What's wrong with the CE service business?

[lcaillo]

Consumers complain that repair costs are too high and that no one fixes anything any more.

Servicers complain that they can't make a living because they can't get parts and support, and everything is built so cheap that it is not worth fixing.

Manufacturers complain that there are not enough quality servicers and that service and support are costing them too much.

Extended warranty providers complain that servicers are charging too much for parts and labor and that they have to control costs.

There are many perspectives and everyone agrees that service is not what it used to be. Let's discuss these perspectives and some possible solutions.

[alan monro]

Icaillo. Didn't you know it is a throw away world now , it didn't used to be . Things are so cheap now (electrical) That most of the time it is cheaper to chuck the broken thing away and get a new one . I'm fairly past my ' use by date ' , 62 years . I just hope somebody doesn't chuck me away .Alan.

[Sonnie]

I think Alan is right to an extent. The last time I had a VCR looked at to have it repaired it was over $100. I can easily buy another one for less. I have a Denon tuner that quick working and the repair shop wanted $35 just to tell me how much it would be to fix it. I paid $100 for it on ebay.

Now... if I had something that cost $500 and couldn't be replaced as cheap as some other equipment, I'm not going to mind paying for service on that piece.

I had a situation where I sold a Denon 2900 DVD player. Some SACD discs, not all, but some were skipping when the buyer received it, so I gave him his money back and sent it to United Radio for repair. It cost me about $170 for parts and labor. I received it back and decided to leave it in the box sealed and sell it. I sold it to a fellow in Canada... he got it and low and behold it was doing the same thing again. It would have been too costly to send it back to United Radio so he took it to another Denon authorized repair center who replaced the same part for about $230. The part cost more in Canada than in the U.S. Come to find out, the first replaced part had a manufacturer defect. I should have tested it myself when I got it back from UR, but I only have one SACD and I never had any issues with it. I contacted UR and Denon and no one wanted to reimburse me for the bad part. The agreement between Manufacturers and repair centers in this case was that the original repair center had to return the part for a replacement and in turn they would replace the part in the unit. In this case I felt like the manufacturer could have done a better job of working with the repair centers and the customer, but no one wanted to do anything. I'm not surprised at manufacturers and repair centers blaming each other.

[lcaillo]

Of course, many products are simply disposable. The VCR and small item repair business has not been profitable for many years. Many parts are not even available for DVD players. The fact is that the independent service shop is on its way out and customer service is at an all time low. Do we really want to be a society that simply disposes of everything?

[lcaillo]

From my perspective as a servicer, the biggest problems are the prolifereation of disposable electronics and the trend away from providing service parts and support on the part of manufacturers. It is becoming common for vendors to enter the market with little or no plan for service support. Many have actually required consumers to send large sets back to the manufacturer for service. More common is the lack of component level support for repairs in an attempt to "dumb down" repairs to the board level. This requires us to replace boards rather than inexpensive components, shifts labor to less profitable parts sales, and forces the overal price of repair much higher.

Many vendors will not even provide parts and service manuals, except to a handfull of selected national servicers. This squeezes the small independent shop out of the service market, making for less competition. This results in less knowledgeable local service options for consumers and local agents for the national service vendors who are little more than board swappers.

The solutions? Manufacturers should be pressured by industry groups, consumer groups, and congress to provide adequate parts supplies at the component level and to provide complete schematics and parts lists, along with documentation for alignments needed to achieve as close to industry standards as possible. Legislation should be help out as a threat and option of last resort. Importers should perhaps post some bond or escrow to assure that cover warranty obligations or so that units that do not meet expectations for a reasonable service life can be replaced or refunded. Disposal costs of products should be imposed upon the vendor and plans for recycling products should be given incentives.

Consumers should consider the service options BEFORE buying and avoid companies who do not provide service support, manuals, and parts. Companies that provide open support (like Hitachi) should be given extra consideration at purchase time. Ultimately, market pressures and the demands of the consumer are the only real solution.