Local Heroes....A British gas innovation

[Leesparkykent]

https://www.localheroes.com/

listening to Absolute radio today and this advert caught my attention....Has any one signed up to it? Having the British gas badge attached to it could be a good thing as its known they charge a premium.

 

[sparkdog]

Hmmmm....another ridiculous idea from british gas.

 

[FatAlan]

Interesting to see how this trade stuff is developing. Wonder what commission they look to rake off and whether would outweigh the advantages of trading under the brand.

 

[ImpededLoop]

They called me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I wanted to be one of their "local heroes". I wasn't interested.

They did say that you need to be VAT registered to be accepted.

 

[PEG]

Mark my words,this is nothing more,than BG "thinning" their liability risks,having worked out,the future holds a leaden-skyed sh*te storm,concerning a sales driven policy,with all other factors at the rear.

Growth in this manner,allows further distancing from what has been a massive leap,from a respected household blue-chip Co. into some of their scandalous practices.

I can tell you now,there is nothing "heroic",about targeting "local" elderly folk,with ascertained equity,and telling them their house is at risk,if they don't have 5 Grands worth of work done,sometimes very poorly.

Up to date,they are managing to keep these employed operatives responsible,hanging off the side of the lifeboat.

I reckon if they coerce "subbies" into the same game,when the blame finger starts pointing...the ship and all that floats,will on the horizon

 

[Last plumber]

Hero ? Really ?

I'd never put British Gas and Hero in the same sentence personally !
Not after the situations I have encountered over the past 30 years.

 

[telectrix]

think they missspelt a word . should be Zero to match their star rating.

 

[EMMEC]

I picking a jobs from PLENTIFIC.COM , they are better because You don't need to pay for membership

 

[E.E.I]

I saw this on an advert on FB, had a little read into it apparently the customer pays them the money then they pay you.

Personally I don't like the idea of that!

 

[gccs]

I signed up, just out of curiosity and I'm always looking for ways to bring in more business and keep the lads busy.

So, here are the commercial terms you agree: (please remain seated at all times)


Labour Rate: £XX/hour excluding VAT
This is the maximum hourly rate you may charge customers, but you may charge less.

Material Mark-up Rate: 20%
This is the maximum markup you may charge for parts used or installed at the customer site. You may charge less.

Local Heroes Management Fee: 20%
This is the fee Local Heroes will charge for every job completed by you. This fee is calculated on the ex-VAT cost of the job including parts and labour. VAT will be added to this fee.

Payments and invoicing
We will transfer the funds less the Management Fee on the Friday of the week following job completion, providing we have received the Customer payment.

We will send you a VAT invoice for the Management Fee when we pay you. We may withhold part or all of any payments against any money you owe us.

 

[gccs]

So, lets run two scenarios on this:

I literally just got a job sent through, which is a belt change on a tumble drier (not something I'm interested in doing btw)

£10 for the belt say, so I can charge £12 (20% markup limit)
1 hour job, £55 for the hour (because as per their Code of Conduct you can't charge a call out fee)
So total for the Job, £67 quid. (forget all the VAT elements for now)

They would charge me £13.40.

So, my £57 profit on the job (forgetting travel expenses etc) becomes £43.60.
Considering it's half hour away, 2 hours and having to wait over a week for my £40, not thanks.

Lets look at a bigger, hypothetical job...... lets take a £6500, where the costs (after paying the lads, fuel, materials, etc etc) are £5000. That leaves me with a nice profit of £1500 --- oh wait, Local Heros is going to invoice me £1300 for that lead....

I think not!

 

[gccs]

The last line in their code of conduct is a big F-OFF too.....

The Code of Conduct:

As a Local Hero you agree to:
• Be honest and fair in all interactions.
• Be well presented and professional.
• Always confirm the quoted price and get acceptance from the customer before going ahead with any repairs.
• Aim to keep to the selected appointment. If for any reason you are running late or can’t attend when requested, call your customer to let them know.
• Call half an hour before you arrive.
• Be polite, friendly and treat the customer and their property with respect.
• Keep the customer updated throughout the progress of their work.
• Set and manage the customer’s expectations throughout.
• Never demand cash payment. You agree to direct the customer to the Local Heroes website to make payment.
• Process any additional work for the customer that the initial job has generated through Local Heroes.

 

[Specialist]

They used to have loads of rules years ago when I subbed to them, Shame their own staff rarely kept to them. Spent a large part of our time going & sorting their jobs out, to be fair we always got paid on time.