Last week I received a call from a corporate recruiter looking to fill a position in a major retail organization’s repair business sector. In the process of vetting my options I uncovered some disturbing information about the retail repair business. After this article is published I’m guessing I won’t be offered a position.
1.Large department and specialty stores with service departments aren’t set up to do repairs. The sole purpose of in-store service departments is to generate additional revenues. Because the profit on new computers is generally under 10% these departments are needed in order to bolster the bottom line.
Actual repair prices at large stores are designed to force customers into purchasing new equipment. Selling a new computer with additional costs for moving the customer’s data is easier than repairing broken technology. It’s easy to sell something new when they come in with broken equipment.
2. Most work is now performed remotely by outsourced technicians who are required to handle as many as 24 repairs per day. Local employees are required to connect the computer to the internet and then connect to the remote service. Specific issues which may have been discussed in the store are sometimes not addressed because of a communication breakdown.
Because of the large quota, many times remote technicians overlook problems that never get finished. Hardware issues are nearly impossible to diagnose remotely and are routinely passed off as a slow computer. One employee I talked with told me computers will sometimes get passed between two or three different remote technicians.
3. Technicians everywhere carry USB drives with their favorite utilities. Smaller repair centers generally have a plethora of utilities to choose from depending on the repair. Large chains subscribe to one of a handful of software companies who cater to the repair business. Many times these are created by large virus software companies.
Large retail repair companies buy into these software packages because they standardize a procedure making it easier to account for profitability. Unfortunately, technology problems aren’t one-size-fits-all; problems caused from one virus may present different on your computer than mine even though it’s the same virus.
4. Decisions at large retail based repair shops aren’t made by the people who actually provide the service. How the department is run and decisions about the products they sell are made by someone at the corporate level who has most likely never repaired a computer. Executives may have consulted with experts before making decisions; however, the vast majority of decisions are money driven.
Employees are not empowered to move away from the corporate procedure even though it may be better for the customer. This means that if a computer or other issue is best repaired in a way that differs from the process established by the corporate decision maker, the employee is not allowed to deviate.
6. Faulty repairs, which happen in my industry, are left for the end customer to find. All repair technicians are human and we all make mistakes. Large department store based repair centers make it very difficult to have the problems rectified and make it almost impossible to get a refund. According to an associate of mine, passing out a 1-800 complaint number is fairly common.
Needless to say, I definitely won’t be taking this job. It became apparent to me while rereading this week’s article that it’s no wonder many of these businesses are closing. It would seem to me that eliminating the service portion of the business would increase sales and decrease headaches.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)