X
XThing
Guest
I apologise for making what may be a rather OT post, but I think the
people here will be well qualified to advise me.
After doing repair work at home for some 30 years in a rather isolated
part of the world, I've semi-retired from repair work for the last few
years. However, the regional manager of a giant multinational visited
me last month, and invited me to open a servicing center for their
products covering my state. I'll be grateful for your opinions on
whether I should accept the offer (or what you would do in my
position), and also for any insight into the way things are done
elsewhere.
The terms he offered seem to be reasonable except for one thing : For
products within warranty, repairing charges (apart from spare parts)
are fixed at the equivalent of a little over USD 2 (that's right,
two), half of which goes to the company. For out-of-warranty products,
it's about USD 6, again half going to the company. These figures are
very low even by local standards.
Other terms : several service engineers and other staff paid by the
company at salaries fixed by me (within reason of course),
company-paid phone, rent, electricity, travel allowances, etc. RMA,
repair-or-replace decisions to be made by me.
Except for a 2-year stint at a research center in another state 30+
yrs ago, I've been my own boss all my adult life, and I'm not sure
what it would be like to work under company terms. I declined the
offer at first, but the guy has been calling me constantly from 500
miles away and is really persistent. What do you think ? I'll
sincerely appreciate feedback from everyone - servicing pros,
customers, DIYers ....
-PJ
people here will be well qualified to advise me.
After doing repair work at home for some 30 years in a rather isolated
part of the world, I've semi-retired from repair work for the last few
years. However, the regional manager of a giant multinational visited
me last month, and invited me to open a servicing center for their
products covering my state. I'll be grateful for your opinions on
whether I should accept the offer (or what you would do in my
position), and also for any insight into the way things are done
elsewhere.
The terms he offered seem to be reasonable except for one thing : For
products within warranty, repairing charges (apart from spare parts)
are fixed at the equivalent of a little over USD 2 (that's right,
two), half of which goes to the company. For out-of-warranty products,
it's about USD 6, again half going to the company. These figures are
very low even by local standards.
Other terms : several service engineers and other staff paid by the
company at salaries fixed by me (within reason of course),
company-paid phone, rent, electricity, travel allowances, etc. RMA,
repair-or-replace decisions to be made by me.
Except for a 2-year stint at a research center in another state 30+
yrs ago, I've been my own boss all my adult life, and I'm not sure
what it would be like to work under company terms. I declined the
offer at first, but the guy has been calling me constantly from 500
miles away and is really persistent. What do you think ? I'll
sincerely appreciate feedback from everyone - servicing pros,
customers, DIYers ....
-PJ