What is the price for a tv repair service call?

"What is the price for a TV repair service call?"

This is an exact quote from our site's referral logs. In other words, someone landed at coppelltvrepair,com asking Google this exact question (which reminds me: thank you Google!).

I've been asking myself a similar question for some time now, so I'll offer my take on it here.

Mind you, I do not do service calls. Nobody here at Coppell TV Repair does and I doubt anyone will do, at least in foreseeable future.

Unless you are either filthy rich or somehow handicapped I think the answer is "Probably too high to justify doing it."

No offense meant and here is my reasoning:

1) TV prices have dropped significantly
This puts a limit on the practically reasonable cost a repair technician can ask for the service.
You have to understand, of course, that the price being asked is practically never "fair" to start with; it is just the highest the technician thinks he can pull out.
I am not judging, I am barely observing.
You want capitalism, remember?
Well that's capitalism at work.
From what I've seen most field's technicians prices are not determined by projections , yearly plans or anything like that.
They are simply and dynamically adjusted based on market conditions, usually in the form of "replacement part cost times two". If that doesn't work a few times the correction factor is decreased, if it works well it is usually increased for the next customer until it stops working.

Of course that also means that field workers can often pull out completely insane numbers and charge $300 for repairing a 42'' plasma from 2005 when one can buy a working one for $250 on Craigslist or , for merely $50 or $100 more, a brand new one at WalMart.

Frankly, I think this is the second biggest reason why there are still any field TV repair technicians (the first being the filthy rich and the handicapped people - remember?).

Yet the combined effect of decreasing TV prices and economy depression makes more people realize how impractical it is to pay 60% to 120% of the cost of a brand new TV to repair your old one.


2) Televisions have gotten lighter and easier to transport
The most popular models - at least from what I can see - are switching from 32'' LCDs to 42'' and 50'' LCDs and plasmas. Lately, due to severe competition and lowering costs the manufacturers are making big push to promote widespread adoption of even larger models.

 While the 50'' are still somewhat bulky and heavy - particularly the plasmas - almost any LCD/LED TV up to 50'' can be fairly easily loaded in a car and transported to a repair facility.

You couldn't have done that for a large tube TV in the days or with a projection of almost any kind.
I don't talk about projections or tubes here as they belong to the past.
If you have one you will probably soon be joining the flourishing society of owners offering them for free on Craigslist to whoever comes to unload it from the house.

3) Increased variety makes it harder and more expensive for a mobile solution provider
Every small company in China can now make or brand its own TV, which resulted in incredible variety of parts and problems on the market worldwide.

Every trip to a house is increasing cots at least twofold; if a service is not successful from the first time it will break even at the very best if practically sane prices are applied, meaning a technician MUST solve the problem at first take.

But all that variety of TVs and problems make it very expensive and very risky to diagnose the TV remotely and have the parts needed to replace on the spot when you go there once.
As a service center we keep hearing this from technicians all over the place.
It costs *a lot* to be able to do a service in one trip.
Lone term it is practically impossible to do at 100%,
And since someone needs to pay for this it is, of course, the customer.
And since not every customer is so smart, the risk gets distributed - as much as possible - to all other customers, meaning once again that everyone gets to pay the highest price the technician can take out of them and NOT the price that would make sense in a more stable and predicable environment.

4) Fuel costs have increased notably

This may be region specific issue, but here in Texas where customers are horizontally and not vertically distributed it is definitely a serious consideration.

Plain and simple, the costs for covering an area have increased while the return has decreased as per the above.



5) Economy decline and technology advances ( read Internet) pose great self-service alternatives to field service technicians

 While prices have dropped , there's still no cheaper alternative from the do-it-yourself approach and now that economy has gone south more and more people are exploring that option.There are now tons of videos showing how exactly to perform a repair job on YouTube - not just for TV, but for mostly anything.
As people got more used to Internet they inevitably start educating themselves how to do something rather than pay someone do it.

As a result, new business flourish such as ShopJimmy or DiscountTVParts who are nothing other than modern junkyards, but that's quite enough since they know how to market on them web and that's what people want.
Another bunch of businesses like Coppell TV Repair or TSM similarly move the classic repair shops to the 21st century offering repair services over Internet.

