Advice on a on-site service call.

Recently I was called out of town for a on-site service call on a Epson DFX-5000+ printer. The customer called us up and asked us to come out because it was going over the same line once in a while. I got there and they showed me to the printer and described and showed me what it was doing. I got to work on it immediately. After I determined the problem and started working to correct it, the customer comes back into the room and says "I think it's still under warranty, let me check." Doh! No one had mentioned anything about the printer possibly being under warranty when they had called and, unfortunately, my business hasn't been able to convince Epson to let us become a Customer Care Center as there are two stores in my town that already are. Of course the only reason one of the stores is an Epson warranty store is because I used to work there and took the Epson Cert courses to keep them certified for warranty work. But I digress. To make a long story short, I finished the printer and ended up charging the customer for travel time and mileage since Epson on-site for these had run out. I couldn't charge for the labor though. Would any of you have handled it differently? Perhaps saying something like "If it's under warranty I can't continue. You need to call Epson for warranty work." I had thought about saying that, but the customer needed the printer up and running and I didn't want to risk the customer getting angry with my company for not fixing their printer. Any ideas how I can handle something like this in the future? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

That's a tuff call, but i would have explained to them that no mention of warranty was made to you, you will have to charge full rate. They called you to fix it. It's their ignorance that cost them the $ not yours, Unless of course they were a very good customer you had done business with in the past. I was once scammed by someone who called us and when i was done told me it's under warranty, i'll forward your bill to HP and they'll pay you.... we ended up turning it in to collections just to get even, it's amazing what lengths some will go to to save 75$......

It's not under warranty with you and you're the one they called...end of story.

I agree with Sowulo, but Ahcoraj has a point too.. If they are good customers and you wanted to keep their business great but otherwise I would definately charge or stopped doing anything. I have gotten into the habit of asking people before I remove even one screw if what they have is covered under warranty. Saved my but a couple of times. In the future I would try to remember to ask and if it is tell them the truth, people like that. It might loose you business now but in the future they will remember that you were honest. We have a pretty good reputation around here because we have lost sales because we are honest. " no sir you don't need a new computer if all you want to do is check e-mail. "

Good luck in the future.

GLSmith

[quote]Originally posted by Ahcoraj:
<strong>That's a tuff call, but i would have explained to them that no mention of warranty was made to you, you will have to charge full rate. They called you to fix it. It's their ignorance that cost them the $ not yours, Unless of course they were a very good customer you had done business with in the past. I was once scammed by someone who called us and when i was done told me it's under warranty, i'll forward your bill to HP and they'll pay you.... we ended up turning it in to collections just to get even, it's amazing what lengths some will go to to save 75$......</strong><hr></blockquote>

Ha had the same thing for less then that try $15 CDN I waited over 2.5 months for it.
An dbeleive me I couldn't have cared less about the puny $15 it was the satifaction of bugging the guy non-stop via Phone email fax for over two months.

But it goes to show some people are just plain cheap.

As soon as they informed you that it might be under warranty I would have made it clear that you will have to bill them for your labor if they wish you to continue.

Perhaps in the future when you receive calls of this type you might make a point to ask them if they think the product in question is under warranty.

My .02¢

Sowulo is right. It's not under Warranty with you. The fact of the matter is, YOU repaired it. You are not an authorized Epson Repair facility so you can't bill back the service charge to Epson. This is not reasonable because the printer is repaired at no cost to anyone. Essentially, you paid (with your time) for the repair. Just because you found out after the fact that it was under warranty does not absolve the customer from paying for the repair.

They could go to Epson with the paid invoice for the repair & try to recoup the money, but that is not your problem, it's theirs.

Part of being a good businessperson is explaining unpalatable things to customers. I would charge them & be very clear in explaining why. You could give them a break on the price if they are a good customer, but even that is not necessary under these circumstances.

I have the same kind of mentality as hippie_tech... I can see why I'm not obligated to do the work under warranty, but it's hard when you're standing there, trying to fix their machine, already having made a trip, and certainly not wanting to start in on a billing debate, to start defending your right to charge for your work.

I've worked as a tech and as a dispatcher. I can appreciate both parts of the job. But I ABHOR performing both duties for the same job. I can do the work, or I can do the administration and billing, but not both. It's too awkward for me.

