Unreasonable customer request or what?

[Mark in England]

Hi all,

I've just had an email from a copier service contract customer 'telling' me from 1st November they are looking to cut costs so any copies made on the machine that they are not happy with the quality of will be credited to them by me. The reason it's unreasonable is they want to set the printer off on a long print run and only check it at the end! It could've done 500 colour copies before they even look at it, all of which they will be asking me to credit.

I've called a meeting with them on Monday as I'm not happy that their lack of attention to the copier should be reason for a credit from me. My proposal is going to be check on the machine every 50 prints so the most I'll ever need to credit back is 50 copies. I'm going to stress that mind reading never has been part of the ageeement so if there is a problem stop using the machine and use the other 2 identical ones until we can get out (usually within an hour of them calling).

I've never had a request like this in 33 years in the industry but I also fail to be surprised by customers anymore!

Thoughts and suggestions please?

Thanks

Mark

[CompyTech]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

Actually had a similar situation with a customer. First time they wanted "credit" on paper they wasted because the brand new machine "ate it up", what it ended up being was ignorance on how to operate the machine coupled with never running a printer business before. He also wanted us to show him how to run his "jobs" for his clients and also asked what to charge them. The ignorance and arrogance was unbelievable, good riddance, lesson learned.

[qbert69]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

Hi all,

I've just had an email from a copier service contract customer 'telling' me from 1st November they are looking to cut costs so any copies made on the machine that they are not happy with the quality of will be credited to them by me. The reason it's unreasonable is they want to set the printer off on a long print run and only check it at the end! It could've done 500 colour copies before they even look at it, all of which they will be asking me to credit.

I've called a meeting with them on Monday as I'm not happy that their lack of attention to the copier should be reason for a credit from me. My proposal is going to be check on the machine every 50 prints so the most I'll ever need to credit back is 50 copies. I'm going to stress that mind reading never has been part of the ageeement so if there is a problem stop using the machine and use the other 2 identical ones until we can get out (usually within an hour of them calling).

I've never had a request like this in 33 years in the industry but I also fail to be surprised by customers anymore!

Thoughts and suggestions please?

Thanks

Mark

Hi Mark!

The Technician is responsible for TECHNICAL SERVICE & REPAIR!

The Customer is responsible for QUALITY CONTROL!

If the Customer is NEGLIGENT enough to walk away and leave it un-attended, then they have NO RECOURSE OR EXCUSE! PERIOD!

Just like you don't walk off and let a child do whatever the hell they want!....that's how a house gets burnt down! I could give you a personal anecdote on this one!

Just tell them you'll babysit the machine to the tune of $100+ per hour and they'll shut the fuck up REAL QUICK!

...clear as mud!....eh?!

[copydocinc]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

Quite normal for a copy/print center to WANT such a credit, but in the end the machine and all of it's expenses are theirs.
whether you bill them for repairs hourly or on a contract., The expenses always have to be theirs, it's their machine, not yours.
And there is a reasonable amount of responsibility that is theirs, as well as yours. but any expenses for that machine has got to be theirs.
unless you break something or install a defective part, then you replace them at your expense. If they call for service of any kind and they keep using
the machine, they do so at the risk of machine failure or print quality problems. They have to monitor the print quality.


If I have my engine repaired on my car and 2 weeks later my engine light comes on, maybe oil issue or coolant issue, etc. I have a responsibility to not drive it, not even one foot farther
and turn off the engine or it will burn up the engine, The repair company is not going to replace that engine if I keep running it.

That's my take on it, for what it's worth.

[nmfaxman]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

I ran into this before at a print shop environment.
Customer showed me 1000 copies with a line down the middle and wanted credit.
Line was caused by white out on the slit glass.
I explained it was not a machine fault, but a user fault and showed them the sample print button.
He got very upset, but my boss backed me up and told the guy that he needs to check a job in process and stop it if there are any problems.
Hitting start and walking away is lazy to start with and not checking quality in process is also dumb on customers part.
I will only give credit if problem is machine based and even then only a percentage of the clicks used. Should have called when it started, not after thousands of copies later.

[SwisSeV]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

No one here can tell you if their request is reasonable or not without knowing the contract you have with them.

It all comes down to what was agreed when the contract was signed.

I like our flat monthly contract model because customers don't get stressed out over mistakes, or feel ripped off if they need to redo a job.

[tech28]

Re: Unreasonable customer request or what?

Ran into that also, just recently, mentioned their contract was close to reaching yearly copy count allowance, she said, what about the copies you run when you are hear checking or working on machine, mentioned to her we don't run many, maybe 50-100 or so,(considering when their contract is for 150,000 per year) when done working on machine, so be it, when we walk in now, run internal copy count print, and when done another one, she said that was fine. Even though it was very insignificant(copies we ran when there) in the realm of things, they were happy with it and so were we, a very good customer and those you have to keep happy, its what keeps the train chugging along.