In conclusion I'd say field TV repair technicians are a dying breed. It won't die overnight, of course, as there are many justifiable cases of using one, but the overall picture isn't good for them.

And, for that matter, for anyone who uses them.

No offense meant.

02.25.2012 update:  By pure chance, the day after I posted this article we received the following feedback on eBay (google it to find it yourself):

	"Quoted $400 to fix tv by repair man, you guys did it for $60! A+++++++++++"

Is it really my problem that I do not speek Spanish / Chinese / Indonesian / whatever?

Lately there have been a few cases of customers accusing me of being rude or flat out stealing out of them.

The thing is, they do not speak English (and of course they do not read it) and any attempt to communicate to them that what they bought is not what they thought they were buying, but was what it SAID it was (in English) or any attempt to tell them that I can not understand what are they saying is, well, doomed as they do not speak English.

As you can see below one of them actually told me I *must* learn Spanish because there are 80 million Spanish speakers in USA.

Of course, considering he's the one with a problem in the first place it seems to me he should learn English although, in all fairness, I also see enough native English speakers who also buy based on what they *think* rather than what the listing says.

So perhaps it's even more important to learn to pay attention to what you are actually buying and applying common sense than learning another language.

And yet there are at least 200 million English speakers here in US and a recent study found the Hispanic children to be the largest poverty group in USA, ergo the least educated one.

So it seems to me the solution is to have everyone speak at least the official language of this country before they start accusing others. Maybe not perfectly - I myself am not a native English speaker either - but at least enough so you can communicate in the official language of the country.

If you can't then you should only blame yourself.

From where I stand I'd readily lose 80 million illiterate customers.

What do you think?

---

From: huongdao2010
To: coppelltvrepair
Subject: Other: huongdao2010 sent a message about YPPD-J015C YPPD-J016C NEW FOR 6871QYH039B 6871QZH044B #110666219259
Sent Date: Aug-15-11 04:14:51 PDT

                   

Hi ! My ic same part number excetp the letter E.A,B,C,E r they the same ? thank - huongdao2010 To:  huongdao2010 From:  coppelltvrepair Sent:  Aug-15-11 08:56 AM Dear huongdao2010, The answer is in the listing description - make sure to read all of it! - coppelltvrepair ---- From: huongdao2010 To: coppelltvrepair Subject: Other: huongdao2010 sent a message about YPPD-J015C YPPD-J016C NEW FOR 6871QYH039B 6871QZH044B #110666219259 Sent Date: Sep-27-11 08:00:28 PDT                    Dear coppelltvrepair, Hi ! i did not installed these ic until last week.It give me a very wear symtom i got only half picture and disappear after 15second other haft r in block.Look line the Ic were defective?Can do something about this? Thank - huongdao2010 To:  huongdao2010 From:  coppelltvrepair Sent:  Sep-27-11 10:16 AM Dear huongdao2010, I am sorry, I do not understand your English. But from the little I understand it seems to me you have a bad buffer board. If either of those ICs were defective you would not have gotten half an image. - coppelltvrepair ================ > From:Armando Martinez [mailto:mandyelectricoatyahoodotcom] >Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 8:11 PM >To: Coppell TV Repair >Subject: Re: RECLAMACION PURCHASE IN 09/12/2011    ID#27G75424W2450110K////ITEM#110637056886....I NEED THAT....6871QZH956A...YOU UNDERSTAND ME   >MRS ..KOLEV IN THE UNITED STATES NOW LIVES NEAR 80 MILLIONS  > SPANISH  ,YOU MUST LEARNIG SPANISH FOR YOU JOB.....YOU SENT ME  > WRONG ITEM  .I DON'T NEED REPAIR MY BOARD I NEED BOARD  > COMPLETE ...PLEASE I WILL RETURN YOUR KIT....YOU MUST GIVE ME MY  > MONEY...THANK...ARMANDO.I RETURN YOU THE  SAME WAY ....I WAIT FOR  > YOU ANWSER...BLEASING.ARMANDO..EXCUSME.....

Note to all customers requesting exchange before their board has arrived for service

It is hard to please everyone.

Wait, I take that back.

It is impossible to please everyone.

