Why you need after sales service and support, but not necessarily from the manufacturer?
There are many manufacturers and suppliers of door systems including Assa Abloy, Dorma, Geze, Tormax, Record, Gilgen, Horton, Besam, Entrematic, FAAC that not only install but offer after sales support and have a service department. Generally, they provide cover throughout the UK with direct engineers and sub-contractors as they may have national contracts in commercial, industrial and retail sectors. They may also have dedicated 24-hour call centres with engineers on standby for emergency call outs, this sounds to good to be true, but…..
People generally think that the manufacturer is their best option if something goes wrong as they know the product and must carry spare parts, so will call them out. This is when the after sales will be measured as your door may be out of warranty, guarantee or your building will be out of its defect’s liability period.
It is common that firstly the manufacturer will run a credit check to check if the customer can pay their bill, then input your details onto their system, then look for engineer availability, then they may reply with a ‘sorry all engineers work allocated, the earliest we can do is tomorrow, but cannot guarantee it’. The main focus of any manufacturer is large contracts, main contractors, large installations and national facilities companies, it’s a numbers game, chasing targets and turnover.
Is your door problem going to affect their national contract Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or Service Level Agreement (SLA)? If not then you are in a minority queue and probably be dealt with when it suits, their engineers’ location and availability.
It is common that customers find themselves in situations where their door fails at the most inconvenient time and causes major stress, frustrations and an operational nightmare. The focus of the whole building is now on the main entrance door which does not work as it should, impedes entrance and brings in the cold weather.
“This needs fixing, where’s the facilities / building manager?”
This is where the game begins, hopefully they have a door company under contract who will attend the same day and fix the door or at least make it safe to return with parts the next day, etc. but what happens if you don’t or they cannot attend today?
As a last resort they may trawl the internet for a door company that can help, our advice would be to know what type of door such as automatic, possibly the manufacturer which may be a logo or asset tag somewhere on your door and very important your location.
- automatic Dorma door repair in Oxford
- aluminium door repair in Cambridge
- Geze door emergency call out in Peterborough
This should then bring up a list of companies which should be able to attend as they will have local engineers and cover the location. Local companies like to be local as this means that they can provide a quick response and if they are a service company, providing what you need.
Why are BH Doors different?
We have to understand your needs and the needs of your business / organisation to provide our products and services to you. It is a ‘people thing’ to us, getting to know our customers by their first names and vice versa. Knowing that when you call you have a problem and we will provide a solution, it’s a relationship between people and companies working together.
We believe that preventative maintenance servicing reduces the failure of equipment. This is backed up with the level of service you require as we understand that when a door fails it affects your business.
Our ethos is that we care about our customers, have pride in the work we carry out and be accountable at all times. This is why we understand that anybody in a position of ensuring that a building functions correctly and works to a budget requires:
- Fixed costs
- Agreed call out response times
- Minor repairs included
- Pre-planned service visits
- Same or next day response to emergency call outs
- Qualified, competent and directly employed engineers
- Eliminate or minimise disruption during working
- Health and safety compliant designating safe working area
- Risk assessments and safe working practices
- Compliance documentation for records
- Condition reports of equipment for planning future budgets
- Prior warning of end of life / obsolete equipment with solutions for replacement / upgrading
- Accountability of communication and workmanship
What you need when we are working on your site
- Our yellow safety barriers being deployed to designate a safe working area and letting you know we are working
- Removing covers of operators to gain access for inspection
- Opening panels and moving items to gain access
- Cleaning the equipment and components
- Checking expiry dates on components such as battery packs
- Testing the operation in all modes
- Testing for compliance
- Risk assessing the equipment taking into account it’s environment
- Recommendations for risk elimination or reduction
If you have a problem with your doors or are looking for support or out of warranty help, then call us free on 0808 1200911 or contact us here
For a related article see here
For information on our service contracts please view here.
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