Zenith Repair

[Richard Wagoner]

David:

You sound JUST like the the people who worked at the old shop I used to
use. Very honest, fair, a excellent service people.

I liked your comment:

The only sad
thing here is that you have put in excess of $100 in a TV that would
only bring $20 at a yard sale, if that. It's a daffy world.

That's OK. Better than spending $600 on a new one that wouldn't bring
more than $20 at a yard sale...

Thanks, everyone, for the replies and insights. I've been reading this
group for a while, and the knowledge given out here is amazing.

Richard

 

[David]

I guess I feel dated. I put myself through college in the early 60s fixing TV sets with ion traps, mechanical tuners, metal picture tubes, and even the first color TV sets. I still fix things as a hobby, but you can not make a living at it any more. Replacement electronics are inexpensive and the parts are so specialized and expensive that the only practical way to fix some of this stuff is to have a supply of identical junked items from which to strip parts. Also, has anyone tried to replace an IC with 200 pins on it? The time alone is worth more than a new replacement piece of equipment. I am retired and supplement my income by consulting on patent infringement cases. Some of that old knowledge comes in handy on older patents.
Dave

Got lots of skills, component-level troubleshooting, acquaintance with
this technology that goes all the way back to vacuum tube stuff (how many
of you guys even knew what the recent reference to an "ion trap" was all
about? , but unfortunately not much of this is in demand in the job
market these days. So I'm still thinking about where I go from here...

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEpa.net> wrote in message
news:%Vymb.802$jg7.781357@newshog.newsread.com...

Leonard Caillouet wrote:

Why not pose these questions to the servicer directly. He understands
the
reality of his circumstances better than we do. We can all guess at the
general answers in terms of the overhead and potential losses that we
all
face. The particulars of your circumstance and the estimate that you
received, however, can only be explained by the guys that made the
estimate.

If they won't give you a reasonable explanation, are arrogant or evasive
then just don't do business there. There are lots of shops that will
try
to squeeze as much as they can from every customer and lots that will
just
plain rip people off. There are also lots who are honest businessmen
just
trying to make a decent living. That costs more than most people
realize.

Leonard Caillouet

This is one of the things that really bothers me a lot about this stuff...

I had a shop. In fact, I had more than one operation, from the one I
opened in 1974 to the one I closed in 1992, which lasted a whole 7 years.
In that last one we did a lot of musical instrument stuff and a lot of
computers, but computers in those days meant a lot of Commodore 64s (and
I
still have bunches of parts for those!). Even then, before those things
went away, it was a hassle because people didn't want to pay $60 for a
repair when they could get a whole new unit for $99, as you could toward
the end. Later, with PCs, there was way much of a tendency for people
to
either deal with the outfits they'd bought stuff from, or do their own
swapping. No component-level repair there! You'd just swap out whole
drives, boards, etc. as any other way didn't make any economic sense.

We raised our rates from time to time, though at the end the rates for a
c64 were kept lower than the rest of them, because of those economics. I
*still* ended up with piles of them that weren't worth fixing, bunches of
blown parts when one of those stupid "brick" power supplies went bad and
the regulator cut loose... And even at that, I wasn't making any money
when we finally closed that place up.

Fooling around with this stuff for fun is one thing, but trying to make a
living at it any more? I dunno... There's a certain amount of overhead
built into any given situation, rent, utilities, and so forth. It
doesn't help that you need to pay more for a business phone than for a
residential phone even though the service is the same. That overhead
builds a certain amount of minimum cash flow requirement into the
situation. Which means that every productive hour has to generate a
certain amount of income. People don't want to pay "estimate charges"
though, for something that they may not end up getting fixed! And it's
*way* too easy to sink lots more time into something than it ends up being
worth...

I saw a comment nearby about something needing to be taken to an
authorized
service center "because of the cost of special equipment" or something
close to that. We were authorized for 20-30 brands of stuff. That was
often no fun at all, with most companies insisting on the use of their
own
forms but one wanting a 6-part (!) NARDA form, which we were supposed to
buy. Zenith Data Systems bounced a warranty claim once because it didn't
have a "batch ticket" with the paperwork, even though the "batch"
consisted of only one claim. One supplier once shipped us what was
supposed to be a fairly reasonable batch of op amps and similar parts
(under $50 worth) from six or seven different warehouses, tacking a
shipping charge on each -- last time I did business with them! One wanted
us to spend $150 on their parts kit, even though the list of what they
sent was all fairly generic parts that I already had most of. And I can
still remember when the Atari ST machines came out -- they wanted me to
buy
#3000 worth of boards, monitors, and other gear -- and that was for
_out-of-warranty-repairs_! I passed on that deal...

My other problem these days is that I've got majorly large piles of stuff
I
want to get done. And there never seems to be enough hours in a day to
get
to most of it. Reading over bunches of the repairfaq documents is
interesting, and even inspiring, as it makes me remember lots of things
that I've forgotten, but do I really want to go back there? Would I if I
even could? I wonder...

Got lots of skills, component-level troubleshooting, acquaintance with
this technology that goes all the way back to vacuum tube stuff (how many
of you guys even knew what the recent reference to an "ion trap" was all
about? , but unfortunately not much of this is in demand in the job
market these days. So I'm still thinking about where I go from here...

