to charge a few quid extra, you are a more attractive proposition for a customer and you wouldn't be wholly reliant on servicing and selling the machines.

Maybe you have done all that stuff already, if you did and there's still no interest you really will have to find something else to do.

Good luck.

evilivor

thepits wrote: »

Hi Everyone.First Thanks for taking your time to read my problem,I will try keep it short.

Following the collapse of the Economy,I found myself on Social welfare for 2 years.Having stared at the four walls for long enough,I decided to re-train,and I went to England (Luckily I had an Uncle to stay with)for 6 months to train up in Servicing White Goods Appliances.

I returned home Last August,and decided I would advertise in my Local Paper,shops etc etc. Unfortunatly not near enough work to go self employed just doing repairs,so My next step was To try Refurbish Appliances fully test them and sell them on.Big Mistake.

This "Great" Country of ours would Basically prefer me to stay on Welfare than help me out.I have gone for advice to the Welfare office only to be given Forms and never hear from them again?? I have gone to Appliance shops to see could I purchase their broken Appliances-Turned Away. Recycle Centres-Turned Away,(All say the MUST be recycled-Isnt That what i am doing!!?)I Have had Ads up everywhere,Nobody interested.

It is an absolute crying Shame that a man in his Mid Thirties,just dying to get off the Dole and go to work everyday can't because nobody is Out there to help.Anyone know anybody who could help,or Could ye help yerselves?It would be Much appreciated.

Kind Regards and Thanks for your time All.:(

Freecycle - post there and you should have no problem get inventory - as long as you are clear about your intentions. I presume you are willing and able to collect.

thepits

@ Chauncey and All Others-Thanks,and Sorry to you and other Posters for being Narky,It just seems Like I am banging my head off a wall most times (I seem to have a thing for walls this week). For all the advice given by everyone,It has certainly helped,I will keep on trying to get up and running,as I am not one to lie down and admit defeat. Also I can't believe the response this got,very much Appreciated.tks All.

Rhys Essien

OP,if you are technically minded,you should consider being a utilities/facilities/maintainance technician.

Send your CV in to these
http://www.irishjobs.ie/Jobs/Facilities-Technician-7106380.aspx

http://morrisonmainline.com/index.php/careers/


All the best.

corkplumber

@ thepits.

firstly I will compliment you for seeking an alternative employment route.

However, In my experience what you aim to do will only provide you with a part time income during the year.

I repair white good appliances, 20 years experience, However I am also a qualified plumber certified also to work with gas and oil. IMO the repairs clients are willing to do are the minor ones on white good appliances. like replacing pump on washing machine or jets on cooker ect. The majority of clients will buy new appliances and will not buy second hand goods.
I dont have enough storage. But I could have my shed with more working white goods than D.I.D electrical. But the market and profit is not there. You can buy second hand working appliances for little or noting online ect . Also your PI insurance is approx 1k . You must have PI cover incase of faults. otherwise the client or home insurance provider will seek compensation from you for any resulting damage from the appliance faults.You are not allowed to work on any appliances certified also (gas appliances or some oil and some electrical without been certified)working on gas appliances is a criminal offence. this industry is regulated.

Do not be discouraged by my post. You have added a skill to your cv. Now add to that skill in order to increase your client database or seek employment (maybe in sales) selling the appliances . No better man to sell white goods, than the man who knows how they work. (harvey norman, d.i.d, There is loads of sales companies)

If its self employment you seek rather than an employer. My suggestion would be to retrain in an apprenticeship or seek advice from fas in relation to courses best suited to you and the market at present. There is a small demand for welders at present (coded welders for example).

anyhow enough said. best of luck to you and dont lose faith.