The last thing I repaired is a pedal bin. It needs an extra spring or the lid won't close when you release the pedal. We use an elastic rubber band for that, that breaks and needs to be replaced every three years or so. It broke yesterday.
Attachments
Last edited:
Upon opening our shop, we gave free estimates too, to bring in customers.
But reality sucks, and in order to stay in business, we had to charge a fee upon taking in stuff.
This was partly to compensate for customers abandoning stuff that they turned down for service, and to help with overhead costs.
As for the "personal" sale I listed on CL..
Well, I bet you wouldn't declare it either......LOL!
I learned early in life, the best way to "get ahead" financially, and to survive, is to use some "smarts", and keep in mind the old phrase "an eye for an eye".
Since those organizations screw people, ya gotta screw them back at any chance you can get.
Last edited:
What some people don't seem to understand is that "messing with the original sound" often causes those fatiguing issues.
Distortion is naturally involved in part of it, but analog is how we hear, how we speak.. analog waves is how sound travels through the air.
Now, with that clearly stated, add in some digital spice, and a touch of SMPS sauce.
You've got some frequency fundamentals and their harmonics from each to deal with.
The SMPS frequency, mixed with the digital one, wasn't a part of the music.
Irregardless of how much buffering/filtering of the resulting signal is involved, you've now manipulated the original sound around to make it "suitable" for listening.
The purity is lost, it's back somewhere at those input jacks.
This can be argued by some of course, I've had heated discussions already, so anybody here can shove those comments, I've heard them all.
Hi kodabmx,
Hmm, refused estimates. I developed a very fair policy and over the years everyone seems to agree with it.
Anything worth repair that is refused is subject to a 1/2 hour labour charge. I am highly skilled, I have equipment and parts to use and my space. My time is well worth something.
Something not worth or recommended to repair. I do not charge anything, but people still leave their junk here at times. I still have had to look at it, write it up, store it and now lug it away. A dead loss for me.
Something I didn't recommend repairing but the client decided to go ahead against my advice. They are liable for any and all service time and parts up to the point where it has been determined to be very unadvisable to repair. If the recommendation to not repair is due to reliability or previous repair damage, I may have way more than an hour invested or maybe a partial repair when a hidden fault appears.
Being in service, we take a great amount of risk in trying to help people. Many folks are not honest in reporting all the faults that exist, so we have to discover them one by one. That blows the estimate out of the water. The other issue is that almost no one reports that "their friend tried to fix it", or that the unit has been elsewhere first. This tends to create a great deal more work than a simple failure that you assume when you go to fix it and give an estimate. This creates our biggest losses as a technician.
These days as soon as I discover I am fixing damage from a previous service attempt, I stop and tally up the service cost to that point. I call the customer and give them the option, but let them know what the bill is right now if they want to bail. They might respond with "but you gave me an estimate for x dollars", my response it that they were not honest with me about the history of the unit. There is a legal provision for "hidden damage", so you aren't being dishonest at all. Nor are you being unfair to the client.
These days with so many absolute hack "technicians", dishonest customers and deal seekers out there you really have to be on your toes. Our losses can be heavy, so when equipment is abandoned, the customer has relinquished it to our care. If we come out ahead in those rare cases it only serves to help mitigate our losses from those same situations.
I am honest with every customer and never attempt to take advantage of them. I recently had an amplifier that I did work on, and discovered a previous repair that actually caused the amplifier to fail. The customer refused the additional estimate (I ended up on the losing end of course). I called someone I knew looking for a similar amplifier, he agreed to the estimate and I completed the work. I gave the amplifier to this person for the cost of repair only. So I only made money from the repair as I should have, but not for the amplifier. I did call the original owner and told him what was happening in case he changed his mind. 100% honest and transparent. The original customer was satisfied, and later came to the conclusion he should have repaired the amplifier. He was the one in the driver's seat the entire time, I almost had to pay the price for someone else's really bad work. I'm not always that lucky.
-Chris
Hmm, refused estimates. I developed a very fair policy and over the years everyone seems to agree with it.
Anything worth repair that is refused is subject to a 1/2 hour labour charge. I am highly skilled, I have equipment and parts to use and my space. My time is well worth something.
Something not worth or recommended to repair. I do not charge anything, but people still leave their junk here at times. I still have had to look at it, write it up, store it and now lug it away. A dead loss for me.
Something I didn't recommend repairing but the client decided to go ahead against my advice. They are liable for any and all service time and parts up to the point where it has been determined to be very unadvisable to repair. If the recommendation to not repair is due to reliability or previous repair damage, I may have way more than an hour invested or maybe a partial repair when a hidden fault appears.
Being in service, we take a great amount of risk in trying to help people. Many folks are not honest in reporting all the faults that exist, so we have to discover them one by one. That blows the estimate out of the water. The other issue is that almost no one reports that "their friend tried to fix it", or that the unit has been elsewhere first. This tends to create a great deal more work than a simple failure that you assume when you go to fix it and give an estimate. This creates our biggest losses as a technician.
