In Shop Turn Around Time For Computer Repair

[budsandbytes]

The phone system is a good idea, though not nearly as effective as you would think. We have a simple "press 1 to hear our hours" message at the beginning of the phone menu, and yet 75% of our calls are still to ask about our hours. We serve a few people a day with the menu, so it is worth it in my opinion. The real benefit though is the drop in telemarketers and robo-calls. If people have to press 2 to talk to a technician, this will block most call center calls from coming in. We also have a separate menu for the few marketers that get through that basically tell them to e-mail or leave a voicemail. I don't feel nearly as bad about hanging up on the ones that "lie" to my menu.

We may try the 3 to 5 day suggestion above though. People just must be the same everywhere, hearing "2 days" and calling less than 24 hours after dropping off is a pet peeve of EVERY employee.

My rule is if I get a call within 2 hours on a 2-3 day estimated job, I tell them to come get it, and decline the work. You hate to throw away money like that, but I can usually turn and burn 3 machines in the time it would have taken me to serve that one customer.

 

[PCX]

Just a quick update on the subject. We are still doing the 3 to 5 day wait time and we are loving it. Our receptionists are spending less time on the phones, my techs are less stressed out due to customers calling every 5 minutes asking for updates and overall, we are getting more done. On top of that, we just got done having the biggest month yet, so it's not really effecting our traffic much.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

We wanted to use an automated answering system but we noticed about 4 of 5 calls hung up with no message. We had the phone numbers so we called them back and Jimbo is right about half of them already found someone else so we never fully implemented the answering system. Once we talk to our customers we seemt get about 6 out of 7 calls who actually book an appointment or bring in their computer.

We used to get 30-40 calls a day and about 1/3 came in or booked us so we never sweat it with an average ticket over $220 back then it was pretty cushy for us.

Then when additional competition (13 new shops over 5 years) and reduced employment by about 20% in our town we started getting 30, 25, 20, 15, 10 calls a day so now we do our best to close every call. Our closing ratio is much better but total calls are still way down also average ticket has fallen below $200 so it is the double whammy.

 

[BillMoney]

Even at 3 to 5 days customers still call, can be quite annoying

 

[lan101]

People are so impatient these days. I remember back 15 years or so ago before I was old enough to fix hardware stuff on the computer, my mom took the computer in to a shop and it was like nearly 2 weeks without it. If someone hears that today, they practically would fall over in shock lol.

 

[brandonkick]

People are so impatient these days. I remember back 15 years or so ago before I was old enough to fix hardware stuff on the computer, my mom took the computer in to a shop and it was like nearly 2 weeks without it. If someone hears that today, they practically would fall over in shock lol.

Most people won't and some people just can't be without their computers for that long.

Many people use them for business purposes, and to not have it for over two weeks wouldn't be acceptable. Society today, at least in the US, is so heavily dependent on technology that this isn't a big shock.

I was performing a repair once for a friend. They didn't have much money and the computer was running like a snail. I offered to fix it at a discount and his mother was livid that she couldn't play her facebook games while I fixed it

Guess I should have realized that if they could afford a computer and internet service that they could afford to pay me to fix it!

 

[HCHTech]

Personal Use Only, No Resellers
SHOPRUNNER IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR MEMBERS WHO PURCHASE PRODUCTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RESALE OR USE SHOPRUNNER TO SHIP PRODUCTS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS OR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Wow - way to name your service, Newegg. Let's see...you can't use a service called "Shoprunner" to help run your shop. WTF.

I remember when I was young, there was a chain of drycleaning shops called "One-Hour Martinizing". I dropped of a couple of suits on my first visit during lunchtime and said I'd like to pick them up on my way home from work. "Three days minimum" they said. When I pointed out the obvious sign right above the guys head, he replied - "Oh, that's just our name". :facepalm:

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

PCX just curious but are you in florida? got a lot of older retiree type customers?

 

[PCX]

PCX just curious but are you in florida? got a lot of older retiree type customers?

Nope, I am in NC. Mostly Marines with the average age of about 24. Lots of older locals as well, but mostly younger people here.