Bring me into your store for a repair!
- Posted by Sara on March 9th, 2007 filed in IT & Telecommunications, Retail
Opportunity: Transforming repair service into a profit center
Yesterday I took my white Macbook for a simple repair - a replacement of the discolored palmrest. This is a known issue, and the staff quickly solved it. Now my Macbook looks wonderful again.
This was the most pleasant experience I had with any type of repair. The repair was done in the stylish store of the local Apple retailer - iStyle - 5 minutes away from Unirii square in the center of Bucharest. I first walked in there about one month ago, with only an email version of my invoice. They connected my Macbook to their wireless network to let me email the invoice to them, which they then printed out. I would get a call from them when they received the necessary replacement parts. The effortless solution to my problem put me in a good mood, so I wandered around and decided to buy a couple of accessories for my iPod.
After the necessary replacements came in, I just took my laptop to the shop in the morning and picked it up in the evening. Again, I was happy with their work and took some time to look over some laptop bags, finally purchasing another one to add to my collection (although I knew I could get the same bag much cheaper by ordering online).
Similar to the Nordstrom effect that Steve covered earlier, this approach takes what is usually a cost center and transforms it into a profit center. Customers enter your shop and end up buying additional products. They are happy with the service and become return buyers. If they’re really happy they become evangelists and talk about the great repair service they experienced with friends - or, like myself, blog about it.
This will become an important differentiating factor in Romania as competition becomes more intense, incomes grow, and retailers realize that they have to offer more value to customers in order to get them to leave more of their income at the cash register.
Compare it with what most retailers do: outsource their repair services to a specialized firm located in a squalid-looking basement at the outskirts of the city. The first impression is very negative just from looking at the address and dreading the drive out there. The staff are at best minimally polite - at worst, you need a PhD in ‘conflict resolution’ to deal with them. As these firms service multiple brands, you might get lectured by the technicians on the folly of your choice - “It’s your fault that I can’t repair this properly… you should never chose new technology!” Of course, in your future buying, you will avoid the hapless brand like fire.
What are your experiences with getting equipment repaired in Romania? Horror stories? Happy stories?
Written by Sara
March 13th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I have no repair experience, every time I or someone from my family had to take something broken back… out of 2 things, one always happened: we threw it away because it couldn’t be fixed or we got another one to replace the old one…witch was evidently, also threw away.
I do remember several years ago I took my broken computer to a repair guy, he took a look at it and told me I have to find my own microprocessor because the one I had was broken in two parts and he didn’t have such an old microprocessor. Lucky me I knew a friend of a friend….
March 14th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I had a terrible experience when I tried to get my hard disk replaced. They shipped it in 3 weeks.
March 15th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Not only for a repair service..
One week ago, I was at iStyle for a introductory meeting in training the editing video program - Final Cut Pro. The registration had made on email, and they have invited five persons to join in. It was very interesting, practicing there on iMac computers, just near the employee’s offices on the first floor, with prof. Neil Coltofeanu (Visual Arts at Bucharest University). When the session has finished, we came down in store and I took some time to look over some laptop bags, for my recently acquisition - MacBook. Finally, i ordered a laptop bag and something for palmrest protection. My friend Eric, which was at session too, planned ordering Mac Pro.. Very expensive apple desktop computer.
So, I agree with the idea that customers enter your shop and end up buying new products. Especially Apple’s products, the design is impressive. It’s attractive. Bringin’ you into the store.., that’s the point.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:31 pm
[...] As Sara posted earlier on Apple’s repair service, I’d like to point out Radacini Motors. They are car dealers for the brands Chevrolet and Opel. Leaving aside the fact that my family bought an Opel New Astra from them last summer and the service was impeccable, I want to emphasize a little on their repair service. [...]
May 8th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
[...] Just a few hours after reading SOJ’s frustration when his Mac laptop charger got fried…. the same thing happened to my Macbook. I didn’t even notice the power surge, just that my charger quietly stopped working. Of course, I promptly panicked - this was during the weekend, and I has been working on an article that was due Monday morning, and SOJ had a rather discouraging story to tell about attempting to get a replacement charger from Apple - iStyle in Bucharest. Then Ana paid us a visit, and she let me use her charger, which gave me enough power to retrieve the most urgent info from my laptop. However, I had previously had positive experiences with service for my laptop, so on Monday morning I paid them a visit. Well, they said it does take Apple 30 days to send them replacement parts for international warranty customers and they didn’t have any chargers in the store (not even to buy a replacement)… but they would try to work something out. Sure enough, just a day later, here I am, happily charging my laptop with a charger they provided until the warranty replacement arrives. [...]
September 21st, 2007 at 5:21 am
Very expensive