Most shops that I know constantly complain that they can't find technicians.
If you can actually fix things there is still good money to be made. You
just have to work on the right equipment. Few shops are making it working
on VCRs and CD players, and of course there is not much demand for an
understanding of ion traps. I just searched for months for an experienced
TV tech who could actually fix sets and ended up having to hire a young tech
to train. The business is tough and you have to spend a lot of time in
research and learning new technologies and new ways of doing things, but
there is still a (modest) living to be made in electronics repair. I make
more now than when I was a teacher. And with less stress. If your skills
are up to date and you are an efficient tech, do it if you love it.

Leonard Caillouet

 

[RTJT]

Well, here is what I did at age 63. NO WARRANTY work at all! I charge what I
feel is fair. I don't try to compete with anyone. If a customer is rude,
pushy or "I just don't like them", the job is over. Last year I made a
higher profit margin than at any other time. I work 4 days a week for about
8 hours a day. I enjoy what I do and I enjoy life. I am not fighting it any
more. And last---I have a one man shop. I don't "play office" or waste my
time on the phone. Note: A estimate is a guess...not a promise. If I have to
change it, I do.


R


"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@DONTSPAM MEpa.net> wrote in message
news:%Vymb.802$jg7.781357@newshog.newsread.com...

Leonard Caillouet wrote:

Why not pose these questions to the servicer directly. He understands
the
reality of his circumstances better than we do. We can all guess at the
general answers in terms of the overhead and potential losses that we
all
face. The particulars of your circumstance and the estimate that you
received, however, can only be explained by the guys that made the
estimate.

If they won't give you a reasonable explanation, are arrogant or evasive
then just don't do business there. There are lots of shops that will
try
to squeeze as much as they can from every customer and lots that will
just
plain rip people off. There are also lots who are honest businessmen
just
trying to make a decent living. That costs more than most people
realize.

Leonard Caillouet

This is one of the things that really bothers me a lot about this stuff...

I had a shop. In fact, I had more than one operation, from the one I
opened in 1974 to the one I closed in 1992, which lasted a whole 7 years.
In that last one we did a lot of musical instrument stuff and a lot of
computers, but computers in those days meant a lot of Commodore 64s (and
I
still have bunches of parts for those!). Even then, before those things
went away, it was a hassle because people didn't want to pay $60 for a
repair when they could get a whole new unit for $99, as you could toward
the end. Later, with PCs, there was way much of a tendency for people
to
either deal with the outfits they'd bought stuff from, or do their own
swapping. No component-level repair there! You'd just swap out whole
drives, boards, etc. as any other way didn't make any economic sense.

We raised our rates from time to time, though at the end the rates for a
c64 were kept lower than the rest of them, because of those economics. I
*still* ended up with piles of them that weren't worth fixing, bunches of
blown parts when one of those stupid "brick" power supplies went bad and
the regulator cut loose... And even at that, I wasn't making any money
when we finally closed that place up.

Fooling around with this stuff for fun is one thing, but trying to make a
living at it any more? I dunno... There's a certain amount of overhead
built into any given situation, rent, utilities, and so forth. It
doesn't help that you need to pay more for a business phone than for a
residential phone even though the service is the same. That overhead
builds a certain amount of minimum cash flow requirement into the
situation. Which means that every productive hour has to generate a
certain amount of income. People don't want to pay "estimate charges"
though, for something that they may not end up getting fixed! And it's
*way* too easy to sink lots more time into something than it ends up being
worth...

I saw a comment nearby about something needing to be taken to an
authorized
service center "because of the cost of special equipment" or something
close to that. We were authorized for 20-30 brands of stuff. That was
often no fun at all, with most companies insisting on the use of their
own
forms but one wanting a 6-part (!) NARDA form, which we were supposed to
buy. Zenith Data Systems bounced a warranty claim once because it didn't
have a "batch ticket" with the paperwork, even though the "batch"
consisted of only one claim. One supplier once shipped us what was
supposed to be a fairly reasonable batch of op amps and similar parts
(under $50 worth) from six or seven different warehouses, tacking a
shipping charge on each -- last time I did business with them! One wanted
us to spend $150 on their parts kit, even though the list of what they
sent was all fairly generic parts that I already had most of. And I can
still remember when the Atari ST machines came out -- they wanted me to
buy
#3000 worth of boards, monitors, and other gear -- and that was for
_out-of-warranty-repairs_! I passed on that deal...

My other problem these days is that I've got majorly large piles of stuff
I
want to get done. And there never seems to be enough hours in a day to
get
to most of it. Reading over bunches of the repairfaq documents is
interesting, and even inspiring, as it makes me remember lots of things
that I've forgotten, but do I really want to go back there? Would I if I
even could? I wonder...

Got lots of skills, component-level troubleshooting, acquaintance with
this technology that goes all the way back to vacuum tube stuff (how many
of you guys even knew what the recent reference to an "ion trap" was all
about? , but unfortunately not much of this is in demand in the job
market these days. So I'm still thinking about where I go from here...