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I repair TV sets.

I took a TV in from a customer that had no picture. They accepted an estimate of £85 to replace a circuit board. I fitted the part and the TV worked.
However there was a slight blue cast to the background on the left side of the screen. I found this was a fault with the screen and not repairable.
Perfectly watchable, but not 100%.
He brought the TV back and wants a full refund.

There was no way to know the screen was faulty before fitting the new part, which l cannot send back. I offered him a partial refund but he's not taken it.

In my book it's like taking your car for a new clutch, because it won't drive. then finding there's no second gear. You wouldn't expect the garage to remove the clutch and refund all your money.

Am l wrong. What should l do? Offer him all the money back, some of his money, or tell him it's not the fault he brought it in for (which l repaired)

can you remove the part and re-use it? I had a similar argument with a Manchester car stereo company.

TBH they sound a bit pikey

You had no chance of evaluating the screen prior to you offering an estimate of £85.00. You carried out the work as per your estimate but unfortunately there was another problem. You did not offer a fixed price repair, I.e. One price fixes everything so why should you give a refund?

The issue with the screen would likely have been there before the complete breakdown of the circuit board you replaced. I would suggest the fella was hoping the repair would solve both issues. Since that hasn't happened, he now feels he can get his money back. The two issues are unrelated, and it would seem he hasn't been forthcoming regarding the screen issue at the outset. I would suggest to him that the screen has nought to do with the circuit board you replaced, and he is in your debt for the work you have done and the cost of your labour at least.The part is recoverable, and can possibly be re-used.

I am in agreement with the above.

I offered him another TV which l had in stock free of charge, an older set but almost identical to his. He took it away but rang me this morning to say he didn't want it as he couldn't get it to work with his Humax recording box (nothing wrong with box or TV just down to setup)

So l said bring my TV back, l offered him £35 as a "goodwill gesture" and he has gone away to "think about it" The trouble is these days you can leave bad reviews online for tradesmen and if he did that it would lose me a lot more than £85.

You can't win! Although it works both ways, as if a tradesperson is genuinely bad you can warn others of your experience with them.

The company I worked for before I retired always charged a 'Bench Fee' upfront before accepting anything in for repair, £20 I think it was. If an item was not worth repairing, this paid for the time testing it. The customer was then contacted, the cost of repair quoted and asked if he wanted us to proceed with the repair.

Bonzo.

Hi,
We have a local tv repairer who charges £5 up front to diagnose any faults and gives an estimate of the cost of repair, if you then give go ahead for repairs ,£5 comes off the bill,this way no surprises or misunderstanding
Bill

That's what l do, l always offered a free call out/estimate, but now charge £30 call out to look at TV sets, mainly due to the increasing numbers that are not repaired for one reason or another.
I recently had somebody refuse a £80 repair quote on a 50" Panasonic Plasma TV, and not the budget model either. And it was not to get a second estimate ("keep it we will buy a new one")

But up until now customers could avoid the call out charge by bringing the set in. Sadly l will now have to review this as well. I already started charging a £10 bench fee to look at the steady stream of old hi-fi, audio and media devices l get in for repair.

All estimate charges deducted from the total cost if the repair is completed.

lightning wrote:I repair TV sets.

I took a TV in from a customer that had no picture. They accepted an estimate of £85 to replace a circuit board. I fitted the part and the TV worked.
However there was a slight blue cast to the background on the left side of the screen. I found this was a fault with the screen and not repairable.
Perfectly watchable, but not 100%.
He brought the TV back and wants a full refund.

There was no way to know the screen was faulty before fitting the new part, which l cannot send back. I offered him a partial refund but he's not taken it.

In my book it's like taking your car for a new clutch, because it won't drive. then finding there's no second gear. You wouldn't expect the garage to remove the clutch and refund all your money.

Am l wrong. What should l do? Offer him all the money back, some of his money, or tell him it's not the fault he brought it in for (which l repaired)

Did you advise the customer that it was not possible to determine whether the screen was faulty and that the outcome may not be ideal?

No, it's rare to have two faults on a screen in fact this has only ever happened once before with a TV.

I did have a hi-fi where the audio output chip had blown, so it would trip the protection circuit when you turned it on. I replaced the part (which cost £45) and it all worked.....except the CD changer which was jammed up and could not be repaired.

They didn't want the repair done and there was not even a tenner offered for my time.

Of course l have learnt now and will review my policy, but l've found that you have to be careful not to put people off getting items repaired at all.
It's a dying trade tbh. Nobody has gone into the trade round here for twenty years. All my friends in the trade have retired over the years and all the TV repair shops have gone.

I am still busy all the time, but l also repair "white goods" such as washing machines and cookers, and that side of the trade is still very active.

Well, they accepted my offer of a partial refund (£35)

The TV is watchable, in fact they are using it. The fault only shows up as a faint blue cast to the left side of the screen when there's a black background.

lightning wrote:The TV is watchable, in fact they are using it.

What a surprise....