Looking for service tech's and need opinion of all

[hotubinn]

So for both consumers and industry pros I need some opinions.

Be honest...this is important!

 

4. How much per year would you think a spa technician should make? For those of you that are tech's in other fields feel free to PM me with what you make along with industry people PM me with what you pay/make. For consumers remember that most warranty reimbursement is between $40 and $70 for the entire call, that means from the support staff in the store taking the call, the parts storage mileage time and everything.

Wow, techs are making 40-70k a year!  Who needs there own business, I need to go to work for someone else!  We have tried paying techs by the hour, some work out, some milk the system- requiring 10 hrs to do 5 calls.  We prefer to pay techs by the billable hour,  seems to make that drive to the next job a bit quicker!


5. Do you feel you need to be at home when the tech arrives or, for industry people, do you require someone there before your tech comes out?

We handle this by doing what makes the customer feel better.  If no one is home, we require a credit card up front in an amount that the customer feels ok with, if repair goes over said amount, we contact customer for further instruction.  We never set limit below service call amount.


6. As a consumer what time frame do you think is reasonable for a tech to be at your house from the point of calling it in? What about a weekend call, if you call on a Saturday do you expect a tech on Monday considering most service departments won't get the call until Monday morning?

In my experience, same day service is a bit over the top- unless a tech is close by and can pop in to diagnose problem.  Our calls usually run 2-3 days out, during busy times it may reach a week.  We continually get "emergency" call requests.  Usually these calls are not emergencies, the only emergency I can think of is if the spa is on top of the customer!  Freezing is nearly impossible in our area, and afterall it is not a hear-lung machine.


7. If you have a friendly dog do you feel the tech should be as comfortable with your dog as you are? Do you always put your dog in during service?

Every time you hear of a dog mauling someone, it is followed by "my dog has never done anything like that before".  Keep your dogs inside, especially the little ones which have been the only dogs that have bitten me!


8. Last, if you are looking for a job as a tech and want to live in Colorado feel free to PM or Email me.

Sounds nice, except for those times of the year when it is FREEZING cold, not to mention all the time off needed to chase all those beautifull animals through the woods with a rifle!  Good luck!

[SerjicalStrike]

If I schedule 6 service calls in a day, the ONLY one I can give an exact time to is the first person.  After that, every other job depends on the previous calls.  Lets say a customer calls and says they have an issue that sounds like a circulation pump being bad.  I count on that call being about 1/2 hour.  Yet, when I get there, they have 2 pump seals leaking, a bad temperature sensor, or some other issue that the customer had no idea about.  That is what we run into all the time.  A customer will call about 1 issue, and there are other issues that they did not realize.  

I do not find a 3 hour time frame unreasonable.  

[Gary]

If I schedule 6 service calls in a day, the ONLY one I can give an exact time to is the first person.  After that, every other job depends on the previous calls.  Lets say a customer calls and says they have an issue that sounds like a circulation pump being bad.  I count on that call being about 1/2 hour.  Yet, when I get there, they have 2 pump seals leaking, a bad temperature sensor, or some other issue that the customer had no idea about.  That is what we run into all the time.  A customer will call about 1 issue, and there are other issues that they did not realize.  

I do not find a 3 hour time frame unreasonable.  

Here is what I do. Most of the time only half of the people will be home any ways so you stagger the calls when the people are home through the day with lots of time between. If one job is taking longer you can still get there on time, if done early go to one that the person is not home. The other jobs only need to be completed the day you said they would (preferable before they get home).

Now geography has to be planned in your strategy.

I have found that this works pretty well.

To me a 3-hour window when someone is taking time off work is not acceptable.

Depending on the customer needs you can work it so you can get there at a precise time.

Of course things can happen to screw up your day but that is what a cell phone is for, if you are going to be late and you let the customer know most are okay with it.

[stuart]

So some of you have said this but, for the industry folks...How many service calls do you think a tech should be able to do in a day?

[SerjicalStrike]

Depends.

Travel time
type of call
access to spa
What hours are they expected to work
quality of work

When a service tech tries to take on more than they can handle, sometimes the work gets shoddy because they are just trying to get out to their next call.

[Gary]

So some of you have said this but, for the industry folks...How many service calls do you think a tech should be able to do in a day?

Average 7 in a 10 hour day back the day, now I am old so I sit at a desk most of the time.

[East_TX_Spa]

So some of you have said this but, for the industry folks...How many service calls do you think a tech should be able to do in a day?

Our territory is very large, encompassing most of NE Texas and NW Louisiana with a lot of drive time.  We group service calls (when possible) for certain areas on certain days (Tyler area on Mon, Longview Tues, Lufkin Wed, Shreveport Thurs, freelance on Friday).

Being fortunate to have carried HotSpring Spas for a number of years, most of our service calls have involved cleaning filters and removing air locks for customers.  The last year has been dominated by replacing auxiliary control panels, but those are dwindling as we've gotten most everyone taken care of.  Our guys usually do 8-12 service calls/day.  One of our guys did 15 one day.

Terminator

[hotubinn]

So some of you have said this but, for the industry folks...How many service calls do you think a tech should be able to do in a day?

6 is reasonable in a 8 hr day.  Unless of course leaks are involved or the calls are spread out over all of hells creation.

[caribbeansun]

1. How well do you like your technician?

Don't have a tub tech but have others and it's a mix but most are good

2. Does the tech's hair length or physical appearance play a part in your opinion of them when they get to your house? This may sound crude but do crooked teeth, scars or other appearance items make you feel differently about how good they would be at fixing the spa?

Absolutely!  If people don't take care of themselves and have poor hygene then that tells me how much care they are likely to take of something that isn't theirs.  No thank you!


3. Does age play a part in your opinion? Do you feel a young tech in his early 20's would not be experienced as an older one or would you prefer a young energetic tech to someone in their 50's or 60's because you feel they are sharper?

No, I couldn't care about age or energy - I want someone knowlegable that can fix the problem.

4. How much per year would you think a spa technician should make? For those of you that are tech's in other fields feel free to PM me with what you make along with industry people PM me with what you pay/make. For consumers remember that most warranty reimbursement is between $40 and $70 for the entire call, that means from the support staff in the store taking the call, the parts storage mileage time and everything.

$15-$20/hour

5. Do you feel you need to be at home when the tech arrives or, for industry people, do you require someone there before your tech comes out?

No, but if I'm not I would want something telling me what was done and why and if the problem was resolved and how left for me.  Think laptop with portable computer or laptop with wireless email capability.


6. As a consumer what time frame do you think is reasonable for a tech to be at your house from the point of calling it in? What about a weekend call, if you call on a Saturday do you expect a tech on Monday considering most service departments won't get the call until Monday morning?

24-48 hours.  Weekends are tough since that's when you want to use it the most.  Personally, I'd pay a surcharge for service on the weekend.

7. If you have a friendly dog do you feel the tech should be as comfortable with your dog as you are? Do you always put your dog in during service?

The dog is always put away and I would never expect a stranger to be comfortable with her.

[hottub.pool_boy]

Mr. Stuart,
"So some of you have said this but, for the industry folks...How many service calls do you think a tech should be able to do in a day? "

I'm a big believer of quality over quantity. Nothing like having to go back and pick up tools, close someone's spa cover we left open, overlooked one of the problems on the repair ticket, etc. Get'er done, take water to be tested at the store, and do it right. But 6-10 per day.

[hotubinn]

I think the number of calls a tech can do per day depends on the type of call.  If you are doing strickly warranty calls, the sky is the limit.  Warranty calls are very easy to diagnose/ easy to replace parts- most are straight forward repairs not requiring a great deal troubleshooting.