Customer Care

[binthere]

A familiar story!!

You install an alarm, and give the normal 12 month's service agreement.

After 12 you write advising them of your 'call out' terms and the need for a service agreement, they never phone or make contact.

Two year's go by and you have the normal call.

'Hello YOUR alarm (not their's) has gone wrong can you come out (they want it for free ALMOST)

Being kind you do go out (charging more) because you are 'a kind old boy'

You do the business and again the next year goes by and again they do not give a s--t.

Again you hear only when they have a problem.

WE NOW POLITELY ADVISE THEM 'have sex and travel' or pay

[advancedprotection]

customers should be aware that if they have notified their insurance company that they have installed an intruder alarm, they MUST have a current up to date maintenance contract or the insurance company have the right to refuse a payout on a burglary as alarm has not been regulary serviced!

if any my customers decides to skip a year or two on the maintenance, i would then charge for an inital callout to test and service the system, charge them for a yearly mantenance contract but not give them parts cover as i dont see it fair on my other customers.

[Guest RICHL]

Personally, I rarely attended a call out for a non-contracted customer. On odd occasions I have done having agreed on the phone that they will be signing up there and then if posting the contract is not feasable due to the urgency of the call, or for property agents who I do call for.

[norman]

or pay

[Vince8282]

By definition a customer is "a person or organisation who buys goods or services" if they are not paying you they are not your customer, so don't provide the service.

On the other hand, if you want then as a customer, make sure your paperwork is in order and that you have a legal document to say that they agree to pay for your services etc.

Even then some still will not pay but who in their right mind wants non-paying customers? OH! I forgot! a customer is a person or organisation who buys ie pays for goods or services.

[binthere]

You're ill inform

[binthere]

Sorry to differ but I am not ill informed recently we have taken over 3 //.National Installer.// alarms that were bells only originally the customer was paying

[binthere]

^^^^if you are happy to quote //.National Installer.//'s prices[which i have no problem with] i think you should quote your own as a comparison for the public, and what you and they provide for this.

Yes sorry but first before I do I appreciate the RICHAL and advanceprotection reply that is what this site is all about enhancing our knowlege which helps.

With regard to our prices I do not mind although that was not the issue, we charge

[Guest]

I am not making any comment about //.National Installer.// as I accept they give a better service than us and they have massive overheads, but I also believe when they acquire small systems by takeover's it is not economical for them, plus they are only as good as their employee's last visit, I have reservation's about their policy on employing subcontractors as we found a really really bad install, and dangerous electrically (before part P)we did advise them and they did act very quickly and got rid of the sub contractors.

And finally we are not seeking to expand our business.

I hope that is sufiicient reply and we hope if any member of the public is reading this that they are also now aware of what they should be interested in when enquiring about the correct company to employ before you allow them access into their home or business.

1. are they qualified.

2. are they free of previous convictions.

I am not sure if you are really interested in the replies or it's just a sad case to try and advertise your company in some misguided way?

If it's the latter you are not doing a very good job. I can't beleive anybody would say (especially publicly) that //.National Installer.// provide a better service, that is just stupid. They provide a more national coverage like all the nationals.

As for subbies, I disagree with our local NSi company employing engineers! They are all kids and the quality is suspect. Yes there are bad subbies around just like there are plenty of bad engineers. We are only a small business ourselves but we use subcontractors frequently. We use electricians, locksmiths and frequently use good quality cable monkies. I personally check the work and don't have any problems. If //.National Installer.// choose not to supervise their subbies that's their problem but don't tar all subbies with the same brush. We also do subbie work for quite a few nationals. We provide an excellent service and are frequently audited just like any employee.

As for your last statement, you are not looking to expand your business, what are you doing it for? Do you expect to lose as many customers as you gain? I think what you meant to say is you are not looking to grow your business too big?

Dave

[Guest]

You install an alarm, and give the normal 12 month's service agreement.

In other words 'The customer is OR is not a customer'

OK here is a good one for you, do you pass all the manufacturers warranties to your customers? With some sensors having a 5 year warranty we pass all this warrranty to the customer.

As for telling them to do one, I don't think this is viable. We tell all our customers up front of their responsibility after the first year. If they have a contract we attend pronto and charge a reasonable sum of money. If they don't we turn up when we like but charge like a wounded rhino.

Dave