Technical Tactics

How to form a good relationship with your office equipment service technician.

By Eric Engel

Do you want a technician who will do only what is required? Or do you want who will go the extra mile, doing everything in his power to keep your machine running as well as it can?

Technicians may not have complete control over your hourly rate, but most techs have the freedom to turn an extra seven minutes into a full hour—or not. Techs also usually control when they will arrive at a call (and thus whether you will have more or less down time) and sometimes whether they order OEM parts or the less-expensive after-market parts.

While the following list is by no means all-encompassing, it provides a few basic tips on how to get your money's worth from your service tech.

1. Keep it professional: While there's nothing wrong with a quick check on the status of your tech's personal life (wife, kids, car, etc.), remember that the tech is there for a purpose. Some techs can talk while they work, some cannot. You ask an innocent "How's the family?" and the tech spends the next 10 minutes (screwdriver in hand) looking at you instead of the machine. Suddenly, you're aggravated, but don't quite know how to tell the tech to get back to work. If you're paying by the hour, it's an expensive conversation. Even if you're not paying for the time, you want to keep technicians focused on the job. Wait until the job is complete, and you have a time-stamped work order in your hand before being sociable.

2. Keep them hungry: Wait until the job is complete before offering food or drink. Again, it can be an expensive distraction. (Not to mention the fact that spilled coffee can destroy your machine. It happened to me once, and it was the most embarrassing call ever. From then on, I never accepted food or drink until I was finished with the machine. There are millions of technicians who haven't figured that out. Don't let them learn on your machine.)

3. Never say "no rush": You meant "within the next week," but the tech heard "whenever you feel like it." Whether it's parts that need to be ordered or parts that need to be installed, telling technicians that there's no rush tells them that you're not really interested in having your machine fixed. Be specific as possible. If you want it within the next few days, say so. If you want it within the next hour, say so. If you don't really care when, don't say anything. The technician will schedule it as a normal non-emergency call.

4. Don't be frightened by jargon: You ask a simple question and get a mouthful of technical terms that make little or no sense. Ask the tech to explain it to you. If the tech doesn't know how to put it in laymen's terms, he or she doesn't understand it. If you get treated like an ignorant fool, maybe it's time for a new tech.

5. Give concise information: If the tech asks what the problem was, saying "I was getting bad copies" won't help. Be specific: "I was getting black lines all through the copies." If you were doing something different when the problem arose (different paper, a new cartridge, etc.), tell all. It can sometimes cut the troubleshooting time in half.

6. If your machine isn't down, don't say it is: I wish I had a nickel for every time a customer told me his machine was down, when it really wasn't. Perhaps he thought it would get me there sooner. I'll admit that it did get me moving faster, but I never took that customer's word for it afterwards.

7. If a tech asks you to look at a machine while on the phone, do it: The technician may want to find out which parts to bring. This means you'll be back in operation sooner. You might even get your machine fixed with phone tech support. This means a smaller maintenance bill. You might be thinking that this is irrelevant because you have a service contract. Remember that technicians are like everyone else in life. Get them angry enough, and they'll hold a grudge. Then see how long it takes to order parts or fix your machine when you need it to run.

8. Techs talk: Don't think that a mishap with one technician will remain confidential. Technicians talk with each other. I once had a boss who refused to do business with a company because he had heard from a friendly competitor that the customer was slow on bill payment. I myself have often ignored the "get here ASAP" plea because other technicians told me that a customer often exaggerates problems. Remember this: Technicians are on the road a lot and sometimes see their co-workers less than once a week. When they finally do get together, they have stories and they tell them.

While these tips may help you form a better relationship with your service tech, they're not cure-alls. Some techs are just hard to get along with. If you feel that you and your tech don't have chemistry, there's nothing wrong with calling the company and asking for someone else. Before doing this, be honest with yourself. Is it this particular technician, or technicians in general?

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Eric Engel was born, grew up, and will probably die in Cincinnati. A certified technician for HP, Canon, Buskro and others, he's been servicing office equipment, mailing equipment and wide-format plotters for more than 10 years. He now works as a service manager for Equipment Sales and Service in Cincinnati. Contact him at:

eric@essonline.us