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.

No worries.

Time to get back to fixin machines.

[banginbishop]

Non toner monkeys

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.







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]

Giving It Away

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]

responding.......

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]

Helping Out

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 requestedfrom 9 o clock 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]

everyone owes me

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.

[Wild Bill]

Who here hasn't asked an auto mechanic for help? Are you a car mechanic by trade? It takes balls to try and fix a copier and if they are willing to try, well then I will help. Most will not. I believe in do it your self people. Not just for cars but for all the little things. I had some people give me advise on fixing my bad FL lamp in my laptop on another forum. Thanks to them I am typing to this forum with my dell laptop that I fixed for $10.00 istead of $300.00! Most people though wouldn't do it. Just the do it yousefers like me and maybe you. Just a thought.

[Ollie1981]

Who here hasn't asked an auto mechanic for help? Are you a car mechanic by trade? It takes balls to try and fix a copier and if they are willing to try, well then I will help. Most will not. I believe in do it your self people. Not just for cars but for all the little things. I had some people give me advise on fixing my bad FL lamp in my laptop on another forum. Thanks to them I am typing to this forum with my dell laptop that I fixed for $10.00 istead of $300.00! Most people though wouldn't do it. Just the do it yousefers like me and maybe you. Just a thought.

I agree, I'll help as much as I can within the confines of what I'm able to do by typing into a box on a website.

I won't respond to anything that looks like a demand for help/parts etc. The customers I visit during working hours are paying for my time and expertise and that gives them the right to demand service. But anyone demanding something of me in my spare time like I owe them something gets nothing. Manners cost nothing and if someone can't even show you basic respect then they can take a hike.

I also believe in personal responsibility, I won't give out misleading information but I will warn if the task is quite technically involved and I take no responsibility for what anyone does with information I give out. If the person I'm responding to doesn't have the technical skill to carry out the repair, then they should decide to refer the task to someone who does. If they break something and violate warranty/service contract conditions then I'm not going to entertain any remonstrations of liability etc. You break it, you pay for it.

I will not, under any circumstances, put in a personal appearance to fix anything somebody's having trouble with off this forum. If my bosses found out, I would be fired and I have a mortgage to pay!! Besides a lot of you guys are in America and that's a long swim.

[Mr Spock]

I do not have a problem with anyone's right to ask or give help. Each of us has his/her own reason for what they do. I do have an issue when the first post is for a service manual and there are no reasons for said request. As to help sometimes we can pick out an enduser that ask for a keyop level help and we generally do help. But sometimes the tech questions they ask should be given in exact manual instructions (without the service codes or how to get into service mode) so they can see why we recommend a tech. I have done this via pm and the customer has called a tech or asked for one of us to recommend one in his area. As the previous posted said I have a boss and he does not want me to help (at work anyway). So I can not respond openly for anything in my area but I may make a "suggestion" via pm. If you have pm's off and need help then I guess I cannot help you. As several posters have put it this is MY free time and I am not REQUIRED to help. I do not mind helping but the attitude of the poster is taken into consideration for what and when I post.

[laserman06]

I agree, I'll help as much as I can within the confines of what I'm able to do by typing into a box on a website.

I won't respond to anything that looks like a demand for help/parts etc. The customers I visit during working hours are paying for my time and expertise and that gives them the right to demand service. But anyone demanding something of me in my spare time like I owe them something gets nothing. Manners cost nothing and if someone can't even show you basic respect then they can take a hike.

I also believe in personal responsibility, I won't give out misleading information but I will warn if the task is quite technically involved and I take no responsibility for what anyone does with information I give out. If the person I'm responding to doesn't have the technical skill to carry out the repair, then they should decide to refer the task to someone who does. If they break something and violate warranty/service contract conditions then I'm not going to entertain any remonstrations of liability etc. You break it, you pay for it.

I will not, under any circumstances, put in a personal appearance to fix anything somebody's having trouble with off this forum. If my bosses found out, I would be fired and I have a mortgage to pay!! .

I second that, Ollie. I was brought up to be polite. I am bringing my children the same way. Sometimes just saying please and thank you can make a stressful situation a little bit less stressful. My paying customers may demand many things of me, but it is better for them and me if they make the demands politely.

[Ollie1981]

I second that, Ollie. I was brought up to be polite. I am bringing my children the same way. Sometimes just saying please and thank you can make a stressful situation a little bit less stressful. My paying customers may demand many things of me, but it is better for them and me if they make the demands politely.

It seems in this day and age though politeness and respect are giving way to our "on demand" culture. I don't know if it's advertising, media coverage of cosseted celebrities and their lifestyles or what. But it seems everybody these days wants everything and they want it yesterday.

With customers you have to tread the line. They do after all provide the revenue that keeps you in a job and our function as techs is to keep the equipment working and the customer happy. Even if the customer is rude and demanding it's still my job to work on their equipment to the best of my ability. But I'm not inclined to do anything more than the strict wording of the service agreement. If you're polite then you get a bit more.

I've always been a "techie" of some description ever since I left school. Some people respect you for it, you're the person who can fix stuff so if they have a problem then they go to you.

Problem is "techies" are taken for granted by a lot of non-technical people. Some of them are of the opinion that a trained chimp could do what you do, therefore they reason, if they're armed with the same information you have to hand (service/part manuals) then there's no reason that they can't attempt the repair themselves and do just as good a job.....

....then the call comes through to your office. It seems the Director of Finance of Moneybags PLC who doesn't know one end of a screwdriver from another has hit a very expensive snag in his do-it-yourself copier repair endevour.