Responding to non- techs

[Scott_Lewis]

@ ScottLewis
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Phew, that was a mouthful.

Ideed!

The "clown" that I had in mind is more like the paper pusher in the office that would make a comment about how the tech must not know what they were doing if it took longer than 5 minutes to diagnose or fix a machine.

There is no pleasing some clients. Fortunately they seem to be few and far between.

FWIW, most of the time I enjoy showing anyone interested what is going on with a machine.

@ EVERYONE. If anything I have said here or elsewhere has offended anyone, I apologize. I do my level best to speak fairly and honestly. It’s sometimes hard to not make a comment when something is best left alone or unsaid.

No worries.

Time to get back to fixin machines.

[banginbishop]

Just been on the Ricoh board and hey we have an end user who didn't want a service contract and now finds his printer giving him trouble - shock horror its also out of warranty!!!

TUFF S**T. Why should I do the training course, take the exams and give my experience and knowledge to you for free.

Let’s get this straight for any one out there - take your car to a dealer like Ford and ask them "got a problem with my car - tell me how to fix it mate"

There gona tell you to **** off. What’s the point of training their staff just to give the customer free diagnostics and solve the problem and not paying the dealer for his EXPERT abilities that theve gone and spent money training for!

I stopped looking at another website because engineers were giving out service codes to anyone - are we mad! Giving service codes to the untrained is suicidal with the damage that can be done. If you’re not an engineer you don't use the code because you don't know what you’re doing so why do engineers insist on giving them out!

If a customer wants my knowlege(not a lot) , they can pay for it. Get a service contract or become an engineer. Training courses cost money so why give what you learned for free.

I'll give any engineer a hand or advice if i can give it, but not to the untrained - they chose their job i chose mine.

[FAMUSBOB]

Im 45,,,bin Doin This Since I Was 18,,,,,ive Found That All My Customers Want To Be My Freind,,,,,,why,,,,,they Want Something For Free,,,,,i Really Love The Ones Who Cry Poor Mouth As Their Zooming Away In Their 500slk,,,,,to Their Mansion On The Hill Because Thier Spoiled Rotten Little Rug Rats Dont Want Ppj After Their Riding Lessons,,,,,,,telling Me The Checks In The Mail 30 Days After The Call,,,,,man I Could Go On All Day And All Night,,,,,,no Freebies For Any Customers,,,,its Time To Get Paid,,,,,,,is Your Doctor,,,,lawyer,,,acountant,,,,,or Any Other Blood Sucker Gonna Give You A Break ,,,i Dont Think So,,seems Like The Ones With All The Jingle Are The Ones Who Want A Break,,,,,,cheap !@#$'s,,,,we Are In This Together,,,,,, Like A Brotherhood,,,,,people Who Are Not In The Biz Should Call 1900service,,,,,,you Will Be Billed 19.95 A Minute,,,,,please Hold

[cucuklotz]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamen

[Ollie1981]

Most customers I deal with are less than willing to perform even the most perfunctory tasks.

For instance, replacing a PCU in a Russian (Aficio 270 upto MP3010) it's no more difficult than replacing the toner bottle, but most of the "office Doris" type customers have an abject fear of the working innards of anything. As far as they are concerned the copier is a box inhabited by magic toner pixies toiling with tiny pens at 27cpm to produce their copied documents and not evil complicated technological type stuff.

But if they demand a call out to replace a comsumable item, then they pay. Simple as that! They can argue with me all they want, refuse to sign and provide an order number etc, I will still bill - read the wording of the service contract you signed then decide if you want to press the issue further.

Even other simple stuff, such as checking the size and orientation dials in the paper trays, making sure the side fences are butted up to the paper, making sure the slit glass and exposure glass are free from dirt and correction fluid etc etc, I know you guys have heard and attended it all before. Phone help is free, a site attendance carries a bill if it's for something stupid.

As for non-techs trying to fix stuff - Ha ha ha!! I've only been a copier tech for a year or so but before this I used to repair TV sets and VCRs. Just like copiers as far as most customers where concerned a TV worked via the means of Leprechauns holding pictures up at a rate 30 frames per second and the actual innards were to be feared at all costs.

You only get the odd one, usually the kind of guy (and it's ALWAYS a guy) who thinks he's smarter than he actually is, dismantles the equipment far beyond what was actually required to repair the original fault, when he can't see "anything obviously wrong with it" and "can't remember how it all goes back together" he finally calls for a tech.

Then he (or most likely his company) has to pay for his arrogance and stupidity.

I'll give an answer to a genuine, politely worded question from anyone, any demands for free help NOW!!!!! can take a hike, I get paid to take crap from customers 9-5 Mon/Fri but I'm on this board in my own time, I don't owe free help to anyone. Also though I try to be as accurate as possible no guarantees are made or implied and whatever the recipient does with that information is on their own back.

If they screw up the machine worse and come back here thinking that I'm taking liability for that then they can bite me.

[Tonerbomb]

We have 2 eat and feed our families too! I just had a disagreement with a customer on contract(8-5 M-f in writting) about why the after hours rate was so much and why his contract wouldn't cover part of the "after hours expense". He opt'ed to wait till the next business day. They all want more at OUR expense.

