Why struggle with repairs, when you can rent cookers with a breakdown warranty?

The hidden costs of purchasing cookers outright

Whilst the rental of cookers can be a saving grace for some schools, as it enables them to acquire the cookers they need immediately, without the need for any capital budget, there are some (lucky) schools who can afford to purchase equipment like cookers, outright. And although it can be easy to make a decision based on just costs alone, there are many other factors which are important to consider before simply buying new cookers.

With the purchase of cookers, delivery and installation are usually only provided at an additional cost, not to mention the disconnection, removal and disposal of any existing cookers you have in place. Once you take these additions into consideration, the price to buy a cooker, which may have initially seemed like a good deal, can in fact work out significantly more expensive. It is also worth considering the time it can take to schedule each of these services if they aren’t included with your new appliances. Sourcing suitable agents can be incredibly frustrating, not to mention time consuming and even once you have sourced suitable agents, scheduling them to attend in line with the rest of the project can be tricky; all tasks school staff shouldn’t need to worry about. And let’s not forget the service schools often overlook – a breakdown warranty.

Never underestimate the power of the breakdown warranty

At Utility Rentals, we frequently come across schools who question the value of having a breakdown warranty on their appliances and who think that managing repairs within school would be just as easy. But believe us when we say, it most certainly isn’t! As schools are classed as commercial environments, most manufacturers are unable to uphold a warranty – even for the first 12 months. This means that from the moment your new cookers are delivered, the school is responsible for any faults that occur. This ultimately leaves staff at the school to not only source a suitable repair agent, but also manage the repair until the fault is rectified. But sourcing reliable engineers isn’t easy and quite often, it’s not just a case of having the cooker repaired on the first visit, as replacement parts may be required, which can also be difficult to source. All of the admin surrounding each repair can be stressful not to mention time consuming for staff, who at the end of the day have far more important things to worry about. Plus, with multiple cookers in a technology department, repairs could be never ending – especially with the high usage cookers in schools receive throughout the year. Quite often, engineers need to attend site more than once to rectify the problem and replacement parts can be out of stock, which again takes a considerable amount of time to organise. All the while, your appliances could be out of use, which can easily effect the smooth running of a department at the best of times, let alone during exam periods.

All breakdown repair costs are covered as part of our rental

Even if you are prepared to rely on school staff to organise any repairs, you can’t ignore the cost of them, as well as the cost your school incurs from school staff wasting time on organising cooker repairs, rather than doing what they do best – teach! Each time an engineer attends site, your school is responsible for paying any appliance call out fees and that’s before they have carried out any work or provided replacement parts. Surprisingly, the average repair cost is at least £100 and so with even just a couple of repairs each year in one department, it is easy to see how quickly these costs can add up. In fact, any more than one repair in a year would soon exceed the annual rental cost of a cooker from us at Utility Rentals that year.

Having worked with thousands of schools nationwide for more than 30 years, we know first-hand how tricky it can sometimes be to get a cooker repaired as soon as possible. And so that’s why we do all of the hard work for you. Every cooker rented from us includes a full parts and labour breakdown warranty as standard. This means, that if any mechanical or electrical faults occur on your cooker during the rental period, simply report the fault to our dedicated Repairs Team and they take care of the rest for you. They will organise all engineer visits from start to completion, including any re-visits required to fit replacement parts. At Utility Rentals we only use manufacturer approved engineers to carry out repairs on cookers. As the manufacturer are not only experts at repairing their own products, but they also have the best access to genuine manufacturer parts – with most engineers even carrying spare parts with them. This ultimately gives the best chance at getting your cooker back up and running as quickly as possible.

If you’ve had enough of repairs and think your school could benefit from renting brand new appliances, protected by our breakdown warranty, get in touch today on 01628 667373 and we will be happy to provide you with a quote to consider.