These days as soon as I discover I am fixing damage from a previous service attempt, I stop and tally up the service cost to that point. I call the customer and give them the option, but let them know what the bill is right now if they want to bail. They might respond with "but you gave me an estimate for x dollars", my response it that they were not honest with me about the history of the unit. There is a legal provision for "hidden damage", so you aren't being dishonest at all. Nor are you being unfair to the client.
These days with so many absolute hack "technicians", dishonest customers and deal seekers out there you really have to be on your toes. Our losses can be heavy, so when equipment is abandoned, the customer has relinquished it to our care. If we come out ahead in those rare cases it only serves to help mitigate our losses from those same situations.
I am honest with every customer and never attempt to take advantage of them. I recently had an amplifier that I did work on, and discovered a previous repair that actually caused the amplifier to fail. The customer refused the additional estimate (I ended up on the losing end of course). I called someone I knew looking for a similar amplifier, he agreed to the estimate and I completed the work. I gave the amplifier to this person for the cost of repair only. So I only made money from the repair as I should have, but not for the amplifier. I did call the original owner and told him what was happening in case he changed his mind. 100% honest and transparent. The original customer was satisfied, and later came to the conclusion he should have repaired the amplifier. He was the one in the driver's seat the entire time, I almost had to pay the price for someone else's really bad work. I'm not always that lucky.
-Chris
There are exactly two ways to get ahead financially.
1. Cheat.
2. Adopt a lifestyle which uses approximately HALF of your annual income to fully execute. Not hard if you make $120k a year - living on 60 is easy. Gets harder starting with 60k, but not impossible. It IS IMPOSSIBLE starting with 30k. Can’t even pay the rent with 15 unless you like getting shot at every other day. Odds of survival make the whole thing moot and you might as well just live paycheck to paycheck.
Well said.
The insurance costs alone for our husband-wife business, not including personal vehicles, home, etc., tally $32,000/year. The cost of self-employment can be staggering. However, we've been able to survive a 50% downturn in income during the pandemic because we are able to live on quite little after paying all of the fixed costs of being in business. Still means we need to generate a lot just to pay those.
I get so few people wanting a repair anyway - even if I only charge 30$/hour.
Most people would rather throw it away and buy another one rather than pay >100$ to fix an old POS.
In the rare occasion the person doesn't accept the estimate and says "keep it" I get free parts.
My overhead is zero - my shop is my studio apartment 🙂
It doesn't help that I'm not a capitalist. I try to break even - anything else is a bonus 🙂
Most people would rather throw it away and buy another one rather than pay >100$ to fix an old POS.
In the rare occasion the person doesn't accept the estimate and says "keep it" I get free parts.
My overhead is zero - my shop is my studio apartment 🙂
It doesn't help that I'm not a capitalist. I try to break even - anything else is a bonus 🙂
Hi kodabmx,
Been doing this for over 45 years.
I only care that you are doing the work properly and using new parts (it's the law except in certain circumstances and then you must notify the customer you are using used parts).
It doesn't matter how much you charge, you must do the work properly. If you can't, or do not have the equipment required to do it properly, there is no way you should ever touch another person's equipment.
I think most service people would back me up on this. I am so tired of cleaning up after poor work, and this costs me actual money I often can't charge for. Do you know how often I hear "I already pair x dollars to fix this, so I am not going to spend much more"? It isn't my problem someone paid to have crappy work done. There is a problem that will cost some money to fix. bad work before always makes the repair harder. That means it costs me money to clean up after someone else.
So if you do a good job - fantastic! If not, please do not repair other people's equipment.
Been doing this for over 45 years.
I only care that you are doing the work properly and using new parts (it's the law except in certain circumstances and then you must notify the customer you are using used parts).
It doesn't matter how much you charge, you must do the work properly. If you can't, or do not have the equipment required to do it properly, there is no way you should ever touch another person's equipment.
I think most service people would back me up on this. I am so tired of cleaning up after poor work, and this costs me actual money I often can't charge for. Do you know how often I hear "I already pair x dollars to fix this, so I am not going to spend much more"? It isn't my problem someone paid to have crappy work done. There is a problem that will cost some money to fix. bad work before always makes the repair harder. That means it costs me money to clean up after someone else.
So if you do a good job - fantastic! If not, please do not repair other people's equipment.
I don't attempt a repair I'm not capable of doing. Anything to do with radio comes to mind. In fact, I think I asked you about repairing a tube FM stereo board for me once.
OTOH, if it was going to be garbage anyway, I'll take a shot at it. Nothing to lose in that case.
I never use used parts, in fact, I only spec high quality parts for repair. If the customer doesn't want to pay extra for the parts, they can take it elsewhere.
The last "repair" I did for free for a customer - he had a Yamaha with scratchy pots. I cleaned them with contact cleaner and Deoxit F5 and he was happy. He later commissioned a preamp and power amp from me to replace it with.
