Free Estimates

Sorry to disappoint you, Scott, but no flames here. You know best how to run your business. We do charge a diagnostic deposit for new, unknown customers. This deposit is applied to the total repair charges, or may be applied to purchase of a new product. We work very hard at telling customers what they might realistically expect from the get go, and often tell them that their product isn't even worth the deposit. The deposit discourages people from bringing in or leaving junk, then dumping it on us. Heck, they're often on their way to Wal-Mart anyway to buy a new piece of junk. Best wishes in a perfectly awful business.

David, on the Illinois prairie.

Okay Scott, from the other side IF... you think that your time, investment and effort is worth ZERO as in $ 0.00 than... yes, go right ahead! Regardless what you decide, even for "FREE" someone will eventually complain.

Yah right, that's almost funny that "loyalty" bit, offered by some extreme cheapies. Basically, you only created another freeloader who may return with some more curb-side findings, etc..., so that you can waste your life away... on garbage... while eventually getting hungry....

different

Just out of curiosity: are they (Electromatic) still in business?

Long term return customers are reasonable people, who understand that you need money to stay in business and they certainly wouldn't argue about that $ 20.00 bill!!!

This was not intended as a "flame" just a natural difference of opinions! What ever you decide Scott, "Good Luck" with your endeavors!

I wonder why you think that this is a " perfectly awful business " ? I have been in it for 35 years, 20 of those, working for myself, and have never found it to be awful in any way. It has treated me very well, and I've made a very good living off it the whole time. I think that part of the reason so many engineers think it a bad news business that's going to the dogs, is that they feel undervalued, and this is not helped by giving customers the idea that your time and expertise is valueless, by treating them to free estimates.

I have a ' rule ' that I never give free estimates. This, of course, is not strictly true. I do give free advice and estimates, just like everyone else who says that they don't. The trick is that I'm very selective about this, and it is never, never to new customers. I think that sadly, Scott is being naiive about this practice developing returning customers that are worth having. I have seen many enthusiastic young engineers who have gone it alone after being made redundant by big chains, and most fall by the wayside because of poor business practice, rather than lack of ability to do the job. Giving their time away free to any and all who bring in any and all junk, is a serious contributory factor to this.

I have many regular customers, who return to me as a result of my having built a good business to customer relationship with them. I have done this by charging a fair price for good work, and they all appreciate this. When one of these people comes in with a piece of kit that's not really worth looking at, I tell them so, and they respect me for that. Usually, I will offer to give it a quick look over just to see if the problem is something really simple, but not to hold their breath. I will not spend more than 10 minutes on it, and that only when I'm taking a quick coffee break from proper paying work. When it's not worth doing, I will call them and tell them, and ask them to pick it up, as I don't want to be out of pocket on disposal costs. It's not worth keeping junk in the fond hope that it will come in handy sometime. When they come in to collect it, they will almost always ask how much they owe, and I will tell them that they owe nothing. THESE are the customers that will keep coming back.

All gear that is worth looking at, is subject to an estimate charge. This is made clear to new customers, and my returning customers all know, and expect it. They know that they will get an honest amount of time spent on it for the estimate charge, that they will get an honest opinion of what the final charge is *likely* to be ( do not confuse this with a hard quote, for which I make a higher charge if a customer requires one ), and they know that in either case, the charge - which is collected up front by the way - will be credited against their final bill.

To Scott, I say, good luck with your endeavours, and if you think that you can make a proper living, paying for your premises, running costs, phones, insurances and everything else, by giving your time away for free, then fine. Going for having a good standing in the community is very laudable, and I seriously hope that it works for you. If you can somehow weave this into a workable long-term business plan, that keeps your wife happy, and food on the table, great ! But I rather suspect that in a fairly short time, you will begin to find that the numbers don't work, and you will start to feel undervalued, and that this really is an awful business ...

Arfa

These so-called stings are a total crock. How do they know that there aren't other faults that any good repair technician will readily identify and charge for?

