service call

hvac-tech

yes a excellent post!!!
Mike & Ed C.

mikea23

service call

A few months ago I attended a seminar the discussion went off topic and about what is fair to the consumer. I made the mistake of telling them that when I find a bad t&p I normally replace it and also replace feed valve and ex tank unless they are recent. Check all other items and also replace anything that looks very old or in poor condition. The guys at the seminar ripped me up I was a thief giving the trade a bad name and so on. Then the discussion continued and all I kept hearing was the same guys using the same home as an example over and over again. So it sounded to me like they had to make repeated trips to that home granted different problems but most of them would have not accrued had they just replaced those items the first time.
Is there something wrong with replacing it before it fails? We routinely replace parts on our service trucks before they fail or even the truck itself. In my opinion the customer is better served if his heat is working and he has hot water 24/7 I am sure his wife would agree with me. I don’t like 3 am phone calls with no heat if it’s a customer we have serviced in the past I look at this as a failure had we done our job when we where there last we wouldn’t have had a failure. Is this approach really bad for the industry?

Mike

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Mike,

The person who sees parts ready to fail and replaces them before they fail is called a PROFESSIONAL.

They person who sees parts ready to fail and keeps his mouth shut only to return on multiple calls to changes those parts piece meal, is called a HACK.

PERIOD

Best regards to you,

A PROFESSIONAL

From Ed Carey
(35 years as a PROFESSIONAL)

ALH_4

Sure

Seems to me as long as the customer is willing to perform preventive maintenance, it's never a bad idea. Auto shops do it all the time. Why wait until your car strands you on the road before you maintain it?

-Andrew

Perry_2

As a homeowner...

I would like you to tell me that you forsee problems with the following items and recommend that "we" replace them now before they fail and cause an emergency service call.

Then I say: OK

I like doing preventive maintenance.

This also gives me a chance to see if the repair person is routinely just trying to build business by replaceing the same parts a lot (and that happens too).

On the other hand, should money be really tight at the moment; then I - the homeowner - has agreed to the risk in not replacing them at this time.

Idealy, I get a "need to replace now" list, and "recommend to replace now" list.

As far as the seminar: Some people seem to think that the best way to have business is to always be responding to calls to repeat customers. I think that is short sighted. I have even seen a business presentation on how to maximize your profit based on the concept. It works for a short term. Long term - the "good" customers will figure it out; wondering why they are having so much problems with your work - and call someone else.

Perry

Empire_2

iN THIS FIELD....

preventative maintenance OFTEN GOES ALONG WAY. Most of the issues we deal with are safety of reliable performance issues. In a car shop you might be majorly inconvenienced, but in the HAVC field, your house can burn down, health can be affected and most of all the customers trust in us will lack. EX: Bryant 3 wire pilot,....I recommend replace at least every 5 years!!!!!!! It is a switch and it usually fails in the dead of winter.

My .02

Mike T.

Empire_2

Perry...;-)

On the back side of that, we see customers stating or thinking that nothing is wrong and there is no emergency to act now,...... Still they call another CO.....:-0

Mike T.

Ragu_5

An Excellent Post!

When you are in a house doing a cleaning on a sunny 60 degree Tuesday afternoon in October, that is a grand time to perform both Preventative and Predictive Maintenance. If a part is on its way out, that is the time to replace it.

I guess the best thing is to inform the customer of what is going on, and what you recommend; probably shouldn't replace anything without informing them first.

I think you are right on the money, and I agree with all of the other posters.

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Leo

I was taught

I was taught the Relief Valve, Expansion Tank, and Feed/Fill Valve work as a system. With some/few exceptions they should be replaced together. When you bring the pressure off the system to change the relief check the pressure charge on the exp tank. Then when it is time to fill back up if you have to mess with the feed valve to make it work it can just as easily not seat and blow out the exp tank and pop the relief. Now you have to go back for a minimum of an hour charge (which just about covers what wasn't changed) and have a customer who is upset because you just supposedly fixed it. I learned a long time ago not to argue with hacks, they are too stupid to listen to reason.

Leo

Darrell

Predictive maintenance...I like that, can I use it? My customers have gotten used to calling me every fall to schedule a sleep easy check up on their equipment, which includes heating, ventilation, DHW, and sometimes cooking and clothes appliances if they wish. I always routinely change the thermocouples, or ignitors because I should have the burners out or the fire box open anyway. If it is oil, a new filter every year and new nozzle. Electrodes every other year unless they are burnt up. I'll routinely drop pressure and change the relief valve every other year, and in the process check the fill-train, expansion tank, and air vents for operation. If they don't work, some of my customers have given me carte blanche and don't require a call. Others, or new customers, I'll call them, explain the situation and make a recommendation. This gives me a chance to show my knowledge a bit and to win a lifelong customer...or to find out that they aren't interested in really fixing it. If they aren't, I note that on the invoice so I can't get sued for negligence and I get on down the road. I also maintain a customer file with goodies like kids and pets names, family stuff to visit about, codes and keys, billing and contact information, directions to their house, existing equipment and what I have done in recent history. This isn't complicated...just a 4x6 card in a file box, but, when I pull it out, it really impresses the good customers.

One other thing I do that is kinda weird. I collect Beckett AFG burner's when I do a conversion to gas. They are simple, tough, universally applicable, and parts are easy to find here. If I have a customer, who is willing to keep me in the rolodex, and they have a burner that is harder for me to maintain because it is so old, or parts availablilty is an issue, I'll swap out their burner for a used Beckett for labor only. This makes my life easier, and I always have parts for the Beckett. I can carry a whole burner on the truck and swap it out for theirs faster and cheaper than I can find parts here for some of the others.

David Sutton_6

Mike A

I own a company, and i would rather have you do what you do then have to explain why we had to come back, grant it, there are times when you cant take care of these things . its nice to see your pro-active. you never mind the guy at the class and focus on being a proffestional like you are....David

Robert O'Brien

replacements

What do most companies do when on a service contract call? Are all questionable parts covered by the contract replaced as a courtesy, or just what it takes to get the customer going?

Peter

hvac-tech

service trucks design

Service Truck organization & parts storage design ideals?

ScottMP

MIke A.

Your service call is Standard Procedure at my company.

Stick to what your doing your doing your customer a good service.

Scott

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