Funny customer replies..

[tvtech]

Hi All

I am in the back. Fixing sets. I do not deal with Customers directly. Customer good/bad protocol has never been my forte....ever.

I have always been...too direct. Customers don't like to be told that they flat out lied when the set was booked in....the people in front accept everything that the Customer says. In good faith.

I fix the stuff. And I pick up the lies quickly. I can see where someone/somebody has already been. And maybe screwed up chances of a reliable repair...

So....I quote as high as possible. Funnily enough (Africa here)....the higher the better....always accepted. Quote low...nah.

Like "too cheap".

We don"t trust the "wek". As in "work done".....

Anyway, more on this later. I had a hoot today when the Guys in front that have to deal with these known liars and chancers spoke.
Man, what a laugh for all the excuses they give for not fetching a repaired tv

Regards,
tvtech

 

[JoeJester]

What is the law over their about unclaimed equipment left for repairs?

 

[JimB]

In the dim and distant past, 50 years ago, my first part time holiday job was working in the local radio/TV/electrical/bicycle shop.

This was in the day when valves were the dominant active device for all aspects of the TV circuit.
It was quite common for the owner or renter, (rented TVs were quite a big business at the time) to advise us of his expert diagnosis of the fault....
"It is the picture valve"
"It is the sound valve"
"It is the brightness valve"
or in the case of frame collapse, "It is the height valve"

Happy days back in the Doncaster - Rotherham area of South Yorkshire.

JimB

 

[tvtech]

What is the law over their about unclaimed equipment left for repairs?

Hi Joe

Customers get given three Months to collect the set once they are phoned and told it is repaired. They sign an agreement when they book the set in for repairs: our Terms and Conditions in easy to read and understand English. No misunderstandings from the word go. They sign before we/me are even prepared to open the set....

Generally, sets are collected quickly, if repaired quickly. I would say a 48 Hour turnaround is the sweet spot....I learned that in my days with a large service driven company years back.

Anyway....you get the chancers ( more later here)....like in every other business....but also people that really have crap and simply cannot get the money together within 3 Months......

So we being kind and humane people here....only sell the set/put it up for sale in the front of the shop after six Months. An extra three Months grace for the Customer......

After all, Africa here. We adjust our rules according to the customers situation. We start strict with our no nonsense Terms and Conditions. And then, depending on the customers genuineness....we back down. And that is why people keep coming back here. We tell it like it needs to be told from the start...

Another little thing just for the hell of it: the Owner of the business said a few Months back that "someone" in the game told him we are charging too little for our repairs.....I said no. We are fair and as long as we make a profit on every job...we are good to go. Not a case of overcharging one to help another..

Every job if controlled is charged correctly. That's the thing. That the Motto I live with.

I might seem impossible. I am actually not so bad to work next to on a bench.

And I digressed...sorry Joe

All the best,
tvtech

 

[JoeJester]

digress all you need.

I have in my files out in the garage, an old book that had the repair times for various electronic equipment for varying levels of repair. I'll have to look for it the next time I'm in the garage.

One thing I can recall that in the 1970s there was a shop, a factory service shop, that charges twice the going rate. Their technicians were paid more and they didn't seem to get the "older" repairs that other shops received. I'm sure you have your fair share of "dogs" in the shop, and I don't know if you charge hourly or by industry averages.

I can tell you that most auto mechanics use a program called "real time" to charge the average time for various repairs. Naturally, ASE certified master mechanics and beat those averages and make more money based on them, while some new mechanics may take longer. I'm sure "real time" came about because of the "expose's" addressing the unscrupulous mechanics.

 

[tvtech]

Anyway, back to Customers...(fiddlers..not my TV...just brought it here...don't know what happened....was working etc)

Here is the thing. Many people that bring sets in for repair here have been evading paying a TV License for years.... or have never had one to start with...

This whole "Democracy" thing here in South Africa is alien to them...hey in a "Democratic Society"...you are responsible for your actions/or non action.

This is a work in progress post. I need to be sober so I can tell it properly...not pissed like last night....too many beers and too much time and too little sleep = chaos.

More later
tvtech

 

[ClydeCrashKop]

Something about this thread reminded me of a funny.

