HOW NOT TO GET GOUGED ON A SERVICE CALL

Most copier repair companies have an honest reputation and try to do their best. However, there is occasionally an exception and here are some tips. Granted sometimes a service estimate is high because the wrong thing broke or several things are wrong. But if your intuition is telling you to get a second estimate do it. Always follow your gut feeling on this.

Let’s make up an example of this. Company A gives you a list of parts and says $500 to fix it. Don’t mention this to company B when you call for an estimate. Just describe the problem you are having. Company B comes up with less parts and wants $200 to fix it.

I would then tell company B that you have another estimate from another company that lists more parts. Why isn’t company B recommending those as well in their copier repair service? Company gives an explanation and then we move on. We call company A and mention that another company says they can fix the problem for a lot less. Tell company A what parts company B suggested and listen to company A’s explanation.

Now you can compare the two Austin copier repair estimates and make an informed decision. Both companies may be honest but use different approaches. If you take an old car to a garage and say fix it they will find a lot of stuff that needs fixed. If you take it in and say the engine skips please fix that the bill will be a lot smaller because the work will be limited to the immediate problem.

The above scenario will make it easier to spot a gouger. Maybe the $500 guy was taking advantage of you because you just bought the thing off Craigs List and haven’t the faintest idea what you bought. If you do go with company B who says he can fix the problem for $200 ask him what kind of warranty there is on the repair. Most companies will honor a repair for 30 days and do a free callback if the problem comes back within that period. The only gray area here would be if the company says let’s try this because it’s less money but if it doesn’t hold then you need this. That happens with copiers but it should be discussed upfront as a possibility.