Customers who send in boards for repair frequently email us after purchase asking that we send them already serviced boards back before their arrive. Some of them want it because they want to watch the Sunday game others want it because they have customers on their own who want to watch the Sunday game.

But there's also a third kind : those who want to get rid of their trashed board and want to get a replacement before we see that it's been trashed.

This week alone I had to deal with two of these. It takes a lot of time, it is annoying and it inevitably results in recording a loss - financial and emotional.

I am not making this up. Currently there is a case escalated to eBay to resolve a claim by user aguilar35domingo against CoppellTVRepair because we did not sent them a different board than the one that they sent. It was the dirtiest board I have ever seen and if there is anything that I am sorry for it is that I took the challenge and restored it in the first place. So after restoring it, testing it and sending it back, CoppellTVRepair received positive feedback and then - guess what - an open case.

And yesterday another claim was opened by user jgul1717 complaining he hasn't received a board just yet when his own was on its way. Today the board arrived and I may post a picture of it later on, even though I am not sure I'll be able to catch what is needed. Long story short, someone with a VERY BIG and VERY HOT solder iron has re-soldered most joints under the board, resulting in a complete mess and several burned tracks.

Those are two cases which - for the time being - Bay counts against our TopRated rating even though we have made it very clear in the listings (and it is very untuitive) that we are not wiling to exchange good serviced boards for tempered ones.

Also this week a customer from Jersey asked that I send him a board in advance. We have spoken on the phone earlier in the week and I stated our policy, but he kept on pressing so I eventually said "OK, send me a tracking number and I'll see what I can do". I know I said that because I was very clearly aware I did not want to make a firm promise that I might not be able to fulfil.
Anyway, today customer called and was upset the board wasn't yet sent. Truth is it wasn't because I had to deal with cases practically identical with his one.

The difference is in the sender - this NJ cusomer is most likely a decent and honest person, maybe just as you are - but the case under which we operate is practically the same.

You see, we can't judge people unless we kno them very well. And, take it from me, even then when money are involved. But that's another story.

What I am trying to say is that when there is uncertainty and very objective considerations in place then the best way to go is to stick by the rules that a deal has been signed over.

That would result in slower, but more reliable business. We may lose the NJ customer because they may feel we did not make an extra leap for them. Even though I had to - and did - rush today to get the cutoff time for UPS to send their particular board so that it leaves today and not tomorrow.

If that's the way then so be it. We'll fulful the deal arrangement at least as good as it was listed and if you are unhappy then please refrain from doing a business with us for the future.

If you've already placed an order call us and if possible we will stop it and refund you.

To some long-time customers we will make exceptions, of course. And assume the risk.
Please do not be offended if  you are not considered a long time customer on your second order.
It is exceptions we are talking about here, not rules for long-time customers.

One popular and simple approach to receiving a board in advance is to pay a purchase (and not service) price for a board, then send the core in and receive credit when it arrives and passes inspection that it hasn't been tempered with.

We did that a few times and haven't had problems this far. I'd be interested to hear if you like the approach, but I can immediately point a few drawbacks:
- it requires supply of cores that can be serviced and turned into boards to sell. Not everyone will be sending in their core and not every returned core will pass the inspection
- selling full price board has disadvantages for placing in search engines

In conclusion...we are here to help you, our customer.
And even though it may seem contrary at first, keeping the rules that build the foundation of the business is more important than groing the business.

Customer support issues and how to resolve them

This morning I got a call and the person on the other end said: "We received one of your Y-sustain boards and man, (chuckles) it ain't gonna work this way!".

Then he explained that they received a board serviced from us - it was a Y sustain 6871QYH039A or similar - and when they powered the TV it had popped out as those sustain boards usually do.

He said he then looked at the board and he has never seen such a bad job in his 30 years of electronics servicing experience. He has, in fact, brought in other technicians and, I quote, "they had all laughed".

Now, a little note from my end before I present the question I am actually writing this about.

On my end I know the board that he received was most certainly tested before it was sent out. It was not extensively tested and I would agree that the repair technique used is not one recommended in official LG service bulletines. After all, there is only so much you get for your money.

I do claim, however, that the board was functional and that the way it was made functional is reliable enough. I have several arguments for that claim, starting with the fact that tens of other customers use such boards, even though they are not serviced by the book.

