Randall Reports

I recently received a phone call recently from an irate client who started by yelling “I’m not going to honour the cheque I have sent you, I’ve put a stop on it”. Oh! Aaah why is that? I replied.  Apparently this client had rung a week or so earlier and requested if one of our engineers stop by his establishment (35mins or 55 Km away) to advise him if he could adapt the drawbeam currently fitted to his truck to another configuration.

Our engineer duly combined 4 or 5 jobs in the area and called on this client. He examined the truck in question, took a series of photos, measured things up and made a sketch and carried on his way. All this took about half an hour in the yard.

On return to the office, our engineer did a registration check which verifies things like GVM, Tare Weight, ownership, current mileage etc all necessary info needed to certify the truck with. He made toll calls and faxes to the origional designer and certifier of the drawbeam, same to the engineer who manufactured and installer of said beam, He then carried out a series of hand calculations to verify the ability of the bolts and material used. This required a quick CAD drawing to set out bolts etc accurately.

At the conclusion to all this, the engineer provided a comprehensive 2 page written technical report to the owner outlining the failure of the drawbeam to meet the specs and offer to redesign the equipment to meet the required standard. As the drawbeam still had some life left (as determined by the original cert) he also included an invoice to cover the time spent to date, knowing the owner would in all probability wait until expiry to do anything further. The invoice was for a total of 3 3/4hrs or $300( no travel I might add). All in all a pretty proficient and professional approach to the job by our engineer.

You can imagine my bewilderment 2 months, 1 invoice and 2 statements later to receive the clients call berating both the engineer and the company for charging so much for so little etc etc etc. My travel through the job file and talking to the engineer involved only told me that the engineer had done everything to give the client a frank professional diagnosis and a report that he could use anywhere in the future to rectify things. I complimented the engineer involved on his thoroughness and professionalism.

Sitting at my desk, getting more and more niggly as the day wore on, I wondered what this client expected of us and how he related to say his Doctor. I can imagine this guy going to his Dr with a bellyache. First off he has to go there, (no house visits these days), then he has to pay $70 for a 5 minute consultation (work that hourly rate out!!) and gets told to take an aspirin and a prescription to eat Quik-eze. You can guarantee the quack does not get a report from the patients mother (the manufacturer), or his father (the designer), [He may not have one of these on second thoughts] bet there were no photos of the affected area taken, no bolt check to verify if his nuts were loose and certainly no report given to explain that the curry the client had 2 days ago or the 6 Tui stubbies he had last night did absolutely nothing to relax a diameterly challenged sphinctre muscle. What if the Dr was wrong and it was only a tummy full of gas- would there be a stoppage of payment?- No-o-o-o-o sir, not silly Dr has it in bank already.

Same thing would apply if said client took his truck to the mechanic (notice the “took”)- again no house calls here either, the job would be passed to the apprentice who mysteriously gets charged out at A grade rates even though he knows diddely squat, can’t even spell camera let alone use one these days (such is the state of our education system-they do teach them different things though, we learnt to mow grass they now teach them to smoke it for gawds sake) Things are charged for that are not replaced, rag spanners tighten leaks etc.

In both these instances, I venture, this same client pays quietly but begrudgingly and carries on with life. WHY then does the poor old engineer cop all the flack from disgruntled customers. The engineer makes house calls, ensures everything complies with legislation, materials comply with design specs, provides an interest free overdraft facility to creditors and a self taken time payment service as well. He endeavours to keep his clients operating so they do not suffer financially, doesn’t go off to golf every thursday etc and generally tries his damndest to keep his costs down to clients.

SO WHY MUMMY, IS THE ENGINEER TREATED DIFFERENTLY?

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