Surestop Platinum Installer Training

[Keefy]

I've been fitting a fair few Surestop water switches lately and think they're pretty good. I gave them a call and asked about becoming a Platinum Installer so I could use their promotional material on my website etc. Here's an email I got after the call:

Dear Keith



Many thanks for talking with me just now. I shall contact you towards the end of the month.

After listened to our founder Platinum installers, we have now changed our approach to the membership/training sessions we carry out.
The cost to you is £49 plus the VAT for 12 month membership.

For this fee, you receive your platinum installer ID card, a dedicated listing/profile on our website for a year, that you are free to personalise and add your own logo or imagery, promotional literature and various other items and assistance with marketing and technical issues. The cost is our way of off-setting the £100k+ per annum that we spend in advertising the product at trade shows, on the radio (Talk Sport) and in the press. All of which benefits us both.

You must however, as part of your membership, agree to attend a free training session (approx. 2 hours) during the 12 months of your membership. Details listed below of courses for April to June with more to be added. We shall also be starting training courses in Scotland (probably Glasgow) during the period of July/September 2013.


I am in charge of the Platinum Installer program and will be your personal point of contact and will be more than happy to assist you with any further questions that you might have on becoming a member. My direct line is 0121 280 1646.

I must point out that as we are changing our approach this year and only wish to be presented by a limited number of installers in each postcode district, once that is taken we will have to ‘close off’ that area.

So, I paid that yesterday and booked my place for the Birmingham training session which takes place the 18th of April. Anyone been on one of these courses before?

 

[Rickster123]

I've heard their ad on talk sport. A couple go away on holiday and the house floods. It says they should've fitted a sure stop. But how would that stop the flood?!

 

[Keefy]

I've heard their ad on talk sport. A couple go away on holiday and the house floods. It says they should've fitted a sure stop. But how would that stop the flood?!

It wouldn't. Unless the customer is slightly clued up on how their home plumbing system works I think their advertising can be a little misleading. Obviously you can turn the water off at the switch when you go off on holiday or something which will stop the mains water flowing but you could still have a CWSC worth of water pour out through a frozen/burst pipe.

 

[stani]

It would probably stop it ,the same way the coordinator spelling programme the way he has, has just stopped me fitting any more surestops, if they can't be bothered to spell simple words correctly in an email, how much care do they take over their product.

 

[plumber0808]

Sounds A load of bull. If someone wants one go and fit one couldn't be easier.
what next platinum installer of ballvalves

 

[Keefy]

Sounds A load of bull. If someone wants one go and fit one couldn't be easier.
what next platinum installer of ballvalves

That's why I'm asking if anyone has been on one of these courses. What are they going to teach me that I don't already know?

 

[Rickster123]

Nothing. If you are going on a training course to help sell their product they should be begging you to attend free and dishing up lunch too.

 

[gassafe]

What a load of rubbish, I would tell them where to stick there £49 + vat! It's only a glorified stop tap!!!

Platinum installer!? It's a a tap with speedfit connections... I would not embarrass myself to stick there sticker on my van!

 

[Keefy]

What a load of rubbish, I would tell them where to stick there £49 + vat! It's only a glorified stop tap!!!

Platinum installer!? It's a a tap with speedfit connections... I would not embarrass myself to stick there sticker on my van!

They mentioned something about a t-shirt too. :shades_smile:

Elderly customers seem to love them and you can get compression ones too although I'm not sure if the thread on those ones are plastic.

 

[Leo21]

you need to weigh up if the fee will benefit you enough in the twelve months. dont really see what they can teach you to be honest.

 

[Rob Sale]

Why pay them £49? so they can off set it against their advertising increasing their profit?

 

[Keefy]

One or two installs should cover the cost and I'm now listed on their 'find an installer' section of their website. I'm hoping they start using that money to better advertise the Surestop because they're doing a pretty poor job of it so far as I've never seen or heard an ad. I can see them getting more popular once people actually know it's out there.

If I get a few calls via their site then it will have been worth it, time will tell.

