It is your fault!

[fixthecopier]

I went to a Lanier C520, that the W/O said put part on customer has. I show up and find the part to be the gate on the switchback unit. They have no service contract and the girl in the office has been doing minor work on it. The fins on the gate were broke and she finished trimming them off. I pull the fuser to look and parts of fins fell out. I put the gate in and made a couple of test copies, then the sound of plastic ripping. The belt is shredded. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN ? they wanted to know. I pull all the I.U.'s and on the black one I found a piece of a black fin laid next to the drum. I show them all and say I will order them a belt. I called them with the price. They said they will call back, and when they did it was to say I did it. Wrong Answer, if I had not already quoted the price, I would have doubled it. So, how often is it your fault?

[zed255]

Never been accused, but to be honest if I do make a mistake then I fix it without added cost. I have been pressed by cheapskates to 'just clean' units that are generally unserviceable. I always make it clear that there is the risk that it may, or rather is likely, to end up worse and that they will have to replace it if cleaning is unsuccessful. I get the total agreement beforehand and never had a problem.

As for your situation, personally I'd have actually counted the pieces to ensure I had then all and not run it till the puzzle looked complete. You could always compromise by saying customer pays for the part and installation for no additional charge.

[blackcat4866]

Like zed, if it's truly my oversight I'll cover it. Anyone who's been in this business any length of time has flipped a drum blade or two.

Funny story:
I was sent out to look at a Mita 313ZD that the scanner was slamming into the left frame on return and resulting in a scanner code. It was a very common problem at the time. There was a mod kit to install a foam cushion to help brake the scanner (not "break"... "brake"). Then to replace the $1.00 fuse that blows on the power supply.

The Enduser says to me that his brother-in-law works for Stockton (a local Mita dealer) and the brother-in-law says that it needs a scanner motor. At the time I had a whole fleet of 313Z and 313ZD in the field, and had never replaced a scanner motor, but on a dozen occasions had replaced the mod kit and fuse. I shared this bit of advice with the enduser, and he was having none of it. He wanted the damn scanner motor.

Well, I can't return electrical parts, so I informed the enduser that if perchance the problem was not the scanner motor he would still have to pay for it, and in addition may want the mod kit and fuse. He says "Fine!"

You can see where this is going. Yes it didn't need the $200 scanner motor. No I can't return it. Yes he would like the mod kit and fuse now. =^..^=

[Stirton.M]

Usually on any given service call, I try to have the user near by on the initial inspection. Not always can be done of course, but preferable. I will always make a point to ensuring they are aware of a problem they may have caused themselves before I proceed any further.

In Fix the Copier's case, I likely would have done the same as him. Not always do I look for a part that may have broken off and went somewhere, unless I did the breaking or dropping (how many screws have we all dropped inside the machine?)...

But the customer themselves having "modified" this part before my arrival is an automatic charge call to repair the damage. The customer has no business messing with something they do have the ability to fix properly. In this case, it was obvious the customer had been messing with the machine. If they left it without trying to 'fix' it themselves, fixthecopier I think would have looked for the broken parts of the gate. But I do not think it his fault for the additional damage caused after the fact.

[OMD-227]

I once was blamed by the customer for 'planting' a staple inside their machine (non-contract, full charge client). The guy was so sure that I planted the fault that he went around the entire office and gathered every single stapler to match the staple size as it didnt fit any of his office staplers.
The guy was getting quite mad & offensive, all along while I though this is the easiest call ever. The guy even rang my office and complained that I had deliberately planted a staple in his machine to justify the service charges. The boss told him to grow up!

I just shrugged my shoulders, left the workorder on his desk (fully charged out) and left. We never heard of him again, but he had a reputation of always switching between service companies when things didnt go his way.

Not my loss.

[mrwho]

Had my share of drums damaged by me - always told my boss about it and then, if it was a paying customer, he'd get another one free - or, if he had a used drum, with, let's say, 50% life left, he'd only pay for half of the new drum (since he'd get an extra 50% life out of it); or else another used drum in good condition.

Never had any customers try to blame me for something I didn't do - maybe I got lucky?