A cupboard of dead chargers
There is a corner of the warehouse with chargers in open boxes. Some are faulty units pulled off customers' walls, waiting to go back. Some have been sent back, but nobody is sure. One is a replacement that arrived with no note saying which customer it was for. The person who deals with manufacturer claims is off this week, and a customer whose charger failed a fortnight ago wants to know when they will be charging again.
Every manufacturer, a different process
Each manufacturer wants a slightly different claim: an online form, an email with a template, a support ticket through an installer portal. Some want diagnostic logs, some want photos of the error light, some want the unit back first, some ship the replacement first. Your team learns each one by doing it, and the knowledge sits with whoever did it last.
- Cases are opened by email with details pieced together from the job.
- RMA and ticket numbers sit in one inbox.
- The faulty unit and the replacement are not tracked as physical items.
- Labour for the swap visit is rarely claimed, even where terms might allow it.
- Nobody can say which models fail most often.
What the pile costs
Customers without a working charger ring repeatedly, and they judge you, not the manufacturer. Units waiting to be returned tie up money, as do replacements you paid for up front. Swap visits you might have claimed back go unclaimed. And without a list of failures by model, you keep fitting whichever model the distributor pushes rather than the ones that give you the least trouble.
The engineer time adds up as well. A swap visit, a return trip when the replacement is late, a call to the manufacturer's technical line to prove the fault: each is an hour or two that nobody bills, and when the case is untracked, nobody even knows it happened.
The returns log we build
- A case is opened from the customer's job with one click. Serial, model, install date, commissioning details and the customer's fault description come across automatically.
- The case template for that manufacturer lists the evidence they want. The engineer who visits is asked for exactly those items in their job app.
- The claim pack is prepared in the manufacturer's format for a person to send, and the RMA or ticket number is recorded when it comes back.
- Replies are matched to the case from the reference. Cases with no movement for the period you set raise a chase.
- Faulty and replacement units are tracked by serial: pulled from site, in the warehouse, shipped back, credit received, replacement received, replacement fitted.
- Each case records whether labour or a credit was claimed and what came back, and a monthly report shows failures by model and firmware.
| Stage | Held today | Held in the log |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the case | Email pieced together | One click from the job |
| Evidence | Whatever was taken | Manufacturer's list, asked on site |
| Reference number | Someone's inbox | On the case, used for chasing |
| Physical units | A corner of the warehouse | Tracked by serial at each step |
| Patterns | Anecdote | Failures by model and firmware |
What a manufacturer will cover is set by their terms, which your team reads. The log makes sure each case is complete and followed up.
After the cupboard is cleared
Anyone in the office can see where any return stands and tell a customer honestly. Faulty units go back promptly, and credits are matched when they arrive. Where you can claim labour you do, because the case reminds you. And when you next choose which chargers to recommend, you have your own failure data rather than a sales pitch.
Is this how returns work for you?
- Faulty units wait in the warehouse with no record of their status.
- One person holds the manufacturer contacts and references.
- Replacement units arrive and nobody knows which job they are for.
- Swap visit labour is not claimed as a habit.
- You cannot say which charger model fails most.