@@NorthridgeFix Use the old McDonald strategy when they realized that like 85% of their sales were from hamburgers, fries, drinks and shakes and they removed everything else from the menu. If the overwhelming majority of your business is from mail in's. Well it may be worth it to switch to mail in's only.
People who never worked with tech, cars or anything like that don't understand that diagnostics is often just as difficult, sometimes even more difficult than the job itself. Replacing parts requires skill. But figuring out what part to replace requires knowledge, experience and time. Knowing what to replace instead of throwing parts at the thing and hope for the best is what differentiates the professionals from the people getting their feet wet. I don't think you have to justify your business model to anyone. It is completely fair to charge a diagnostics fee as long as you are honest about it beforehand and let the customer decide if this service fits them. I think this is completely fair. I would rather pay a diagnostics fee for someone who actually diagnoses the problem, than pay someone over and over again who is guessing and charging for unnecesarry part-swaps every other week until we arrive to the solution by the numbers.
What people often don't mention is for example cars. A lot of mechanics will refuse to work on a car that has had very extensive wiring modifications done by non professionals with no documentation. If they do decide to work on it, they will charge you for many hours of labor.
@@Ryan_DeWitt Obviously, and I don't think that's unfair. Everything undocumented has to be figured out. Obviously a good tradesman will be able to do it, but it will take time for them too. It is a pain in the ass to figure out other people's undocumented modifications and fix everything they did half-okay to get by. And many times the customer's attempted repair makes the repair more painful and time consuming than it would have been, but customers expect to be charged less because they think they "already done half". I don't see any problem with the practice of charging more for modified cars. Or even if something unexpected comes up (many times with older cars, it turns out while taking apart that other parts have to be changed as well). That's just how this is. Unexpected things happen. However as a customer I would like to recieve a call if the quote drastically changes upon finding something unexpected. I think that is part of the decency and fairness.
True, and one of the reasons I had to stop working for a repair shop was because of high volume of devices that couldn't be fixed or fixed something the customer thought was the problem then no luck even after trying multiple other things and no money for spent time, every technical person should get some form of compensation just for spending as little as 1 minute to diagnose a device same as checkups and tests in the medical field
@@YEH- if you knew what you where doing its fixable. the fact that you made a repair based only on customer diagnosis tells me you know nothing. diagnosis then repair not just repair
@@georgetrynamakeajug Some times you have to go the customer route first just because he is the OWNER of the device, and I know nothing are you happy now, lol
At first i didn't want to charge a diagnostic fee because i thought "maybe It's relatively easy but it's me and my lack of knowledge the problem" or "it would be unfair to charge the customer for a no fix". But when i started to trust myself and gained more knowledge i realized that i have to appreciate my time and effort to get a device fixed and that's something many customers don't do. Thanks you for making me see that i'm on the right track here.
We charge $40 diagnostic fee for any computers that customer's bring. The customers can change their mind and cancel the service, but half of the work is already been done and we don;t work for free :)
The time to diagnose is probably the most important. Once you figure out what's up with the device you are trying to fix, then you can estimate a repair fee.
I've been working as a software engineer for 12 years. We have the same kind of problems. People don't understand that it takes time and effort to analyse an observation/bug/issue. And yes, I have to read lots of bad problem descriptions, too. Most people think, you can read their mind ("connectors"). I feel you.
2 роки тому+10
Today the colleague spent 30 min and then 3 of us spent 30 more minutes together looking for issue that turned out to by typo "MONOGO_DB_NAME" instead of "MONGO_DB_NAME" and we were looking for issue in the query... Even the stupidest things can cause huge issues that are not easy to find, especially if you are looking at the wrong place... So, yes, troubleshooting is the hardest part
Watching your videos always makes me feel good. It's good to know I'm not alone in being a tech that is given completely ridiculous units for repair attempts. Diagnostic fees are an absolute must in this field.
When I was a getting my Electronics Degree back in the late 80's, I did start fixing VCRs and TVs at my house. It did not pass too long to find out that did not work for me because I ended with a pile of broken devices and no money. After spent 3 hours diagnostics a device, searching in catalogs for parts because was no internet back then for easy searching, then put together a price quote and contacted the client,.... after the clients did find out the parts costs half of buying a new equipment, they does not want to pay for the fix and left me with the broken device. Their mentality was that for me was a good deal keeping a free device as a payment for all my time. In only 1 month I ended with a bunch of junk and very disappointed. Was like working to be paid with trash. I gave away all that junk to a local shop and that was my end for that kind of business.
Agree with you every step of the way. I actually sent you a video card to see if you could rectify a fault on it which sadly you could not. I was fully aware of your repair attempt fee and happily paid and I also asked that you keep the card to use for donor parts. I hope that it was able to provide you with some. Keep up the good videos.
repair attempt/diagnostic fees make sense with good faith repairs and competent techs, but it is terrible practice for shops that just suck or take on work that is out of their abilities yet still make money off it. they can literally charge people all day everyday for being total shit at their jobs and not ever actually fixing anything. now with that said a clause that states "if it is determine a previous repair was attempted a fee will be charged" makes a lot more sense. If someone already fucked it up previously they should be on the hook for wasting your time but if you take on a job and you're the one who fucks it up then the customer shouldn't be at fault for that.
Funny, I encourage my customers old and new to contact me via email. Phone calls take up a lot of time, especially if a customer likes to talk. Most of my average phone calls take about 10 minutes. And I get about 20 calls a day. If you do the math, that's a lot of time wasted on calls. With email, I can keep track of the things I talked with the customer, but also it takes me 1-3 minutes to reply to an email and move on to the next It's not about not wanting to talk to customers, it's about having to reach all your customers. Glad to see I'm not the only one doing this.
The problem you are describing at 1:15 is one I had bigtime in 2012, and solved in 2013. I asked troy to add a feature to repairshopr that puts the status a ticket is in, in the caller ID, after setting up repairshopr as a source for freepbx. When a customer calls, on the caller ID, before their name, the status shows up. I can literally start telling them a big-picture image of what is going on without looking at the ticket. I can't tell them super exact details if they start to complain or ask for more info, but I can give 90% of the people who call in enough information without looking up the ticket that they let me go back to work! The more I am able to give within the first 5 seconds of the call, the less they ask. People become more specific with their questions when there is a lack of trust, and when I sound like I actually _remember who they are_ from the second they call, they feel like they are in good hands, and leave me alone so I can get back to work. If I say "hi amanda, it looks like paul is working on your board, we should have an answer for you in 2 days", that... usually ends the call. The whole "what component do you think it is, how long, why this, why that" happens when there's a 20 second or 1 minute delay to look up their ticket. The best part is that, a link pops up in repairshopr to take me to the ticket of whomever is currently calling. It's absolutely beautiful. I do not have to ask them for their ticket number, as long as they call from the number they put into their ticket, I have it all. I also know when I should be picking up the phone because that will be a difficult call for the receptionist. At the same time, I know when I should avoid picking up because that customer is some lunatic. I would suggest reconsidering. When business peaks, it makes sense to stop it from coming in so you can focus on what is there. However, when business goes back to normal, if you had stopped accepting phone calls or put artificial barriers to doing business in place, it might result in having less business than you did before at the end of the hump. People that can't call in, etc, might be less likely to recommend to others later, less likely to leave 5 star reviews, or less likely to show up at all. So once you finally get through the current peak in business, there may be much less left on the other end. The number of close-to-1-star-reviews I've been able to solve just by being able to give a quick reassurance over the phone is endless. Obviously this is easier said than done, hiring in this business can be a PITA. When business slows down I will literally pay people full time salaries to play chess and basketball just so they are here when things pick up again, because getting people of this caliber is very difficult, and I realize my competition is just waiting for a chance to poach them the second I misstep. Best of luck.
repairshopr needs a lot of work. It's like an abandoned script with no improvements and no new features being added overtime even thought customers are paying. It's working for us currently but as soon as I find a better option, I'm out. Regardless of workload, not taking calls improved our workflow and organized the way we reply to customers. It took us a while to realizes how much time and resources we were wasting on phone calls. Every email, text, voicemail gets full attention now and communication is all documented and searchable hassle free. Emails are answered in the order they received and mostly all answered before end of the day. A lot of customers prefer emails communication. Faster and easier.
@@NorthridgeFix Troy sold the company so 100% everyone will have to jump ship, they do not answer customer concerns/emails on their facebook page or via email the way they used to.
Gee! What a tough guy! You are realistic, as well as being tough, or everyone and their dogs will walk right over you, and your actual paying repairs will suffer. I love your program.
Glad you made a video about this. Not a long of Repair shops with YT channels take the time to explain this. I do the same in my repair shop, I charge a diagnostic fee if the device is not repairable.
As a SMT repair tech for Nortel Networks, I have your six on everything you said. I really enjoy watching your videos as they bring back memories from 1999 to 2001 when I used to replace 280Pin fine pitch by hand with a knife blade type soldering tip and a hot air station. BTW we only used HAKKO soldering stations and MC Chemicals products back then. I still think they are the best stations still today. Thx for sharing.
Sent on one of my devices to your shop and gladly paid the no-fix fee, because the knowledge and skill to know if it could be fixed was worth it. And I knew, if Northridge Fix said it was not fixable, it was not fixable. Period. That was well worth it to me.
If he said its not fixable you would save a lot of time searching around for other repairer's. Saves you time. I used to say go to others first then come to me when new the ones around me couldn't do that particular work.
@@HazeAnderson: I "THINK" he means that he trusts NF 100 percent, thus getting second opinion on a NF "NO FIX" is a waste of time. In part 2 of his comment, encouraging clients to bring in devices with multiple failed repair attempts sounds like lots of "Hiroshima" scenarios 😆.
Watching all the Videos, I'll gain a lot of knowledge over the years, I've learned many ideas and techniques that I'm using in my business thank you, Alex!
I laughed hard when the microscope went over the connector area and Alex put his hands on his head 🤣🤣🤣 I’m sure people just send these in for the response. Ain’t no fixing that without hours upon hours of work if even possible!
You are totally right alex. You are not a callcenter for problems or anything like that. Everyone who saw your videos and follow your channel, are able to see that you have a lot of work to get done. So keep your head up, you do a great great job. Greets from austria
We got 1 star review from customer when we tried to explain to him that is the waste of time looking at his laptop. He wrote in his review "they only fix laptops they can charge", duuh.
i nearly died when you were like "look at this", funny that a minute or two before you were like "the guy sent a donor board because he is a smart guy" then horrer and comedy gold ensued 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was waiting on you to say it finally exactly the reason i don't do live phone calls with my repair business either and it was that with phone calls nothing is in writing or recorded and is sometimes hard to say the right things to customer when you're frustrated or busy or any other reason and also the customer can not say they didn't agree to the terms or price etc..
Business is business, your doing great things and you don't have time or any obligation to give out any more information than you already do, as much as we would like, time is money! Great work keep it up 👍 much appreciated any information you provide
$35 diagnostic fee is cheap! my shop locally here in the Bay Area is $150 repair attempt fee no matter the complexity of device..flat rate ..$150! you are too nice!!!
Thanks for youre video. Really like this kind of videos where you talking about why you doing and background. Have took odd my tphone long time ago becuse so many just want to talk and waisting my time. Also drounging in work and having fun working with what I like. You doing the right thing with repair atemt fee. I call it troubleshooting fee. Big love from Sweden
Alex, please make more videos like this when you are a bit irritated. One of the reasons I think people like you is you are very real. However when you are a little irritated you are even realer and it is very entertaining along with being informative as usual. This will likely get you more views. Keep it up and love your content!
This is so true! I've worked at a computer(repair) shop where later on we started doing tablet and iphone repairs and the stuff I had to put up with over there..... Indeed people attempting to do stuff themselve and all that. Normally we would charge a diagnostics fee of €25 euros but I think the shop owner later on was afraid of losing customers and a whole bunch of times he changed his own "rule" to a no cure no pay which I thought was total B.S. This is a really informative video showing exactly why you are a 100% right about the diagnostics fee.
Hi Alex, you are absolutely correct in your attitudes. I face the same issues here and often find myself considering taking these steps. I like to have customer negotiations and conditions written down and I really hate having to answer the phone, which will usually ring in the middle of some delicate microsoldering. As for charging for attempted repair or diagnosis, unfortunately the local business culture doesn't allow me to do the same.
Good for you... Your time is not free!!! After watching your video's I have learned a thing or two but that does not give me the right to send in equipment that I attempted to repair for you to fix my goof up! Keep Up the good work!
I ordered a birthday cake from a major chain the other day. The cake came to around $20. At the end of ordering I was given a total which included a bagging fee, retail fee, below $30 fee, delivery fee, sales tax, and another fee for just using the website. This guy says it like it is without any bs fees that you didn't expect. This guy should run for president.
💯 Correct this is outrageous what customers expect when items are in very bad condition It is unrepairable I hope this will be the last of those customers thanks for your videos .
I agree 100% with a No Fix Fee. As a former Cell Phone Technician, we used to do $49 Charge upfront ( if fix is a go ahead, this comes off the final bill ). If not, we keep the inspection fee. Keep up the amazing work, love your channel. Every customer is pissed off before they even walk in that their device isn't working, but as you say, you know the fee, you know the best and worst scenario. it is what it is.
💯% agreed. One thing that I hate back when I'm not the boss yet is that when the boss said no repair attempt fees we followed, and so we wasted time, effort and resources just to diagnose and attempt repairs, at the same time losing other customers waiting in line 🤦🤷.
You're right about deciding to not take any more live calls. I can totally relate how difficult it is to balance taking phone calls and actively trying to fix or do the critical work needed to help customers
Brother i love your channel and attitude. I bet i can tell you the main thiught that goes through your head all the time everday when youre working. Keep up the great videos. I actually have a maybe a couple parts i need to send. Im going to get the packet a fill it out and get a estimate.
Thank you for posting this. I have always been worried about how to handle this even though am not a professional like you, but I do some repairs. I will keep this I mind.
Had to ask him about an issue. He could not sell parts- understood with the supply chain issues. He still answered and was extremely professional. I appreciated the help. Nice guy.
I completely agree with your logic. I always thought Rossman was out of his mind having a no-fix no-fee business model. But I figure he's more selective in what he accepts. I've read reviews on his store about how he refuses to even work on some machines because he knows he likely can't fix them.
True, since I've been working with a repair attempt fee; all those "cheap" customers stopped coming. This gave me plenty time to work on some serious stuff! P.s. what ticketing system do you guys use?
I have to say, your customers can not only learn how to fix things, but they can learn about how to perform customer service and how to run a business. Great channel.
You are soo right about this. Time is the most expensive thing. You know the story maybe, at the manucfaturing site one of the huge machines stopped working. They called service then a man came in and diagnosed the machine and grabbed a hammer and hit to somewhere on the machine, machine started to work again. He charged 1k then customer said this is too much, you just grabbed a hammer and hit to the machine is all. Man said i charged 100 for the hit and 900 for knowing where to hit. Knowledge is everything. Charging no fix fee is pretty fair..
We Spent a lot of time for disassembly, clean main board, to diagnose a faulty, to search with schematics when are available , it's a lot of time and then we repair. Greetings from Italy ✌️
You are totally right of what you do. I have the same problem being a repair man but in Egypt it literally imposible to charge a repair attemp fee. If I did like you, there wouldn't be any customers. customers always tell what did you change or what was the problem with my device? If I told him it was a problem with a trace that I did jumper, he wouldn't be happy with the price I charge him as he doesn't what a trace is. I have to tell him as example if his device had a problem being charged, the problem is in the charging circuit without explaining in details in order not to lie. finally I'm a big fan of you and your work but don't complain for customers untill you deal with egyptian customers.
Also a huge problem in the automotive industry where everyone is a "mechanic" Except the public has been so conditioned to believe that it's easy, and feel entitled to a free diagnosis even when the diagnosis is conducted and correct. Now imagine if we charged customers a no fix fee or repair attempt fee . They'd have a heart attack
True. On the other hand bad mechanics are also to blame, they just replace mostly expensive parts that do not need to be changed, charging the customer and the orriginal problem still isn't fixed. I have the luxury to fix most problems myself, but if I do need to go to a car mechanic, I am going to be that "mechanic".
I hate disassembling and reassembling so much that I don’t even charge a diagnostic fee if they send me just the board. I don’t have the volume that Alex does though. At his volume they definitely should charge for every device and probably increase prices all around too.
Love your Videos, thanks for bring all this. I work on Automobile and for Diagnostic i charge a initial $$.00 just to plug my Diagnostic device. Smart customer said OK when a bad customer said NO and i OK with that.
Fair enough. Question though: did you charge repair attempt fee at first when you opened your business? Or this came later when you became more well known?
If he started that way, he would have certainly scared his customers aways and would not have had a good chance at showing how good he is. If you ask me, he has paid his price, so ....it's more like, if you don't like it ...try elsewhere, simple.