Approximately 1975, long before cell phones, I took a console TV in for repairs. When the TV repairman was finished he called to tell us. My wife answered the phone. He asked “Are you or your husband at home?”

That story came up for years. It still makes me chuckle.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Like "Lilly Tomlin" on Laugh-In". Is this the party to whom I am speaking?

Found it.

Some more:

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

hey Joe:

I did the "dogs", at home, for a shop on a part-time basis. Audio amplifier repairs.

Sometimes even the simpler jobs require effort. Oil Change: Remove a tire I once had to spear a filter to get it off and when I used a "replacement" filter, my wrench wouldn't work. Remove spark plugs: Loosen motor mount

 

[JoeJester]

KISS,

There is a world of difference between you doing a "dog" at home on a contract basis and you paying someone x per hour while charging out less x to the client for a repair.

There is still that problem of it's cheaper to buy new than to repair. If your hourly rate is such that a repair that takes 4 hours to repair exceeds half the cost of a newer model, the customer is likely to decline. At 60 per hour, that would be 240 dollars. Anything less than $480 looks attractive the purchase. The economics plays a big portion.

That is why it's important to communicate with the customer. Some shops will charge a diagnosis fee which, if you decide to get it repaired, would be "discounted" from the bill as their billing usually includes diagnosis in the figure. That discourages people from leaving declining the repairs and abandoning their equipment for you to discard.

I once had a client that wanted to "fix" a television that belonged to her mother. I told her the maximum labor would be $240 so the price would be that plus parts. She had to decide whether "being nostalgic" was worth the price. She wasn't as nostalgic as she once thought.

There were many times the client paid a diagnostic fee for an estimate and had me sign an Affidavit so they could give it to their homeowner insurance for replacement costs. This typically occurred with lightning damage.

At my unit, we got hit by lightning, were back operational within six minutes, and spent the next 72 hours finding the remaining problems with the various systems. It took a week to get all the parts to get back to 100 percent. The main reason is because two other units were hit by lightning that same night and they were off air for a total of 36 hours ... minus the six minutes that my unit was not usuable.

 

[tvtech]

Anyway, back to Customers...(fiddlers..not my TV...just brought it here...don't know what happened....was working etc)

Here is the thing. Many people that bring sets in for repair here have been evading paying a TV License for years.... or have never had one to start with...

More later
tvtech

So this is how they roll...

One of many things/excuses/not mine/don't know etc... that the Front staff have to deal with once trying to contact the Customer on his/her Cell to make them aware the set is repaired and awaiting Collection often goes like this....

1. Unknown Number for the Call Recipient. Like they simply don't answer. (We phone from our landline here...)

2.Hello Mr/Mrs xxxxx. Your TV is repaired and awaiting collection.....silence from the Customer. They say "Who are you???'. We say "the TV you brought in for repairs yesterday is repaired". The person says 'TV???". We say "YES!!...remember you brought it in yesterday for repairs???.. Silence...then the sudden relief that they are not being hounded for a Licence. And then they suddenly remember all details and all and much more....

3.Best are the Customers that fetch a repaired TV....and then a Year later bring it back and claim it never worked from when it was collected....

We ask "Why did you not bring it back immediately...???" . Customer says "I did not have time to test it....I had to rush Overseas...". For a Year. ...

Since when has an African ever been in a rush .....we laugh and charge double for the new repair......nail the liars...and why not???

Chance takers here probably account for 20% of our business. We nail them. Hard.

The rest we look after.

And more stories to follow.

Regards,
tvtech

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I know: I once got a "repair at any cost" because a disco blew up and melted parts on a high powered amp. One amp needed a transformer because the insulation broke down and it was unavailable anyway. At the time, I had "free time" which is something I don't have now. It was also a time when I was working and going to school. I needed a diversion to keep my sanity. I didn't have to do the parts procurement etc either, It was a win-win for everybody. Troubleshooting CAN BE fun when you have the right tools, but now it seems to be "annoying". They did take a small deposit.

 

[4pyros]

I loved the repairs that came in after parents trying to remove a toy from a toaster or VCR with a knife and wondering why it dose not work anymore.

 

[tvtech]

Best I ever heard was from a friend that owned a CRT/ Video repair shop Years ago...

