Technical information
Submitted By Member : Sundog
I worked for a small TV repair company with just 3 engineers. Profitability was falling it became apparent that the TV repair landscape was changing, so I (voluntarily)looked for a job. I think they were sorry to see me go because I was the ‘lookup table’ for faults, for any chassis I could always remember a fault from the symptom.
On leaving, the business owner said, “you don’t mind if we call you from time to time?” of course not, I said.
I joined a TV manufacturer. I was the 4th engineer in the group. Occasionally the phone would ring, and a dealer would ask for advice on finding a fault. It took a couple of weeks until I was up to speed and able to take some of these calls. Soon I was being asked for by name. At first my colleagues assumed these were personal calls until one overheard that I was giving advice on a non-brand TV. It caused some hilarity at the time, but I was told I must avoid such calls.
The result was that I would moonlight on a Saturday at my old company and fix the sets that they had trouble with, Win-win.
Years later I was in charge of the service department and, not wanting to disrupt the workflow of my team of engineers, took most of these calls myself. I believe I know how call centre workers feel. There were times of the day when it was quiet, but generally it was relentless.