Working in computer repair, it is insane how many people balk at a $59 diagnostic fee as well as being told the diagnostic itself may take 24-48 hours. So many entitled people seem to think they should get the computer diagnosed for free and that the work should be complete and back in their hands in just a couple of hours. It kind of speaks to how entitled our society has become that a) people don't think they should have to know a single thing about how a very expensive piece of computer technology even works (i.e I just use it for my bank and Facebook) and b) everything thinks they're special and shouldn't be charged the normal fee with the normal amount of diagnostic time. They don't even consider how many other repairs are on the technician's plate at the time, they don't even consider that the problem might not be easy to solve and/or fix, all they care about is the fact that they can't share their damn dinner photos on Facebook or use their stupid Cricut machine. It's honestly enough to make you question even being in the business in the first place.
No fix fee is ridiculous unless it’s a reputable repair shop. One repair shop in my country got busted after found out they’re not actually diagnosing broken devices but instead charging them without doing anything. They got caught after multiple attempts on “diagnosing” the same devices. I still don’t support no fix fee. I went to a repair shop to get my devices fix. I’ll make sure the repair shop knows and confident that they can repair it, if they do state that they’re confident then I won’t be paying no fix fee if they can’t fix.
good vid , makes sense time and knowledge costs regardless. i do a lot of consulting on special effects and i get asked why do i charge . your paying for skill experience and years of me learning and working in the industry . knowledge and the fact you can do this is valuable . i remember a vid you posted about having something repaired when you were young and the charge . and what the repair guy told you . its very true , if you dont have knowledge dont expect someone to fix it for free.
Sometimes I spend more time trying to bring one of these death boards back to life than fixing ten other computers. In reality I should charge ten times the price, but I only charge a small diagnostic fee and they ask "why should I pay you any money you didn't fix my computer>" I loved seeing that disaster board you showed! I'm sure thousands of repair techs laughed their asses off seeing that! Best wishes!
There's a saying, "help me help you". You are absolutely right to make this video, calling out the idiots that are out there as well as charging a fee for your time, time that is really valuable considering you're a professional. Sad to see that people don't want to honor someone else's time. I pray that your business is free of said idiots, ya'akhi! + Have a like! :)
I absolutely agree with you. From locksmiths to plumbers, they charge a call out fee before even looking at the work. While I'm here, could you or anyone give me the title of the tune you use at the end of your vids please. It's such an uplifting piece of music, I'd love to hear it in it's entirety. Thanks in advance.
Yeah, I completely agree and understand You.. Some customers don't understand, that diagnostic takes time and leave, knowing about non fix fees.. That eliminate garbage.. More classical in problem description is "Not working" 😂 when, in reality, everything works, except one function..
Hey firstly I just want to say big ups! Great video to watch for technicians. My question is what do you do if the device gets damaged during the repair attempt?
Phone calls are the worst! In fact customer service in general is the worst, lol.
Anytime you have to deal with the public off the street can be the worst.
No phone calls cut 70% of the stress, locking the store entrance next will get rid of the other 30%.
@@NorthridgeFix Do people just pop in to get a selfie?
@@NorthridgeFix I don't answer the phone AND I don't have a store front for 'walk-ins'. 0% stress. :-)
@@NorthridgeFix Use the old McDonald strategy when they realized that like 85% of their sales were from hamburgers, fries, drinks and shakes and they removed everything else from the menu. If the overwhelming majority of your business is from mail in's. Well it may be worth it to switch to mail in's only.
People who never worked with tech, cars or anything like that don't understand that diagnostics is often just as difficult, sometimes even more difficult than the job itself. Replacing parts requires skill. But figuring out what part to replace requires knowledge, experience and time. Knowing what to replace instead of throwing parts at the thing and hope for the best is what differentiates the professionals from the people getting their feet wet.
I don't think you have to justify your business model to anyone. It is completely fair to charge a diagnostics fee as long as you are honest about it beforehand and let the customer decide if this service fits them. I think this is completely fair.
I would rather pay a diagnostics fee for someone who actually diagnoses the problem, than pay someone over and over again who is guessing and charging for unnecesarry part-swaps every other week until we arrive to the solution by the numbers.
Yes, then you have your local parts changer who does it "cheaper", LMAO, whenever someone tells me that, I say why not, go straight to him 😁
What people often don't mention is for example cars. A lot of mechanics will refuse to work on a car that has had very extensive wiring modifications done by non professionals with no documentation. If they do decide to work on it, they will charge you for many hours of labor.
@@Ryan_DeWitt Obviously, and I don't think that's unfair. Everything undocumented has to be figured out. Obviously a good tradesman will be able to do it, but it will take time for them too. It is a pain in the ass to figure out other people's undocumented modifications and fix everything they did half-okay to get by. And many times the customer's attempted repair makes the repair more painful and time consuming than it would have been, but customers expect to be charged less because they think they "already done half". I don't see any problem with the practice of charging more for modified cars. Or even if something unexpected comes up (many times with older cars, it turns out while taking apart that other parts have to be changed as well). That's just how this is. Unexpected things happen. However as a customer I would like to recieve a call if the quote drastically changes upon finding something unexpected. I think that is part of the decency and fairness.
As long as the car mechanic doesn't charge you for simply plugging in an obd 2 scanner and that is all.
I would rather not pay you for trial and error if you don't have a device/knowledge to know the problem right away
Customer is so kind, he gave you board with free flux 😂
It's not a board, it's a boar.
It's too much flux, can even drive DeLorean a multiple times.
@@sammas7440 its motherboar, mother of wild piglet , right ? :D
Probably not even flux. It is probably vaseline by the way it looked.
@@sammas7440 Solid!
