brianmole 0 Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 In my day job, we offer maintenance services for critical systems with engineers attending sites to fix hardware failure. It strikes me that this could be a useful DJ service as I am not aware of any similar schemes in existance. By means of an illustration, a good friend of mine has had his expensive premium mixer alledgedly away for repair for SIX weeks now, and still no sign of it back, needless to say he is both fuming and very dismayed. This is obviously unacceptable, and a maintenance contract could be the way forward for this scenario not to happen. At least if it did, he would not have had to buy a competitor's premium mixer in order to continue his excellent work putting him over a grand out of pocket (mind you I suspect he's enjoying his new purchase). He could be loaned an equivalent one whilst his actual mixer is probably sitting in a huge pile of broken x1500's in a nice workshop somewhere in the home counties. So, those of you with maintenance experience in the DJ industry, what do you think? Is this a viable business idea? Could it work? Do they already exist? I could be interested in paying a monthly fee for such a service. Could be a bit like the RAC for DJ's! Link to post Share on other sites
Danno13 0 Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 I'm pretty sure i've had a phonecall trying to sell me something like this... I think it was DJ Guard, who do PLI and Kit insurance, but also offered what you describe as an extra service. I got a quote from them and asked them to put some info in the post with the T&Cs... but never got anything through http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/mad.gif Revolution Discos - Covering Midlands and the Cotswolds - 01386 898 113 - 07791 261 263 Link to post Share on other sites
FDDJ 0 Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 I could do with a good service. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/huh.gif "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin <a href="http://www.djassociates.org"><img src="http://www.djassociates.org/anims/compres_banner.gif" alt="Join the DJ Associates Disc Jockey Association" border="0" width="468" height="60"></a> Link to post Share on other sites
mikeee 0 Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Brian, pay me £250 a year, and I'll pop down twice a year and look at it!!! ..playing all the hits for you... ....whether you may be.... Why can't I see what i going on??? Link to post Share on other sites
partychris 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 so Mikee is this £250 just for 1 bit of kit or to service the whole setup ?? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif ohh would this include PAT as well?? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif Link to post Share on other sites
brianmole 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 What I was actually thinking of is a maintenance contract, where you pay a monthly fee, and if something major goes wrong, you get a visit from an engineer in a certain response time to fix the problem, or the loan of an equivalent device. Not £250 to stump up and run a vacuum cleaner over the vents of my stuff! Link to post Share on other sites
DJ Marky Marc 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 works ok when you have a service network of engineers and spare parts and lots of people join up... wont work with DJs they are too tight <a href="http://www.djassociates.org"><img src="http://www.djassociates.org/anims/compres_banner.gif" alt="Join the DJ Associates Disc Jockey Association" border="0" width="468" height="60"></a> Link to post Share on other sites
DJ Geco 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 I think it would struggle in the Mobile DJ industy because so many of us know enough about our gear to figure out what has gone wrong with it, and repair it ourselves or we know someone who can repair it quickly for us. Intresting thought though! Link to post Share on other sites
McCardle 1 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 a lot of deejays will not even bother to invest in common sense activities such as insuring their equipment or obtaining pli & a few do not even bother to buy their music legally so what chance have you got of getting them to stump up for this? in the days of the throw away mentality where a tv or dvd player costs less to buy new than repair i can see the dj equipment industry going the same way and with budget brands and the costs of spares it is actually already far cheaper in some respects to buy new rather than repair old. if your £60 lighting effect lasts you 2 years then i would say that it gave you VFM besides with warranties now being given by manufacturers of 3 or 5 years it wouldn't really pay. "The voice of the devil is heard in our land" 'War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left, and you wont win this war.' Link to post Share on other sites
partychris 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 Ok well we are not talking about a £60 bit of kit we are chatting about something that is over £600 !!! thats a little different, not really going to throw that in the bin.. As for fixing it myself thats not an option either ! I can see where Brian is coming from, and it would be nice to have something like this although i doubt it will ever happen. Would just be nice for service centers to get their http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/censored2.gif in gear !! sorry http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/1106.gif rant over... deep breaths..... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wallbash.gif Link to post Share on other sites
brianmole 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 I can see this is not realistic for budget gear, but for an expensive bit of kit, it really should not be a problem - after all in the early days of telly, this was part of the rental of the set for example. Let's say I want my 2 CDJ1000's and DJM600 covered, they cost about £2100 altogether, so a amintenace contract could work. I'm not suggesting sticking my cables or my Dynamos on contract - that's pointless. I'm an electronics engineer originally, and although I have fixed a broken button on my CDJ1000 myself, that's where I would draw the line. You need fairly specialist skills to do any more should the unit develop a fault, so Geco, I don't think this is an option. Link to post Share on other sites
McCardle 1 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 maybe you should be pushing those manufacturers to offer long term warranties on expensive pieces of equipment in the same manner as Bentley offer free breakdown insurance and labour on their vehicles so if they charge top dollar for their products they should be encouraged to follow it through with something more attractive in respect of aftersales / back up for their customers, and not just the exact same statutory rights as you would get from the budget manufacturers. If i was paying 10 times the price for a product not only would I expect the quality to be 10 times better but the customer services, technical bck up and aftersales to be 10 times better as well! "The voice of the devil is heard in our land" 'War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left, and you wont win this war.' Link to post Share on other sites
