Hobbyist stealing customers :-/

[htb1]

We run a successful mobile repair business (2 years from home 3 from our unit). Recently we noticed that we were not doing as many repairs and after a bit of digging found out that a retired guy is offering the same service as us. Here is the thing... customer contacts with phone repair he orders screen or whatever needs replacing and instead of paying him for his service all he asks for is donation of cat/dog food to the local animal rescue place .....

How the heck can you run a business and compete with that??? We have contacted the local college and Council etc with offers.

Any advice would be welcome ...feeling perplexed

TIA

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Have you talked to him and explained how its hurting you, he probably thinks he is hurting nobody whilst he helps out a charity

But what are you offering that's better, do you guarantee your work, offer a speedy service, offer a frienndly service, fit bigger screens like tablets and notebooks. If you do any of them do you advertise them and look professional

Can you increase your sales, maybe advertise in local church magazines around the area far cheaper than local papers

Make your company be seen as helping another charity by either deed or money to equal the odds

 

[fisicx]

However, there is nothing illegal about what he is doing. Some people may even applaud his ethics.

What do you give back to the community?

 

[Scott Davies]

That's tough to compete with, but I might consider speaking with him about how it is damaging your business and offering instead to make the donations his customers are making to the local animal shelter in exchange for him knocking it off.

 

[ADW]

Take him on self employed with a steady flow of jobs and pay him with pedigree chum.
Pay peanuts, get monkeys but pay dog food and get very cheap labour whilst taking out a bit of the competion. Think the saying loses the impact of the original.

 

[Nochexman]

But what are you offering that's better, do you guarantee your work, offer a speedy service, offer a frienndly service, fit bigger screens like tablets and notebooks. If you do any of them do you advertise them and look professional

That is it.

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

Take him on self employed with a steady flow of jobs and pay him with pedigree chum.
Pay peanuts, get monkeys but pay dog food and get very cheap labour whilst taking out a bit of the competion. Think the saying loses the impact of the original.

This is not far off what I would have suggested. See if you can come to some deal where he does work for you on a part time basis and there is a donation to his causes. Chances are you can get the parts for less than him so his causes could get more of the money.

 

[htb1]

Thanks all, dont get me wrong, its a fab idea for the charity (whom we are good friends with) even fostered dogs for them, donated etc. HOWEVER.... we are a 4 person business with bills to pay and families to feed. We do a LOT for the local community, ie sponsor many of the childrens sport teams, donate to local charities etc. We do offer a warranty on our repairs, we are renowned for fast and friendly service etc but a lot of people will always be happy to wait few days and get something for free so to speak. He openly admits he will "send you a link to ebay" to buy your own screen so we can not even get out parts for less than he tells people to buy for. I really am at a loss I will come up with some kind of advert to promote the facts you have all mentioned (Thanks) but around here (we live in small community) we also have the issue of people then calling us bitter! Lose lose :-/

 

[fisicx]

So why not just talk to him. Or have you done this already?

 

[Clinton]

. we are a 4 person business ...

And one part-timer hobbyist has become such a severe threat?

I suggest you take a step back and reinforce your foundation - build width & depth into your service offerings, extend geographical reach, spread risk.

Rechart your strategic path, re-examine your core resilience, rewrite your business plan.... whatever. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong somewhere that needs fixing and you don't need to look outside of your business to find this problem.

 

[MBE2017]

No point complaining, you once started from your home, probably undercutting a previous repair company, such is competition. As Clinton says, how can he be perceived as such a big threat?

Concentrate on your own business and leave him be.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

And one part-timer hobbyist has become such a severe threat?

I suggest you take a step back and reinforce your foundation - build width & depth into your service offerings, extend geographical reach, spread risk.

Rechart your strategic path, re-examine your core resilience, rewrite your business plan.... whatever. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong somewhere that needs fixing and you don't need to look outside of your business to find this problem.

Not sure I agree with this. People are drawn to free and cheap, this has nothing to do with charity (for the customer)... A phone repair is something nobody really wants to pay for so they'll go to the cheapest place.

