hi today I'd like to talk about warranty
it's something that causes a lot of bad
reviews and it's something that a lot of
new small business owners in the repair
business get wrong they make a very
common mistake which is that they tell a
customer how long the warranty is but
they don't let the customer know what
the warranty covers the business owner
assumes that the customer knows what the
warranty covers they assume that they're
not going to come back and expect you to
fix a different part of the device for
free they assume that the warranty does
does cover physical damage and that's
just not the way it is so I want to
explain it a little bit in this video
you see customers often think of a
warranty in terms of a product warranty
because consumers don't usually buy
repair services they don't go out
spending a majority of their money on
repairs they spend their money on
products they spend it on camcorders
couches Nexus 7s laptops Bluetooth mice
and these are all things that have
what's I call a product warranty a
product warranty is a warranty that
covers the entire product a product
warranty means that I bought this entire
computer from Lenovo for 700 bucks
Lenovo provided me with the Entire
Computer therefore they need to warranty
the Entire Computer I gave them money
for the entire thing they gave me the
entire thing they warranted the entire
thing whereas a repair shop warranty is
different let's say I take this Lenovo
to a repair shop because the keyboard's
not working I give the repair shop $100
the repair shop only gives me a keyboard
since I only paid for the keyboard and
they only gave me the keyboard they will
only warranty the keyboard if my screen
starts flickering 3 months from now
that's something I would have to pay for
again that's not something covered under
warranty because I don't have a product
warranty I don't have a comprehensive
warranty that covers any defect with the
product I have a warranty that covers
what was fixed so if my pey stops
working 3 months from now I can go back
there and [ __ ] but if my screen is
flickering or my CD drive is not working
you know tough [ __ ] that that's on me to
pay for now now customers will think
that you're giving them a product
warranty very often because that's all
they have experience
with and repair shop owners will often
go can you believe that this person came
in and expected warranty on that all we
did is this and I'll ask them did you
explain to them the difference between a
product and a repair warranty and if
they say no I go then how do you expect
them to know the difference you're
living in your worlds the customer is
living in theirs if you want to provide
them good service you need to live in
their world and you need to manage their
expectations now you may think this is
silly or that I'm going overboard but
the reason that having a very
comprehensive warranty policy is
important and the reason explaining it
to the customer is important is because
we work on crappy devices we work on
Apple hardware and for all the things
that I can admit to and cop to one Apple
software being cool and there being a
whole so content ecosystem and all the
devices sink with one another and play
Ice and [ __ ] [ __ ] piss all that crap the
hardware itself sucks [ __ ] balls it
just does the 2008 machine has the
hinges screwed into the frame instead of
in the back plate so that when you move
it back and forth on a regular basis the
a1226 machine will split over here they
have the Nvidia GPU defect the 2009
MacBook Pro has that problem Kitty do
not shake the camcorder charger the 2009
model has the problem where it's glued
together on the bottom so that the hot
air exhaust will actually exhaust onto
the glue and unglue the computer the
2010 model has GPU faults the 2011 model
has more GPU faults the iPhone for 5
years can you figure out how to make a
[ __ ] power button that works for more
than a year it's it's not an advanced
function it's how you turn the [ __ ]
device on but that that this is all rant
for another video my point is we work on
devices that are very prone to having
something else go wrong with them which
is why it's very important that the
customer understands that when that
something else does go wrong because it
will that that's not on us and it's
important that you explain to people
that the warranty covers the part that
we replaced only it's important it's
important that you explain that the
warranty does not cover physical damage
so it's also very important that you
know when to explain the warranty
procedure most repair shop owners expl
explain what is not covered under
warranty when the customer comes back
saying this other thing is not working
that is the wrong time to explain it you
explain the warranty once they get their
device back when they're smiling and
happy when they are happy with the
service when they are trying the device
and they see that the work that you did
is good and they are in a state where
they are happy with you where they trust
you where they are excited and happy
that they got their toy back and that it
works and that you did a great job and
they trust you that's when you throw it
on them by the way you have a one-year
warranty and they go oh my God and then
you go now this warranty covers the
screen only because that's all we
replaced it doesn't cover other parts of
the device so if your power button stops
working 6 months from now or the battery
uh starts going dead that's not covered
and it also doesn't cover physical
damage so if it cracks or there's liquid
spilled in it that's not covered the
reason you do this is because you want
them to be in a happy mode where they
are open to suggestion where they are
open to listening to you where they are
have a high level of trust for you
that's when you want that idea to set in
their head you want to set that idea in
their head from the voice of reason the
voice of trust the voice of Happiness
that's when you want to have them
understand that this is what your
warranty is you don't want to be setting
that into their head when they're mad
when they're pissed when they're
defensive when their stuff doesn't work
when they have a low level of trust for
you because it just broke again a week
after you fixed it you want to get this
into their head when they're happy so
that and you also want to get it in
their head before they have a chance to
break it or before the device has a
chance to fail so that when it does fail
when they do crack their screen again
they have it in the back of their head
ah the guy told me that it doesn't cover
a crack screen so they're not going to
go and expecting warranty they're not
