I get a call 3 or 4 times a year from furniture insurance companies asking if I want to be their local repair representative. You know the ones who offer extended warranty after the factory warranty has run out.
I enjoy doing repair work for several furniture stores in the area, but theirs something about these guys that leave a bad taste in my mouth. Lets say I do a repair job on a piece of furniture that was poorly designed. Of course I'm going to try to fix it and redesign it to the best of my ability. But will this mean I'm now forever responsible if any thing else go's wrong with it.
I recently did a repair job for a couple that bought an over stuffed chair from one of the big discount chains. They bought the extended warranty. The chair was covered in vinyl. The chair was just 2 years old and the vinyl was all peeling away from the backing. They called the warranty company many times to no avail. The warranty was worthless. They ended up having the chair fixed on their own dime.
I'm just thinking if that's how they treat their costumers, how will they treat me when it comes to payments.
Just wondering if theirs anyone out that has a good working relationship with one of these company's?
I usually do warranty work directly for the retailer, not one of those extended warranty insurance companies. But occasionally, one of them will call me (like you, maybe 3-4 times a year).
So far, so good as far as getting paid. If it turns out to be a REALLY cheap piece of furniture, and the customer is extremely heavy, I advise the company to "come to some sort of financial settlement with the customer".
Like you, I don't want to be "on the hook" for fixing it again, and again.
I used to work with one of those company's. They would send me the contact information and I would call the customer and make an appointment to go out to their home and fix the problem. Most people don't know enough about furniture to accurately describe the problem, so I had to be prepared for just about anything. Due to the time away from the shop I started my meter the moment I left, so all time away was paid for. At first payment was within 30 days then it slowly increased to 60 than 90. I finally told then to forget it, they were taking to long to pay.
Being a one person shop, it is difficult to work away from the shop. It never fails, as soon as you close your door and head out on a call you will miss a potential customer. I know a bird in the hand is better than a bird in the bush, but work in the shop is much more productive than having to drive all over god knows where to get to it.