 

[Rob Sale]

I'm a Honeywell installer, Glow worm club energy, Baxi worxs, I did'nt pay them they pay me with points and £25 a install for Glow worm. I'm on their sites as registered installer and did npt pay a penny. Keefy I think you've been had. They should be giving it to you for free.

 

[Keefy]

Keefy I think you've been had. They should be giving it to you for free.

You may be right, I'm not defending them in any way but I see it as my first ever expense on advertising. I've only been self employed since the beginning of this year and I'm sure I have a lot to learn about running my own business but at the moment I'm kind of 60/40 that it could bring me extra work. Not completely sold on it yet but for the sake of 50 odd quid I'm willing to give it a go.

I'll keep this updated with how it works out for me. Thanks for the comments so far fellas!

 

[Ray Stafford]

I'm a Honeywell installer, Glow worm club energy, Baxi worxs, I did'nt pay them they pay me with points and £25 a install for Glow worm. I'm on their sites as registered installer and did npt pay a penny. Keefy I think you've been had. They should be giving it to you for free.

I dunno about this Rob. With the big boiler manufacturers, they are making a lot of money every time you buy their product. You only have to look at the vast contract support that they throw at big housing projects to see how much they make - giving you £25 or as few freebies for a non contract sale is chickenfeed to them.

The same applies to free training - for every £1 the boiler manufacturers spend on training, they save £5 on reduced in warranty call outs, because a more knowledgeable installer protects the boiler from its weaknesses, and is likely to diagnose and fix minor problems without calling an engineer out.

And people don't need convincing that they need a boiler if they are cold. The question is "which boiler", and the installer has a key role in that decision - much more than the householder in most cases. So its very important to the boiler boys to keep you (the installer) onside.

The same thing is true to a lesser extent for Honeywell.

Surestop is a completely different proposition. The makers are trying to create a market where none existed before, and I bet they spend a much, much larger % of their turnover on advertising.

Its a small gamble Keefy, and if you get work from it, good on yer. Particularly if you get the foot in the door with the surestop, and go on to get a few other jobs from it.

 

[peteheat]

The reason they (and most others) run the training course is to cover themselves from claims against their product liability insurance.

The Platinum (& similar) schemes are considered a recommendation of a particular group of installers by the manufacturer, the training
course covers them against claims by the consumer who complains the product didn't work.

Like all training you are deemed competent so should know what not to do.

 

[tamz]

Even the numpties can hardly go wrong with a pushfit fitting Pete :lol:

 

[Mike Jackson]

I've seen plenty of incorrectly installed pushfit fittings. The best ones were on a megaflo. Surprisingly they lasted a day before they blew off.

 

[peteheat]

Even the numpties can hardly go wrong with a pushfit fitting Pete :lol:

I agree unless you have a youngster who doesn't recognise the difference between 1/2" and 15mm

Telfords had a great here with the SS cylinders they were sending 22mm push fit which matched the cylinder, sadly they didn't match the 3/4" pipe lots of leaks..............Ooops

 

[Keefy]

Attended the 'training course' like I said I would this morning. There were about 10 or 11 people there including myself and after about an hour and a half of going through everything about their products we moved down to the workshop for some hands-on.

As expected I learnt absolutely nothing that I didn't already know before apart from the fact they're planning to phase out all the products except the new one which can be used as a direct stopcock replacement. The good news is that they absolutely convinced me they have a rigorous testing procedure for each batch before it leaves their production facility.

Not much more to tell really except I'll happily carry on offering them to my customers because there is a market for them and they work exactly how they should.

However, except for having my business listed in their website directory, which I can edit myself, there's no real benefit to becoming a 'Platinum Installer'.

 

[Leo21]

A bit like being gsr then.

 

[on31ll]

yer why did you go to birmingham though mate ? isnt there one in wallasey ?

 

[Keefy]

yer why did you go to birmingham though mate ? isnt there one in wallasey ?

Not this time round, at least not yet. Here's the dates they have penciled in so far.