Opinions..On Part Repairs lasting Forever

squall280

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I want to see what you guys think on the subject. I completely understand this is a hobby to most. But how does everyone handle when someone has your parts for quite awhile for repair? I have a few boards here and there sent out and most users have updated me frequently on the status. I have one user who I will not mention who I have to ask periodcally. Lately I haven't even received any replys to my inquerys. Now normally I would say it might be because there busy but they frequent the boards daily. I don't want to risk pissing anyone off so I just remain patient. How do you guys handle these situtaions?
 
I had a person who didn't like to respond to PMs too. The stuff got fixed and the person eventually contacted me. Everything worked out in the end, but I am a stickler for communication. Even if the message is, "I ain't done nothin' yet, but I will when I get to it." Most of my repair send outs don't have a time restraint to them and most I know ahead of time that it'll be a month before they start on the repairs. I suppose for the situation of the OP, we would need to know if there was any agreements or comments made prior to shipping the repair items out like GameyMcGame asked.
 
Yeah I'll pay once its all done. Like i said i was just guaging public opinion on the matter. There was no prior aggrement other then they will be fixed. I just happen to like communication so i know whats going on myself. Its going on 5 months almost. I am patient but having no communication of where things stand is aggervating.
 
IMO there's no reason people can't spend 10 seconds on an email to update their customers. I don't care how busy they are. No excuse. Keep emailing until you get a response, but be nice.
 
Yeah I'll pay once its all done. Like i said i was just guaging public opinion on the matter. There was no prior aggrement other then they will be fixed. I just happen to like communication so i know whats going on myself. Its going on 5 months almost. I am patient but having no communication of where things stand is aggervating.

no excuse for not responding to emails...I can see missing a reply once in awhile for not excuse for missing for than that...

5 months is quite a long time...I hope its not something common like a williams game or a donkey kong board....

I guess if its a pretty obscure piece of hardware that very few can repair then you have no choice.....Can you tell us the board?
 
its something common. if i say the game i would be basically saying who it is. i have enough repsect for all members on here to not bury anyone. truthfully i am just at a loss cause i don;t want to hound about it but i want to know whats going on. i don;t want to get everything back not working or broke.
 
I had the same issue. I was told 2 weeks but it took a lot longer. I am happy with the results of the repair. It makes it very hard when you do not get a responce.
 
I'll be the first to say that it's hard to keep up with repairs, day job that requires travel, and a side business... plus family.

I'm slack in a lot of areas. PMs are easier than emails when I'm out of pocket for the day job.

Hell, I have some folks that have waited a year for me to have time to ship me boards to repair for them. One day I'll retire and do boards full time... but that's a ways off.
 
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My repairs typically turn around in 1-3 days. If its going to be longer I communicate with the customer to let them know there is a delay. Its a rare occasion but I have had it happen a couple times.
On the other side of the fence, how long do you hold someones board after its been repaired? I received a pac board and fixed it, boxed and ready to ship back in 2 days. Sent the invoice and never heard anything. I sent several reminders on the invoice and emails with no response. As of right now its been on my shelf for about 35 days. Do I store it indefinitly, do I sell it??
 
I sent 3 exidy boards to elektronforge. Alex had them for over a year. Got them back, still not working correctly, sent them back. Claimed working but they were not. His rig could not duplicate the problem in a dedicated cab. No communication unless i asked and that took weeks to get a reply. So almost 1.5 years, $400, no refund and they still don't work.
F'n joke....

So how long? I'd say Couple months with updates. If you need your stuff back, give the guy an out. If he's too busy offer to take them back no harm no foul. It's hard to find good board repair guys. Lots of times they take too much on and get burned out.
 
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Ill offer a couple of thoughts as a casual board repairer.

For those of us that do it more or less for fun or to support our hobby, it takes ALL of your time and space. Every repair is different, and every boardset is a unique architecture. I agree on the PMs, and Im not the greatest either.. I think us nerds are probably not the most communicative buch though..;-). Understand that most of us are pretty honest guys, and once you open the can of repair worms, you get stacked up quick, and burned out. It can wreak havoc on your marriage. That has definately happened to me, which is why I sold my fluke, all my project boards and only take on a few odds and ends.

i do think whoever it is, should at least ping you with an acknowledgement.

Andrew

P.S. anybody want to buy a box full of project Pole Position boards..;-)
 
My repairs typically turn around in 1-3 days. If its going to be longer I communicate with the customer to let them know there is a delay. Its a rare occasion but I have had it happen a couple times.
On the other side of the fence, how long do you hold someones board after its been repaired? I received a pac board and fixed it, boxed and ready to ship back in 2 days. Sent the invoice and never heard anything. I sent several reminders on the invoice and emails with no response. As of right now its been on my shelf for about 35 days. Do I store it indefinitly, do I sell it??

Oh man....I just had an Eight Ball Deluxe pinball picked up from the shop. I fixed it around nine years ago! Needless to say, I was shocked when the owner walked in and said he was here to pick up his pinball. When he asked how long it had been, and I replied....9 years. He just laughed.....and thought it was funny.

I have a Tron board set on my shelf.......I fixed it around 11 years ago.

These are my two extreme cases......I've got plenty of shit on the shelf or in the shop that are in the 6 months to 5 years range.

Edward
 
This is the reason I will usually just buy a replacement board versus getting one repaired if its a common game. You get it up and running a lot faster, then just sell your dead board to recoup some of your money.
 
This is the reason I will usually just buy a replacement board versus getting one repaired if its a common game. You get it up and running a lot faster, then just sell your dead board to recoup some of your money.

I also try to buy spare boards, but I don't sell the old ones. Put the working one in while the dead one is getting repaired. Can't do this for every game, but it sure minimizes the aggravation of downtime if you have your game up and running the same night.
 
Oh man....I just had an Eight Ball Deluxe pinball picked up from the shop. I fixed it around nine years ago! Needless to say, I was shocked when the owner walked in and said he was here to pick up his pinball. When he asked how long it had been, and I replied....9 years. He just laughed.....and thought it was funny.

I have a Tron board set on my shelf.......I fixed it around 11 years ago.

These are my two extreme cases......I've got plenty of shit on the shelf or in the shop that are in the 6 months to 5 years range.

Edward

Holy crap -- that's just insane. 9 years?!?

I'd have started charging him storage fees after 6 months and after 9 years it'd probably be bigger than the value of the pinball.

You repaired a tron boardset 11 years ago and it's still sitting there?

You are one easy-going guy.
 
If you reapir something you need some kid of rule that if they do not pick it up with in a set amount of time they you have the right to sell it. Something like after 30 days you start to charge storage fees and then after 6-8 months you have the right to sell the item.
 
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