Before that, it was bad transistors in the preamp stage of a Marantz 2215. Charged him 70$. He gave me a 10$ tip. 🙂
OTOH, if it was going to be garbage anyway, I'll take a shot at it. Nothing to lose in that case.
I never use used parts, in fact, I only spec high quality parts for repair. If the customer doesn't want to pay extra for the parts, they can take it elsewhere.
The last "repair" I did for free for a customer - he had a Yamaha with scratchy pots. I cleaned them with contact cleaner and Deoxit F5 and he was happy. He later commissioned a preamp and power amp from me to replace it with.
Before that, it was bad transistors in the preamp stage of a Marantz 2215. Charged him 70$. He gave me a 10$ tip. 🙂
If you're talking about the freebee, yes it was, but better for me.
2000$ system I sold him. Made about 600$
Hi kodabmx,
I'm not criticizing you. My only single concern is that any work done for other people is done properly.
When poor work is done, the customer loses, and so does every technician that has to deal with the mess. I have met people that actually think they have a right to do work and charge for it with little to no training, no equipment.
This is becoming more of a problem and it is too bad the government isn't involved. Years ago I would have fought the idea of government regulating the "industry", but these days it is clear that this is really needed.
I'm not criticizing you. My only single concern is that any work done for other people is done properly.
When poor work is done, the customer loses, and so does every technician that has to deal with the mess. I have met people that actually think they have a right to do work and charge for it with little to no training, no equipment.
This is becoming more of a problem and it is too bad the government isn't involved. Years ago I would have fought the idea of government regulating the "industry", but these days it is clear that this is really needed.
In addtion to that post #2305, which I can totally relate to, Chris's posts are dead-on for us in the service industry.
I've had all that mentioned happen to me as well.
Luckily, I'd figure about 97% of my customers were pleased with my work through the decades.
We all get that *occasional* customer that gives us stress, it's part of the job.
We chew it and move on. - like they say, "you can't please everybody all the time".
Our time is money as they say, as I've always run a shop as efficiently and profitably as possible, despite those unseen setbacks that crop up.
One lovely situation years ago - we lost power at the shop due to a car accident up the street.
This meant we were dead-in-the-water until the power company (PECO) repaired the pole and wires that was down.
A customer came in on his lunch break to check on his stereo repair that he brought in a few days earlier.
While we all sat relaxing in the shop's lobby due to not being able to work, he asked us why we were being lazy, and that he needed his stereo fixed.
This naturally made us wary of his attitude, however we told him the power was out and why.
He gave us a snotty answer, something about using battery-operated lighting and stuff, and that his house was not happy without his stereo.
I just shook my head. 🙄
Those "backyard mechanics" types don't know crap about Liability Issues, and/or Electrical Codes.
Once a lawsuit kicks then in the pants and bank account, maybe then they'll understand.
We have the lovely internet to thank for that increasing problem.
Last edited:
100% agree! I too have received the "after repair". Rarely entertaining.
Government should get involved RE: right to repair at least.
Those who rip people off should be flogged (Not the UK meaning) but again just my opinion... I could be mistaken.
Last edited:
Maybe from the proliferation of information perspective, but Uncle Bob always tried to fix the toaster... It just wasn't in your face like now, right?
Correct!
There was always the Uncle Bob, as far back as the early days, and the magazine tutorials on DIY stuff. - cars, anything.
But... back in those days society was different, in which people mainly relied on service shops for repairs.
And life was good for our busnesses.
But I've noticed, and Chris can agree on this... that ever since the internet, more and more people have gotten their filthy hands into more stuff, and don't know what they're doing. - and some hoping to save money in the end - relying on the internet "self-proclaimed masters" for assistance, which is NOT, and will NEVER be the same as having that equipment on a trained and educated tech's workbench.
This "trend" of sorts, has affected, as Chris pointed out, our profession, causing us more grief and costs at times.
You don't know how many times at the shop I wanted to scream and yell and tell people to stay the hell out of their stuff.
It made my job harder, it held up, due to the added bench-time, other customers work, causing them also to get on my case.
Bad enough I sometimes had to tell the customer that I had to order parts, or deal with a backorder, which added delay to a job - they never liked hearing that.
Not my problem.
It's true. From my prospective, the "No User Serviceable Parts Inside -- Refer Servicing to Qualified Personnel" was always horseshit. It was a good indication of whether or not to leave the thing in the trash - tube stuff didn't say that. It's been twenty years since I found anything with tubes (not CRT) in the garbage though.
Now I'm older, I realize it's not about fixing the thing, it's about stupid people "putting their hand in the vise and closing it"... "Pilot lamps soldered in place" was another one I loved... "Who doesn't know how to solder? Any fool can do that can't they?"
Apparently I give more credit to people than they deserve.
Now I'm older, I realize it's not about fixing the thing, it's about stupid people "putting their hand in the vise and closing it"... "Pilot lamps soldered in place" was another one I loved... "Who doesn't know how to solder? Any fool can do that can't they?"
Apparently I give more credit to people than they deserve.
Last edited: