Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

THE WAY I SEE IT By NEVILLE WILLIAMS They'll sell you anything but don't ask them to fix it! Pause long enough to inspect the electrical or electronic wares in u store and you'll find someone at your elbow eager to assist and advise. But call again to report that what you bought has failed and the response is likely to be strictly formal: "Sorry, but we can't help you directly. You'll have to take the matter up with (somebody else)"! In making the above observation, I'm not reacting to something that I just happen to have heard about or read about. On the contrary, a series of frustrating situations, which I encountered at first hand, proved to be the tip of a large and growing problem in the area of equipment servicing. Perhaps I should explain that, when I was younger and more involved in the practical side of the industry, I did most of my own repairs. These days, with dedicated components and technology becoming the rule rather than the exception, I prefer to rely on people who specialise in this work. So I'm a technically informed but otherwise typical consumer. My practice, in magazine articles, has traditionally been to advise other typical consumers to refer their problems, where possible, to the manufacturer concerned or to a local organisation that the manufacturer has accredited for the area. Such advice is based on an assumption that the manufacturer and/or accredited representative should be familiar with the symptoms and problems of their own product range and have ready access to replacement parts. Where direct representation is 14 SILICON CHIP not accessible, I've normally suggested contacting an. established specialist service organisation or, failing that, an individual on-thespot repairman that other consumers are prepared to recommend on the basis of experience. In the light of recent observations, however, I'm less confident in offering that sort of advice. Overall, the reliability of consumer electrical and electronic equipment may have improved but, if it should fail, the provisions for service and repair appear, for a variety of reasons, to be less predictable than they once were. YA WANNA WA\'T' l=OR \"t".. ~ •. " I list below a number of situations which, as mentioned above, were encountered quite spontaneously at a personal level. Heaven alone knows what might come to light if one really went looking for problems! CASE 1 Cassette Tape Data Recorder: owned by a close relative, it was part of an inexpensive but useful computer-cum-word processing setup. It began to mangle tapes and inspection showed that a small neoprene-tyred idler wheel, driving the take-up spool, had failed. I rang the distributor who advised that replacement parts were not available; if submitted for service, they might be lucky enough to score a replacement from a reject unit but they warned that, being no longer under warranty, the minimum service charge would be $40.00. Faced with an indefinite delay and an uncertain result, the owner had little choice but to discard the otherwise serviceable recorder and buy a new one costing around $ 70 - this for the sake of an item worth a few cents! CASE 2 Video Cassette Recorder: it was operating normally when the tuner and clock suddenly went dead, suggesting a possible failure in the supply line to that portion of the assembly. The unit was ticketed to indicate the fault and delivered to the manufacturer's service department. Their response to a subsequent enquiry about its fate seemed to in- dicate that it had been despatched elsewhere for service. It would be repaired as quickly as possible, they said, but six weeks elapsed before I finally got it back. CASE 3 - Microwave Oven: cooking times had become tediously long and, since the unit was about five years old, it seemed likely that it required a new magnetron. It was delivered direct to the service counter of the manufacturer's Sydney complex. An inquiry about three weeks later produced a very vague response and the best part of another month elapsed before it was ready to pick up. While I was waiting for it at the counter, I overheard another customer complaining bitterly that he'd been waiting over eight weeks for a room heater to be fixed - this in the middle of winter! CASE 4 - Computer Printer: when it failed recently, I returned it to the local distributor and emphasised that, as a freelance writer, I was in a bind without it. A week later, I was told that although the printer was ostensibly a standard model, one of the PC boards differed from that shown in the service manual. A replacement for an IC on the unfamiliar board would have to be ordered from overseas. As I write, that was eight weeks ago and the printer is still sitting forlornly in the service department. CASE 5 - Computer Printer Ribbon: I would have been in all sorts of strife for lack of a printer had not a friend loaned me one of another brand which he wasn't using at the time. I managed to couple it successfully to my computer but found that the ribbon was badly in need of replacement. It was from an office system and, without too much apprehension, I rang the supplier. "Unfortunately, sir", I was told, "that system was superseded around 1981 and we no longer supply consumables like ribbons or discs". They suggested that a certain small company in Melbourne might just be able to help. As for other-brand ribbons that could possibly be compatible, they "really didn't know". CASE 6 - Computer Monitor: when I recountered the above to a schoolteacher friend, he was much more interested in sharing his own problem. His personal computer is very much a current model but the monitor had just failed. When he rang the service department of the Australian agent, they quoted an estimated six weeks to repair it, even if he delivered it next morning direct to the service counter - six weeks to repair their own near-new video monitor that would contain far fewer "works" than a small colour TV set! As I remarked earlier, if these situations are what one consumer can nominate off the cuff, at a purely personal level, what would emerge if one went around deliberately turning over stones? When I mentioned the above to an executive in a suburban servicing organisation, he was quite unmoved. His verdict: I'd say they were about par for the course". WHY 'S£'{'1'l..E FOR A l',lE.W ~~1" ~"'EN :~oWN~~?. \ .-1,! ~ Expect about six weeks! So there you have it, customers: nowadays, if you return for repair your cassette radio, TV set, VCR, computer, microwave cooker, room heater, or what have you, be prepared to wait six weeks before you become really impatient or start getting your knickers into a knot! And that's irrespective of whether or not the device is under warranty. I also shared my thoughts with Jim Yalden, VKZYGY, in the course of a casual "rag-chew" on the 2-metre amateur band. Jim has his own company in Milton, NSW, servicing both consumer and professional equipment in the general area. Jim stressed that it was in his own interest to get jobs in and out of the service shop as quickly as possible but it was becoming more and more difficult to do so, mainly because of delays in obtaining critical replacement parts. Some suppliers weren't too bad, he said; others were "hopeless" and, in such cases, neither he nor any other serviceman could avoid long delays. He went on to nominate typical situations that had recently been or still were - a source of acute embarrassment to him, including: • A late model major brand VCR that has been sitting on his shelves for six weeks awaiting a replacement reel motor. Present indications are that it will still be another four to six weeks before he can start the job. • A cassette radio, still under warranty, which he finally returned to the distributor rather than carry the odium for not being able to obtain a replacement for a major component. The buyer has been without it for over six months! • A microwave oven for which he cannot obtain the appropriate magnetron from the supplier. It's been held up in his workshop for seven months and, just before talking to me, he'd heard that the owner had given up and bought another one. • A trawler depth-sounder which he could not repair for want of a critical component. The Australian agent quoted a minimum of seven weeks to import a replacement. Through a Japanese contact, the trawler owner was able to telex an order to that country and the replacement arrived just 10 days later. To someone who can look back to the early days, delays like the above are unthinkable. I learned the ropes at Reliance Radio in Sydney, at that time a small manufacturing-cum-retailing firm which relied heavily for its success on word of mouth recommendations. If a receiver failed, especially during the warranty period, management would do their level best to have the problem sorted out during the next couple of days, NOVEMBER 1987 15 come hail, rain or shine - a phrase that meant something when a serviceman rode around on a motorcycle/sidebox combination. A failed set and a dissatisfied customer were seen as a potentially bad advertisement. When I later transferred to the Amalgamated Wireless Valve Company, part of my new job was to keep track of valves from all sources and devise brochures aimed at helping servicemen effect substitutes for types for which there might currently be no direct replacement. It was a free service intended to generate "goodwill" (remember the word?) for the AWV/Radiotron brand. we now seem to have gone to the other extreme. Just before writing this, I was involved in helping a relative select a new 34cm colour TV set. In the course of so doing, I enquired about warranty and service arrangements for the respective brands on display. Most, it appeared, carried a 12-month warranty covering parts and service. No, 34cm TV sets were not normally serviced in the home but the sales assistant seemed quite uncertain as to whether all or some of the brands had to be returned to the store or direct to the service department of the particular distributor. Either way, the buyer would have to deliver the set and collect it again when it was ready. What about the turnaround time for service under warranty? The answer: an off-handed "Maybe three or four weeks" - as if time didn't really matter. I was left with the firm impression that the assistant's job was to sell the goods, take the money and process the invoice. After-sale ser- 16 SILICON CHIP vice was an incidental that they'd prefer I hadn't pursued. A warranty card was included in the paperwork. It was the W€.LL,t customer's responsibility to fill it t t;OULt> ~ l'I\IU<. out, send it to wherever it had to go, and resolve any problems that might arise with whoever it nominated. Transport is up to you Commenting on this, Jim Yalden, an accredited service representative for a number of different brands, confirmed that most TV sets now carried a 12-month warranty, which required that the smaller models be brought in for repair. He said that he has had to reorganise his own business to restrict in-home service of all kinds. Even with a door-knock fee acceptable to his clients, time spent "piloting" the service van, the inefficiencies of in-situ repairs and the frequent need for a return visit all add up, these days, to a formula for "going broke" He now insists that all transportable items be delivered and picked up by the client, and that includes electrical equipment, radio sets, cassette players, VCRs and TV sets smaller than 56cm. He points out that manhandling 63cm and even some 56cm TV cabinets ("coffins" Jim calls them) is not an easy task for a lone serviceman, further complicated by the attendant risk of scratching or otherwise damaging the cabinet. A serviceman in a nearby town, he said, is now insisting that clients who live outside the town boundaries arrange for a professional carrier to pick up and deliver large TV sets, if they can't handle them in their own vehicle. Another country serviceman, whom I've heard about since, is flatly refusing to make any home calls at all, even though he's accredited for warranty service on most brands. Instead, he's come up with a novel arrangement whereby the local milkman will pick up and deliver items for service, for a separate fee! While country serviceman in particular may regret having to impose such conditions, many may well have little choice in the matter, in the face of escalating costs. The one-time door-knock fee of around $25 is claimed to nowhere near cover travel time, equipment and vehicle costs for a professionally competent technician. If metropolitan servicemen can justify $50, the call charge in the country should