Canada Day celebrations were great. We took the kids plus a friend down and watched the parade in the morning. Lots of good floats and now we're thinking we'll enter one next year so if you have any suggestions we're all ears. I think it should be a trailer with appliances on it and an automatic bubble blower.
Afternoon found us in the park playing on the swings, at the waterpark, wandering around, watching volleyball, eating mini-donuts and then watching the fireworks. They were great. Not as many as last year I don't think but still amazing! There were some new flower ones I'd not seen before. Then the mad dash to the car and home. Nothing like trying to exit 20,000 people all at once from downtown Parksville. It went pretty smoothly all things considered.
So... now down to business.
How do you choose a repairman?
Many people advertise that they are "reliable, honest, fast, best priced" etc. but in reality they can say anything about themselves and it doesn't make it true does it? So how do you weed out the best?
1. Ask for references, or better yet, ask your friends or someone you trust who they use. They'll give you an unbiased opinion. Word of mouth referrals are the way we get most of our customers here at Nova. We used to be called Electro Services and many of our customers recognize Stephen and ask him for his new business card when we're out in town. Returning customers are the life blood of a company in a small city or town.
2. Call them. Talk to them on the phone. Do you get a confident feeling? Do they sound professional and yet still friendly? That's a good sign.
3. How long have they been in business? If a company has been in business, especially in the same town or city, for a long time, they are obviously good at what they do or they would have been out of business a long time ago. Established businesses are a real benefit to the community because you always know exactly the kind of service you're going to get and you have greater trust for someone you both recognize and have had a good experience with in the past.
4. Do they guarantee their work and parts? You want some kind of a warranty because due to the mechanical nature of parts, they can and do fail sometimes. Appliance technicians know this. A really good company will both guarantee their work and parts, at least for 30 days. The exceptional companies offer longer warranties. At Nova ours is a year. I know that sounds crazy, but honestly we do such good work that we hardly ever have to return to re-fix something. If we do, you know you have only to call us and we'll be right out. It's a way of guaranteeing our customers peace of mind, and that's important to us. And all our warranty info is posted right on our website so you can look at it.
5. Does your repairman take training regularly? Appliances especially have become quite computerized. Now technicians need to be good at plumbing, electrical, refrigeration and computers. It's an ever evolving industry. If your repairman says he doesn't need any more training because he already knows everything...keep looking for a new one.
6. Is your repairman easy to get hold of? Can you leave a message and get it returned within 24 hours? Do they show up if you Google them? Do they have e-mail or a website you can go to for more information? The really good technicians are busy, so they might not be able to call you back the same day but you should expect a call during business hours within a day of your original message. Alternately, looking at their website which will give you other ways to contact them and more of an idea of their services, service areas, warranty info and general business practices. A simple, informative, tidy and current website shows a company that cares about it's 'web using' customers and keeps abreast of the latest technology. The days of the yellow pages are numbered...search engines are being used more and more frequently.
This is just a general idea of ways to weed out the best from the rest, and are my own biased opinion based on my previous experience as a consumer, and as the owner of an appliance repair business. If you have any questions at all, please e-mail me at elizabeth@novaappliance.com
Have a wonderful summer!
Elizabeth
Nova Appliance Service
(250) 468-0378
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