On Sat, 5 Jul 2003 16:28:27 -0700, "bigmike"
wrote:


"Badger" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 12:21:33 GMT, WM wrote:

Well I don't know about you guys, but I do all my Service in-home,
and about 90% of it is a 1 trip Job. Only if I don't have the parts do
I have to make a 2nd trip. And by the way Sears has been doing
in-home service for years.

I carry quite a collection of Service manauls on my laptop, and with
the portable test Equipment , now a days, all most all the service can
be done in the home.

Mike

I would not want to do all my servicing in home nowadays. To many
intermintent problems, and repairs that require being on a bench to do
correctly, such as replacing surface components, LSI chips, or repairing
tuners. Unless your in a situation where you can carry most all the parts
and boards for a certain brand or brands of tvs, and all the service
manuals, it's just not an option. I also like letting a set that I fix run
for at least an afternoon before sending it home. Unless it's a RPTV, I much
prefer servicing sets on the bench.

Well I didn't say I prefer doing the calls in the home, as I would
like to do more in the shop, but for these BigScreen, its not
practical to be carring them in to the Shop. I have spent the last 20
Years working for Sears as both a Shop Tech, and a field Tech, Sears
closed there doors in my area, so I was forced in to early Retirement.
But I wasn't ready to retire. So its back to work for me. Started my
own business, and I like not having the overhead of a Shop, and so far
I have only had 3 sets that I needed to bring in to the shop, 2 were
Fluid leaks, and I needed to clean the board, and the other was a RCA
tuner problem, and I only had to bring in the boards, not the whole
set.

But your right I do prefer working in the shop, its just not
practical right now. Although I do have an alterntive! I am working
on a Shop in a Step Van right now, just for a little more flexabitly,
and I should have it going in just a few weeks..

Mike


I recently received a call from GE asking us
to become a warranty repair shop. After a few
questions the rep seemed to have no answer for.
Like how much will I have to spend to become
a GE warranty servicer. Purchasing service lit,
special test equipment, labor rates and how
they pay me. Home service came up.

They expect all repairs to be done in home.

Maybe I'm missing something but the days of
fixing these modern tv's with a soldering gun,
a multimeter, and a few simple tools is long
gone.

Granted all my Sencore equipment has handles
but I wouldn't consider it portable. My soldering
stations for surface mount and regular soldering
and desoldering practically take up a whole bench.

My laptop would handle the service lit. But even
with that hauling all this stuff into poorly lit
dark rooms will only result in a inferior repair
and broken test equipment.

According to the rep from GE all their service
centers are doing in home repair. So are any
of you guys? And if so how?

WM

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 03:04:12 GMT, "Bill Jr"
wrote:

Badger,
Each market area and business model has its separate requirements and
options that work best for them.
For our shop in our market area with 12-15 service calls per day average it
is impossible to setup shop in someone's living room and do a competent
repair and get to all the calls when necessary.
If you are a one man shop, working from your home (or low cost warehouse
space) and have quite a low overhead cost of doing business then it would
make perfect sense to do business as you do.
In a high production facility with high overhead and non-technical support
staff the time consumed trying to do actual component level repairs in the
home become overwhelmingly expensive. And this is without taking surface
mount technology into consideration.
This is why it important for each shop owner to take the time to evaluate
what is best for their particular business model.
Warranty work alone will never be able to support a high production
facility. Warranty work is considered a necessary evil to suffer through
while having the access to the manufacturers for product support, training
and technical assistance. Only when the product is out of warranty and the
customer wants to have guidance to an authorized facility does it make up
for the suffrage of low warranty rates and the hoops you have to jump thru
just to get an authorized repair paid for.

On the other note, Sears even closed their carry-in service center in our
area and I've been told that they are doing so nationwide. Also, can you
tell me when was the last time you heard someone praise Sears consumer
electronics repair? Their trip charge to show up at your door is now $95.00
and if it isn't a simple board swap then the estimate will be so excessive
as to get you to just shop for a new set, which they will gladly sell you.

