Is it worth repairing your major appliance that has broken down? Isn't it better to buy a new device immediately? In the following lines, we will help you see more clearly when choosing between repairing and replacing your machine. Spoiler alert: the winning bet is the repair ;)
How to save money, even out of warranty?
First of all, choosing to repair your major household appliance rather than replacing it with a new one saves you a money, a lot of money....
A new major household appliance costs 640 $ on average. A home repair costs about 220 $ although this price can vary significantly depending on the devices and the type of breakdown considered. Anyway, it is already dividing its costs by 2 !
However, it has been shown that most people are reluctant to embark on the repair of their device as soon as this repair represents more than 30% of the price of a new replacement device (study carried out by the Ademe in 2015 entitled Reuse, repair, reuse ) , and we understand them...
It is also for this reason that the warranty rates offered in stores are generally in this range (between 30 and 50% of the price of new). And in the case of a device covered by a guarantee of course, the question between repairing and replacing no longer arises, we call its after-sales service and presto, voila!
But not so fast...
Unfortunately, more than 80% of breakdowns that occur relate to out-of-warranty devices (Ademe study carried out in 2012, on The Perception of After-Sales Service by the consumer in the field of large household appliances ), and that the distributors have it Understood...
This is where SHYMON comes in :) You therefore save 301 $ in total compared to the purchase of a new major household appliance.
Do something for the planet
Of the 28 million household appliances that break down each year in Canada, less than half are repaired (44% to be precise according to an unpublished study on breakdowns encountered by large household appliances published by Symon in 2019).
Thus, more than 1.4 million tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment (D3E) end up in the recycling center each year. Appliances alone represent 920,000 tonnes of annual waste. And with regard to large household appliances, hot and cold, in particular, Ademe listed nearly 500,000 tonnes of waste collected in 2019, a figure that has been constantly rising in recent years (from the Annual report of the register of waste equipment electrical and electronic).
By having your major appliance repaired rather than buying new, you therefore considerably reduce the quantity of D3E produced. In addition, you limit the emissions related to the manufacture, marketing and end-of-life management of a new device by keeping yours, which IS in more than 90% of cases repairable, and can actually last 10 years. on average ( a figure commonly accepted and quoted by Ademe in its studies, as well as by other repair players).
All this with less effort
Admittedly, by calling on a classic after-sales service, you will wait an average of 4 days for a repairer to come to your home. And in total 8 to 9 days between contacting the after-sales service and the proper functioning of your device, that's not nothing...
*see the Ademe study carried out in 2012 on the perception of after-sales service by the consumer in the field of large household appliances
Especially since it can be complicated to block your day while waiting for the repairman to come, who may be late, without even being sure that he will be able to identify the problem and solve the breakdown on the first try. .
All this, we understand at Shymon! And this is precisely what made us opt for remote operation, by videoconference . Breakdowns being in the vast majority of cases easy to address, YOU can handle your device yourself and perform the simple actions that will allow it to be repaired, with the assistance of our remote coaches throughout. Also, this allows you to easily schedule an intervention on the day and time of your choice, without having to put down your afternoon for a simple repair of major household appliances... Because a video call with one of our coaches lasts on average 40 minutesonly, that is to say to what extent repairing is child's play from the moment that one is well accompanied in its repair, by experts in their trade.
Video, a booming trend?
And it is nowadays all the easier to embark on remote repair as videoconferencing has become considerably more democratic in recent months, with successive confinements and the generalization of teleworking. It has thus completely returned to business customs, but also to personal use...
Today, nearly 6 out of 10 Canadian people (57.2%) use videoconferencing, whereas you were less than 18% in 2015.
In addition to use, it is the frequency of use that has significantly increased: nearly one in three Canadian people (30.2%) have connected via video over the previous 7 days, that's nearly 24 points more than the same period in 2015.
Among the most fervent users of this new means of communication, we find in particular students, and more generally 16-34 year olds, with an over-representation of people belonging to higher socio-professional categories and households with children under the age of 15 years old. But there is no doubt that everyone, whatever their age, will be able to make this new, most fun and intuitive channel their own ;)
Less than an effort, rediscover the pleasure of repairing
“ I stop thinking, I clear my mind and my whole body becomes engaged through my sensations. All my senses are summoned”. We quote you here the words of an ex-commercial converted into a mosaicist, who spoke of the benefits for her of manual activities in an article in Le Figaro published in 2017.
Because yes, manual activities would contain therapeutic virtues, and DIY your drain pump would be no exception. In this same article, Géraldine Canet, visual artist and doctor in art therapy, talks about the real “transforming powers of the manual gesture”, which she observes daily in the workshops she leads. "The fact of 'doing' leads to a stimulation of the senses and therefore of the affects, which allows us in a sense to 'deposit our sufferings' in this material that we are working on".
The reappropriation of the gesture, which improves with regular practice, is another extremely renarcissizing element. However, if we obviously do not want you to face repeated breakdowns, after a video meeting with one of our coaches, you casually learn a lot about your devices, so much knowledge that can be useful to you in the next glitch. Because there is a deep sense of pride in doing, in self-fixing. We discover new abilities, and it is also the satisfaction of seeing the work done that comforts and encourages.
This passion for manual activity is also revealed in professional choices, as shown in the book by sociologist Jean-Laurent Cassely La Révolte des premiers de la classe (Arkhê Éditions). He observes that, according to figures from Apec, 14% of young graduates with a baccalaureate level + 5 or more would have undertaken a professional reorientation within two years of obtaining their diploma. About 7,000 of them would choose each year to turn to craft trades.
More concretely still, if “saving money” remains the main reason (79%) given for carrying out DIY work on their vehicle, this figure has continued to drop in recent years, and the simple reason “because I like it” was cited by almost 70% of respondents, an increase compared to 2012 (2014 AutoPartsWarehouse.com study on do-it-yourself car repairs).
“In a world of speed that escapes us and the dematerialization of everything that can lead to a certain anxiety, the return to matter is refounding a relationship to reality, believes Géraldine Canet. It also allows you to come back to yourself, while being able to share with others in a group situation”, or the time of a simple SHYMON video with one of our coaches, all full of patience, good advice and led by the want to pass on their know-how and make known to as many people as possible the pleasure of repairing oneself.
If with all this you are not convinced of the benefits of repair, we really don't know what to tell you...