You are 100% fair and right about the diagnostic fee and trying to sort the things that are repairable from time wasters!
True, and one of the reasons I had to stop working for a repair shop was because of high volume of devices that couldn't be fixed or fixed something the customer thought was the problem then no luck even after trying multiple other things and no money for spent time, every technical person should get some form of compensation just for spending as little as 1 minute to diagnose a device same as checkups and tests in the medical field
@@YEH- if you knew what you where doing its fixable. the fact that you made a repair based only on customer diagnosis tells me you know nothing. diagnosis then repair not just repair
@@georgetrynamakeajug
Some times you have to go the customer route first just because he is the OWNER of the device, and I know nothing are you happy now, lol
1000%
At first i didn't want to charge a diagnostic fee because i thought "maybe It's relatively easy but it's me and my lack of knowledge the problem" or "it would be unfair to charge the customer for a no fix". But when i started to trust myself and gained more knowledge i realized that i have to appreciate my time and effort to get a device fixed and that's something many customers don't do.
Thanks you for making me see that i'm on the right track here.
was it because you were unskilled sometimes though?
I used to come here for the tech support and knowledge, now I come here for the comedy. Good work!
its funny because its true.
Agree with you completely. Even if it's not fixable it takes time to diagnose. Time is money - you are running a business not a charity.
We charge $40 diagnostic fee for any computers that customer's bring. The customers can change their mind and cancel the service, but half of the work is already been done and we don;t work for free :)
Same, though we were minimum $90 1/2hr.
I changed $45.00 for diagnostic!
The time to diagnose is probably the most important. Once you figure out what's up with the device you are trying to fix, then you can estimate a repair fee.
i did that too when i was in the computer business, yea exactly no one works for free
I charge $45 only if the customer doesn't want to proceed the repair after diagnostics has performed.
I've been working as a software engineer for 12 years. We have the same kind of problems. People don't understand that it takes time and effort to analyse an observation/bug/issue. And yes, I have to read lots of bad problem descriptions, too. Most people think, you can read their mind ("connectors"). I feel you.
Today the colleague spent 30 min and then 3 of us spent 30 more minutes together looking for issue that turned out to by typo "MONOGO_DB_NAME" instead of "MONGO_DB_NAME" and we were looking for issue in the query...
Even the stupidest things can cause huge issues that are not easy to find, especially if you are looking at the wrong place... So, yes, troubleshooting is the hardest part
"The program won't open", meanwhile the init function is perfectly fine and they are having an issue with the login. Seen this a dozen times.
I have customers that I literally tell "show me" as their description just makes no sense and it would be impossible to figure out what the issue is
Watching your videos always makes me feel good. It's good to know I'm not alone in being a tech that is given completely ridiculous units for repair attempts.
Diagnostic fees are an absolute must in this field.
You're absolutely logically right and I admire what you do!
When I was a getting my Electronics Degree back in the late 80's, I did start fixing VCRs and TVs at my house. It did not pass too long to find out that did not work for me because I ended with a pile of broken devices and no money.
After spent 3 hours diagnostics a device, searching in catalogs for parts because was no internet back then for easy searching, then put together a price quote and contacted the client,.... after the clients did find out the parts costs half of buying a new equipment, they does not want to pay for the fix and left me with the broken device. Their mentality was that for me was a good deal keeping a free device as a payment for all my time.
In only 1 month I ended with a bunch of junk and very disappointed. Was like working to be paid with trash. I gave away all that junk to a local shop and that was my end for that kind of business.
Agree with you every step of the way. I actually sent you a video card to see if you could rectify a fault on it which sadly you could not.
I was fully aware of your repair attempt fee and happily paid and I also asked that you keep the card to use for donor parts. I hope that it was able to provide you with some. Keep up the good videos.
repair attempt/diagnostic fees make sense with good faith repairs and competent techs, but it is terrible practice for shops that just suck or take on work that is out of their abilities yet still make money off it. they can literally charge people all day everyday for being total shit at their jobs and not ever actually fixing anything. now with that said a clause that states "if it is determine a previous repair was attempted a fee will be charged" makes a lot more sense. If someone already fucked it up previously they should be on the hook for wasting your time but if you take on a job and you're the one who fucks it up then the customer shouldn't be at fault for that.
You made it simple for beginners venturing into this field not to get fleeced by moral compulsions. 100% fair business practices.
Funny, I encourage my customers old and new to contact me via email. Phone calls take up a lot of time, especially if a customer likes to talk. Most of my average phone calls take about 10 minutes. And I get about 20 calls a day. If you do the math, that's a lot of time wasted on calls.
With email, I can keep track of the things I talked with the customer, but also it takes me 1-3 minutes to reply to an email and move on to the next
It's not about not wanting to talk to customers, it's about having to reach all your customers. Glad to see I'm not the only one doing this.
The problem you are describing at 1:15 is one I had bigtime in 2012, and solved in 2013. I asked troy to add a feature to repairshopr that puts the status a ticket is in, in the caller ID, after setting up repairshopr as a source for freepbx.
When a customer calls, on the caller ID, before their name, the status shows up. I can literally start telling them a big-picture image of what is going on without looking at the ticket. I can't tell them super exact details if they start to complain or ask for more info, but I can give 90% of the people who call in enough information without looking up the ticket that they let me go back to work! The more I am able to give within the first 5 seconds of the call, the less they ask. People become more specific with their questions when there is a lack of trust, and when I sound like I actually _remember who they are_ from the second they call, they feel like they are in good hands, and leave me alone so I can get back to work. If I say "hi amanda, it looks like paul is working on your board, we should have an answer for you in 2 days", that... usually ends the call. The whole "what component do you think it is, how long, why this, why that" happens when there's a 20 second or 1 minute delay to look up their ticket.