You got that right, But being a Sears tech for so long, I got to see a
lot of what they did to there Cust base, and your right, but then they
are paing for it now. Sears as a Company was bad, and there isn't a
lot of good words for the company, but on the other hand there was a
lot of good Electronic Techs that came out of Sears. I have beed in
the Field now of over 35 years, and 20 years with Sears, and there
wasn't a lot of Board replacement allowed, it was all Board level
repair, It wasn't untill the HDTV came along that Sears started
Replacing Board. And 12 - 15 calls a day( in the shop) was not
unheard of. but on my own, I find that I can do 10 - 13 calls in the
home in a day. Granted it makes for a long day. And my recall rate is
very low, so for me, and my cust. its working out very well.

Sorry for the rant. Just couldn't help myself. It's getting frustrating to
be a consumer electronics technician these days.

Hey thats ok I have done my share of ranting about Sears, and the
enginers that build some of this stuff..

Mike AKA Badger
Good Luck,
Bill Jr



"Badger" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 12:21:33 GMT, WM wrote:

Well I don't know about you guys, but I do all my Service in-home,
and about 90% of it is a 1 trip Job. Only if I don't have the parts do
I have to make a 2nd trip. And by the way Sears has been doing
in-home service for years.

I carry quite a collection of Service manauls on my laptop, and with
the portable test Equipment , now a days, all most all the service can
be done in the home.

Mike

I recently received a call from GE asking us
to become a warranty repair shop. After a few
questions the rep seemed to have no answer for.
Like how much will I have to spend to become
a GE warranty servicer. Purchasing service lit,
special test equipment, labor rates and how
they pay me. Home service came up.

They expect all repairs to be done in home.

Maybe I'm missing something but the days of
fixing these modern tv's with a soldering gun,
a multimeter, and a few simple tools is long
gone.

Granted all my Sencore equipment has handles
but I wouldn't consider it portable. My soldering
stations for surface mount and regular soldering
and desoldering practically take up a whole bench.

My laptop would handle the service lit. But even
with that hauling all this stuff into poorly lit
dark rooms will only result in a inferior repair
and broken test equipment.

According to the rep from GE all their service
centers are doing in home repair. So are any
of you guys? And if so how?

WM

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 12:24:44 GMT, "Leonard Caillouet"
wrote:

Well said. Not a rant at all.

Whenever I have a complaint about my rates I suggest that the call Sears and
have them come out for $95 then call me back when they give them a
ridiculous estimate or obviously don't have a clue about how to fix the set.
It puts my $50 service call rate in perspective.

I do some in-home service, but only when I can reasonably expect that the
fix can be accomplished in one trip based on the symptoms. Otherwise we do
pickup and delivery or pull a chassis. To many repairs need extensive
resoldering and lots of related component checks and it is very difficult to
be thorough in the field. I opt for a better quality in-shop reapir when I
can. I have better equipment, better lighting, better time management, more
space, no dogs and kids, etc in the shop. When it is efficient, I fix them
in the home. Like Bill said, everyone has to figure out the most eficient
way to operater for himself.

Leonard Caillouet



Wow everybody is bashing Sears today. I have to admitt Sears is not
what it use to be, but they have only been BAD for the last few years.
(New manigment) Sears use to be a great place to work, Great Training,
Great Test EQ, and a very good work inverment. But like I said there
paying for it now. But you have to admit at one time Sears was the
Biggest compettitor in the market. They farm out a lot of there
repairs now, and Just about all the Electronic repairs in this area,
and many others. I am on the list to be a Sub Contractor for them in
my area, and the nice thing about it is I can charge Sears there
Rates, and they pay it. Of corse I have a differant rate for my cust.

Anyway the point is Sears is not all bad, there are a lot of good
people woring for Sears, and it won't be too long Sears will be gone
all together.. just my thought!

Keep your chin up, and try to find the good in everyone....

Mike