Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

[Martin]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

Spuddy wrote:I find your comment about not being a member of a trade assosiation very insulting, I for one have opted not to join any trade assosiations,

Hold up!….”Not being a member of a trade association?”….I never said that! Furthermore I too am NOT a member of any trade association…..so now that’s cleared up, what problem do you have with the facts I have stated in my earlier post on the subject?

[admin]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

I’m not having a pop at you Martin but read you message as having a dig at those repairers not accredited to an association…..I guess I was incorrect…..my apologies….Id like to think the guy had a cast iron reason for keeping the money…and would be prepared to give benefit of the doubt…..Personally if I visit a customer who has had problems with another repairer I don’t comment on the last guy even if pressed to do so….I think its unprofessional….and doesn’t do our profession any good….also the guy in question has obviously tried to sort the problem even if incorrectly so I cant see how he could have intended to deceive anyone……but im not a solicitor are you?

[kwatt]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

Hang on chaps…

I’ve been watching this one with a bit of interest.

As Andy originally said, he only has one side of the story here and, frankly, that’s not really enough to pass judgement on one way or t’other IMO.

To, most likely, misquote the good book… “thou shalt not judge lest thee be judged thyself”. Apt.

The fact of it is that there’s not enough information for a consensus to be reached as we only have the customer’s side of the story and, as we all well know full well, that’s hardly liable to be unbiased opinion is it?

Being a member of a trade association, government scheme or whatever is not wholly indicative of providing a good service at all, many people are not a party to any such scheme and yet survive and thrive quite happily on reputation alone, providing fantastic service. It is irrelevant in customer service terms.

I agree with you Spuddy, passing comment or judgement on another repairer is unprofessional and undesirable as, at some stage, that repairer is very liable to be you and the customer just one that’s taken the hump with you. Again, I don’t think that’s indicative of a good or bad repairer unless it’s epidemic or any issues left unresolved.

But if you do get a moan then simply whining about it doesn’t do anyone any good. Learn, react, put the issue right and don’t get all bitter about it, or with colleagues in the trade as they face exactly the same problems spun around on them. The fact is we all make mistakes, deal with it.

I am very fond of telling people that you don’t stand or fall on what you do right every day, you stand or fall on how you deal with it when it goes wrong. That is remembered far more than when you just do the job you’re supposed to do.

I hope all that makes sense.

I also hope that you can see the ideology applied to repairs@ and most everything we do, we get both sides of the story when it goes wrong, then we deliberate. We don’t pass judgement on anyone, customer or repairer until we have as much information as possible. Thankfully, in over 8000 calls, we’ve only had a handful of complaints and of that handful only one, just one, has been an actual serious complaint worthy of note. On ISE we’ve had, none! Does that give you some indication of the quality of the repairers in this industry, or at the very least, on this website?

K.

[Martin]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

Spuddy wrote:I’m not having a pop at you Martin but read you message as having a dig at those repairers not accredited to an association…..

No worries there Spuddy. 😉

I was merely pointing out that, from the customers point of view, the law almost without exception is on his/her side in cases like this. My reference to the trade association was simply that if the repairer in question were a member of such, then could use them as arbitrators?

Just one hypothesis based on the facts presented I guess :rolls:

[roly16]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

Spuddy wrote:and do not charge if I dont fix it….simply as that….

Surely whether or not you can charge depends simply on the reason for not fixing the machine. If you don’t fix the machine because you can’t diagnose the fault , I don’t think morally you can charge anything at all. The moment you find the fault but don’t repair the machine because the customer doesn’t want you to for whatever reason, or the part’s not available, then you’re entitled to your call-out/labour charge.
This also seems to be the legal position as discussed in the previous postings.

Going back to the original posting; it doesn’t actually say whether the guy pre-diagnosed the fault as being the door lock, or mis-diagnosed it on his first visit. But who doesn’t keep a £3 Hotpoint door lock on their van?

[kwatt]

Let me ask one simple question though…

If the repairer had the technical information available would he have made that error in the first place?

K.

[roly16]

kwatt wrote:Let me ask one simple question though…

If the repairer had the technical information available would he have made that error in the first place?

K.

Philosophical reply: That’s not a simple question, it’s a difficult one. You tell me who he is, and if I know him I’ll tell you the answer!

Engineering reply: Anybody who needs the technical information to test a Hotpoint door lock :rolls: shouldn’t be out on the road without supervision and probably wouldn’t understand it anyway 😀 .

G

[kwatt]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

Back to the point I made earlier, without more information it is not possible to give an informed response. 😉

K.

[Martin]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

kwatt wrote:Back to the point I made earlier, without more information it is not possible to give an informed response.

Unless Andy can follow it up I guess we will never know?

[andy_art_trigg]

Re: Repairer’s right to charge for not fixing machine?

kwatt wrote:As Andy originally said, he only has one side of the story here and, frankly, that’s not really enough to pass judgement on one way or t’other IMO.

I shouldn’t have quoted the part and the price because that put the emphasis more on the specific incident than the general principle that I wanted to debate about. I meant for the debate to cover any incident where a price is quoted to repair, but fitting the part only reveals a more serious fault that renders the machine BER. I can’t imagine a good argument for charging the customer for the part that they clearly don’t need unless it was made clear that this was a risk the customer would be taking.

My opinion (also expressed by K) is that the risk should be with the engineer. If he isn’t prepared to take that risk, he shouldn’t do so, or should try to negotiate what the customer would pay in the event of the repair failing. Otherwise anyone can go out and try to fix something with their best guess safe in the knowledge that the customer will foot the bill if the guess is wrong. The customer’s understanding is that they are calling out an expert.

That doesn’t mean though that no charge is justified. My personal method would be that even if I had more than one trip, maybe had to order and even pick up a part. If once fitted the machine was BER I would charge exactly what I would have charged if I had established the machine was BER on the first visit. The logic of this is that it’s too rare an event to frighten customers off with warnings of possible wasted expense on a failed repair attempt. And that warning customers by telling them they’d have to pay more if the repair failed would cost more in loss of jobs than soaking up the odd cockup.

I agree with you Spuddy, passing comment or judgement on another repairer is unprofessional and undesirable as, at some stage, that repairer is very liable to be you and the customer just one that’s taken the hump with you. Again, I don’t think that’s indicative of a good or bad repairer unless it’s epidemic or any issues left unresolved.

I too am very uncomfortable with passing judgement on fellow repairers. Sometimes you can’t help it if something blatant appears to occur but the customer’s side of a story is always only half of it and the other half can look quite different.

I am very fond of telling people that you don’t stand or fall on what you do right every day, you stand or fall on how you deal with it when it goes wrong. That is remembered far more than when you just do the job you’re supposed to do.

If you think about it, it’s more reassuring dealing with a company who you know takes problems and mistakes very seriously, and pulls all stops out to make sure you remain satisfied than with a company where the issue doesn’t get tested because no problems occurred. I’d rather deal with companies where nothing does go wrong of course, but bizarrely, you can end up more impressed if a problem occurs and is dealt with very well.

[Author]

Posts