The best part is that, a link pops up in repairshopr to take me to the ticket of whomever is currently calling. It's absolutely beautiful. I do not have to ask them for their ticket number, as long as they call from the number they put into their ticket, I have it all. I also know when I should be picking up the phone because that will be a difficult call for the receptionist. At the same time, I know when I should avoid picking up because that customer is some lunatic.
I would suggest reconsidering. When business peaks, it makes sense to stop it from coming in so you can focus on what is there. However, when business goes back to normal, if you had stopped accepting phone calls or put artificial barriers to doing business in place, it might result in having less business than you did before at the end of the hump. People that can't call in, etc, might be less likely to recommend to others later, less likely to leave 5 star reviews, or less likely to show up at all. So once you finally get through the current peak in business, there may be much less left on the other end. The number of close-to-1-star-reviews I've been able to solve just by being able to give a quick reassurance over the phone is endless.
Obviously this is easier said than done, hiring in this business can be a PITA. When business slows down I will literally pay people full time salaries to play chess and basketball just so they are here when things pick up again, because getting people of this caliber is very difficult, and I realize my competition is just waiting for a chance to poach them the second I misstep.
Best of luck.
repairshopr needs a lot of work. It's like an abandoned script with no improvements and no new features being added overtime even thought customers are paying. It's working for us currently but as soon as I find a better option, I'm out.
Regardless of workload, not taking calls improved our workflow and organized the way we reply to customers. It took us a while to realizes how much time and resources we were wasting on phone calls. Every email, text, voicemail gets full attention now and communication is all documented and searchable hassle free. Emails are answered in the order they received and mostly all answered before end of the day. A lot of customers prefer emails communication. Faster and easier.
@@NorthridgeFix Troy sold the company so 100% everyone will have to jump ship, they do not answer customer concerns/emails on their facebook page or via email the way they used to.
@@rossmanngroup That explains why.
Gee! What a tough guy! You are realistic, as well as being tough, or everyone and their dogs will walk right over you, and your actual paying repairs will suffer. I love your program.
Glad you made a video about this. Not a long of Repair shops with YT channels take the time to explain this. I do the same in my repair shop, I charge a diagnostic fee if the device is not repairable.
As a SMT repair tech for Nortel Networks, I have your six on everything you said.
I really enjoy watching your videos as they bring back memories from 1999 to 2001 when I used to replace 280Pin fine pitch by hand with a knife blade type soldering tip and a hot air station. BTW we only used HAKKO soldering stations and MC Chemicals products back then. I still think they are the best stations still today. Thx for sharing.
This is why I subscribe. You always tell it exactly how it is. Best kind of videos on your channel 👍
Sent on one of my devices to your shop and gladly paid the no-fix fee, because the knowledge and skill to know if it could be fixed was worth it. And I knew, if Northridge Fix said it was not fixable, it was not fixable. Period. That was well worth it to me.
If he said its not fixable you would save a lot of time searching around for other repairer's. Saves you time. I used to say go to others first then come to me when new the ones around me couldn't do that particular work.
@@paulzac5481 "If he said its not fixable you would save a lot of time searching around for other repairer's." Are you a troll or what?
@@HazeAnderson: I "THINK" he means that he trusts NF 100 percent, thus getting second opinion on a NF "NO FIX" is a waste of time. In part 2 of his comment, encouraging clients to bring in devices with multiple failed repair attempts sounds like lots of "Hiroshima" scenarios 😆.
I used your ticketing system on your website. it worked well, and the repair was done well. my son's Nintendo Switch is still operating well.
Watching all the Videos, I'll gain a lot of knowledge over the years, I've learned many ideas and techniques that I'm using in my business thank you, Alex!
I've seen in multiple of your videos and to me it's unbelievable how costumers fill the information needed for the repairs.
It is like they get a blackout midway filling the request form
Customers aren't as stupid as you might think, they are usually way more stupid.
Yeah I just can't believe how are they filling those forms. "Laptop not powering on". Really??
I laughed hard when the microscope went over the connector area and Alex put his hands on his head 🤣🤣🤣
I’m sure people just send these in for the response. Ain’t no fixing that without hours upon hours of work if even possible!
I thought that maybe that was the donor board
You have a very good sense of humor to compliment your no nonsense attitude. That's why I'm subscribed. lol
You are totally right alex. You are not a callcenter for problems or anything like that. Everyone who saw your videos and follow your channel, are able to see that you have a lot of work to get done. So keep your head up, you do a great great job. Greets from austria
Spot on mate!!!
I walked away from laptop repair 20 years ago because it got to hard to get parts and deal with all the stupid.
We got 1 star review from customer when we tried to explain to him that is the waste of time looking at his laptop. He wrote in his review "they only fix laptops they can charge", duuh.
i nearly died when you were like "look at this", funny that a minute or two before you were like "the guy sent a donor board because he is a smart guy" then horrer and comedy gold ensued 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was waiting on you to say it finally exactly the reason i don't do live phone calls with my repair business either and it was that with phone calls nothing is in writing or recorded and is sometimes hard to say the right things to customer when you're frustrated or busy or any other reason and also the customer can not say they didn't agree to the terms or price etc..
Excellent. Good to get it out.
Business is business, your doing great things and you don't have time or any obligation to give out any more information than you already do, as much as we would like, time is money! Great work keep it up 👍 much appreciated any information you provide
100% true about diagnostic fee. I charge 500,- CZK (around $20) for each device to diagnose. It is common price here in CZ.
$35 diagnostic fee is cheap! my shop locally here in the Bay Area is $150 repair attempt fee no matter the complexity of device..flat rate ..$150! you are too nice!!!
Luckily there are people like you who are able to fix broken hardware.
