| Electronics > Repair |
| Charging by the hour is unfair! |
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| David_AVD:
--- Quote from: SteveThackery on July 07, 2024, 05:43:28 pm ---In the world of clock and watch repairs it is quite common for a repair to cost more than the commercial value of the product, because many clocks and watches have a strong sentimental value. One thing that sometimes happens is that the customer realises they don't miss their clock very much after all, so they just never come back and pay. The repairer is left with a clock they've just spent four hours on and which might fetch a hundred bucks on eBay if they are lucky. --- End quote --- This can happen in other repair industries too, including electronics and is why I charge an upfront fee. It makes the customer think more clearly about the risk of a non repair and it also provides a minimum return for my time (and possibly parts) if they never collect it. If it's just you working from home such losses are not as bad (I worked from home originally), but if you're paying commercial rent and have employees the losses bite harder. I would estimate that even after filtering out the obvious "not worth looking at" jobs (before booking in), I end up with one item per week on average that doesn't end up repaired. Sometimes it's because it's just not possible, but most times it would be because the total repair bill would be too high. In maybe 75% of those cases the customer does not want the item back so it goes onto a shelf in the "graveyard" area of the workshop or maybe straight to the e-waste pallet if I don't think there's any usable parts in it. Several times I have been able to repair a customer's item with a (otherwise unobtainable or expensive) part that came from a written off unit. Customers who leave their dead item are actually happy that it could help someone else. Occasionally I'll have someone (maybe not even an existing customer) drop in with an item and ask if I want it for parts. Most times I accept it as even if I don't need anything from it I'd rather put it in e-waste than have them put it into general waste (the ground). |
| SMdude:
I think that it highly depends on what things you are repairing. If you are repairing the same items day in day out, then no repair no fee is generally reasonable as the difficult ones become a learning exercise that will benefit you in the future of being able to identify the problem quickly. However, if you are repairing all kinds of oddball stuff, then there needs to be an upfront fee or at least a good understanding that they will pay something even if it is not repaired, but not as much as if it were repaired. For me to just give my time to random strangers for free, it doesn't work well. I have enough things to do without doing pointless jobs. Do random strangers after having me work on their gear mow the grass, do some gardening, fix my car, paint the house just as some extra freebies for me? :-DD NO! Its a two way street right? If you want something for nothing, so do I! That being said, if you are newer to electronic repair and your success rate is not that good, then it is probably a good thing to do no fix no fee until you are more competent and confident in your work. Then after you have gained good experience and now have a much higher success rate, then you are more entitled to ask for something for your time as if you have not been able to repair it, you may have sunk a lot of extra time into it already. Most of my work is fixed fee, but I work on niche products that I know inside out. However when someone presents an unknown device you have to set some limits as to how much time you are willing to spend on it and let the customer know. |
| all_repair:
Agreed. Is it a business or a charity? The proposed formula is neither a busniess nor a charity. Treasure your skill, and also treasure the good meaning. Charge as high as your skill can fetch, that is a respect to your skill and time. And when meeting clients from charitable organisations needing your repair and skill go much further than no-fix-no-fee. That is what I think can make a fairer society. Most charitable organisations we met would like us to charge as normal and be profitable, so to survive and keep playing our useful role, and be a donor if we think they are also playing their useful roles. |
| SmallCog:
I'm an electronics technician in my day job, but I don't do work for members of the public so costings aren't really a thing like they would be when you're charging a job out. Previously I've made a bit of beer money doing repairs for people. These have just been simple things like replacing a USB socket or repairing a cable or something like that. Not really electronics, more mechanical really. These were all done on a fixed price basis with no fix no fee. This was simplest for everyone concerned, there was no real diagnostics involved on my part, I knew what I'd need to supply as far as parts, and they knew what they'd be up for in regards to costs to decide if it was worth repairing or not. I certainly wouldn't take on a job involving complex diagnostics on a fixed price basis. It's been quite a while since I did paid repairs for people, but I do volunteer at a repair cafe doing basic repairs. From my experience you can get upset/disappointed customers even when it's a free service to help people. We are very specific in that we don't provide parts and those who seek our help need to source/bring their own. Whilst can often fix things by simply cleaning a contact or a bit of soldering sometimes a faulty item needs parts. Luckily in Australia retailers like Jaycar are still an option to pop into and buy a new connector or a switch or a capacitor yet we've had people get quite upset that we don't just have all of these things here to give them for free and that they need to be the one to go for a short drive and get the parts needed. Luckily the majority of people who visit are not like this and are appreciative of the principle of the repair cafe in that a volunteer will sit with you and help you fix your item. Most things that we fix would not be economical to take in to be repaired and would simply be e-waste if not fixed by us. |
| SteveThackery:
--- Quote from: all_repair on July 08, 2024, 02:45:38 am ---Agreed. Is it a business or a charity? The proposed formula is neither a busniess nor a charity. --- End quote --- No fix / no fee doesn't turn a business into a charity. The proposed formula is - according to our contributors - already used by some successful businesses. |
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