!RE: Service Call Reimbursement [RE-wrenches]

[Barbra Kerr]

Fellow Wrenches -

Please know that we have rather strong feelings in support of manufacturer's
reimbursing installers for service calls.  We became especially sensitive to
it after the Trace Inverter failures some years back.

Some of our losses over the last two years:

In '04 we spent over $2,600 running down and resetting/replacing chips for
EEprom errors.

In '04 we spent over $11,000 replacing circuit boards for a module
manufacturer's monitoring system.  The manufacturer agreed to only reimburse
us 50%.  With that we refused to sell, install, or service anymore of the
monitoring systems.

In '05 we spent more than $2,600 having replaced 32+ chips (EEprom).  Some
were the ones we replaced the year before.

In early '05 we replaced 2 bad modules (which were shipped back) with our
own stock and still have not been reimbursed by the module manufacturer.  

In an emerging industry, one would expect to "roll with it, giving and
taking as necessary" as the industry got its bearings, started to understand
the market, and worked out some basic distribution and quality control
issues.  One would also assume, while going through this process, policies
and procedures would be established to protect and nurture the "industry",
not just the manufacturer.  Many of us have not seen this.

It is very disheartening to know that the installers are a vital key in the
efficient growth of this industry, the client's primary experience with this
emerging technology, and we hold the greatest risk and the shallowest
pockets, but don't seem to be compensated across the board by all
manufacturers.

During the last three years in this industry, there has been a significant
shift away from a team building philosophy at the manufacturer through
installer level to a more depersonalized, everyone for themselves at the
manufacturer level.  The manufacturers' creating their own association was a
surprise to me at this early date as somehow I still felt there is far too
much work left to do in bringing PV into a sustainable industry in this
country.  

Depending on the hardware, manufacturers provide warranties 5-25 years long.
In my humble opinion, this issue speaks more to the manufacturer's
integrity, sense of responsibility regarding the performance of their
product, and their commitment to customer service.  Over the long-term, this
issue is one of customer service, and the current policy of not compensating
for service calls will only serve to hurt the industry and those
manufacturers that believe they can extract free service calls from factory
trained installers.  We have paid the manufacturer already for the privilege
to sell and install their products - I guess we now have to pay for the
privilege to service them as well!

Allan, Jay - put me on your list of signatures to the appropriate
manufacturers!

Barbra K. Kerr
President
Kerr Enterprises, Inc
PO Box 1992
Twain Harte, Ca 95383
1-800-886-2258
209-586-9607 Fax
858-337-5097 Cell


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