Whose Warranty Is It Anyway?

June 19, 2012 - HomeAV News, rAVe [PUBS],

For the clients of HomeAV systems dealers, a huge factor in the kind of satisfaction that leads to repeat and referral business is post-install service. The happiest clients know that their calls will still be returned after the dealer has cashed the Upon Completion check. And veteran dealers know that taking care of their clients pays in the long run.

That said, no matter how philosophically a dealer principal may feel about client service, nobody likes eating costs. While every device in an integrated system has its own warranty, and while AV dealers typically offer a warranty on system function, sometimes there are gaps. Here are a few examples.

A few years ago, my scaler croaked. While the manufacturer cheerfully sent me a new one, the settings made during calibration of my system were gone, and I had to start from scratch.

The same thing is inevitable when a video display, whether flat panel or projector needs to be either serviced or replaced — having to recalibrate the video.

While we’re on the topic of TVs — while video manufacturers have authorized repair centers who fix their TVs, and who even make house calls, and will take it back to the shop, none of the ones I’ve ever known will dismount a TV from an on-wall installation: that’s the homeowner’s responsibility.

In addition, gear swaps inevitably necessitate changes to the control programming. Back to my old scaler, even the replacement vexed me, so I ended up getting rid of it and changing brands. So that meant bribing my programmer friend to do it for me. For dealers, having to switch units and brands, unlike a voluntary upgrade or addition by the customer is a gray area where clients will just expect you to cover the labor to do it.

Related to that, not long ago my remote died. The distributor gladly replaced it, but obviously, the new unit needed to be programmed.

Unlike the prior scenarios, this was relatively simple: my programmer friend emailed my system’s control file to the service manager at the distributor, who loaded it before FedEx’ing me the remote, so that was easy.

Ultimately though, the issue of “who’s paying for this?” is not always an easy question to answer. When a client has paid huge dollars for a system, their expectation is going to be “you are.”

There are ways around that, of course. In the initial scope of work documents and contract you can specify exactly what you are and are not responsible for. That doesn’t mean you and your client won’t fight about it later, but it is a start. To a certain degree your conscience as not just a business person but as a reasonable human being will factor into those decisions.

Lee Distad is a rAVe columnist and freelance writer covering topics from CE to global business and finance in both print and online. Reach him at lee@ravepubs.

Whose Warranty Is It Anyway?

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