How long to check hire kit in?

[Derek Tallent]

This afternoon I had a fellow hire company on the phone saying that a large screen TV we has on hire fron them last week was damaged - there's a scatch on the screen - and they want to charge us for a new TV.

 

Now, we returned the kit to them last Friday, and as far as we were aware there was no damage. However my main issue is the amount of time that's elapsed between the return, and the notification of damage.

 

I just wondered what the general consensus if opinion was on something like this. We don't do much dry hire, but when we do, we check it when the customer returns it, in front of the customer.

 

All comments welcome

[mark_s]

At a large theatrical lighting supplier where I used to work, returns could take up to a couple of days,depending on the size of the job coming back, demand for kit to be sent back out, and other jobs coming back at the same time. It wouldn't be feasible for larger suppliers to do returns in front of the customer, especially when you're talking about a large-scale tour or several trucks of kit, or even anything beyond a couple of parcans and cable.

 

If you mean it was returned this Friday just gone, I'd say that's a reasonable timeframe. If you're talking about the Friday before, that's taking the proverbial somewhat.

[Wilflet]

As Mark said infront of the customer is unfeasable when you get up larger shows, where chances are the truck driver with it is nothing to do with your client anyway just driving the load.

A week dosnt sound unreasonable at a busy period- the stuff that needs turning around straight out the door takes priority, tidying up whats left comes when you get chance.

 

I know some companies with some items check out but not in as such (ie out -these are two working wedges in a flightcase, in- that flightcase feels like its got two wedges in, put it on the shelf) and it can go until the next time their needed for things like blown drivers to come to light.

[Funky Dave]

We do a lot of dry hire. If it's one item and something like a plasma TV in pristine condition and hired to someone new, then we would check it when the customer returns it. Most of the time there is multiple items and not enough time to thoroughly check it all, other than a quick count up to make sure it's all there. If it's a regular customer, then there is a degree of trust. Most of our kit is touring kit and is built for the road, if it came back with a scratch, it's not the end of the world and I wouldn't want to lose a customer over a scratch that doesn't effect the performance of an item. As I said if it's pristine kit, important that it stays that way and I would want to charge the customer if it is returned with a scratch, then I would check it in front of the customer when it is returned. If it's a delivery driver then I would check it in front of the delivery driver as a witness that it has been checked straight away. With a speaker box, I wouldn't be concerned with scratches to the paintwork because that will get painted but I would be concerned that none of the drivers have been blown. There would normally be a truck full of speakers and it would be unreasonable to ask the truck driver to wait whilst we test all the speakers. Depending on how busy we are it could take a few days to check everything back in and if some of the speakers didn't get tested until Wednesday after being returned on Friday but the drivers were blown, I would still get on the phone to the customer with the intention of sending them a bill.

[adam2]

In general I would agree with those who suggest that some days before checking returned items is reasonable, especialy when large volumes are innvolved.

However in the case of especialy valuable or high risk items such as large screen TV sets, I feel that it would be reasonable to check the item on collection, on the customers premises.

 

A scratch on a speaker cabinet or par can is not normaly a big deal, but a scratch on a large TV may make it unusable.

[Brian]

I've offered this opinion before but if you do end up paying for a replacement then you ought to be given the old one.

[Pete McCrea]

And if it's a Panasonic Professional panel, then you can pop a new glass front in for a sensible amount of money.

 

Agreed with the others that it can take a few days. Especially if they're busy and short staffed.

 

If you want to be certain that they are happy with the returned items, then insist that they go through it with you on the return.

[ianknight]

We fall foul of this occasionally - people think their kit is the only load you have to check back in and so should do it "there and then". The reality is (as others here have said) that usually it's one load of 3 or 4 waiting to be checked plus there's two lots of kit waiting to go out usually to a customer who's been sat there patiently.

 

I have to admit that if I can, I tend to check the higher value items when the kit arrives back and in front of the customer but for some of the time, our kit is collected by a driver on a van and returned here. With all the best will in the world, our driver is good but he doesn't know the kit well enough to say when loading it on his van "That looks damaged..." - that's when we depend on a 'trust' with our customers to say "I think we damaged that" or "It stopped working on the last show". I'd much rather that someone fess up to a problem than just stuff it in the van and hope we don't notice until it's checked in.

 

Thankfully I don't have to worry about plasma screens or really high value items too often, but the occasions where I have had cause to chase a customer for damage - I've nearly always been told "It was in perfect working order when it left us - you damaged it putting it on your van". It comes down to how much you value that customer, for some you have to grin and bear it, for others it's easier to be fully booked next time they ring (allegedly).

[mark_s]

but the occasions where I have had cause to chase a customer for damage - I've nearly always been told "It was in perfect working order when it left us - you damaged it putting it on your van"...

 

And vice-versa, I once had a hire company chase me for damage to a unit which arrived in exactly that condition. It was a one-nighter and our get-in went pear-shaped, so calling the supplier about a particularly poor-condition generic was at the bottom of our list of priorities, and so they had the cheek to charge us for the damage when it went back! I no longer call that particular supplier...

[ianknight]

but the occasions where I have had cause to chase a customer for damage - I've nearly always been told "It was in perfect working order when it left us - you damaged it putting it on your van"...

 

And vice-versa, I once had a hire company chase me for damage to a unit which arrived in exactly that condition. It was a one-nighter and our get-in went pear-shaped, so calling the supplier about a particularly poor-condition generic was at the bottom of our list of priorities, and so they had the cheek to charge us for the damage when it went back! I no longer call that particular supplier...

 

I used to have it happen to me when I was a "customer", a couple of companies used to let me have kit on the basis I knew enough to repair it and use it...

 

When I pointed out that the arrangement wasn't working for me especially with the lack of discount and short fit up times I decided not to use them again. Luckily we (the corporate "we") don't do that and all of our kit goes out ready to work for the customer - there are odd occasions when a rack fails on first power up (another story about Beta 3's) but that can't be helped, we try to be swift with a replacement unit when it does.

 

Perhaps the motto of the story (if there is one to be found in this topic) is "Don't trust the cheapest all of the time - there's a reason it's cheap"?