Murfy: guest of honour at the annual conference

In June 2018, to combat the waste associated with electrical household appliances, a digital repair platform for goods out of warranty was created. It is called Murfy, a reference to Murphy’s law (a series of breakdowns that can affect the entire house, because people often fit out their homes at the same time). The platform’s mission is to make repair the default option every time something stops working. This reduces the impact produced by electrical household appliances while creating large numbers of skilled local jobs that cannot be relocated.

Murfy suggests repairs that can be done oneself, offering a free, online self-diagnostic tool, or sends an expert technician to the customer’s home with a fixed rate for repairs (excluding spare parts) that come with a six-month guarantee covering the same fault.

In November 2019, a reconditioning option was launched: for appliances that cannot be repaired, the fixed repair rate is reimbursed in the form of a voucher redeemable against Murfy’s reconditioned models. 

Some illuminating figures: 

• 97% of appliances can be repaired. 
• Each appliance repaired represents an average of 60 kg of waste prevented.
• 1 in 2 faults can be repaired the same day with no need for spare parts. 
• In 60% of cases, the appliance is repaired in under 30 minutes! 
• The carbon impact of new household appliances is enormous: extraction of natural resources in Africa, manufacture of spare parts in Asia, assembly in Turkey then delivery in Europe. Seventy percent of the carbon footprint of a dishwasher or washing machine is generated during its manufacture and transportation to Europe; and 30% during use over around 10 years.

The company: 

• Three core functions: home repairs, reconditioning carried out in a workshop and training (Murfy Academy).
• 100,000 appliances have had their lives prolonged = 5,000 tonnes of waste prevented = 25,000 tonnes of carbon avoided.
• The response time for home repairs is competitive with the delivery of new appliances (-48 hours).
• The cost of repairs is below 30% of the cost of a new appliance.
• Murfy is doubling its revenue and workforce every year, and at the end of 2022 employed 300 people across five workshops in France. 

“People don’t understand how you can come from Ponts et Chaussées [a leading French civil engineering university] and end up repairing household appliances.” Romain Martin, Head of the Murfy Academy