On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:32:33 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:45:19 -0700, Erik wrote:

In article ,
"Buerste" wrote:

Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's going
on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I spent hours
and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it wasn't frozen-up,
(the most common fault it seems) the motor worked, the thermostat checked
out, the heater passed muster. The water valve is OK and all cleaned out.
(I've replaced plenty of those in different units over the years). Of
course, I find nothing else that could cause it to crap out so put it all
back together and...it works just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if
not thousands of this kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!

I too have experienced this numerous times... always makes me nervous.

Along the same lines is when someone asks me to 'take a look at
something', then together we can't make the damned thing act up to save
our asses. They're always embarrassed: often going on about the 'magic
touch' and all that jazz...

I know they wouldn't be there had they not experienced something
alarming, and suspect they'll fear further embarrassment returning
if/when/should said symptoms return. I always try to explain to them
that this isn't a new phenomena, and that I certainly possess no
mechanical/electrical/electronic 'supernatural powers', and please not
to hesitate contacting if said issues continue.

I hate both these situations... I'd MUCH rather deal with something
concrete than be left in the 'twilight zone'

Erik

Try it in my line of work..fixing high precison machine tools..CNC.

Client will call..telling me that out of 50 parts...2 of them are .010
off..the rest are perfect. And they take 2 minutes each to run. And its
random....

So I have to watch the ****ing machines for a minimum of 100 minutes
just to see if I can catch what the hell is going on. This after doing
a mechanical checkout that takes 15 minutes minumum..then tuning the
control, pulling all that sheetmetal off, checking couplers, ballscrews
etce etc etc.

Can **** away a whole day doing that. And you cant bill the client for
all that time either.

You _can_ and _should_ do precisely that, Gunner. If you're on-site,
it's billable time, period. (Unless you collect your fee and then hang
around on your own time.) I always let talkative new customers know
that, while I'm happy to stand and talk with them, it's billable time.
Diagnostic time is billable, so stop ruining your customers (making
them think your time is not valuable) and screwing yourself with that
concept. You'd never catch any mfgr's repairmen doing that. Why
should you? You're only billing these clients a third of what the Big
Boys charge as it is.

I've lost a couple customers from that, but the rest respect me for
it. (A couple have told me so.) Do what's right and bill them, G-mon.

--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we
cannot do. -- Samuel Butler