Nothing fancy here. Just some common sense.
But lets cover FIRST the exceptions to my NO FIX-NO CHARGE business model.
With some devices that are not common I do charge a base fee whether I fix it or not.
The amount of time it takes to carefully open without damaging a device that I have never handled before can easily exceed an hour.
The time it takes to research an unfamiliar device can be very time consuming.
The amount of time spent on learning about a “one-off” device could have been spent on repairing a laptop, gaming console etc. So I am not only donating my time to learn about an uncommon device I am also losing income that could have been earned from working on common items.
The exact fee I charge to handle such devices is determined once I have the device at the shop and is discussed before I begin the repair.
Car computer boards, professional sound mixing equipment, etc are some examples of the types of devices that there is a base charge to even work on.
On most common devices(most laptops, game consoles and computers) I don’t charge unless I fix your device with the only occasional exceptions being if someone else has been in the device and damaged it.
Why does this matter? There are places that spend very little time trying to diagnose and fix items that are presented.
When a shop or technician knows they are going to be paid whether or not they fix something the incentive structure is skewed.
I work very hard to repair every device because I don’t get paid otherwise.
If I can’t fix your device, that doesn’t mean it’s not repairable. It means I can’t repair it. By not charging you it gives you the opportunity to have someone else take a look at it without having already spent $40 or more dollars for a “bench fee” or “diagnosis”.
Why bench fees and diagnostic fees bother me. A “repair” shop can literally make more money off of “no fixes” than actually fixing products. By charging $40 just to “look” at a product they incentivize pushing through as many products as possible. They can make almost $200/hr by taking 10-15min per product to then label it a “no fix” if they can’t quickly figure out what is wrong with it.
The fact that you know you are going to make the “bench fee” regardless of whether you fix the product is an incentive to limit the amount of time you are going to spend trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. Why would you spend an hour diagnosing a perplexing problem when in just 5 minutes you could declare it a “no fix” and make $40?
My model favors the consumer. I do the job you hired me for, fixing your device, and then I get paid. If I don’t fix it I get nothing. The incentive for me is to FIX the product.
Finally. Am I the least expensive repair shop in the area? No. Am I generally a lot less expensive than large corporate shops? Yes. Can you get things fixed in the same day? Generally no. It is just me. I work hard to fix every device and the vast majority I do fix but I can’t plow through 20 or 30 devices a day when I actually spend the time needed to reach the fair conclusion that I can’t fix it.
Thanks for reading this.
JimFrench