Charging for your time

[Skip]

Technology is rampant, some good some good some bad. Here is the dilema . A few weeks ago my oven was suddenly out. I called the service technician, made an appointment 10 days out. Nice guy arrived pushed a few buttons, announced that the cleaning people had put the oven in "Sabbath Mode" which is impossible to detect unless you know what it is and how to turn it off. Happens all the time, that will be $125 and I had waited. This week, the TV in my garage gym gets kind of fuzzy. I call my tech company, the guy texts me, tells me he can see our system online, do this, then this and this, He waits on line while I do it and bingo it works. No delay. What's the charge? No charge. Two days later I notice that my sprinkler system isn't turning on, although the app on my phine that controls it is. I call the company. Gus texts me, says he can see my system, do this, then this then this. Waits while I send photos, do what he says and once again it's working. No wait no delay. What's the charge? No charge. If I call an attorney and he walks me through a legal position on something, I get a bill. If I call a CPA and he walks me through a tax or accounting procedure, he gets a bill. Now that technology is what it is; where is the profit portion? I was happier with the outcome in both situations than I would have been scheduling a call and meeting a tech rep. How can these guys monetize this service? I realize this is a very fortunate guy's dilema but before you dismiss me as a frivilous 1%er think about it . This is going to touch a lot of people and situations. Appreciate everyone's comments. 

[NJF]

The likely revenue stream for the tech company is your personal information as a consumer. You have probably given them an insight into your life that they can sale to other companies. 

[Rudynate]

For them, it's a low-cost or no-cost value-add that encourages your loyalty as a customer.  Attorneys are not going to give legal advice for free because that's how they make their living.  Attorneys, more and more, are adopting new value-based pricing models that feature fixed fee packages with lots of low- or no-cost value-adds.

[rvwnsd]

44 minutes ago, Skip said:

Technology is rampant, some good some good some bad. Here is the dilema . A few weeks ago my oven was suddenly out. I called the service technician, made an appointment 10 days out. Nice guy arrived pushed a few buttons, announced that the cleaning people had put the oven in "Sabbath Mode" which is impossible to detect unless you know what it is and how to turn it off. Happens all the time, that will be $125 and I had waited. This week, the TV in my garage gym gets kind of fuzzy. I call my tech company, the guy texts me, tells me he can see our system online, do this, then this and this, He waits on line while I do it and bingo it works. No delay. What's the charge? No charge. Two days later I notice that my sprinkler system isn't turning on, although the app on my phine that controls it is. I call the company. Gus texts me, says he can see my system, do this, then this then this. Waits while I send photos, do what he says and once again it's working. No wait no delay. What's the charge? No charge. If I call an attorney and he walks me through a legal position on something, I get a bill. If I call a CPA and he walks me through a tax or accounting procedure, he gets a bill. Now that technology is what it is; where is the profit portion? I was happier with the outcome in both situations than I would have been scheduling a call and meeting a tech rep. How can these guys monetize this service? I realize this is a very fortunate guy's dilema but before you dismiss me as a frivilous 1%er think about it . This is going to touch a lot of people and situations. Appreciate everyone's comments. 

Post-purchase support is typically baked into the price one pays for a product, such as a TV or sprinkler system. I'll bet you could have found a lower-cost sprinkler system that wasn't connected to an app and did not include technical support. That price differential is the price you pay for support.

To paraphrase what @Rudynate said, the attorney's, CPA's, personal trainer's, etc. work IS the product. The post-purchase support would be answering a question about the work product.

[nate_sf]

31 minutes ago, rvwnsd said:

Post-purchase support is typically baked into the price one pays for a product, such as a TV or sprinkler system. I'll bet you could have found a lower-cost sprinkler system that wasn't connected to an app and did not include technical support. That price differential is the price you pay for support.

… and eventually, the tech support is discontinued when the product is older. “No longer supported” in corporate-speak. 

[rvwnsd]

9 minutes ago, nate_sf said:

… and eventually, the tech support is discontinued when the product is older. “No longer supported” in corporate-speak. 

Yep! THAT's when the provider starts charging for and making money on support. Or on selling you something new.

[Skip]

my systems aren't old old, but they aren't new either. Sprinkler is 3 years. Garage TV is 2 years, from the begining of the pandemic when the gyms closed and I upgraded my garage to a home gym. And the point is, that technology avoided a service call, which there is a charge for after the warranty expires. 

[Luv2play]

We're basically talking about appliances in the home. Some have been around for up to over a century and are old technology-your phone, TV, stove, washer-drier, dishwasher, etc. Some are newer techology like home security, computer and cell phone internet service-modems, routers, smart appliances etc.

The old stuff you tend to have to pay for after market service, once the warranty expires. For the technology driven stuff, you usually pay monthly charges and when things go wrong a phone call will usually set things straight.

Ar least that is my experience. Two weeks ago my dryer went on the fritz. It was over 5 yesrs old and off the warranty. I paid a service fee of $127 for a man to come and show me how the fuse had blown and needed to be replaced with a $5 part. I was just happy I didn't need to replace the machine.

[RadioRob]

In cases where the problem can be solved via the phone or via internet/virtual diagnostics...  the cost is actually pretty low because they can have a few people in a call center service dozens of people in a short period of time.

If it involves dispatching someone to your house....  I can absolutely understand the need for a house call fee.  Even if they were only in the house for 15 minutes, they still had travel time to your house, travel time from your house, gas/vehicle costs, etc.  So I can get that $125 fee!  

In terms of a CPA/lawyer vs technology....  with the CPA/lawyer...  you're literally buying their time.  There is nothing else they make their money on.  For other products such as that TV or sprinkler...  they make money on the product itself.  The profit center is not around support itself.  So that cost of operating that call center is baked into the base cost of the product.  If there was no expectation of any sort of support whatsoever under any circumstance, I would bet many products could be sold much cheaper!