They can re-evaluate their business all they want but if the guy next door is offering the same service cheaper then they're going to struggle to retain customers.

It's a phone display, a warranty is nice but it's not going to sway many people.

I'd say somebody doing something out of the goodness of their heart to help charity could be a severe threat.. he is doing nothing wrong, how do you tackle that?

 

[ds65]

We're in the same business. How is he marketing his services compared to how you guys are?

 

[The Byre]

I would have said what @Clinton said (except that I would not have used expressions like 'core resilience' and 'strategic path' and to be honest, I wouldn't know a core resilience if it came up and bit me on the nose - and as for a strategic path, you could serve me one of those on a silver platter with watercress round it and I wouldn't be any the wiser - but I digress!)

I think what @Clinton is banging on about, is that you should offer people more than just fixing their phones. (That'll be all that bit about 'building width and depth'.)

The fact is, the cards are getting reshuffled and re-dealt every few months. What is today a specialist service, is tomorrow's domestic consumer activity. Change is everywhere and the rate of change is accelerating. These are for any business person, very exciting times - but not times for a specialist service that hopes that tomorrow will just go away and leave them alone.

Tomorrow has arrived in the form of one OAP with a screwdriver!

Tomorrow comes on very soft shoes and in different guises. Ten years ago, we bought a machine that does a very specific task for £9,400 plus VAT. Today, every function of that machine can be performed by any one of many free downloads.

Everywhere you look, today is being replaced by tomorrow. VHS was replaced by DVDs which were replaced by BluRay, which was replaced by downloads and streaming in HiDef which is rapidly being replaced by 4K. TV sets will be replaced by projectors and projectors will be replaced by intelligent walls.

Mono was replaced by stereo, stereo was replaced by 5.1 and 7.1 surround, surround is now being replaced by Atmos and a former intern that used to work here, is now working on the replacement for Atmos!

That's the trouble with tomorrow - just when you think you are all ready to welcome in the next day, someone tells you that they are working on the day after the day after that! Intel has teams working on chip designs that are (using today's production technology) actually physically impossible to build - but they know that in six-to-eight years time, it will be possible and they will have the designs ready to fly.

Right now, iPhones look like the last word in technology. I cannot think of a gadget more destined to be replaced. It is bulky, fragile, expensive and technically very limited. Fixing this doomed technology would be the last business I would want to get into!

 

[Gecko001]

As others have said there is nothing illegal or improper even in what he is doing. I cannot see a reason to contact him or anybody else such as an authority - in fact such action might be considered threatening and that could be illegal?

I can see how it is annoying as most people regards the time involved in diagnosing and carrying out the repairs as inconsequential compared to the cost of the parts, but in your business the time element is probably the biggest cost. This can damage you the customer is paying say £10 for the part plus a donation for the amateur time, but you have to charge say £50 for your time and overheads etc. plus the £10. The customer not only thinks that he is getting a cheaper service from the amateur, but also perhaps thinks (erroneously) that you are ripping him off by putting on a 500% mark-up.

Solution perhaps is to concentrate on other parts of the business, such as retail as others have said.

I know when TV repair was a fairly big business there were stories of customers paying £50 just to get loose wire connected or to replace a transistor costing 50p and thus being "ripped off" despite maybe it taking the repair firm a couple of hours to find the said loose wire or faulty transistor in the TV. This problem was largely solved by the repair frims, by taking the TV into the workshop, finding the fault and then giving the customer a quote to repair. If the customer thought the quote was too much, the customer could get their TV back unrepaired. I

 

[NRLtd]

That's tough to compete with, but I might consider speaking with him about how it is damaging your business and offering instead to make the donations his customers are making to the local animal shelter in exchange for him knocking it off.

Unless he's doing this out of spite or other malicious motivation, why should he...? It's a free enterprise market out there, there will always be the potential for competition to come along with differing motivations or ways of experiencing gain. I appreciate that competition can bring negative issues/impacts for owners/workers, but unfortunately (as cliché as it may sound) that's business.