Dream Catchers 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 I have a HND in electronic engineering and to be honest the 2 main problems that I see with anything in the entertainment sector is a) drink spillages that quite often cause so much damage that the units are left U/S and I expect that would void any contract or b) the normal wear and tear of the sliders and sockets which again most contracts would not cover. To cover these problems I would want to charge a fair sum to cover them, that would probably cause the dj to just scrap it and replace anyway. Jim Link to post Share on other sites
brianmole 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 QUOTE (McCardle @ Aug 9 2006, 02:43 PM) maybe you should be pushing those manufacturers to offer long term warranties on expensive pieces of equipment in the same manner as Bentley offer free breakdown insurance and labour on their vehicles so if they charge top dollar for their products they should be encouraged to follow it through with something more attractive in respect of aftersales / back up for their customers, and not just the exact same statutory rights as you would get from the budget manufacturers. If i was paying 10 times the price for a product not only would I expect the quality to be 10 times better but the customer services, technical bck up and aftersales to be 10 times better as well! Interesting, one of the factors in me buying 2 overhyped stick looking speaker products was the five year warranty and support organisation behind the product. Maybe there's an idea..... QUOTE If i was paying 10 times the price for a product not only would I expect the quality to be 10 times better but the customer services, technical bck up and aftersales to be 10 times better as well! Nail on head time - this is not what poor old Chris is experiencing right now! Link to post Share on other sites
DJ Geco 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 QUOTE You need fairly specialist skills to do any more should the unit develop a fault, so Geco, I don't think this is an option. Ok fair enough if it is coplex CD players but if something in your lighting goes wrong, like a lamp holder burns out or a transformer goes. They aren't too hard to replace. And sliders on a mixer are fairly easy to replace on decent mixers and are often advertised as "user replaceable x-fader!" http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif Link to post Share on other sites
brianmole 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 QUOTE (DJ Geco @ Aug 9 2006, 03:00 PM) QUOTE You need fairly specialist skills to do any more should the unit develop a fault, so Geco, I don't think this is an option. Ok fair enough if it is coplex CD players but if something in your lighting goes wrong, like a lamp holder burns out or a transformer goes. They aren't too hard to replace. And sliders on a mixer are fairly easy to replace on decent mixers and are often advertised as "user replaceable x-fader!" http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif Yep I agree, equally these devices will not be mission critical like a big mixer, so they would not be the sort of thing I would get covered. Link to post Share on other sites
McCardle 1 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 QUOTE buying 2 overhyped stick looking speaker products So you admit that they are overhyped http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif ok lets not go there seriously i fell into the trap too when several years ago i was talked into buying a german car on the basis that the workmanship and quality is faultless and they rarely go wrong i then found out to my expense after a few years of ownership that the whole better build quality thing is just manufacturers spin and often taken in to the heads of those who go on to endlessly hype and promote ownership and are probably just doing so in order to justify their own purchase to themselves. Consequentially my own experience of this motorcar made me realise that whatever badge a car wears it still carries the same possibility of going wrong or developing a fault and only has exactly the same warranty as one costing several thousand pounds less and so from a consumer point of view when this happens you are in fact getting less of a deal because the aftersales does not reflect the original price tag!. The stark difference is, that when the premium brands do go wrong it usually costs more to put right and requires a longer wait for parts than a lessor / cheaper brand. i think its safe to assume this on any product including disco equipment. "The voice of the devil is heard in our land" 'War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left, and you wont win this war.' Link to post Share on other sites
Dukesy 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 QUOTE (McCardle @ Aug 9 2006, 03:14 PM) The stark difference is, that when the premium brands do go wrong it usually costs more to put right and requires a longer wait for parts than a lessor / cheaper brand. i think its safe to assume this on any product including disco equipment. Fair comment Link to post Share on other sites
wizard 0 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 Possibly the best people to offer this service are the companies that do P.c on site warranties as they have everything in place to put it into practice. The only problem I see is the amount of spares they would have to carry or have available....... although second thoughts they could just offer a replacement whilst thebroken item was away for repair. The oldest swinger in town....... probably. Happy Easter.. well I have seen easter eggs in the shops Link to post Share on other sites
Ian Stewart 0 Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 I was in DJ Superstore in Southend earlier this week, they offer a 5 year extended warrenty on products, where you are given a replacement piece of kit while your is in for repair Mobile Party DJ For Weddings Parties Corporate Events Covering London Essex Kent Sussex Surrey Bucckinghamshire Hertfordshire & Essex Link to post Share on other sites
brianmole 0 Posted August 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 QUOTE (Ian Stewart @ Aug 10 2006, 07:04 AM) I was in DJ Superstore in Southend earlier this week, they offer a 5 year extended warrenty on products, where you are given a replacement piece of kit while your is in for repair There's a good idea! This may well influence my purchasing decision for the premium stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now