Expensive house calls

There was a time when doctors used to make house calls for free, while owners of home appliances and electronic equipment used to have to take their TVs etc. to the shop to be looked at. Nowadays, doctors rarely make house calls and you need to go to them to have yourself looked at.

Meanwhile, those of us who have electronic appliances that break down no longer have to lug them to the shop but instead, the service or repair technicians now make house calls or “home service” amounting to gasoline, one day’s salary and expertise of the technician. In the case of a well-known Korean brand, they charge P1,500 to check what could be wrong with your unit.

Unfortunately, those “technicians” sometimes operate like they are dealers at the roulette table, spinning the wheel if you get lucky, or a bum deal. The first time I availed of home service for my TV, the technician was very friendly and straight to the point. In a matter of five minutes, he got my set running as good as new and I was very happy to pay the P1,500 service fee.

A year or so later, the same unit once again conked out, but this time a different team showed up and after five, maybe 10 minutes, the technician declared my unit too expensive to repair because several “boards” were defective and would cost something like P26,000. It was an old unit and I would be better off buying a replacement unit. This time, paying the P1,500 home service fee felt expensive and I realized how it felt to be a victim of “design obsolescence.”

Not long after that I learned that our neighbor in Lipa City who bought a newer model large screen TV of the same brand one year and one month ago, also experienced equipment failure with their Korean branded TV. They too had the unit looked at and was told that the warranty had expired already and that the unit would also cost somewhere in the range of P26,000, nearly the same amount that I was told for my much older TV. Given that they paid about P55,000 for the TV, our neighbor was not happy!

But unlike me, our “never say die” neighbor decided to try out a stand-alone electronics repair shop in the hope that they could pull a miracle. Well, as you may have expected, miracles still do happen, and the roadside shop managed to fix the TV for P7,500 only. Yes, there was some damage to the unit but not something worth P26,000.

These “isolated” incidents are the sort of thing that can ruin brand reputation, especially in this day and age of social media where articles and stories such as these can easily replicate, multiply or grow legs of its own. When two or more witnesses or unsatisfied customers pop up with the same sad experience, it lends credibility to the suspicion that a company may not be in control or on top of the activities of their field personnel.

Business owners really need to keep tabs, keep records, do after-visit evaluation and customer satisfaction reviews. I remember a time when the telcos would have their call-center contact customers to check if their technicians or personnel wore proper uniforms, presented identification, did the work cleanly, efficiently and to the satisfaction of the customer.

These may all be added costs, but given the two similar incidents I just related, what are the chances that someone may be scamming customers to chuck out their unit, or hoodwink an unsuspecting customer to unload the “broken” unit for “parts,” etc. Conspiracy theory, scam or not, the fact is this sort of thing is happening.

I know of one incident when someone brought a watch to a high-end shop in the Makati business center to have the batteries changed and he was told that the watch was no longer functioning and because it was “electronic” was not really worth repairing. For sentimental reasons, the owner decided to put the watch aside, planning to put it on a picture frame for display as a remembrance of his father.

Then one day, he had the wild idea of finding someone to rip out the mechanism of the watch, retain the face and replace it with a mechanical unit. His friend “George” who was into watches agreed to help find someone willing to commit sacrilege. But what happened was “George” ended up bringing the watch to Your Time, another outlet located in the Corinthian Plaza building across Greenbelt 1.

The horologist looked at the watched spent some time diligently cleaning and “lubricating” the watch, put in a new battery and returned it to the client, saying there was some minor rusting and that the owner should avoid getting it wet. But otherwise the watch would be good for several more years if the battery is changed annually.

The cost for cleaning and replacement of battery was nothing near the price of the Breitling Chronograph (I think it was). But even more, if the current owner had decided to throw away the watch, he would have thrown away something that is now in the process of becoming an heirloom.

Going full circle, there is certainly wisdom in getting a second opinion, checking social media or the internet for similar situations or what other people have done. Whether it’s people or “stuff,” we have all heard stories and some nightmares of misdiagnosis, overcharging or simple indifference.

Whatever you do: Never Say Die!

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