Surrey Audio Works
Repairs and Servicing Rates / Terms
As of January 2024
Bench / diagnosis fee – £50
This is the minimum charge for carrying out your repair or service, and buys you your first hour. Sometimes that's mostly investigation, but sometimes a fault is very obvious and easy to fix and I can complete it within that first hour. In that case, any time remaining within that hour, I will try to add as much value as I can by carrying out checks or tightening fixings and terminals etc.
If the diagnosis reveals that more labour or parts will be required, then I will contact you at that point to give you an estimated cost and discuss the best way to proceed. I will also advise if the repair is likely to be uneconomical. The £50 minimum fee will still apply in this case.
Normal Hourly Rate – £40 per hour
If, after the diagnostic hour, you wish to proceed with an agreed repair, the hourly fee will be charged. This may include some inexpensive parts, such as small capacitors, resistors and fixings at my discretion. More major parts (or multiple small parts) will be charged at cost (including delivery) + 10% to cover time spent sourcing and ordering. I will endeavour to source parts from the most cost-effective suppliers, although with so many counterfeit parts in circulation, I prefer major suppliers such as Digikey / Mouser / Farnell etc.
I aim to keep you updated on progress, particularly with regard to cost and timescales.
A Note On How Surrey Audio Works, Works / Policy / Whatever
It's very important to Surrey Audio Works that your equipment leaves our workshop in what we would term "good working order". This is to ensure your satisfaction with your equipment and our work, as well as our job satisfaction, and our ability to sleep at night without worrying that your equipment could fail at any moment.
For this reason, if we believe that your equipment is in dire need of servicing, (eg replacing critical filter capacitors which are over 25 years old) or there are other remedial jobs that are necessary for Surrey Audio Works to protect our reputation (eg fixing previous tech's "bodges" ) then we may insist (in advance of course) that carrying out this work is part of our agreement with you to take on your job. If this unfortunately makes the repair unviable for you economically, then so be it, I'm afraid - such is the reality of owning "vintage" equipment.
This policy has been in place since Surrey Audio Works began, but only recently put into writing.
It's no problem for at least 95% of customers, most of whom are relieved that "finally, someone wants to do the job properly"!
For the 5%, there are plenty of techs who don't have such a policy - I fix their work all the time.
A reduced hourly rate may be negotiated, in advance, for jobs requiring extensive amounts of labour, such as complete rewires / refurbishments etc.
What If There’s A Problem ?
Then please speak to me at the earliest opportunity and we'll get it resolved. Communication is key. I want all my customers to be happy.