Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am running a
small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20 minimum
charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not cost
effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . .. Thanks. Scott

Scott Lane wrote:
Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am running a
small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20 minimum
charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not cost
effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . .. Thanks. Scott



You cannot afford to give away estimates except to maybe your best
customers on occasion. Too many people buy garage sale junk and
expect you to give away your time. NO WAY. I don't look at anything
for a carry in consumer electronics piece without a deposit.


The estimate for a Pix tube is normally NWF.

Bob

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"Bob Urz" wrote in message
...


Scott Lane wrote:
Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am running
a small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20
minimum charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not
cost effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . .. Thanks.
Scott



You cannot afford to give away estimates except to maybe your best
customers on occasion. Too many people buy garage sale junk and
expect you to give away your time. NO WAY. I don't look at anything
for a carry in consumer electronics piece without a deposit.


The estimate for a Pix tube is normally NWF.

Bob


Couldn't agree more. Free estimates are the scourge of out business, and
lead to owners undervaluing our time and their equipment - the stuff that's
worth repairing that is.

How many autoshops could you take your car to, and have them do a free
estimate ? Zip, zero, zilch, nada. That's how many. Tell your customers that
you don't do free estimates, otherwise your children will starve, and your
landlord will kick you out of your shop, then they'll have nowhere to come
and see your happy little face. Tell them instead that you'll do them a
proper quote for $15 or whatever covers a half hour of your time, and if
they go ahead and accept it, you'll credit the amount off the final bill.
The ones who walk away are not worth dealing with in the first place.

Do not kill our trade by irresponsible business practices ...

Arfa

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

How many autoshops could you take your car to, and have them do a free
estimate ?


Arfa


Al l of them.

Scott Lane wrote:

Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am running a
small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20 minimum
charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not cost
effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . .. Thanks. Scott



I'm in Toronto, and for the last 15 years, the number of established
electronic repair shops has been dwindling rapidly.
Toronto is a very multicultural city and in the last 10 years, a lot of
small, one/two person shops have been opened by middle eastern and Asian
people and they seem to be prospering!

I have one about a half Km from me that has been around for about ten
years and is owned by a Chinese fellow from Hong Kong. He has a great
shop and must have about 2,000 sq ft of space, most of which is a
wharehouse area in behind full of old electronics.
His sucess is because he charges for estimates, but deducts from the
bill if repairs are done, and he cannibalizes from the stuff in his
warehouse. His signage clearly states that parts replaced may be used
and his customers have no problem with that. He gets his 'old stock'
from pieces brought in for estimates and left by customers as not worth
either repairing or at times, even doing an estimate.

Also, he will repair just about anything as long as it is electronic!
I refer people to this shop regularly and people are very happy with his
work and prices!

I'm a retired computer sciences teacher from a local college and this
guy is one of the few that will replace caps on a motherboard.

Regards
Lee in Toronto

He makes it all back in "pass-thru" costs.

Scott Lane wrote:

I've heard that nothing should be too hot to touch, but I'm not sure
if this
is true for a HOT. I always recommend replacing the FBT with HOT. It's a
pass-thru cost. Scott





Bob Urz wrote:

You cannot afford to give away estimates except to maybe your best
customers on occasion. Too many people buy garage sale junk and
expect you to give away your time. NO WAY. I don't look at anything
for a carry in consumer electronics piece without a deposit.

Arfa Daily wrote in message
...

"Bob Urz" wrote in message
...


Scott Lane wrote:
Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am
running
a small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20
minimum charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not
cost effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . ..
Thanks.
Scott



You cannot afford to give away estimates except to maybe your best
customers on occasion. Too many people buy garage sale junk and
expect you to give away your time. NO WAY. I don't look at anything
for a carry in consumer electronics piece without a deposit.


The estimate for a Pix tube is normally NWF.

Bob


Couldn't agree more. Free estimates are the scourge of out business, and
lead to owners undervaluing our time and their equipment - the stuff
that's
worth repairing that is.

How many autoshops could you take your car to, and have them do a free
estimate ? Zip, zero, zilch, nada. That's how many. Tell your customers
that
you don't do free estimates, otherwise your children will starve, and your
landlord will kick you out of your shop, then they'll have nowhere to come
and see your happy little face. Tell them instead that you'll do them a
proper quote for $15 or whatever covers a half hour of your time, and if
they go ahead and accept it, you'll credit the amount off the final bill.
The ones who walk away are not worth dealing with in the first place.

Do not kill our trade by irresponsible business practices ...

Arfa



Thats the way I operate, exploration fee upfront, taken into final account,
unless its a straight , non diagnosis, repair job, eg replacing a mains
switch, front panel bulb etc.
Anything that requires diagnosis is a different matter, its rarely the
repair that's the difficult bit , its the diagnosis, and however experienced
you are unless you only deal with one make and model then its the diagnosis
that takes the time.
Then there is the final problem , non availability of a replacement part.


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

In article ,
"Michael Ware" wrote:

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

How many autoshops could you take your car to, and have them do a free
estimate ?


Arfa


Al l of them.

Yep, that's true in the U.S., or at least in California.

And unfortunately, this leads many auto repair shops to give you the
shotgun estimate. "Oh, your car is overheating? Leave it, I'll check it
over, and call you with an estimate."

Hello? Yeah, I'm sorry to say your car needs a new radiator, new hoses,
a new water pump, and a new thermostat.

You go down there and say, how do you know it needs a radiator?

Well, we pressure tested it.

Really? Don't you have to open the hood and fill it with water to do
that?

I'd rather have a competent and honest mechanic than a free estimate
law, but that's just me, being delusional again.

"Scott Lane" wrote in message
...
Just wondering if there are any small repair shops anymore. I am running a
small shop, mostly getting small low dollar repairs. I post a $20 minimum
charge but give away a lot of free estimates.

What is a good place to order picture tubes online? I know this is not
cost effective, but the customer wants an estimate . . . so . .. Thanks.
Scott



Well thanks guys -all good advice. Here in our town there are no repair
shops, only one within 50 miles. Well, two now. I post a sign for a deposit
so the customer feels they are getting a bargain by not having to pay it up
front. When/if I get busy I may enforce that more. But in a city where 85%
of the kids in the school are on free or reduced lunch program, there's not
a lot of extra money.

A lot of times people will give you the item if its NWF, but then I have to
pay a disposal fee, which is a double-loss - free estimate and have to pay
to get rid of it. Another reason to charge a deposit. Thanks guys. Scott

"Michael Ware" wrote in message
. ..

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

How many autoshops could you take your car to, and have them do a free
estimate ?


Arfa


Al l of them.



OK. I guess that's a bad example then, for US residents. It's certainly not
the case in Europe. If I took my car into a repair shop with an engine
rattle, and when I called back later in the day, they told me that they'd
spent two hours stripping the cam cover to find a worn out tensioner, and I
then told them " thanks very much, but that's too expensive. Please put it
back together, and I'll just take it away and live with it ", they'd laugh
at me, and refuse to even pick up a spanner again on it, until I agreed to
pay for the time spent. There are no laws governing such things here.

Arfa