atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Communication with Customers

I just had an interesting experience and thought that I would pass it along to all of you installers.
I work for a repair/refurbish company. We also sell manuals.
We recieved a Comdial phone for repair from a new end-user customer. We fixed the phone. When we contacted the customer about payment, they said it should be under warranty. We had never done any work for them before and the phone did not have one of our warranty stickers on it.
After several calls back and forth it turns out that the phone was purchased new from Comdial in February of this year, should be under warranty from Comdial.
The installer had given his customer a copy of a downloaded manual from our web site. The phone went down, the installer was on vacation, the customer was in a hurry to get the phone fixed, sent it to us (found address of web site on manual) thinking(stupidly, I admit) that we would honor Comdial's warranty.
Bottom line: please let your customers know who to send things to for warranty repair if it is not you!
This customer is now angry at his installer, for poor communication, angry at Comdial, because an almost new phone went down, and angry at me, for charging him for a repair. Nobody wins.

what the hell kind of installer goes on vacation without having backup....just another 1 man show in this business that is ruining it.

I don't thing your going to find that type of phone vendor on this board to get the message to. You shouldn't have to do it but you might consider telling customers that call you direct (or send product) that there is a charge for your service regardless of manufacture warranty.

Situations like that occur every day in this industry, I have been in places and had customers threaten to kill me because of the previous tech screwwing up the job!, I have had tenants on the other side of the building tell me that I can't touch the lines because they don't want me to f up there stuuf like I did the tenant I'm working on when I have never been there before!, it's all customer care my friends....

Mitch,

your missing the point. It is about staying in communication with your customer, whether your a one man show like a lot of companies or a large company. I bet you will find a lot of independant techs on this board, and if you ask their customers, they are getting better service from one guy than they got from the large companies. I am independant contractor. I sub for about a dozen companies in Colorado and I run my own customer base. I have 5 guys that work with me as the job dictates and when I go out of town, they cover things as needed. I know each of my customers by name, and they know me. I never have to guess what the guy before me did or told the customer. I have been in business for myself for 4 years and have never lost a customer. To imply a "one man show" is ruining this business is somewhat insulting. In fact, it is the "one man show" that keeps things going for most people. My customers aren't just companies with 5 or 10 people either(albeit they are as important to me as well), I have many companies that have revenue in excess of $10 million a year, several in excess of $100 million a year, and even a couple that will exceed the 2 billion dollar mark in sales for the year. I think you would find my situation a fairly common one if you asked a lot of the other people on this board. So next time you post your opinion on how someone handles themselves in this business, you should consider all the facts.

I hate to bash anyone ,but every comment Mitch makes is just plain silly! There are lots of good "one man shows" out here , seems like like you don't know much of anything! That is exactly right about getting better service that way (one on one basis). I sell it , install it,and maintain it. Where else are you going to get that? Most of my customers would not like getting service calls ,and have a different tech out each time! Anyway you would'nt make a pimple on my ass!!!!!Mitch the b!@#$

(One Man Show)
I have been on my own for about 8 years and our situation is identical to Z-man's, we have many small clients and just as many large clients and they all get the "One Man Show" personal touch. I see the larger companies folding left and right and guess who is still going strong, Yep the "One Man Show"

Its obvious you all have a bug up your ass with me, which is good cause I love every minute of it....

JUST REMEMBER ALL OF YOU LUZERS.......Ive been doing this stuff since 1982, long before half of you want to be's were born....

I can call it quits right now and take it easy......can you all??????....

So Suck me off.........

moderator adds:
this is Mitch the phone Man for those of you who don't know.

[This message has been edited by test-ok (edited August 18, 2003).]

Isnt this suppose to be a tech-talk board??
Why is there bashing of people here??

I just registered under a different name a couple of days ago expecting to find some support here and this is what I find...

added by moderator:
also know as highfalcon1, and mitchthephone man, but goes undercover so you don't know who he is.

[This message has been edited by test-ok (edited August 18, 2003).]

Some of us might disagree but we don't have a bug or make it personal. We are a two man show and do very well. I have been in this business since 1970 and I can and did retire. But I am back because I like this business. So, HighFalcon I disagree with you but respect how you feel. Can you do the same with us?