The part arrived last Tuesday. Nobody rang the customer
An engineer attends a jammed multipoint lock, gets the door open and working on a temporary basis, and tells the customer the proper mechanism needs ordering. They text the office the part number. The office orders it from the wholesaler. The part arrives at the unit and goes on the shelf with a sticky note.
Ten days later the customer rings, annoyed. Nobody has been in touch. The office looks for the part, finds it, and books the return visit, but not before the customer has told you they nearly called someone else. On a bad week, the part is fitted to a different job by an engineer who needed one, and the original customer waits again.
Open jobs live in four places at once
A job waiting on parts is half finished, and half-finished jobs do not fit neatly into most locksmith job systems. The first visit is closed and invoiced, or not. The order is in the wholesaler's email. The part is on a shelf. The return visit is not in the diary because nobody knew when to book it.
- The part request goes from engineer to office by text or phone call.
- Wholesaler orders are placed without the customer's job reference.
- Arrivals are not logged against anything, so nobody is told.
- The return visit is booked only when someone remembers.
- Parts on the shelf are not labelled for a customer, so they get used elsewhere.
Annoyed customers and parts in the wrong doors
Customers who have been left with a door that works but needs a proper repair are anxious, and silence makes it worse. Complaints, reviews that mention being forgotten, and customers who get the job finished by another firm all cost you the second half of work you already started. Meanwhile the office spends its time answering chasing calls instead of booking.
A parts-pending list that joins the dots
We add a simple parts-pending stage to your job process, in your job management software if it supports it, or as a small board alongside it.
- When an engineer leaves a job awaiting parts, they mark it on their phone with the part needed, choosing from your parts list, and a note of the temporary fix in place.
- The job moves to a parts-pending list, visible to the office, with the customer's details and how long it has been waiting.
- The office places the order and records the supplier and order reference on the job. Where the wholesaler sends order and dispatch emails, we read those into the job automatically.
- When the part arrives, whoever unpacks it scans or picks the job and prints a label with the customer name and job number.
- The office gets a prompt to rebook, and the customer can be sent a booking link or a text offering times.
- Jobs waiting longer than your chosen limit, or parts delayed by the supplier, show at the top of the list, and the customer gets an update text so they are not left guessing.
| Stage | Today | With the parts-pending list |
|---|---|---|
| Part needed | Text to the office | Recorded on the job from the engineer's phone |
| Order placed | Email with no job link | Order reference on the job |
| Part arrives | Sticky note on the shelf | Label and rebooking prompt |
| Customer updated | When they ring | Text at arrival and if delayed |
Nothing waits without someone knowing
The office can see every half-finished job in one list, sorted by how long it has been waiting. Parts are labelled for a customer, so they end up in the right door. Customers hear from you before they have to chase, which changes how they talk about you afterwards.
The owner also gets a view of which parts and suppliers cause the longest waits, which helps decide what to hold in stock and which wholesaler to use.
Signs jobs are slipping
- Customers chase you about parts before you contact them.
- Parts sit on the shelf without a customer name on them.
- You have fitted a part meant for one job to another.
- Wholesaler orders do not carry your job references.
- Nobody could list today's open jobs waiting on parts.