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This is going to be a long one. Last week a young man whom I did some work last year on a Silvertone head, texts me. "Guru", he asks, "I never plugged that head in until now, it's not working, I think it's something easy to fix, and I don't have the money to bring it to you, so do you have any pointers for how to help me fix it?" A long texting session ensues. This guy is the worst texter ever, garbled, misspelled, shorthand, symbols, the worst. I try to explain to him how to plug the speaker into another amp, or another amp into that speaker, but he is having trouble with the concept. More long texts. This goes on for at least 30 minutes, and I am growing weary of it. Finally, after I figured I have given him all the info he needs, I just stop responding. I don'r hear back for some days, and forget about it.
Then today, ding, there he is again. This time with another amp, apparently he didn't try my recommendations on the first one. He says it is a Silvertone 1421, and it needs the little tube because the others all light up, and do I have one or know where to get one? I look up the schematic and see it is a thin body 6AU6, so I google it and send him a link to thetubestore.com. He asks me how does a tube come out, by unscrewing, or does it slide out? I bite my tongue and explain the way to pull a tube. Now he wants me to drive over to his place to have a look and tell him how much it would cost to fix both amps, and what would I charge for that? I tell him I don't really do house calls. He says he doesn't want to have to haul them to my house if at all possible, because he drives a pickup and "it wouldn't be safe". I tell him he won't harm an amp transporting in a pickup if they are placed on something soft, especially on the flat nicely paved roads down here.
Now he tells me he also has two Frontmans, a "commercial grade amp" (Peavy CS400 power amp) that don't work, "probably something simple", and two guitars to rewire, and could I give him an idea of how much that would cost, and maybe could we work out a flat rate for the whole lot. I explain my shop rate, and that I could not give him an estimate without having a look at each one. And no, I would not ever do a flat rate for something like this. OK, he says, how much would it cost for you to tell me about how much it will cost to fix everything? Didn't we just discuss this?
So now I am really getting tired trying to deal with this with texting. I tell him how a bench fee works, sometimes it covers the cost of the repair, sometimes partially. I tell him I really do need to get back to work, and frustrated now, mention I don't get paid to text. He says it must be hard selling a service and not be able to predict the cost. I tell him I DO predict the cost, but not on gear I have never seen. The cost is predicted during the bench fee. He says that is unprofessional, why should he "pay money to pay money?" How if I were more professional I wouldn't be working in my garage (like that's a bad thing), and I really should hire someone to deal with customers, I would have more work, blah, blah, blah.
Now I'm off. Look kid, I work in my garage because I want to, so I can be selective in who I have to deal with, like yourself. About every 3 years or so I get a nusance guy like you, who thinks he knows what's up, thinks nothing of wasting my time like it's owed to him, and then is offended when, after answering all his questions, ends up feeling wronged because I tell him after enough of it that I am a pro repair service, servicing mostly pro musicians, not a free advice column or a charity. So you think I am unprofessional, fine, I think you are clueless and I don't want your business, if that was even ever going to actually happen, so we are even. Please don't bother me anymore, you are blocked.
He sent me a few more long texts, but I didn't read them. 68 texts in all, 68! And, I am going to guess they took about 90 minutes total, 90 minutes I will never get back. Maybe I let my irritation show after a fashion, but letting into this fool felt good, actually. Thankfully, incidents like this are few and far between for me, and I always try to go out of my way for my customers. And judging from how often I am tipped, thanked and praised, I think I am professional enough.
But, what a knucklehead!
Then today, ding, there he is again. This time with another amp, apparently he didn't try my recommendations on the first one. He says it is a Silvertone 1421, and it needs the little tube because the others all light up, and do I have one or know where to get one? I look up the schematic and see it is a thin body 6AU6, so I google it and send him a link to thetubestore.com. He asks me how does a tube come out, by unscrewing, or does it slide out? I bite my tongue and explain the way to pull a tube. Now he wants me to drive over to his place to have a look and tell him how much it would cost to fix both amps, and what would I charge for that? I tell him I don't really do house calls. He says he doesn't want to have to haul them to my house if at all possible, because he drives a pickup and "it wouldn't be safe". I tell him he won't harm an amp transporting in a pickup if they are placed on something soft, especially on the flat nicely paved roads down here.
Now he tells me he also has two Frontmans, a "commercial grade amp" (Peavy CS400 power amp) that don't work, "probably something simple", and two guitars to rewire, and could I give him an idea of how much that would cost, and maybe could we work out a flat rate for the whole lot. I explain my shop rate, and that I could not give him an estimate without having a look at each one. And no, I would not ever do a flat rate for something like this. OK, he says, how much would it cost for you to tell me about how much it will cost to fix everything? Didn't we just discuss this?
So now I am really getting tired trying to deal with this with texting. I tell him how a bench fee works, sometimes it covers the cost of the repair, sometimes partially. I tell him I really do need to get back to work, and frustrated now, mention I don't get paid to text. He says it must be hard selling a service and not be able to predict the cost. I tell him I DO predict the cost, but not on gear I have never seen. The cost is predicted during the bench fee. He says that is unprofessional, why should he "pay money to pay money?" How if I were more professional I wouldn't be working in my garage (like that's a bad thing), and I really should hire someone to deal with customers, I would have more work, blah, blah, blah.
Now I'm off. Look kid, I work in my garage because I want to, so I can be selective in who I have to deal with, like yourself. About every 3 years or so I get a nusance guy like you, who thinks he knows what's up, thinks nothing of wasting my time like it's owed to him, and then is offended when, after answering all his questions, ends up feeling wronged because I tell him after enough of it that I am a pro repair service, servicing mostly pro musicians, not a free advice column or a charity. So you think I am unprofessional, fine, I think you are clueless and I don't want your business, if that was even ever going to actually happen, so we are even. Please don't bother me anymore, you are blocked.
He sent me a few more long texts, but I didn't read them. 68 texts in all, 68! And, I am going to guess they took about 90 minutes total, 90 minutes I will never get back. Maybe I let my irritation show after a fashion, but letting into this fool felt good, actually. Thankfully, incidents like this are few and far between for me, and I always try to go out of my way for my customers. And judging from how often I am tipped, thanked and praised, I think I am professional enough.
But, what a knucklehead!
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