RE: Commission acts to guarantee UK Consumer rights under the Guarantees Directive

["Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx>]

> Thing is mark, look at what Ken is saying: the rest of the
industry
feels 
> pressured into a race for the lowest quality to bolster numbers. In
> essence, what Mark McC says is the end result too: no manufacturing
in

> the UK.

Well... There are high-end and low-end products in most areas I can
think of:

- Cars
- Hi-fi
- Televisions
- Ovens :-)

I think that the arguments about manufacturing in the UK are more
complex than simply ones of "every one aiming for a low
price".

The bottom line is that a smart graduate will work very happily for
three thousand pounds a year.... If you employ them in Mumbai. Similar
ratios apply in manufcacturing.

The UK has done remarkably well in many sectors in keeping high-end,
specialist manufacturing going. Everything from Rolls Royce, Bentley or
TVR, to Linn, Meridian or B&W.

The mass-market, price concious end is ALWAYS going to flow to the
cheapest labour cost areas. That means that the US has lost its
manufacturing to Mexico, and everyone is now losing to East Asia.

M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Lowe [mailto:ian@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: 7 January 2003 13:06
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Commission acts to guarantee UK Consumer rights
under the Guarantees Directive


>From now on, you HAVE to pay extra for the reliability. You no longer
>have
the option of a cheap, but
>unreliable item.

Thing is mark, look at what Ken is saying: the rest of the industry
feels pressured into a race for the lowest quality to bolster numbers.
In essence, what Mark McC says is the end result too: no manufacturing
in the UK.

>What is needed in your case is stronger enforcement.

Well, on that we agree.

>... But I'm not happy to go the next step and say that because _I_ do
>these
things, then they should become
>mandatory for everyone.

The problem is that too many people simply do not care. I agree that
co-ercion is not a popular move.

I am not too happy about being forced to be part of a recycling
exercise
which has replaced my weekly rubbish collection with two bins, picked
up
every two weeks, whih leaves food waste outside the house for a long
time, but I can see that this way, many people *will* begin recycling
paper waste etc, who would otherwise not have bothered.

And ultimately, back OT for us as a group. A Smart home will be better
able to manage it's energy usage and systems such as heat recovery/grey
water management etc, etc.

It may be the path that finally breaks HA into the mainstream in the
UK.

Ian.


http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
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