You learn something every day!
For those that dont know, Rugdoctor have 2 divisions - hire and sales. With the hire side they loan a machine and a display stand to a shop or supermarket and pay commision on the hire revenue it earns. Rugdoctor always own the machine and they refurbish it themselves when needed.
On the sales side thay have a network of distributors like ourselves who sell the machines outright. They have 2 models and they are, and always have been, blue in colour.
I have been told on several occassions that if you see anything other than a blue model it is a hire machine which is owned by Rugdoctor and, if not on hire, is likely to be stolen.
I was therefor surprised to see our service manager repairing an orange Rugdoctor recently and I asked him where it had come from. I was told that it belonged to a local nursing home and it had needed a new motor. It had clearly seen some use in its time and I pointed out that it was probably a stolen hire machine (one that had never been returned after hire)
A conversation with someone at Rugdoctor went as follows:
EXPRESS: Hi I'm calling from Express in Malvern and we have an orange Rugdoctor we've been asked to repair. I recall someone telling me that if its any other colour than blue then it is likely to be stolen - is that the case?
RUGDOCTOR: Yes, thats right, the 'orangey red' ones are hire machines. If the customer says he bought the machine then unfortunately it still belongs to us and technically it is a stolen machine. Can you contact the customer and explain the situation and find out where he bought it from. If they genuinely bought it in good faith we will refund what they paid against the cost of a new machine.
Phone call to customer:
EXPRESS: Hi this is Express in Malvern and we were asked to fix your Rugdoctor. Unfortuantely, we suspect you have been sold a hire machine which tecnically still belongs to Rugdoctor. Can I ask where you bought it from?
CUSTOMER: What the **!**! ***!!*** ***!** you ***!**!
EXPRESS: I understand your concern but it doesnt alter the fact the the machine belongs to Rugdoctor and we have been asked to send it back to them. Perhaps we can discuss the options for replacing it?
(after several phone calls between ourselves, the customer and Rugdoctor we decide to give the customer a new machine as a gesture of goodwill)
So, everyone's happy and we score brownie points with a valuable customer (BUPA Care homes, nonetheless). There ends the story......................we thought!
Later in the week another colleague notices that the machine actually has a Hako badge on the front.
****!
You can guess the rest - it turns out that all hire machines are actually Red. Orange ones do exist from when they were being rebadged and sold legitimately through Hako some years ago.
Just so that no-one else gets caught out, anybody considering buying a used Rugdoctor should be aware that although there are a small quantity of orange machines on the market the vast majority are blue. Rugdoctor have confirmed that they have never
sold red machines and all those that exist remain the property of Rugdoctor! Dont buy one!
Anyway, I have other things to do now.
Dear Valued Customer,
You may recall that we recently accused the BUPA organisation of handling stolen goods.... :-/