Can't remember how it goes but common sense is a punishment for dealing with those who do not have it....
Thanks for youre video. Really like this kind of videos where you talking about why you doing and background. Have took odd my tphone long time ago becuse so many just want to talk and waisting my time. Also drounging in work and having fun working with what I like.
You doing the right thing with repair atemt fee. I call it troubleshooting fee.
Big love from Sweden
Alex, please make more videos like this when you are a bit irritated. One of the reasons I think people like you is you are very real. However when you are a little irritated you are even realer and it is very entertaining along with being informative as usual. This will likely get you more views. Keep it up and love your content!
You are good and kind, that's why you have lots of customers.
This is so true!
I've worked at a computer(repair) shop where later on we started doing tablet and iphone repairs and the stuff I had to put up with over there.....
Indeed people attempting to do stuff themselve and all that.
Normally we would charge a diagnostics fee of €25 euros but I think the shop owner later on was afraid of losing customers and a whole bunch of times he changed his own "rule" to a no cure no pay which I thought was total B.S.
This is a really informative video showing exactly why you are a 100% right about the diagnostics fee.
I have to say u absolutely right. Frack those creepy customers. 👍🏻
if you can call them customers!!!
@@saulmontanez ok crustomers
Excellent video Alex. So true, what's wrong with people? Unbelievable. Thanks for saying this "out loud", needs to be said.
Totally agree with approach.
Hi Alex, you are absolutely correct in your attitudes. I face the same issues here and often find myself considering taking these steps. I like to have customer negotiations and conditions written down and I really hate having to answer the phone, which will usually ring in the middle of some delicate microsoldering. As for charging for attempted repair or diagnosis, unfortunately the local business culture doesn't allow me to do the same.
Totally correct; running a business not a charity. Well said.
You are very smart and honest person. Very upfront
Good for you... Your time is not free!!! After watching your video's I have learned a thing or two but that does not give me the right to send in equipment that I attempted to repair for you to fix my goof up! Keep Up the good work!
I ordered a birthday cake from a major chain the other day. The cake came to around $20. At the end of ordering I was given a total which included a bagging fee, retail fee, below $30 fee, delivery fee, sales tax, and another fee for just using the website. This guy says it like it is without any bs fees that you didn't expect. This guy should run for president.
The no phone call policy make sense. I have an iPad at his shop, just need to wait until it’s repaired.
💯 Correct this is outrageous what customers expect when items are in very bad condition It is unrepairable I hope this will be the last of those customers thanks for your videos .
not sure if i'm supposed to be laughing, but this guy's awesome, i love this
I agree 100% with a No Fix Fee. As a former Cell Phone Technician, we used to do $49 Charge upfront ( if fix is a go ahead, this comes off the final bill ). If not, we keep the inspection fee. Keep up the amazing work, love your channel. Every customer is pissed off before they even walk in that their device isn't working, but as you say, you know the fee, you know the best and worst scenario. it is what it is.
💯% agreed. One thing that I hate back when I'm not the boss yet is that when the boss said no repair attempt fees we followed, and so we wasted time, effort and resources just to diagnose and attempt repairs, at the same time losing other customers waiting in line 🤦🤷.
You're right about deciding to not take any more live calls. I can totally relate how difficult it is to balance taking phone calls and actively trying to fix or do the critical work needed to help customers
Lovely episode and honest real talk! Love it!
Brother i love your channel and attitude. I bet i can tell you the main thiught that goes through your head all the time everday when youre working. Keep up the great videos. I actually have a maybe a couple parts i need to send. Im going to get the packet a fill it out and get a estimate.
Thank you for posting this. I have always been worried about how to handle this even though am not a professional like you, but I do some repairs. I will keep this I mind.
Your a very fair and reasonable person mate keep up the good work
Had to ask him about an issue. He could not sell parts- understood with the supply chain issues. He still answered and was extremely professional. I appreciated the help. Nice guy.
I completely agree with your logic. I always thought Rossman was out of his mind having a no-fix no-fee business model. But I figure he's more selective in what he accepts. I've read reviews on his store about how he refuses to even work on some machines because he knows he likely can't fix them.
We charge 25 for a diagnostic fee and then once the repair is complete we waive it off the bill
True, since I've been working with a repair attempt fee; all those "cheap" customers stopped coming. This gave me plenty time to work on some serious stuff!
P.s. what ticketing system do you guys use?
I have to say, your customers can not only learn how to fix things, but they can learn about how to perform customer service and how to run a business. Great channel.
That´s it. Tomorrow I´m sending my Iphone X motherbor so you can fix my conector. Thank you!
And I want it looking ‘better than Factory’ 🤣🤣
Sounds like you need to expand your team of well trained technicians with the amount of clientele you are getting
You are soo right about this. Time is the most expensive thing. You know the story maybe, at the manucfaturing site one of the huge machines stopped working. They called service then a man came in and diagnosed the machine and grabbed a hammer and hit to somewhere on the machine, machine started to work again. He charged 1k then customer said this is too much, you just grabbed a hammer and hit to the machine is all. Man said i charged 100 for the hit and 900 for knowing where to hit. Knowledge is everything. Charging no fix fee is pretty fair..
We Spent a lot of time for disassembly, clean main board, to diagnose a faulty, to search with schematics when are available , it's a lot of time and then we repair.
Greetings from Italy ✌️
You are totally right of what you do. I have the same problem being a repair man but in Egypt it literally imposible to charge a repair attemp fee. If I did like you, there wouldn't be any customers. customers always tell what did you change or what was the problem with my device? If I told him it was a problem with a trace that I did jumper, he wouldn't be happy with the price I charge him as he doesn't what a trace is. I have to tell him as example if his device had a problem being charged, the problem is in the charging circuit without explaining in details in order not to lie. finally I'm a big fan of you and your work but don't complain for customers untill you deal with egyptian customers.
