Many years ago (probably in 1984) when I was working for a computer dealer, a customer came to me and wished to buy a service contract on his computers. I suggested against it. He was quite surprised at my recommendation. I don't recall all the prices for all the pieces of his system, but I remember a few. He had four low-cost monochrome monitors. The service contract on each one of them was about $35. The cost of a whole new monitor was $120. I suggested instead that he buy a spare monitor, rather than the service contract on the four, and pocket the extra money.
I think he still bought the service contract. He didn't know why, but he knew they were "good", and I was the first person he had seen who advised against them, so he figured I was off my rocker.
Here are some facts about service contracts:
Here are some thoughts people have about service contracts:
The common belief is that when you pay in advance for service, you
will get better service when a problem arises. After all, the service
contract and the money paid for it represent an investment in an on-going
business relationship between you and your vendor, right?
Now, let's think about this, not from your normal perspective, but from the perspective of the organization selling the service contract:
Service Contracts will save money
You are a dealer. You are in business why? Answer: To make
MONEY! You are setting the price of your service contract...are you
going to set it BELOW your cost of doing the expected level of repairs?
Of course not! You will make a profit on it, and a fair chunk of
the cost of the contract will be paid out as commission, so you will make
a healthy profit. So much for the service contract saving the customer
money!
Service Contracts will result in faster service
You are a dealer. Two service calls have come in, but you only
have one technician available at the moment. One is from a customer
who purchased a service contract from you several months ago, and their
system is down. Another is a non-customer (we call these "prospective
customers"!) and their system is down. Who do you send your tech
to first? The customer with the service contract, of course, you
probably think. Think again.
What happens if this one tech who really impressed you and inspired you to buy the service contract quits? The customer's implicit assumption is that your dealer is the source of the quality, and they will go out and get another really good tech right away. Great thought, and I'm sure they would love to, but few dealers have the money to pay techs well, which is why your favorite tech quit in the first place. They will hunt for a while, and finally grab some guy who thinks computers are Really Cool, but has zero understanding of how important they are to your business (but he probably plays a mean game of Diablo 2). Mean while, you have a service contract with this company, and Tech Diablo2 is all they got to fulfill that contract. When you got a problem, he'll be out to fix it, or at least stare at the problem for you. He might even feel sorry for you. But you won't be getting fixed rapidly. Good technicians have an incredible turn-over rate. They are poorly paid, they are abused by salespeople and customers alike, and big customers tend to snap up the good ones for internal support staff. Few dealers pay more than "starting wages" for technicians.
Service contracts lock you in. You WILL get your service from
the provider you purchased the contract from, or you will pay someone else,
but you won't get a refund on your contract. So, in effect, you may
end up paying for service TWICE. Don't think for a moment that you
are tops on anyone's list just because they have your money already.
In fact, you will most likely end up on the bottom of the service list,
exactly because they have your money already.
The Promise
Look closely at the terms of your service contract. Some companies
are offering "Four Hour Response Time" contracts. What does that
mean? Usually, nothing more than you will be talking to a sympathetic
person within four hours. Granted, that might be a nice improvement
over some hold times, but it doesn't get your problem resolved. You
MAY see a technician in four hours. They MAY be able to diagnose
the problem (or guess) and put parts ON ORDER. (Think about this...there
is no tech running around with all the parts for all the computers any
manufacturer has made in the last three years, right there in his truck.
Doesn't happen. It would be absolutely impossible). At least
one manufacturer (o.k., I'll name names: Compaq) has a four hour REPAIR
time promise. Problem is, I've never seen it "work", and I have most
certainly seen it NOT work on trivial problems ("The tape drive is broke".
Tech arrives more than four hours later (without tape drive), and agrees,
the tape drive is broke. Part ordered). I haven't even heard
any first-hand stories of it working for a small business, and it can only
work in regions which have enough systems in the field to justify a large
parts depot and the staff to manage it.
Look again at the contract. What happens if they DON'T show up
and restore your systems to operation in four hours? Do they cover
your business for any losses incurred? Of course not. Do they
even refund the cost of the contract? Again, of course not.
It is all risk for you, and very little benefit.
In short, service contracts are pushed hard by sales people for a reason:
they make good money off their sale. Your money. Don't do it.
A Semi-valid reason:
Now, there is one semi-valid reason for service contracts: To lock
in repair costs. Some organizations have trouble with unanticipated
costs, namely government, non-profit organizations, and other horribly
inefficient operations. These groups have one of two choices: A more
practical accounting system or service contracts. They normally go
for service contracts.
An Exception: (sorta)
Dell offers a full coverage warranty on their laptops. It isn't
cheap, but it may make sense. Warranty on laptops is normally a bogus
concept -- what breaks on laptops is very rarely covered under warranty.
It is usually mechanical parts that break on laptops, and almost by definition,
they are things that wouldn't have broke if you hadn't dropped it, spilled
coffee in it, or other similar disasters that laptops are prone to.
However, for a non-trivial price (probably about 15% of the purchase price
of the laptop), Dell will extend their normal warranty to three years and
cover almost any kind of damage or failure for a modest deductible.
This makes some sense. So, for this case, I will go as far as to
say that either buy the Dell CompleteCare package -- or stick to the standard
warranty. Here, the reason this makes some sense is the parts of
a laptop are outrageously expensive compared to those on a desktop.
Note that I am not endorsing this, I'm just saying it warrants serious
consideration, as opposed to my "DON'T DO IT" advice I normally give on
this topic.
Full On-Site Redundancy has to be done properly, otherwise any one part that can fail (which is just about everything. Trust me -- in 19 years of professional computer service, I have seen plenty of "unsinkable Titanics") can shut you down.
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