allegedly be above that again. However, according to Jim Yalden, sales staff have a moral obligation to acquaint customers with service conditions, particularly with physically large and complex equipment in country areas, and especially if customers live out of town. Spare parts problem As for the shortage of replacement parts and the long turnaround times he, like others I talked to, tended to blame it in part on longterm fallout from the reduced value of the Australian dollar. When the exchange rate was in our favour, the major Japanese companies enjoyed a thriving market and it was no hassle for them to set up their own generously equipped service departments, with access to ample stocks of replacement parts. But now, with the exchange rate down from 300-400 yen to the $A to just over 100, the market for new equipment has shrunk in both volume and profitability, while the dollar commitment for spare parts sufficient for all those models already in the field has gone through the roof. With a restricted inventory, the flow of spare parts is more vulnerable to shipping and handling delays, and to industrial disputes - one of which is tying up deliveries even as I write. Nor is the position being helped, someone suggested, by the different attitude overseas to equipment servicing. In Australia, if a unit fails, normal customer reaction is to get it fixed. In Japan, consumers are encouraged to cut their losses and replace it with a later model. On this basis, it wouldn't be too surprising if the word from Japanese boardrooms is to keep a close watch on the service dollar Down Under! Whether or not this is so, there is certainly ample evidence of the manufacturers' service involvement being rationalised in respect to both spare parts and staffing levels, with the diversion of an increasing proportion of own-brand repair work to outside contractors. Up-to-date information Another major problem area for service technicians was brought to my notice by John Ridley, manager of the Villawood (Sydney) division of Hills Telefix, a company that has kept my own TV sets walking and talking for a number of years - in exchange for the usual insurance fee. In his opinion, technology is running ahead, not only of the real needs of consumers, but the ability of the manufacturers to communicate "how it works" and "how to fix it" information in their own literature, and ultimately to the technicians who have to service the equipment. Even worse, some of the difficulties which have arisen in the field seem not to have been foreseen or allowed for in the development labs, requiring tedious backtracking across national and language boundaries to sort out the problem and the probable need for circuit modifications and/or updated literature. There is a practical limit, says John Ridley, to the amount of experience and information which any one technician can bring to bear on the equipment which, these days, he is likely to encounter in the home. There is also a limit to the amount of literature that he can carry or access or absorb, even given the back-up which a company like Telefix can provide. Jim Yalden agrees, pointing out that a self-employed service technician Illpy now have to pay anything up to $50 for the manual on a new IJlOdel TV receiver or VCR. Yet, without access to many such manuals and to suitably high-tech test equipment, it is simply not possible to service new equipment efficiently or even - in the longer term - to stay in business. That is why, says Jim, TV technicians are "leaving the industry in droves"; and why the number of well-equipped repairmen in country centres is down to around half of what it once was. Caveat emptor! In my view, we as consumers are getting uncomfortably close to the point where that frustrating phrase has to be invoked: "caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware [since he buys without recourse). When next you front up to the sales counter in search of a new TV set, VCR, or other item of electronic gadgetry, heed John Ridley's remarks and don't be too easily talked into investing in the biggest and the best, with the most features and the latest technology. There's not much point in buying facilities that you'll rarely use, and/or gee-whiz technology that may needlessly complicate and add to the cost of future service procedures. If you live, or plan to live in the country, keep in mind Jim Yalden's warning about the currently diminishing numbers of rural What is your view? This story paints a rather uncomplimentary picture of the service available on consumer appliances but there must be another side to it. We are sure that many companies must be doing their very best to provide good service and. are succeeding. We'd like to hear from these companies and from readers. Tell us about your good and your bad experiences . Write to Silicon Chip, PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach , NSW 2097. repairmen, who are prepared, competent and adequately equipped to take on cumbersome, timeconsuming high-tech repairs. Finally, my own two-cent's worth: don't assume that your friendly emporium will take over your service worries, because they've been so nice to you in other ways. Check out the warranty, read the fine print and discover exactly what's involved. What is the warranty period and what does it cover? Does it cover all parts and labour for the full period? Is the work done in the home or does the unit have to be returned for service to the store or to the distributor's service department? If the latter, where is it situated, and during what hours is it open? What is the turnaround time for a typical repair? You may not require service, of course, but if you do, it's well to discover beforehand that the model you are considering has to be delivered to, and picked up from, the front end of a queue at an awkward address (for you) between awkward hours on week days only. Believe me, those are not idle observations. The relative mentioned earlier settled for a 34cm receiver partly because, living alone, it would be small enough for her to transport for service, without assistance. The brand she chose offered the further advantage that during and after warranty, it could be returned conveniently either to the manufacturer or to a nearby service insurance centre. That's the way I see it. ~ NOVEMBER 1987 17