A small nominal charge would've been quite appropriate.

Bottom line is do what it takes (honestly) to maintain the bottom line.

Tom

I hate those stings and I don't even run a shop. How many techs would simply put the belt back on without doing some investigating as to why it fell off? I would at the very least replace the belt with a new one.

Same with one I saw where they put a blown fuse in something, no good tech would simply replace the fuse and call it good.

Then don't charge them to tell them what you already know.

I qualify people and their products before I take the $30 - 50 estimate fee. If the product is not likely to be worth repairing, I tell them that up front. If it is something that I have to evaluate to give them that info, I tell them that and let them make the decision as to whether the $ is worth the gamble. I find that people appreciate the honesty and rarely have anyone who takes issue with paying for my time and experience.

If the product is not worth the customer spending the money for the estimate, it is probably not worth fixing. It is certainly not worth my time. Our standing in the community is as high as it can be, as virtually all of our clients, and those who choose not to use our services, respect the fact that we are honest and up front with them in regard to the value of servicing vs not servicing. You simply cannot stay in business giving away your time. You generally don't get much credit for doing an estimate for free that results in a no fix because the cost is too high to make sense. You just end up with an unhappy customer and lost time. In our case, we turn those obvious no-fixes into a savings of $30 for the client with just a few minutes of talking to them and no paperwork. They leave with the feeling that we saved them $ and gave them the honest scoop when we could have just as easily tried to take their money. Instant referrals next time someone needs service. If the product is worth taking a look at, we are clear up front that the estimate fee applies to the repair, but if the product turns out to be too expensive to fix, that $ pays for my time and expertise. Advice is free until the product crosses the counter.

It is all in how you handle the client at the counter and on the phone. Tell them the truth, make things make sense to them in terms that they can understand, and you will get their business if you have a service they need. If they do not need what you have to offer then you send them on their way. If they are a nut who won't be satisfied no matter what, you give them the phone number for the manufacturer or the local ASC for that brand and tell them that they are better qualified than you are to handle the problem. You can always turn lemon into lemonade, but sometimes you have to be able to sell crap in the barnyard.

My dad used to say, just tell them "how the cow eats the cabbage."

Leonard

You can then end up spending a lot of time doing free estimates for a lot of junk that is not worth to service in the first place. Many of the older units that come in can be from fea markets and used appliance stores.

You should charge for an estimate, and indicate that the cost of the estimate may be applied to service the unit, or be put towards a replacement unit.

As we know, if a unit is out of warrenty, when considering how cheap it is to buy new low end to medium end equipment, most repairs are not worth doing in the first place. For many of the devices being manufacured, unless it is a very high end device, spare parts and factory support will be limited or non existant.

The service business is slowely coming to an end, as was the black-smith of the beginning of the last century.

Jerry G.

I would distinguish between telling the customer that something might be, or definitely isn't, worth repairing as opposed to opening the chassis and trying to make a spot diagnosis. The former would be free, but I'd want to charge for the latter which requires time, equipment or tools, and expertise.

You also need to have some way to avoid the dumpster divers who will take advantage and bring in every piece of junk they find in the trash for a free estimate. That's not the kind of repeat customer you want.

Scott Lane wrote:

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I never charge a fee up front on anything. I get alot of customers and I hardly have anything brought in that the customer has refused to fix. If you are a honest repairman and have a reasonable rate, customers will most of the time will fix and pick up. They will aslo come back with other things to fix. I have found from a few other shops that they don`t get to many people bringing in things. There is one shop that has a tech and he is lucky to get something every few weeks because of the charge up front. I found that most people here shy away from those fees because one place in perticular charges an estimate fee and the people leave there things there just to get a phone call by the time they get home saying it is not worth fixing that we will sell you something new. The nturn around that they find out that the set would of costed them maybe $80.00 to fix where they got suckered in to buying a new set that had costed $400. to $500. bucks.