General question on repairs

[nosaj]

How would you handle this Customer has an amp repaired in Jan. Last week he says he just hooked it up and now nothing.
I say BS. In my mind if I got an amp repaired I'd be checking it out when I got home if not before.

Ideally I like to have them tested by the customer before leaving but it didn't happen this time.

Thanks,
nosaj

[Leo_Gnardo]

if I got an amp repaired I'd be checking it out when I got home if not before.

Ideally I like to have them tested by the customer before leaving but it didn't happen this time.

True both of those. But we gotta deal with Chief Ruffled Feathers . . . run thru the simple stuff like "is there an effects loop?" because you know what happens there. Is this amp a combo or a head. If head, how's his speaker cable & speaker cab? Did his kids filch the tubes and bury them in their sandbox?

Just had one like this last week, a Crown PowerBase amp. Owner swore up n down "it doesn't work!" Worked perfectly here. When he got it home of course it didn't work again. Then he tried a different IEC power cable . . . works perfectly but now his nose is out of joint. Why? Because HE couldn't have tested it with another, working, power cable at home? Some people not quite as smart as a box of rocks...

[The Dude]

How I would and have approached this:

From the outset, I would explain that I don't warranty repairs for 6 months- so that there is an understanding up front. After that, I would open the thing up and see what's wrong with it. If it's obviously something I missed or something simple and stupid like a switching jack cleaning, I'd cover the repair anyway for the sake of good customer relations. If the amp is blown up again, for instance- multiple output transistors, etc., I would call him and politely tell him what you found, and that he will need to pay for the repair. On one hand, we all make occasional mistakes. On the other hand, you can't fix his amp for free every time he blows it up.

[nosaj]

True both of those. But we gotta deal with Chief Ruffled Feathers . . . run thru the simple stuff like "is there an effects loop?" because you know what happens there. Is this amp a combo or a head. If head, how's his speaker cable & speaker cab? Did his kids filch the tubes and bury them in their sandbox?

Just had one like this last week, a Crown PowerBase amp. Owner swore up n down "it doesn't work!" Worked perfectly here. When he got it home of course it didn't work again. Then he tried a different IEC power cable . . . works perfectly but now his nose is out of joint. Why? Because HE couldn't have tested it with another, working, power cable at home? Some people not quite as smart as a box of rocks...

It's a 70s Silverface Super Reverb. Still haven't picked it back up Will tomorrow after work and see whats up with it. Pull my notes tonight.

Thanks for the insights,
nosaj

[Enzo]

Some thoughts. Whenever possible, I demonstrate the product is working when they pick up the repair. Can't always.

If he says it now doesn;t work, OK, have him bring it by. And make sure he brings his power cord. Plug it in real quick and see what it does. It may have no problem, or it might have some very simply corrected woe. Could he have blown it up and is trying to scam you? Maybe.

Policy should cover this. Put a shop warranty on your work. HAve it spell out that it covers only the work you did, it is not a new insurance policy on the amp. IN other words if you fixed a blown output stage, and a week later the reverb dies, that isn't under the shop warranty. And give it a time period - 30 days, 60 days, whatever you like, starting when they are notified the repair is ready to pick up.

[Mick Bailey]

I have my terms available for anyone who asks. To date, no-one ever has. I warrant repairs for three months and occasionally get the odd customer complaining of a fault months, or even years, after the warranty period. I had a guy lately asking for his money back (in a pretty acrimonious and formally worded e-mail) after 7 months. He'd been gigging the amp since the repair without issue, but the amp had recently started to drop in volume. I said I'd take a look at it anyhow and suggested he dropped it off, but he never bought the amp back.

[nsubulysses]

I have my terms on the bottom of my invoice. They are very simple and read like this:

"Labor performed and parts replaced as itemized above are guaranteed for a period of 60 days unless equipment is subject to misuse or abuse.

Please contact for more information on billing or services.
Thank you for your business."

They are also listed on my website in much more detail, which probably no one ever reads.

I have a few customers who seem to break everything regularly. When you get a call from these few select individuals it's easy to get a little sad because you just assume they dropped the amp or plugged it into the wrong impedance or something and now you have to deal with it. I've even seen this a few times -- people literally pick up their amp and bang it into the door frame when walking through the door on their way out!!! Like, a LOUD klunk on the way out that makes you cringe.

If your work is detailed on the invoice and you have some terms listed somewhere you should have some bit of defense. However, it could be something simple too. Something that is no ones fault. Last time I got one back like this I was astonished the amp was broken again after only a week (from a "problem" customer. Good guy and never hassles me, but breaks way too much stuff!), but it turned out that the new 12AX7 I installed had failed on one side of the triode. So the overdrive channel was more of a light gain channel. A new 12AX7 and he was happy and I was out $10 and a half hour of my life. oh well. Guess it was the best case scenario........

[nosaj]

It's a 70s Silverface Super Reverb. Still haven't picked it back up Will tomorrow after work and see whats up with it. Pull my notes tonight.

Thanks for the insights,
nosaj

V4 tube cracked . replaced works great now. I think I might suck this one up.

nosaj

[The Dude]

I would at least charge him for the tube. No reason you should eat parts. Either you missed it, in which case he would have had to buy one anyway. Or, he broke it dropping the amp or something. In either case, he would buy the tube. If you want to eat labor as a gesture for customer relations, your choice.