It is very much like the way my close buddy the other day replaced the lower left arm of my Volvo without following the official dealership procedure for doing it. The car still drives great and I he saved me tons of money. I am aware he used a hammer to get somethign out when he could have used a machine, but I trust his experience and I believe I made a good deal by choosing him over Volvo dealership.

Frankly, I have no idea what did the technicians laughed at. I am actually about to call back in a minute ( I was driving before ) and ask what was there to laugh at. They may want to chime in here.

I myself avoid laughing at people with 30 years experience in anything. I just wonder how come they had to rely on my service at all.

I sell the parts for the board and I make it clear everyone is welcome to try the repair themselves.

Now to the point: bad feelings aside, let's try to analyze the situation. You do a remote service job, you test your product. Customer tells you it fails on furst use. Let's assume all he says is true and he's not trying to trick me.

Let's face it, it is possible for that to happen. Unlikely, but possible. It may be due to cold solder on your end, due to malfunctioning component - be it replacement or another.

It may also be due to improper installation. Customer, of course, would rule that out in the same fashion in which I'd rule out the possibility of a tested board to blow on its first use after the test, but the fact remains - it is possible.

Sustain boards , in particular, produce sharp voltage changes resulting in all possible harmonics. Resonances are possible and it is essential that the board is well affixed to the body to avoid them.

So it could have been anyone's fault.

My question is - what would you do if you were the vendor?

What would you do if you were the customer?

The mysterious case of Dynex DX-L32-10A / T-Con 315WA01C

Got your attention, didn't I? :-)

315WA01C is the T-Con board used in Dynex DX-L32-10A 32'' LCD TV introduced by BestBuy about a year ago.

Here is what the board looks like:

The mysterious thing about it is that a year after the TV reklease, Google can still find only 5 (five!) refernces to that board at all!

And it's been that way for the past few months - I know because I've been looking for it.

Oddly enough, one of the few links leads to a PartSearch actual product offerring , but not unexpectedly, their asking price is comparable with the price of a new TV of same or similar cheap brand.

One thing that puzzles me is if it's the board that has gone bad or the LCD itself as some of my sources claim.

It is hard to be sure, but I first determined that the LCD supply power is there on the T-Con output - 15V and 3.3V, which, even though not a guarantee, is a good sign as far as burned T-Con boards go.

And then I played some with my fingers through the T-Con while TV was working and for a second I got - I swear - proper image in the middle of the screen!

So I'm leaning towards the probability of the T-Con gone bad.

Yet I still feel bad ponying up $75 just to try. Especially for a model that has been unofficially discontinued and apparently not supported.

If I decide to try it I'll let you know.

For the time being, just stay out of Dynex, all right?

Giving warranty on modules and components - pros and cons

Today I got a question: "What warranty do you give on your LJ41-02760A LJ92-01202 Repair Service?"

Warranty is one thing I have always had problems with.


Especially for electronic modules, whether new or serviced.

As I explained the potential customer, the problem is that a faulty sustain board can easily burn a buffer and it would only take a 2-3 seconds to do so. I know it the hard way myself, in fact I still have that Y-sustain waiting for service on my desk.

So how could one issue warranty to a part that can be installed and fried right on the spot?

The simple and logical answer is - one shouldn't!

Then how are customers protected?

Well, in my opinion there are two options here: one is to break the above rule and hope that people , in general, are fair. In my opinion this is how Lehman Brothers, credit crisis and socialism in Russia all started.

The second approach is to not trust people, but turst common sense instead. A customer's motivation to buy product or service is based on a balance of cost, risk and potential benefit.

Presenting or pumping up warranty lowers risk for the customer and they get ready to buy.

Since I don't want to turn to the next Lehman or the next Russia I say we don't touch warranty if we have no control over installation and use process and instead we play with the cost.

I say I offer the cost low enough to get started - even if not profiting - and then slowly building a history and recommendations. Then I increase the price so I can actually make profit.

An independant marketplace like eBay helps a lot for building credit through past sales. if a customer sees 10 other customers being happy before him he'll certainly feel more secure even if I do not offer warranty.

What is your take?