P.S. They called for service at 5:00 pm on friday and wanted service that night or on saturday.

[theo]

when i read this thread im very much impress with ur comments and suggestions. being new in this business i need to have info to the much experienced one. key to unlock kwldge and skills i need in this changing world. perhaps it only happens when sharing and helping each other.


i agreed that sometimes customer want info how to fix the problem (thinking maybe the problem is simple,easy need only cheap solution)
doing thier own repair. its up to the technician if he thinks it is good if he allow the info. customer have limited kwledge in this job. sometimes, problem is easy becomes worst if customer become explorer....maybe customer can fixed or done complicated problem but not always they will call for help much to the trained one.

being technician we must paid for the right job we've done. confidential info i think should be in the right situation best suited even the intention is to help somebody.

we need people to lean on in times of problems and difficulty. vice versa process.

BEING GENEROUS AND HELPUL THANK YOU FOR BEING ONE OF THAT!

God bless and more power to all.

[cucuklotz]

There is NOTHING WRONG with being generous and kind to OTHER TECHS ON THIS SITE,But the CUSTOMER who comes to this site is the same customer who goes to EBAY to buy his supplies and screw you the TECH out of making much needed money .THATS THE GUY WHO YOU TELL TO GO SUCK AN EGG

[Ollie1981]

We have 2 eat and feed our families too! I just had a disagreement with a customer on contract(8-5 M-f in writting) about why the after hours rate was so much and why his contract wouldn't cover part of the "after hours expense". He opt'ed to wait till the next business day. They all want more at OUR expense.

P.S. They called for service at 5:00 pm on friday and wanted service that night or on saturday.

I had to pull overtime on a Saturday because a customer didn't want his MP7500 down for a couple of hours to do a 300k PM on a weekday.

I was at his office at 9am, as he specifically requested. The place was closed, locked up and nobody showed until 11am, I spent two hours on a freezing December morning sat in my car in an empty car park smoking cigarette after cigarette and deciding whether I'd get fired or not if I went home and put the kettle on.

I finished at just after 1PM, and he was billed at the out of hours rate (to the tune of £95 or nearly $190 per hour) from 9 o clock (I'd squared it with my manager, I phoned him at home at around 10am, his words were to the effect of "He's getting charged from the minute you pulled your handbrake on in his carpark, I don't give a f*** what he says about it, I don't get engineers out of their beds on a Saturday and pay them double time to freeze their nuts off waiting for him to decide to show up") when I presented him with the charge form for his signature he predictably went ballistic at the £380 labour charge. I explained that I had been there at 9am as he'd specifically requested and that he was just as liable for the two hours waiting time as the time spent working on the machine.

He gave me some sort of story involving family committments he had that morning and soforth (never mind the fact that I had things I wanted to do that morning that I'd had to put on hold for this arrogant assclown). I pointed out that my personal contact number (as our office is closed on a Sat) had been left with himself and he should have contacted me as soon as it became apparrent that he wasn't going to be there anywhere near 9AM.

In the end I had to phone the Boss at home again because he was refusing to pay for anything. I don't know what the boss said to him, but as soon as he hung up the phone he snatched the form out of my hands with as much contempt as he could muster, signed the bottom, threw it back at me and told me to get the f*** out of his sight.

What a pleasant chap! Let's just hope Karma is a bitch. Hehe!

[yourownfree]

Ollie,yeap. those kind of people think the world revolves around them. Too bad. Sorry you had to deal with it. If i could weed them out, i'd prefer not to help those of that nature. They need to be willing to give not take. Funny how they change their tune when they have no one else to turn to. the only time they understand is their own, when we the normal kind share our time, even though we would like more for ourselves.
hey i saw another reply saying that assistance is ok but no more than that,
unless they are techs. How do we know if they are a tech or not? we can all copy a certificate and put our name on it, where do we draw the line? Do we say here on the forum,"help only" no diagrams, no manuals, no programs, no nothing, just help with words? I'm not sure what the owner of this forum had intended. when a person joins, how does he or she know we might be all non-techs. If a person was stranded in a car on a nowhere road out in the country, would you help them? or pass them by because their bumper said "i am a non-tech." You give them options,I'll tell you what, i can charge you, give you free advice and the tools to do the job since my hands are tied behind my back, give you advice but the tool i have to charge you for that since i had to pay for it, or maybe i can offer what i can or will and help you on your way.
Maybe we can have a form where if you can answer certain questions to join the forum, you can be considered a tech. until then you can hang out in the non-tech area and talk amongst yourselves. personally you all can do whatever you want, as for me if the forum rules permit, i will help when i can, i can pick and choose if need be, but my time is mine to share as i see fit. I would like to help everybody, but i can't, i'm not smart enough. It takes a forum to give help to everybody. what help is it we should not give? There are alot of opinions, very good ones, but we can only do so much to help people anyway, and let the other things come back to bite them that come here to trick us in giving them help, when they do not believe in giving it back to others. Oh well, enough said.