 

[Scott Davies]

Unless he's doing this out of spite or other malicious motivation, why should he...? It's a free enterprise market out there, there will always be the potential for competition to come along with differing motivations or ways of experiencing gain. I appreciate that competition can bring negative issues/impacts for owners/workers, but unfortunately (as cliché as it may sound) that's business.

I don't think he should or is under any obligation to, my suggestion was: pay him the dog food he demands to give the OP back their lost business by ceasing trading.

That or employ him & allow him to work from home.

 

[GoingOnline]

To be honest, this reminds me of all the people making websites for fun and giggles taking we agencies "business". Unless you have some sort of added value, if you can't compete with a retired guy doing people a favour then your business model is very risky. I mean, there can always be another business ready to undercut you there!

 

[japancool]

Start a dog/cat food supplying business.

 

[UKSBD]

Start a dog/cat food supplying business.

Or a dog charity

 

[The Byre]

The HTB Pets Home (and Pie) Company!

 

[batteryman53]

You complain about someone offering a free service, yet you visit this site looking for FREE advice on how to deal with it instead of paying for professional advice. Pot and Kettle comes to mind

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Torch his house

 

[Edith@TerraNetwork]

I understand that this is a difficult situation but nobody ever promised that life is fair.

As has been said on this thread, if a pensioner can threaten your business, then there's more wrong than just his competition. I'd focus on how you can make your business better rather than worry about him - he's just highlighted your vulnerability, if it's not him it's somebody else who can undercut you in future.

And I'm saying this as someone working in web hosting where everyone and their dog is undercutting and offering unlimited everything for peanuts. Every year we work very hard at making sure to provide value to our clients and proof to them why it's worth to pay a bit more.

 

[Mr D]

Someone doing it in their spare time is a threat then what happens if the guy gets a couple of mates to help in their spare time? Figure ways of providing whatever service before there is no business left at all.
Just don't try stopping him.

 

[BustersDogs]

Slightly surprised by this thread. If people are looking for a free service, they are not your customers, as you don't offer a free service. So what's the problem?

Hobby dog walkers are all over the place, there are loads of new apps that encourage people to do it and get paid a few quid as well. So many magazine articles include dog walking as a way to 'earn extra cash'. These can't compare with someone doing it for a living, day in, day out, reliable and professional, and not free and not cheap. These people are not taking my customers, as my customers don't want cheap, and I don't want customers that want free or cheap.

You need to find a way to get over this. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!

 

[TinTin10]

Not sure why people are taking such a tone with you.

I think it would be reasonable to contact the gentlemen and ask him to consider the possibility of ceasing his private works, maybe even undertake repairing phones for you, in return for a regular donation to the charities he is obviously trying to support.

He gets to continue his hobby without destroying the your livelihood, you get cheap labour and he secures a regular donation to his favourite charity.

Win-win really.

 

[Mr D]

I can imagine the reply when being asked to not do a hobby....

 

[TinTin10]

I can imagine the reply when being asked to not do a hobby....

But if you read the post correctly, you would see that was not the suggestion.

 

[BustersDogs]

People who do things for a hobby for free are usually not impressed at being asked to now do them for free, for the benefit of a business.

 

[TinTin10]

People who do things for a hobby for free are usually not impressed at being asked to now do them for free, for the benefit of a business.

He is not doing it for free, he is doing it for a donation to a charity.

If the OP can agree with him, a sum in regular donation to the charity, he will essentially be doing the same thing. He will also not be putting a family out of business due to his philanthropy.

 

[Vectis]

He is not doing it for free, he is doing it for a donation to a charity.

If the OP can agree with him, a sum in regular donation to the charity, he will essentially be doing the same thing. He will also not be putting a family out of business due to his philanthropy.

And when the next person comes along doing exactly the same thing, working from their front room, what do you advise the OP to do then? Phone them up too and ask them to stop? And the next after that, and the one after that, etc etc.

Surely it gets to the point that you must realise it's futile trying to compete with someone doing the same thing as a hobby.

