On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:16:31 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:
"Fleetie" wrote in message
news
Thank you friend. Most helpful. Clearly you have no concept of the
practicalities of running a repair business. If you have nothing
constructive to add, please refrain from bothering to comment.
Arfa
Hi Arfa. Been a while!
I do agree that the grandparent's comment was not phrased very nicely,
and I've always enjoyed our interactions on Usenet, but I have to say,
if someone tried that on me, and tried to bill me for providing (from my
point of view) no service, I'd leave the afflicted unit with them, and
walk off forever.
I understand that you expended time and effort attempting to fix it,
but from the customer's point of view, there's been zero benefit.
Why would they pay?
I'm NOT having a go at you; I hope you don't think I am. Is this a
situation that has occurred before with you? If so, what percentage
of the people paid up? I think maybe if you waived the charge,
at least they might come back in future, or at least speak kindly of
you to their acquaintances. Now it sounds like I'm trying to tell you
how to run your business! Sorry; of course I'm not.
Hope you're ok, anyway!
Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967
110890
Manchester, U.K.
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=fleetie
Hi Fleetie. No offence taken - from you at least ... ! Grandparent ?
Genuinely ?
Gee, didn't realize it showed. Yes, true.
What I did object to was that someone who knows nothing of me, my training,
my qualifications, my skill levels or my business, saw fit to make a
scathing comment on here about the way this job might ultimately get
handled.
And yet you did the same to me! Come on, let's be fair, the customer
should always receive value for their money. I never have charged for
a failed attempt. I do charge for diagnostic work, but the customer
knows that in advance. Did you advise the customer of that?
It is very common in the domestic repair business, here in the UK at least,
for an advance deposit to be taken from the customer. If the repair goes
ahead, this amount is credited to the final bill.
There are certainly various rules in various areas and regions. I am
not in the UK. We have the customer sign an estimate, which covers
both the estimated repair cost (with a reasonable variance such as +-
15%) and a diagnostic charge.
All of the shops that I
take work from, have this policy, and it is carefully explained to each and
every customer that books an item in, as well as being posted in written
form, behind the counter. I have been in these shops on many occasions when
items have been booked in, and I can't remember ever having heard anyone
object.
As long as that is clear to the customer, and they agreed to it, then
fine. You didn't say that in your post, just that you'd charge the
customer.
The thing is, there are many reasons these days, why repairs don't go ahead.
These include costs of spares which make a repair impractical - DVD lasers
for instance - lack of availability of parts, and the low cost of
replacement of the whole unit by something from the local supermarket or
Argos barn. Sometimes, even a lack of service information is enough to
prevent a practical repair.
So, on a bad week, maybe 20% of jobs might not be completed for one reason
or another. Should I just forfeit a day's earnings because of things out of
my control ? Customers even think that they are doing you a favour by
letting you keep their junk "for spares". I don't want endless pieces of
worthless rubbish stacking up in my workshop. If the repair doesn't go ahead
for whatever reason, either they take it back, or if they leave it with me,
it's going to be disposed of, which nowadays, costs money. You can't just
drop it off at the local tip for free any more, and the money is not going
to come out of my pocket, on top of getting nothing for the time that has
been spent evaluating the repair in the first place.
Of course, it is not a totally black and white situation. If a repair is not
completed because I believe that in some way, my ability to fix it is
lacking - and no matter who might tell you otherwise, it does sometimes
happen, and no matter how good you are at practical component level
fault-finding and repair, the odd one will never-the-less defeat you - then
I *will* waive my charge on it, and the shop that took it in will often
refund theirs as well. I and they, have not managed to continue in business
for 35 years, without understanding the principles of customer goodwill, but
by the same token, we also haven't managed to stay in business that long, by
being impractical in our billing regime.
So, where I have made every practical effort, including bench time,
telephone calls and internet time, to facilitate a fix on a piece of
equipment, but been defeated not by a lack of ability, but by the
manufacturer, due to their pricing or service assistance policies, or even
by them hiding away behind a name that doesn't seem to exist anywhere other
than on the front of their kit, as in this case, I will continue with my
current charging policy. My cable internet provider does not give me service
for free, neither does my phone company give me theirs. I don't give mine
for free either.
Just as a slight aside. A year or two back, I had a problem with my car. It
went into the garage four times, and each time it came back with a bill for
parts and labour, and each time, the problem persisted. I queried why I
should be expected to pay for parts that had been fitted, which had not
cured the problem.
Agreed, this really is bad service. It is unacceptable to charge a
customer for the same repair twice (when the first repair did not
clear the problem), regardless of the excuse!
I was told that most faults on engines these days were
diagnosed by reference to the fault codes held in the EMU, and that once a
part that was pointed to in this way had been ordered and fitted, it could
not be taken back off again and returned, as the seal on the box had been
broken.
Common 'scam' in the automotive world. Most places have 'test' modules
to substitute for suspected failed parts. What you describe is
shot-gun replacement of parts at teh customer's expense.
I put it to them that if the diagnostics or the mechanic's
interpretation of them was wrong, then that wasn't my problem, and the part
should go on their shelf at their cost, for next time. I was told that it
was "just company policy mate", and was "in common with the way that most
garages work."
And a good reason to both not go back there again, and to tell
everyone exactly what happend, where and why you don't go back! g
Now if I ordered a laser in for an item, and it didn't cure the fault, I
would see that as my fault as I had misdiagnosed the problem, and I would
put the owner's original back in. So there you have it. Am I doing anything
worse than them ? If anybody thinks so, then I actually don't really care.
And to Pete D. I'm sorry if my response to your comment offended but,
normally placid guy that I am, I do tend to get a bit spiky when someone who
knows nothing about me, calls my skills, integrity and business acumen, into
question. d;~}
No problem g, I doubt you were any more offended than I was at your
reply! (did that come out right?) This latest reply from you was both
informative and interesting. Perhaps some day we should start a thread
about how to handle cases such as this...
Peter.