How does one respond to this ..?

[unclejed613]

our company changes the warranty status of NPF (no problem found) units to a store paid status, so the NPF never becomes a manufacturer warranty issue. so the store pays us, and we save whatever NPF dings that the manufacturer allows for after the unit is purchased. so once a customer buys it, if the manufacturer allows 2 NPF tags to be paid, then the customer doesn't have to worry about whether the manufacturer already paid for one on that serial number before they bought it. since the store is paying for it, it shows up on their budget, and hopefully losing money off of their budget will motivate them to train their store personnel better.

[anatech]

Hi unclejed613,
Nice solution, but it would never fly in Canada. I did try that, and I always got a reversed charge and minimum warranty for our trouble. I even lost one warranty contract (they gave it to the store in question!!), not that I was unhappy to see that one go at all. I think that was Alpine as they started into crap. Gord Harper was in charge of the service dept (with no management skills or training, he was a warehouse guy!!!). He also decided that we got no raise (that was every shop) and now we had to code everything, which is their job. For $25 per, they could keep their work! Alpine is now saddled with Mr Harper in the USA, he was in Canada.

Nah, it was easier to be honest and straight up with the distributors. As we lost the lower paying contracts, I also realized they took far more of our time to look after than the better players (like Nakamichi or McIntosh). So we ended up losing a ton of paperwork and chasing around for an easier, and better paying type of work. We even had to get rid of Marantz after TC Electronics got them, with Philips ownership. Yuk. Now of course, I'd like to run a service department with brands like Marantz again. Just well made, reliable stuff.

-Chris

[unclejed613]

it works for our company, and works quite well. our company is big enough to be one of the "800lb gorillas", so we can pretty much call the shots when it comes to store paid status items. it keeps our headaches and the manufacturers headaches to a minimum. usually store pay items are damaged in shipping, or at the store, so isn't covered under manufacturer warranty anyway, so we folded the NPFs into that category and everybody is happy. the manufacturer has less paperwork to process, as well as fewer NPF claims to pay, our service center gets paid, the store gets equipment back that is working and with information to help keep them from repeating the same mistake (although it seems they rarely apply it), and the customer gets equipment with no prior dings against the warranty.

[anatech]

Hi unclejed613,
Well, I wish it would have worked for us. We did try. You're right though, it makes so much sense and it saves the distributor money. That's what we thought at the time.

The dealers here generally had too much clout. It's a Canadian thing I think. I checked with my wife and she says we were actually doing about a mil a year. We were well respected for our work on top of that.

I did have one rule that worked well for us, two actually.

1. If it has a handle, we don't fix it (except for Revox open reels).

2. Once we refuse to deal with a company or individual, it was forever. Once that got around, we had fewer idiots to deal with. Everyone seemed to have thought of an angle.

These days, I only service by appointment. I don't have to deal with anyone I don't like anymore. There are times when you're simply toasted because that person just happened to walk through your door. My answer was to hand them back their unit unrepaired, at no charge. Then classify them as one of those we don't deal with.

-Chris