Repair efficiency
Part of my role involves “running” the repair desk. That is, I place the requests for stuff (mainly laptops) to be repaired. As quickly as possible, with no loss of data, in mind…
Now, the age of repair has passed. Things are now replaced. In the best of situations, only the broken piece, but sometimes a generalized “here’s another one, just like the last one”. And we pay for that service, as part of the purchase contract. Now we can see what money really buys. In the case of one supplier, formerly owned by the largest computer firm in the work. In the other (because we now only buy from two or three firms), a company that sounds like “well”. Say no more.
In the first case, I place the call, and someone drives the broken machine across town to a depot. There, it sits until we are contacted about the plausibility of a return visit. The time in between is variant (usually long).
In the second case, I call, and they put me through, rapidly, to a technician who does simple diagnostics. Once the problem has been identified, a plan of action is prepared, listing the parts needed. And then, someone comes to see me. Today, I received a call to check on the progress of my request from Friday. When the agent heard that there had been no progress, he set up a conference call. All parties were “brought together”, and the local firm agreed that today would be the day (there had been some weather-related delays with getting parts from the southern US). The firm’s rep was there shortly after lunch, and he stayed there until everything worked. A quick nod and a thank you, and he was gone.
I wish we could buy from only one firm.
