Repair work

[selinoid44]

For the 5 yrs or so that I have building calls I have had one call come back broken. A guy tripped and fell, cracked his slate. He to me brought it back to me for repair. He was suprised when I fixed it for nothing. I had a little time in it and the cost of the slate but I have a return customer and a mouth that pushes my calls. How do you handle repairs?

[TarheelTurk]

I have been building em for around  3 years now ( much THANKS to several of you guys here) and I have the same policy as you. I stress to every customer to PLEASE let me know if anything happens to call and I will do what I can to fix/ repair it.

[lightsoutcalls]

   I fix any surface that breaks, not due to user error, at no charge.  If the customer tells me "I sat on the call and heard it crack" or "I was crawling in a creek bed and heard the call crack" or "I know I was only supposed to use an alcohol swab on my aluminum call, but I sanded it and now I can't get it to sound right"...  I'll replace the surface, but at the cost of the customer.  Humidity happens, and glass surfaces will sometimes crack.  I take the hit on those and replace them at no cost.  Most people know if they damaged the call.  If a slate has a dime sized hole punched through the surface... likely that was not a naturally occurring event or maker error.  Most folks who have knowingly broken a call surface don't have a problem paying for the surface, shipping and a few dollars to cover the time of the callmaker to get their call back in working order.
   I'm all about customer service, but by the same token, I'm not a non-profit organization.  If I take 30 minutes to remove a surface, true up the ledge in the call and glue in a new surface, I could have turned another pot in that time. 

[harrorick]

I had a glass call sent back because it cracked. I sent a new one to my customer.
He was happy and so was I. That call makes the best KeeKeeRun I ever heard.

[pappy]

I tell everyone like it is, 110% guarantee it breaks it gets fixed. No cost. You can't get that in China!

[magnoliagamecalls]

I repair them no cost to the customer 99% of the time even if its their fault. I would rather eat the time and cost of repair to have a satisfied customer.

[lightsoutcalls]

   Engage me in this for a minute.  We all have spent more hours than we would like to count or admit getting our craft to the point where we are pleased to put our name on our calls. Right? 
We all feel like we are playing a little part in each hunt that our calls go on and each bird that is taken using our calls.  We all get just a little miffed when people make comments about there being no difference in a custom call and a mass produced call or when calls made with a CNC router are referred to as "custom" calls.  Right?  Most of us charge a bit more for a custom made call than you would pay for MOST mass produced calls. We do so because of the time we have invested, and the obvious cost of materials, shipping, shop supplies, etc.
   With VERY few exceptions, my customers have expressed great pleasure and excitement about the calls they receive.  I have received MANY pictures from folks across the country with the buyer, the call and a dead bird or birds.  Simply, the call does what it is intended to do, and the buyer is pleased with that fact. 
   I have had a number of folks over the years that bought a call and during the off-season the glass surface cracked.  I explain to them that sometimes temperature and/or humidity changes can cause the wood to expand or contract and the glass is the weakest part of the call.  That said, I quickly volunteer to replace the surface at no cost.
  On the other hand, in January I had a local guy come to me and tell me he was loading his gear last season and piled some luggage on top of his vest.  When he did, he heard a crack and immediately checked his call.  Yep.  He readily admitted that piling the weight on top of his gear was his fault and that he heard the crack when he did so.  Another customer called and explained that he was crawling along a creekbed.  He raised up and dropped back down and heard a crack sound.  He later pulled his slate call out to see a hole punched through the slate.  Another customer emailed stating that he had sanded the surface of an anodized aluminum call, knowing that he was instructed to only use an alcohol pad. 
   Here's my take, and feel free to share if you disagree... no problem. 
   A customer seeks a custom call maker to produce a call for them.  The callmaker, using his/her knowledge and experience, creates a call to meet the needs/requests of the customer.  The customer is given basic care instructions for the call.  They understand that it is handcrafted, generally made of wood, which is a natural material, not beyond being damaged with misuse or lack of care.  Once the call is in the hands of the customer, it becomes the responsibility of the customer to provide reasonable care in keeping the call safe from damage and in working condition.  If someone leaves their call laying in the woods overnight and it rains, whose responsibility is it when the call becomes saturated with water, then cracks when the buyer puts the call on the dash of his truck to dry out in the sun?  After instructing a customer to use ONLY an alcohol pad on the surface of powder blasted anodized aluminum, they can't get the call to sound like it did when it was new, so they sand through the color on the surface, then can't get a sound worth a flip.  Who was negligent in caring for the call?
   Let's change it up a bit...
   Let's say I buy a custom made knife from a reputable knife maker.  He tells me the characteristics of the steel and explains that if blood is left on the blade, it will rust.  He tells me that if moisture is left on the blade and in contact with the sheath, it will rust.  The maker has taken great care in crafting a product that does exactly what it was intended to do, and does it to my satisfaction.  I take great delight in skinning a deer with the knife, but get in a hurry taking pictures and loading my gear in the truck and don't take care to clean all the blood off the knife.  When I check my gear before a hunt a few weeks later, I notice rust on the blade.

Should I expect the knifemaker to either polish out the rust or make me a new knife at no charge?

All of the callmakers worth their salt (haven't heard that one in a while) take great efforts to build a quality product and go out of their way to provide good customer service.  That is evident when customers tell their friends about their calls, who, in return order more calls from that callmaker.  Most callmakers I know would rather scrap a call that they have time and money invested in that just doesn't sound right rather than to let it leave the shop.  That said, once the call leaves your shop, the responsibility for reasonable care for the call lies with the customer. 

I guarantee satisfaction with my calls or money back/trade for another call, whichever the customer prefers.  I stand behind the craftsmanship of my calls to the point of user error or lack of reasonable care.  If the customer insists they did nothing wrong and that the call/craftsmanship failed, I fix or replace the call at no cost.  If the customer volunteers that they did not provide reasonable care for the call and it sustained damage as a result of their own misuse, I will fix the call at a cost of replacing the parts and possibly a couple of dollars to offset the time. 

Taken to the extreme, what do you do if a customer calls and says, "Hey, I was hunting and took a nice bird.  In the excitement of getting pictures, I left my striker laying in the woods."  Do you replace his striker at no cost?  Where do you draw the line of reasonable care for the item?

[magnoliagamecalls]

Whew  what a post.

I would probably send another striker at no cost to him or that what I have done in the past.