If anybody has good, fair answers to the following questions, please post them:
-If you have a problem with a machine and need answers that can be explained in a cell phone call, should you pay for the time I spend helping you over the phone?
-If I’m on a service call working on your combine, and another customer calls and needs advice, should you continue to pay for the time I spend talking to him over the phone?
-If you bought your equipment at another dealership because they offered a better price, but you prefer to deal with me as a mechanic, how much time should I spend on the phone with you answering questions about the machinery purchased elsewhere...if I’m already working on a customer’s equipment that was purchased through our dealership?
-If you’re doing your own repairs, but need a special tool for one aspect of the project and drag the pieces into our shop, at what point should you pay for my time and tool(s)?
-If I’ve got your tractor torn apart in the shop and another customer comes in and needs 15 minutes of my time and one of my special tools, should I stay on your ticket and have you pay for my labor to fix his problem, or bill him for the 15 minutes?
-During tough repairs on your machinery, I break three drill bits, damage the tip on my MIG welder and strip out my 5/16-inch E-Z Out bolt remover. If my dealership doesn’t pay for “consumables,” should you pay the cost of replacing tools damaged fixing your equipment, or do I pay out of my own pocket to replace tools I need to do my job?
-I checked over your planter, or tractor, or combine during the off-season. I spent a lot of time fixing everything I could find, and you spent a lot of money for me to do that. How many hours into the next busy season should that machine run before a breakdown is “acceptable”?
I have no answers to these questions. Maybe you have answers or ideas that would be fair to all involved. If so, there are a lot of dealership mechanics that would love to hear them.
