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Television Repair Tips
How does a TV break down start?
Ok, after dinner you go to the TV room and get comfortable in your favorite chair waiting for your favorite program to come on. You don’t want to miss out on the cliffhanger continuation from the last episode of your favorite show. The commercial is over and your show begins. The credits roll by and the part that you have been waiting for begins. The camera slowly pans towards the person that shot the gun who killed your favorite character. THEN, all of a sudden the screen goes blank. You want to scream, you need to know who done it.
What do you do when your television breaks down?
After a short while you calm down. Do not open it up and try to fix it yourself. You don’t know how many simple repairs were turned into major ones just by the owner opening up the back with good intentions to try and fix their set. After several hours you realize that the picture is not going to come back on so then you start thinking rationally and flip through the yellow pages.
Where do you call?
Ideally word of mouth is a good start. Ask around for some recommendations. TV’s are so reliable it actually might be hard to find someone with repair experience. If this doesn’t give results then check the yellow pages. Large ads don’t necessarily mean a better shop; A shop with a small ad can mean that they don’t need the extra business because word of mouth has done a good job.
What do you say on the phone?
When you call just ask for basic information like hours of operation, how backed up they are, whether they come out to the house or not and basic hourly costs. Do not ask how much it will cost to fix your TV over the phone. This type of question should be saved for psychics.
Should you bring it in or have them come out?
If you want to save money it is always better to bring your set in to the shop only because 99% of all repairs will need test equipment which can’t be lugged around to each customers house. This equipment is very expensive and no shop would jeopardize an accident from moving it place to place. The technician also has a wealth of information and more parts to choose from at his finger tips in his shop, not to mention its just more comfortable to repair a TV on a service bench with proper lighting. It’s no fun sitting or kneeling in a customer’s house on the floor in a dark corner with their dog jumping on your back. If you want the repair to be done right the shop is where it should be. If the set is bigger then you can handle then paying to have them pick it up is well worth it. For one main reason, if it should break down again during the warranty period there should not be another charge to pick it up again. This saves you from having to transport it back yourself.
How should you act when you bring your set to the shop?
When you bring a set into the shop here’s something very important to remember, and this relates to anywhere you bring something in for repair,....... BE NICE......... Each TV has the customer’s personality tied to it from the first impression when it was brought in. As the tech is working on the set this impression of the customer is sitting in the back of his mind and can make a world of difference in the repair. Instead of a I have to fix it attitude the tech will have a more I want to fix it attitude towards the repair and if the repair should run longer then normal the tech can price it for less time then it actually took.
If you go into a shop with you’re TV and are in a grumpy mood assuming the worst from the shop and the tech. Then you will be treated fairly but with no favors.
There is a certain psychology in every repair. Important to remember.
What is entailed in an estimate?
So you’re at the shop writing up the repair and the tech asks you for an estimate deposit. Most all-electronic repair shops will ask for an estimate fee up front which is applied towards the finished repair. The fee will vary shop to shop depending on the type of product being repaired.
There are multiple reasons for this and they are: Test equipment wears out just as fast on estimates as they do on any repair. Knowledge is costly. The tech has to get paid whether a set gets fixed or not. The clock doesn’t stop when you are giving estimates. In a lot of cases you have to almost fix the set before you can give an accurate estimate.
What are some of the things you should know about the tech?
Interruptions are a frustrating event for every tech. Concentration is a must and when pulled away from a job even if just for a few minutes can cause the tech to back track wasting valuable time.
How long?
As long as there is not a flood of repairs that come in all at once most repairs can be completed within 1 to 5 days the variables being the length of time of each repair before yours came in, and if there are parts that have to be ordered.
Sometime you run into a situation where the parts are on back order from the factory and in these cases you can wait weeks before the part comes in.
It is very common for the tech to get blamed for the parts that take awhile to come in. If customers could only understand that the tech has no control over parts back order. Sometimes he get accused of purposely delaying the repair, which doesn’t make sense because they don’t make any money until the repair is completed. What would be the motive to hold up a repair? Bills can't be paid by holding on to other people’s repairs.
Completed repairs.
When the shop calls for you to pick up your set it is important to pick it up as soon as possible. For two main reasons, needed space and bills have to be paid. It is puzzling how some customers that call every day to see if there TV is ready end up not picking up their set for a very long time after they have been contacted to come get it. I could never figure that one out. Maybe they started getting involved in reading good books?
So if you can remember these above tips it can turn a tragedy into a not so bad experience. Because eventually everything breaks down.
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