going to go in arguing and complaining
about it because you told them about it
in the beginning you've set the bug in
their head and that's the way you're
supposed to do it now at the same time
we have people sign a two-page waiver of
all the things that warranty does and
does not cover I do not expect the
customers to read this in American
culture in 2014 99% of the people who
click I accept I agree they just don't
read the terms of service that's just
how it is I don't expect them to read
this at the same time I am not going to
explain these two pages to them that is
cumbersome that is ridiculous and that
would just be berating the customer they
don't want to listen to my legal e for 2
minutes or 5 minutes or 10 minutes I am
not the man in the ad in the ad
commercial that's going make no and Dr
makeo Death make make heart attack I'm
I'm not that guy so what I will do is I
will make sure that my specific Spiel
after the repair whatever it is I have
to say is tailored to the device I'm
fixing and the service I'm offering so
if I'm fixing an iPhone screen I'm
obviously going to go into how it
doesn't cover physical damage to the
screen again and also I'm going to go
into how it doesn't cover the buttons
because on an iPhone 4S the most likely
reason for them to come back is when
their power button fails which happens
on all of them or when they drop it
again because they're going to drop it
again and the screen is going to break
again now let's say they come in with an
a1226 MacBook Pro with a bad hard drive
that's the machine that has the common
Nvidia GPU defect you turn it on one day
and just a little blinking white light
and nothing on the screen I'm I'm not
going to talk to them about their power
button because even though that is not
covered under warranty when I replace
the hard drive the power button just
doesn't die on that device so there's no
reason to waste time mentioning it I am
not going to mention uh the screen
because you know again the they're not
likely to relate the screen cracking
again to the hard drive uh so I'm going
to tell them that if your hard drive
stops working if it starts clicking we
will replace it for free within a year
but if one day you turn your computer on
and you see a black screen and a little
blinking white light that means that
your computer has succumbed to the N
videoid Graphics chip failure which
would not be covered under warranty so
my point is whatever device it is I'm
servicing I make sure to te
my warranty speech to my service that I
offered and the device that I'm fixing
so that it it makes sense and I can keep
it clear and quick and concise because
again you don't want to have this Spiel
taking up 10 or 20 minutes of time
that's just not practical you want to be
quick and to the point and effective now
lastly you need to make sure above all
else that your warranty offered matches
your type of business so if you have a
business that fixes iPhone 4 screens for
32 bucks you're you're making very
little money you cannot afford to give
people courtesy service you can't afford
to say you know what I know that you're
complaining about the camera that it
wasn't Dusty before the repair but now
it looks funny I'll just throw the
camera in for free you can't do that
when you're making $10 or $15 if you're
the cheap guy your warranty policy
cannot be to occasionally give people a
courtesy service but at the same time if
your business is charging $150 to
replace an iPhone 4 screen in
2014 you're making at least $120 to fix
a phone that is 4 years old you need to
offer a little bit of courtesy service
so if they come back a week later
bitching that the camera looks funny the
camera is a $5 part you made 120 bucks
to fix a 4-year-old phone just put just
give him a [ __ ] camera you need to
make sure that your warranty policy and
the warranty courtesies the out of
warranty courtesies that you offer
people are in line with your Target
demographic so if you're a premium
Services business if you charge a
premium price and offer premium service
that's the type of warranty you need to
provide you need to provide a premium
warranty even if you don't really want
to offer premium service if you have
premium prices and you want to be
successful you need to offer premium
service at the same time if you have a
business where you make seven to 10
bucks off of every repair 20 to 30 bucks
off every repair you're not making a lot
of profit your profit margin is very low
as a result you can offer courtesy
service your business's strategy is
based on low overhead low overhead
allows you to offer low prices so if you
start raising your overhead by
performing courtesy Services now you are
going outside of your business model
this is not about morality or ethics I
don't want you to think about morality
or ethics I want you to think about your
business's strategy make sure that your
business's strategy and your business's
warranty are in sync with one another
because what is morally and ethically
wrong is providing no warranty at all
you know who cannot provide a warranty
somebody who's completely went out of
business because they warranty policy
was not in line with their business's
strategy for gaining customers if you
have gone out of business because you
have provided a warranty policy that did
not fit your business now you cannot
offer warranty of any kind to anyone
because you are out of business and then
you are doing something that's morally
and ethically wrong you are not doing
something morally or ethically wrong
when you give the customer a little too
much you're not doing something wrong to
your repair shop or the company you work
for when they're making fun tons of
money and you offer little courtesy
service at the same time when you're
making $10 of profit you are not doing
something wrong by ensuring the customer
pay for every [ __ ] part you put in
there and every second of time you spend
on them you're not doing something wrong
by the customer because the customer
only paid for that level of service the
only time you are doing something
morally or ethically wrong is when you
do something that is going to destroy
your business because when you destroy
your business you cannot help anybody so
going over this a make sure that your
warranty is in line with the type of
business you offer B make sure that your
customer understands the warranty policy
of the whatever service you offered and
C make sure you explain this policy to
the customer after they receive the
service not after they come back to
complain if you do this you you will
avoid a lot of negative reviews you will
avoid a lot of hassle you will avoid a
lot of heartache and you will avoid a
lot of misery