A Woman came in with a faulty Video machine....for repairs. A front loader.
The heads were worn and it needed TLC...so they charged a fair price for the work done....

Lo and behold...a day later the same Woman came in with the machine and started shouting in the shop. Full of customers and trying to embarrass the Tech/s that had worked on the machine... trying to make fools of them..

So Tony (God Bless you Buddy..you must be happy in Heaven )...calmly said ...wait here my dear...we will take it to the back and open it up. We did a good repair...must be something small. Back in a flash.

Turned out, somebody?? her Kids maybe had tried to force feed this front loader with a used tampon.

So calmly, they remove it..check all is working and return to the front of the shop still full of Customers.

She has been waiting maybe all of 5 Minutes....she demands to know what was wrong....

So they pull out the used Tampon...."we found that this caused the problem".

I will leave the rest to your imagination.

Needless to say, they never were pestered by her again.

Regards,
tvtech

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

My friends found a sandwhich in the tape slot. Somtimes it was infested with roaches. I found "cat hair" becase, aparently the cat layed on the nice warm place.

 

[tvtech]

The poor Video repair Guys..

I remember well all the effort and work they put into their repairs....tested, playback, recording 100%. Good to go.

One little dusty/dirty/worn tape from Customer...and it's back. The next day.
And, inevitably, customer is bitching.

Spoiled party etc..

Those were the days.

 

[spec]

In the dim and distant past, 50 years ago, my first part time holiday job was working in the local radio/TV/electrical/bicycle shop.

This was in the day when valves were the dominant active device for all aspects of the TV circuit.
It was quite common for the owner or renter, (rented TVs were quite a big business at the time) to advise us of his expert diagnosis of the fault....
"It is the picture valve"
"It is the sound valve"
"It is the brightness valve"
or in the case of frame collapse, "It is the height valve"

Happy days back in the Doncaster - Rotherham area of South Yorkshire.

JimB

I can echo that Jim.

It used to be a funny thing- as soon as someone learned that you were in electronics, they would say, Oh I have an old TV/Radio Gram/ Record player that you would like to have a look at. I even had one guy say that he had a load of TVs in his shed that I could fix- it would be good practice for you! If you met a brain surgeon, you would hardly ask him to do a bit of surgery to fix your headache, of a butcher to do a bit of butchering for you. But I got this all the time.

A large poor family lived across the road and the husband knocked on the door most distraught. The kids had knocked their TV off the table and it was wrecked- could I possibly have a look at it. I felt sorry for him so went over to his house to see the damage.

The TV had fallen on to a hard floor from about 3 feet. The cabinet was cracked, but as far as I could see the tube and electronics hadn't been damaged. So I carried the set home and, in the garage, opened it up. It was a dual standard model and the PCB had cracked under the slide switch running the whole length of PCB. I spent about three nights in the freezing cold fixing that damn set- what a job. I even glued the cabinet back together and you could hardly see the join. Anyway, that weekend I took the set back to the owner. He was overjoyed and said thanks a lot that will tide us over nicely for a couple of days until the new set we have ordered arrives!

In complete contrast, one of the chaps I knew had an upmarket flat, in the best part of town. Everything in the flat was upmarket and of course he had a Bang and Olufsen hi fi system that cost the absolute earth. We were chatting one day and he mentioned in passing that when he plugged his cassette recorder into his hifi the sound was very low and hissey. He didn't ask me to sort it and just thought that his amplifier inherently didn't have enough power and that was that. I said that I would have a look at it, but he said it would not be possible to do anything because it was just the way the amp was.

Anyway, the next day after a nice Gin and Tonic, I took the amp and cassette deck home. Sure enough when the cassette deck was plugged into the amp tape input the output was way down. I whipped the lid of the amp and you wouldn't believe it but there was a circuit diagram on the inside. Also the tape input had a 20:1 attenuator wired directly across the pins of the tape input DIN socket. I unsoldered one resistor and lo and behold the cassette recorder blasted at full volume.

When I went to see the owner a week later with the amp and deck, he refused to believe that I had solved the problem. He was astounded when the cassette player came through loud and clear. He just could not figure where I had got the extra power from, and for years he told his mates that I was an electronics genius.