General Chat

I have a Kenwood mixer because the Kenwood factory is in Havant and they hav an outlet shop there.

When the food processor I finally wore into the ground broke down it was so easy to pop in into the factory where it was made and where the in-house repair team would have access to all the necessary parts. After a few days you could just ring the factory to make sure it was repaired and to pop in and pick it up.

I did something silly that I don't wish to discuss and broke the new mixer OH popped in to the factory, only to be told that the repairs are now being outsourced and to take the machine back home to await a courier.

Two different couriers have so far appeared to take the mixer although the first didn't know why he had brought us an empty box. Well, it has gone off now and whether I ever see it again is anybody's guess..

Improved repair service if you are a suit wearing graduate with mobile phone constantly to hand, and no concept of real life!!

I hold a degree in law and a masters degree in engineering.
I can also strip down and fix a wide variety of mixers home amd professional.
Having some edycashun dont seem to hurt me none.
My last suit cost a grand not very serious but comfortable.
Mwinchester has an impressive ability to make non sequiters.
Nity nite


:-D

You've missed out one thing Rollo. You also have a degree from the University of Life. That's the one, along with a predisposition for things mechanical, that has enabled you to sort out your Mixers.

I have to agree that having a good education and a mobile phone doesn't mean that you do not have any life skills or that you are incapable of doing anything constructive.

I happen to believe that to give children the best education you possible can and to teach them love, loyalty and compassion for their fellow man, will give them a very good start in life.

Yes, I have liked taking things to bits and putting them back together since I was able to heft a screwdriver starting with pre-war Meccano. When I was stuck in the wilds of Iraq with a broken half shaft being able to fix it was real handy.

My OH used to have a bakery business in France. Using even high quality domestic mixers as her biz grew she soon found out that they were not really up for it and so she had to fork out for (used) professional level ones. I got to know a lot about assorted mixers, ovens and so on. The hardest things are (a) getting hold of the manual (b) sourcing parts and (c) getting the casing off esp. with retail products. Dealing with a French lady with a lot of baking to do and a dead mixer is also tricky but a good way to pick up the wilder parts of French idiom / sarcasm.

Any kind of study in law will teach you to take an analytical approach and break down a problem into its parts. Engineering follows on from this but also teaches such things as stuff tends to break down (a) on parts which are stressed (b) parts where there are sig. money savings to be made. No surprise then that dead mixers have faults a and b.

Never mind the grand reputation of yore Kenwood mixers made over the last 20 years suffer badly from both of these failings esp the cheaper models. Same applies to other Kenwood products - they used to make terrific budget hifi.

In specific terms failures tend to be (a) the gearbox - gears made of sub standard metal, poor hardening, over driven (b) use of cheap bearings (c) electrical failures mostly due to importing cheap kits from China. If you only use a mixer now and then none of this is crucial as it will give 5 years service unless you are v unlucky. OTOH if you are intending to join bake off think twice about Kenwood.

If you have a good quality mixer then it is worth having it serviced every 3 years. It will prolong its life no end.

This thread started as a comment on the repair service provided for food mixers but, as it has now become a focus group for Rollos qualifications and I have no desire to be drawn into discussing mine or the lack of them I shall be pulling this thread at some point today.

I have an old (1970s) Kenwood Chef that was Mum's. When she moved, I kept it as it seemed a shame just to 'dump' it, even though I don't do enough baking etc. to make use of it. The motor seems fine but all the rubber seals have perished. Not sure what to do with it, perhaps I should get it sorted and do some baking :-D

In my opening post, I mentioned that Kenwood were convenient, easy to get to for repairs and that they have an outlet shop at their factory.

Would it surprise you to know that that is why I have a Kenwood mixer?

I have to add this, just out of interest. I still use (although I don't do a lot of baking) a Kenwood Chefette that OH gave me as a Christmas present ( :-() in 1967.

Oh I have to add I don't have a degree in nothink. Although I do have A level law if that is any help :-D

Out-sourcing seems to be the current buzz-word. Could it, I wonder, be a result of dropping the old style apprenticeships? The mature guys, who would have worked their way up, are retiring & there are few trained up & coming replacements.

I always imagined it to be long-term factory operatives who had been building the items for years and knew how to fit everything.

Ann, does your Law A level make you a better criminal?

Like you, Ann Glos, I have a Kenwood Chefette from about 1965. It was enough for a two-person family and for me who is not known for her baking.

My daughter has commandeered it, I'm happy to say, and it's still going strong.

Many years ago a friend broke the liquidiser attachment that fitted in to the top but everything is still in working order.

Things move on, I'm afraid.

Back in the 70's we had a Morris Minor Traveller and In the five years or so I ran it, apart from the gearbox, I must have dismantled and repaired just about everything. I even replaced a broken suspension link at the roadside just outside the tech college I attended each week studying for my IOB exams.

In the 80's we had an indesit washing machine and the bearing started knocking. The local depot was five miles away and I removed the spider and took it over to them where they pressed out the old and put in a new bearing. Back in business the same day.

These days a washing machine repair involves two phone calls, and two visits from the outsourced repair agent, who are twenty miles away. Nothing is stocked these days so parts have to be ordered, hence the two visits. To their credit each time we have called them out the job has been a good one, albeit taking a week from start to finish.

Anyone game to dismantle and fix a modern motor car?

P.S. Unfortunately we couldn't afford a Kenwood

Sharron, never tested my law knowledge with criminal activity except that I know it is punishable if caught.

I still have the liquidiser with which I do make soup..

Why else would you study law FGS?

goodness knows, because it was there??

Seemed like a good idea at the time didn't it?

Yes, that's about it. It did eventually help me get promotion at work, but any old A level would have done that. :-D

I have a cheffette as I had a cafe at the time in the 60s.
I never got to A level but have 6 0 levels but was necessary for me to go to work as my father was in a nasty train accident and couldn't work for 3 yrs and mum needed my money.
There were no university grants in those days every thing cost a fortune . my music degree was something with private tuition.
I mend a lot of things myself now as I google it. And go to the hardware store and get the part and then quite pleased when I fix it.Heavy things I can't manage,but I still like a challenge.