100% agree hope the people understand your point of view
Also a huge problem in the automotive industry where everyone is a "mechanic"
Except the public has been so conditioned to believe that it's easy, and feel entitled to a free diagnosis even when the diagnosis is conducted and correct.
Now imagine if we charged customers a no fix fee or repair attempt fee . They'd have a heart attack
True. On the other hand bad mechanics are also to blame, they just replace mostly expensive parts that do not need to be changed, charging the customer and the orriginal problem still isn't fixed.
I have the luxury to fix most problems myself, but if I do need to go to a car mechanic, I am going to be that "mechanic".
Disassembly and reassembly is the biggest part for sure. Totally justified.
I hate disassembling and reassembling so much that I don’t even charge a diagnostic fee if they send me just the board. I don’t have the volume that Alex does though. At his volume they definitely should charge for every device and probably increase prices all around too.
Fair and legit. Instead of helping, some people are slowing you down.
Love your Videos, thanks for bring all this. I work on Automobile and for Diagnostic i charge a initial $$.00 just to plug my Diagnostic device. Smart customer said OK when a bad customer said NO and i OK with that.
WOW so true, im going to implement a Diagnostic fee as well, cheers
Fair enough.
Question though: did you charge repair attempt fee at first when you opened your business? Or this came later when you became more well known?
Really good question… hopefully Alex replies
the answer is here: ua-cam.com/video/l8-ALz49QjQ/v-deo.html
If he started that way, he would have certainly scared his customers aways and would not have had a good chance at showing how good he is. If you ask me, he has paid his price, so ....it's more like, if you don't like it ...try elsewhere, simple.
Working for free is very attractive for customers! ;-)
It didn't start that way. It turned that way after the business was more established. We had a constant flow of devices coming and no time to waste.
Working in computer repair, it is insane how many people balk at a $59 diagnostic fee as well as being told the diagnostic itself may take 24-48 hours. So many entitled people seem to think they should get the computer diagnosed for free and that the work should be complete and back in their hands in just a couple of hours. It kind of speaks to how entitled our society has become that a) people don't think they should have to know a single thing about how a very expensive piece of computer technology even works (i.e I just use it for my bank and Facebook) and b) everything thinks they're special and shouldn't be charged the normal fee with the normal amount of diagnostic time. They don't even consider how many other repairs are on the technician's plate at the time, they don't even consider that the problem might not be easy to solve and/or fix, all they care about is the fact that they can't share their damn dinner photos on Facebook or use their stupid Cricut machine. It's honestly enough to make you question even being in the business in the first place.
You're the man. I've never clicked the subscribe button so hard than when you when you started describing Hiroshima.
nice ideas and clear communication to customers to aware of before sending for repair. Nice job dude.
That customer is just trying to get under your skin.. Because your are one of the best out there bro keep up the good work 👍
No fix fee is ridiculous unless it’s a reputable repair shop. One repair shop in my country got busted after found out they’re not actually diagnosing broken devices but instead charging them without doing anything. They got caught after multiple attempts on “diagnosing” the same devices. I still don’t support no fix fee. I went to a repair shop to get my devices fix. I’ll make sure the repair shop knows and confident that they can repair it, if they do state that they’re confident then I won’t be paying no fix fee if they can’t fix.
You absolutely right Husein ,every single word
Some people are pain in the a** just wasting your time never appreciate what you doing for them
You are right about diagnostic fee.I do the same thing.Have a nice day!
good vid , makes sense time and knowledge costs regardless. i do a lot of consulting on special effects and i get asked why do i charge . your paying for skill experience and years of me learning and working in the industry . knowledge and the fact you can do this is valuable . i remember a vid you posted about having something repaired when you were young and the charge . and what the repair guy told you . its very true , if you dont have knowledge dont expect someone to fix it for free.
Agreed with all the given reasons especially on the elimination purposes. Thanks for sharing.
And as a side note I feel your pain and frustration, keep strong and thanks again 💪
Peopele should be mindful seriously. I love this vedio. Thank you Northridgefix
Right on the money ! cheers.
You have the patience of a Saint my friend, people can be unbelievable!
Perfectly understandable and the pricing seems very reasonable too.
Sometimes I spend more time trying to bring one of these death boards back to life than fixing ten other computers. In reality I should charge ten times the price, but I only charge a small diagnostic fee and they ask "why should I pay you any money you didn't fix my computer>" I loved seeing that disaster board you showed! I'm sure thousands of repair techs laughed their asses off seeing that! Best wishes!
Your face when you see the 'motherboar' under the scope- one of the best videos 🤣🤣
There's a saying, "help me help you". You are absolutely right to make this video, calling out the idiots that are out there as well as charging a fee for your time, time that is really valuable considering you're a professional. Sad to see that people don't want to honor someone else's time.
I pray that your business is free of said idiots, ya'akhi!
+ Have a like!
:)
It's the customers themselves who need fixing...
I absolutely agree with you. From locksmiths to plumbers, they charge a call out fee before even looking at the work. While I'm here, could you or anyone give me the title of the tune you use at the end of your vids please. It's such an uplifting piece of music, I'd love to hear it in it's entirety. Thanks in advance.
Nicely explained. That's the way to do it. Keep up the good work.
Yeah, I completely agree and understand You..
Some customers don't understand, that diagnostic takes time and leave, knowing about non fix fees.. That eliminate garbage..
More classical in problem description is "Not working" 😂 when, in reality, everything works, except one function..
You are 100% fair and right about the diagnostic fee
Hey firstly I just want to say big ups! Great video to watch for technicians.
My question is what do you do if the device gets damaged during the repair attempt?