Also, if you start going down the line of sending this person some work I think you might run into problems of whether you are actually employing them and all that that entails these days. As has been said previously, if your business is competing against people doing the same thing at home as a hobby for free then you really need to reevaluate your business and ask yourself whether it's viable.

 

[TinTin10]

And when the next person comes along doing exactly the same thing, working from their front room, what do you advise the OP to do then? Phone them up too and ask them to stop? And the next after that, and the one after that, etc etc.

Surely it gets to the point that you must realise it's futile trying to compete with someone doing the same thing as a hobby.

Also, if you start going down the line of sending this person some work I think you might run into problems of whether you are actually employing them and all that that entails these days. As has been said previously, if your business is competing against people doing the same thing at home as a hobby for free then you really need to reevaluate your business and ask yourself whether it's viable.

Your scenario is unrealistic IMO. The likelihood of multiple people popping up in her area doing mobile phone repair in return for charitable donations is slim.

If someone owned a profitable sandwich shop and someone popped up next door doing sandwiches for a charitable donation, it doesnt mean their business model is not viable, it means they have encountered extraordinary circumstances which they need to resolve.

 

[The Byre]

The likelihood of multiple people popping up in her area doing mobile phone repair in return for charitable donations is slim.

But the chances in the long run, of someone offering complete repair kits, so that people can fix their own mobile phones, is 100%.

The chances of the mobile phone still being around and so expensive that they are worth repairing in ten years time, is 0%.

 

[TinTin10]

But the chances in the long run, of someone offering complete repair kits, so that people can fix their own mobile phones, is 100%.

The chances of the mobile phone still being around and so expensive that they are worth repairing in ten years time, is 0%.

Well now we are changing the time parameters.

She is looking for a solution to an issue which is affecting her profitability right now, not exploring the longevity of the mobile phone repair business overall.

I agree that at some point in the future, there will be a complete repair kit but, until that time, there is still a viable business in offering the service.

 

[The Byre]

Er, say what?

An OAP armed with a screwdriver is taking business away from them! Time parameters? The time is today! The future (as I stated earlier) arrives quietly and with soft steps. In this case, slippers, bifocals and a Parker Knoll chair!

 

[TinTin10]

Er, say what?

An OAP armed with a screwdriver is taking business away from them! Time parameters? The time is today! The future (as I stated earlier) arrives quietly and with soft steps. In this case, slippers, bifocals and a Parker Knoll chair!

I think you should re-read your previous message!

 

[The Byre]

My previous message was -

What is today a specialist service, is tomorrow's domestic consumer activity. Change is everywhere and the rate of change is accelerating. These are for any business person, very exciting times - but not times for a specialist service that hopes that tomorrow will just go away and leave them alone.

Tomorrow has arrived in the form of one OAP with a screwdriver!

Seems about the same to me!

 

[Clinton]

... it means they have encountered extraordinary circumstances

Those aren't extraordinary circumstances. Those circumstances are so ordinary and have been around for so, so long that people have even come up with a name for it. They call it competition.

Whether that competition is charging or not is irrelevant - many companies offer loss leading services or use a freeium model. Are they "stealing" business as well?

Mine was the first post in this thread to tell the OP that if their 4 person business is struggling to cope with competition from an old guy with a screwdriver they need to examine what they are doing wrong. I'll stand by that.

Asking the competition to go away, however politely, is a cop out (and likely to be ineffective). But that suggestion does pander to the feeling of entitlement displayed by the OP who seems to believe that a good-hearted bloke helping a local charity is "stealing" their business and interfering with their God-given rights. This old geyser is accused of being engaged in a criminal activity - theft / stealing.

I tried to diplomatically give the OP a kick up the backside. But they need more than that. They could also probably use a good dictionary.

 

[Newchodge]

I tried to diplomatically give the OP a kick up the backside. But they need more than that. They could also probably use a good dictionary.

geyser is a hot spring in which water intermittently boils.

geezer is a slang term for a man. In the UK, it can carry the connotation of either age or eccentricity.

Lots of people can benefit from using a good dictionary