Onsite Forms

[JonnyRT]

Hello everyone

I was just wondering what everyone does for receipts and other forms when onsite. Do you hand write them to give to customers and then duplicate them on your tracking system? Or do you email them to the customer and not leave anything behind?

I currently hand write them, leave them with the customer and then have to reproduce something from memory to go into MHelpDesk when I get back to the office.

Is there a better way?

 

[acscva]

I prefer to have everything paperless and use RepairShopr and make my notes on the ticket and then invoice right there and email to the customer. For most customers I collect payment at the same time.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Hello everyone

I was just wondering what everyone does for receipts and other forms when onsite. Do you hand write them to give to customers and then duplicate them on your tracking system? Or do you email them to the customer and not leave anything behind?

I currently hand write them, leave them with the customer and then have to reproduce something from memory to go into MHelpDesk when I get back to the office.

Is there a better way?

Reproduce from memory? Bet you lose a lot of billable hours that way. mHelpdesk has a mobile app. You should be using that onsite. It even can collect signatures if you need to operate that way.

I just email my invoices to my clients.

 

[Martyn]

PC repair tracker for the last 3+ years for everything basically. Someone phoned this morning to book me and last used me 3 years ago. A couple of seconds and the job was booked in and in the diary.

 

[HCHTech]

MHelpdesk - receipts / invoices are easy - built right in. We email them to the customer right on the spot. "Other" forms, not so much. We have a pickup/dropoff form we use whenever we have to take equipment from the customers back to the shop. We tried to produce this in MHelpdesk, but it was a bust. Not configurable enough (or at all, really) and the end result was not something I wanted to use.

I created a fillable PDF, and use an app called PDFExpert on our field tablets to complete it, take the signature and then email it to the customer. It's clunky, doesn't integrate with MHelpdesk, and is kind of a square peg in a round hole if you know what I mean. But, it works, produces presentable output and until I find something better, it's good enough.

I haven't played with MHelpdesk v2 yet, maybe they have improved the "other" forms situation some. I didn't see anything about that in any of the announcement materials, so I don't think so.

 

[frederick]

I carry a tablet, my phone provides the internet. I log in to PCRT, and I can do everything from there. Schedule, take notes, start the work timer, set the status, etc. We've gone papreless, only mailing receipts and invoices upon request. Best way to go.

 

[HCHTech]

I log in to PCRT, and I can do everything from there. Schedule, take notes, start the work timer, set the status, etc. We've gone papreless, only mailing receipts and invoices upon request. Best way to go.

Frederick - Does PCRT allow you to create custom forms like the one I described above? Can it use data it already has to help complete the form (name, address, email address, etc.)? Can it take the customer's signature? Can it email a copy of the form directly without switching systems? Does it then store these forms WITH THE TICKET so they can be accessed easily in the future?

Can you tell this is a pain point for me with MHD?

 

[JonnyRT]

PC repair tracker for the last 3+ years for everything basically. Someone phoned this morning to book me and last used me 3 years ago. A couple of seconds and the job was booked in and in the diary.

Thanks for the reply. Do you email your customers receipts from PC repair tracker or do you print them out for them?

 

[Martyn]

Thanks for the reply. Do you email your customers receipts from PC repair tracker or do you print them out for them?

I do mostly onsite so I email them unless they have an AirPrint printer then I print from the iPad, if they come to my house I print it

 

[slowride326]

For my wholesale side of the business our vans are equipped with printers. The Tech can print via laptop (USB) or iPad Bluetooth directly to the printer. Since we do a lot stock order delivers we take a lot of cash directly onsite, and needed a way to give a customer a receipt. Simple bluetooth desktop printer and power supply works great!

 

[JonnyRT]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Ideally I'd like to get away from doing paper receipts but my customers seem to like them - most of them are older residential customers who keep a file with all their computer paperwork in. Hopefully they won't be to resistant to change!

I really need to get the MhelpDesk invoices looking better.

Very interested in Frederick's answer to HCHTech's questions too.

 

[JonnyRT]

For my wholesale side of the business our vans are equipped with printers. The Tech can print via laptop (USB) or iPad Bluetooth directly to the printer. Since we do a lot stock order delivers we take a lot of cash directly onsite, and needed a way to give a customer a receipt. Simple bluetooth desktop printer and power supply works great!

This is something I'd love to do. What printers do you use?

 

[ComputerPro]

We are paperless nowadays. But back in the day we had custom forms made up. They were carbonless and 2-part so one would go to the customer, one our guys would take back to the shop to be entered. Now we use their systems on-site or our cell phones.

 

[frederick]

Does PCRT allow you to create custom forms like the one I described above? Can it use data it already has to help complete the form (name, address, email address, etc.)? Can it take the customer's signature? Can it email a copy of the form directly without switching systems? Does it then store these forms WITH THE TICKET so they can be accessed easily in the future?

Custom Forms - If you know your way around a DB and HTML/PHP/CSS, yes. You'll have to mess around like we did to make some changes. But for the most part, we only had to add a couple of times like System Picked-UP and Drop-off dates and times. But honestly, it has the majority of everything you'll need already in it.

Previous Customers - it does this natively. Same computer from the same person being dropped off? Already have that info, check-in the computer again and fill out the issue and maybe schedule. Different computer but a previous person? TOO EASY! Check in the computer using another computer owned by the person's info.

Signature - On the check in and check out (receipt). Or just the check in, or just the check out.

Email - I can email a claim ticket, repair report, thank you letter, service reminders, invoice and receipt. All on the same system.

Forms again - Say I upload various documents and pictures and whatever else to the ticket. Those documents are tied to the ticket. So if I need to go back and review say the Work Report from D7II, I pull up the ticket, look at the ticket attachments and done!

If you haven't, go demo PCRT. With Sage, I can swipe your card onsite with PCRT, so I don't need to pull out my phone or anything. TIS NICE!

 

[mikeroq]

We are pretty set in the past. Our POS has been in use for at least 22 years.

Onsite: We make a hold ticket on the POS, its 2 part carbonless. Write down time left, take to site, write down work, come back write down time in. Then the hold gets edited, typed up, labor added, then an invoice is printed and mailed to the customer.

Shop: Paper check in, work details on back, paper stays with pc. Have to remember everything or will have to run across the shop when someone calls.

My boss is pretty set in his ways, I never see us replacing this system. But I am working on my own in house ticket system, which I am currently using to keep track of what I am working on. I started with something called FreeHelpDesk and kept adding on and changing it, but I am about to completely rewrite it from scratch when I get motivated to do so.

 

[frederick]

But I am working on my own in house ticket system, which I am currently using to keep track of what I am working on. I started with something called FreeHelpDesk and kept adding on and changing it, but I am about to completely rewrite it from scratch when I get motivated to do so.

Might want to look at PCRT then, and maybe work out a deal with Luke to help build upon PCRT's progress. Or take it and just transform it from what he has developed and just build upon that base. Those are my opinions.

 

[mrapoc]

Anyone have a solution to using PCRT when in a non-internet area?

 

[frederick]

Your phone. If you have no reception, backup paper forms (basic ones at that). Use those, and inform the client that a more thorough repair report will be sent to them.

Because we accept payments through PCRT, life gets real difficult real fast if we can't connect via our phones. Usually we hotspot our phone, and the tablets auto-connect. T-Mobile Hotspot isn't that much when added to your plan. And the 3GB limit (that I have on mine) isn't that bad given it's only used for PCRT and we aren't using it for videos or downloads.