Thread: Sad when good businesses become otherwise

A possible reason for changing hands is that it wasn't economically viable anymore. Unfortunately the cost of doing business in Australia is higher and a lot of the reason for that is commercial rent. I've seen a lot of business go under for this reason.

You are right Lionel it is very sad.

Originally Posted by Pocket Rocket

A possible reason for changing hands is that it wasn't economically viable anymore. Unfortunately the cost of doing business in Australia is higher and a lot of the reason for that is commercial rent. I've seen a lot of business go under for this reason.

You are right Lionel it is very sad.

Hello Pocket Rocket,

The original owner built the business up over at least two decades. They sold the business then they retired. The business has been under new management for at least a year now.

Kind Regards
Lionel

It will be interesting to see how long the business lasts.....

At one point in time I worked for a country computer shop. The owner made a good living and employed about 6 or 7 techs ranging from blokes like my self with a reasonable range of skills to subsidised Centrelink supplied staff, some of whom went from being pot smoking doleies to actually having a career with the skills that they gained. Most of the income was generated between a combo of repair agencies for the big corporates such as Digital, Fujitsu, Bull, IBM etc and a nice little earner buying ex government computers by the Bedford van load and selling them to the local cockies with a copy of Windows and Office on them. The Centrelink provided staff did the refurbishment of the PCs.

While I was still working there the owner decided that he wanted to do other stuff and sold the business to a local electrical engineer. Within 6 months I had "the talk" where I was told that as the most experienced tech and also the most expensive that I would not be required as the business wasn't generating enough income.
The major reason for the drop in profitability was that the sale of second hand computers was deemed to be beneath the corporate image that the new owner wanted to project.
Luckily for me I was offered a job with Digital in Canberra at double what I was being paid in the bush but the business didn't last all that long after I left being reduced to just the income from the agencies that were prepared to let inexperienced staff field their calls.

Regards,
Tote

Same as REPCO - used to be a great business but is now my parts supplier of last choice - had some issues there today as I do every time I go there so only go when there is no other option.

I know someone who built up a great restaurant which was always packed and employed lots of staff. He sold it for a high price and went travelling.
The new owner did everything wrong, sacked the good staff (who were snapped up by rival restaurants), cut the quality out of the menu to save money etc.
The locals stopped going there, the place was empty and now, a year later, the doors are shut and it's up for rent. Classic case of how bad management can ruin a good business.

I've had some unbelievable poor service from various firms recently. My overwhelming experience has been poor to awful. I'm wondering whether its my age - just getting old and maybe less tolerant. Dont remember it like this 40 years ago though - but dont remember the bone ache , hearing loss bad eyesight etc either.
Cheers,
D

Had an interesting experience with my home split system air conditioning unit. It is about 11 years old and late last summer it started to run intermittently so I though I would get the local a/c company to have a look.

Was told it was unrepairable as parts for it are no longer available, he showed me the part which was fauly and it had cracks in it so he said he would e-mail me a quote for a similiar new system. After a week I heard nothing so I rang him and he said he had sent the quote so I gave him my e-mail address again, waited another week.............nothing.

Got in contact with another company who are listed as agents for my a/c unit, they came and said the same thing.............unrepairable as parts no longer available.

Waited to I had enough money for a new unit and contacted another company who are heavily advertising in the local newspaper. They sent a technician out to advise on the type of unit needed.

He asked me what the problem was and after I told him he had a look and said, the part that is faulty is really not essential to the operation of the unit and that he could by pass it. Which he did and the unit now works fine. I was only charged a call out fee.

Guess which company I will be buying from when the a/c unit eventually dies!!!!!!!

Hello Ausfree,

There is a gas fitter here who must be using the same playbook. My gas stove died. Due to my daily driver costing more to repair than the estimated quote I decided that the top of the line stove I had targeted to buy had to be put off for another time. A quick look on Gumtree located a second hand stove that came with a gas certificate.

The seller said that the stove had played up with the oven going out. A gas fitter was called and they said the over burner was unserviceable. Since the stove was an older model the "parts were no longer available and you have to buy a new stove". The people did buy a new stove however for some reason they had to get another gas fitter to install it.

The new gas fitter looked at the old stove and said, "I can drive three blocks from here and walk in and buy the replacement part off their shelf". So they did. The part was installed and the stove was tested and given its safety certificate. I asked the sellers who could I get to install the oven and they recommended the new bloke.

Doing the right thing got the gas fitter more business and if asked I would recommend him to anyone. This will mean more business coming the bloke's way. Funny how old fashion good service and honesty attracts return customers!

Kind Regards
Lionel