So in the end, it's best to try to be as up front as you can with your charges: field warranty and billing concerns BEFORE doing the work. Tell your customer to have a check ready before you leave. try to eliminate these things coming up while you're on the job. it's too distracting.

I have to agree with everyone else here in the fact that you performed a service that the customer requested of you and you should be entitled to be compensated for your time at your standard service rates. The fact that you were extremely accomodating to your customer by charging them a minimal fee, excluding your standard rates, is HIGHLY commendable on your part. Hopefully your competency in performing the work and getting them out of a bind and your willingness to work out a compromise on the billing will win you a regular customer... at regular rates!

If the stupid A$$ would have bought an HP printer, they'd have no need for a service call. Epson sux!!!

I have to admire how you handled the situation, though. Next time, bilk 'em for every penny!!!

To bring up a point not yer taken....

You needed to CYOA here. If something were to come up in the near future and the customer calls the Epson Center for service, there is no telling what can come of it. We are a Epson, IBM, Lexmark, Brother and Compaq warranty center and have seen too many times where they have denied a warranty claim for a customer because an unauthorized agent had serviced the unit.

Most of the time they blame the problem on the tech who last serviced it. This then brings it back to you and you never even got paid for the service you provided and now are in a fight with them over the current service.

All of the above manufacturers state clearly in their warranty statements that ALL repairs while in warranty must be performed by an authorized agent (some do give way to self servicers though). Any deviation of this voids the warranty. Most of time it is never brought forth, but when you are in to an intermittent problem, you ask all kinds of questions (like who last serviced it). Thats when it could bite both the customer and you in the rear.

Our policy, up front, is that if the unit is under warranty with another party, the customer needs to have them service it. If they still wants us to service the equipment, all parts and labor is due on delivery. We do not even try to get the parts for them (most of the agencies request a credit card to charge to until they get the defective part back and most of the time it is a severe fight to get the credit back). We also have a form for the customer to fill out stateing they understand we make no claims as to their warranty with XYZ and are not servicing their equipment as a warranty call.

If they want reimbursed they must do so on their time.

Its always an emergency. The customer always needs it yesterday. Some people feed on the good will of guys like you. You really should have known before you left your office whether the printer was under warranty. Some people are just dumber than a bag of rocks and, like I said, some like to prey on the generosity of others....

My professional organization, OACETT, has a code of ethics which prevents me from working for free:

[quote]...uphold the principle of appropriate and adequate compensation for the performance of their work.<hr></blockquote>

I don't work for free, and neither should you or anybody else! You deserve to be paid for your work.

I would have let them know that they were being billed once I found out and if they didnt want to pay for it I would have found a polite way to step away from the task, explaining to them that if it is to be done for no chage then a warranty center would have to do the work for them.

Fortunately I learned my lesson on that one a long time ago. Now I make sure everything is understood before the client even sees me. Billing is discussed over the phone after possible problems are identified, and after I ask them a few questions regarding their machine. Who built it? How long have they had it? When was the last time it was serviced?....ect. Its sounds like the Gestapo at work but if your poilite about it people get the understanding that you might care about what your doing for them.

Man! was that first paragraph of mine a run on sentence or what!! LOL :D

Seems to me to be a very basic issue:

1] Yeah, you experienced a "mental hiccup" about inquiring whether there was a warranty...but, remember, the warranty question is not your problem. I don't bring a Ford to a Chevy dealer, or a mom and pop garage, and then suddenly remember it's still under warranty! They'll smile, in an understanding way, and hand me the bill.

2] Using the "Ford" example...I don't know about the "average" customer [if there is such a thing], but with stuff that I have, and most other people have, there's a pretty good idea about what's still covered by manufacturer's warranties...and a pretty general understanding of the fact that warranty work gets done at approved services centers.

You did nothing wrong, in fact I think you might've been purposely misled, either because the company wanted to squeak past paying for the service right away, or [my gut tells me] they just wanted a quick solution without "warranty hassle."

Send the bill, remember this in your mental database for future reference, and call it a day!

I agree with some of the other posts above.

They called you, the warranty is their problem. I would have charged for t&m along with trip charge, etc.

They should know what is and what is not out of warranty.

Caviat emptor!!!

Kenny P.
Visualize Whirled Peas