Using Warranty Policies to Deal With Returning Machines

Three months ago you performed some maintenance on a client’s computer, and they haven’t used it since you worked on it. They turn it on, and something unexpected happens. A piece of hardware failed, or a certain program isn’t working right, or a virus seems to have infected the machine.

They bring it back to you and blame you for the problem, and expect you to fix it, even hinting that since you must have been responsible, you should fix this new issue at no cost. Do you have to fix it? What are your options?

You might choose to at least look at it, and determine if you were really at fault for the issue. I usually make sure the client or their employees who work on the systems verify that everything is working normally including frequently used programs, before I leave the service call, helping eliminate future calls immediately following my work there related to the issue I worked on.

Even if you make sure everything is working as it is supposed to before you leave, it’s possible that whoever verified that may not have actually checked everything, and I’ve actually experienced that with one previous client and their employees, so you can’t absolutely prevent that scenario, but you can do your best.

If you really were at fault for the issue, it’s best if you apologize and make sure they’re taken care of, it’s best to be honest rather than make excuses or even make something up to cover up your mistake. In the long run, it’s better to have an honest reputation by explaining what happened and acknowledge mistakes rather than lie about it and appear incompetent as well as dishonest.

If you can explain to them in terms that they’ll understand how the mistake occurred or show them the paperwork dealing with the hardware that failed, they’re more likely to be understanding. If it’s hardware that failed, hopefully it’s still covered by warranty or you can get a replacement from the manufacturer at little or no extra cost.

If you’re not at fault for the issue, you could explain that to the customer, but whether or not they’ll believe it is another matter. They may even believe you but just want you to perform free work for them on the basis that they consider you at fault for this new issue. You can nip this right in the bud by establishing warranty policies on your work

Warranty Policies

If you cover your work with warranties, you will benefit twofold. First, a technician who covers his work with a warranty is more likely to be trusted than one who doesn’t, and more likely to be contacted for initial work. Secondly, if you cover your work with a warranty, if a client comes back with a machine you worked on, and the new issue isn’t your fault and it’s outside the warranty period, you’re really under no obligation to fix it at no cost.

Of course, your warranty policy and how you handle it is up to you, but if you make too many exceptions you’ll be expected to keep on making exceptions. Then again, every technician’s client base is different, so you might make exceptions with some clients that you trust, and handle new customers differently.

It’s recommended to have a short warranty time period, perhaps a few weeks. A lot can happen within a few weeks on even a residential machine, and you don’t it coming back too soon with new unrelated issues and claims that you’re the cause and you need to fix it under your warranty policy. Also, you’ll need terms on your warranty policy that void the warranty if the client has used file sharing websites or programs or visited malicious, untrusted, or pornographic websites.

If they’ve tampered with the machine outside of general computer use, and I know customers who have physically vented their anger on their machines, that’s another thing that will void the warranty. If you can explain why these things can cause problems on their machine, and even be able to show them logs showing infections or visited websites and that the machine was clean when it went back to them, that would be even better.

Due to the complexity of our trade and the equal variety in our client base, different problems require different solutions, so use discernment between a ‘one size fits all’ and being the kind of service technician you would want to handle your problem if you suspected they were at fault for what has occurred. If you have any tips in this regard, drop a comment below, we’d love to hear it!