The Long Run Costs of Third Party Repair Shops

Imagine you walk into a store looking to buy a packable chair for a camping trip. You walk down the camp furniture aisle, and you find two options for a camp chair. At a glance, they seem identical. The only discernible difference is that one costs five dollars and the other costs twenty dollars. Many people would go with the five dollar chair because it’s cheaper, and they don’t know the difference between the two chairs other than the price.

Well the difference is, that twenty dollar chair will last you for ten years and is backed by a warranty. That five dollar chair has to be replaced every year. After ten years, that five dollar chair costs you fifty dollars and that twenty dollar chair costs you twenty dollars.

The cheaper option is only cheaper when you ignore long run costs.

What that means in the factory

Getting your repairs done by a third party might seem like the more affordable option, but that’s not really the case. It might cost less initially, but that’s not indicative of the true cost. There are long run costs involved when you get your repairs done by a third party.

You are paying them to fix the problem, but since they aren’t certified, there’s no way for you to be 100% certain that they know what they are doing. Also, you can’t get Indramat parts or components if you’re a third party. That means that they probably won’t have authentic parts at their disposal. So while you’re paying less, you’re getting less. It’s like going to a mechanic and paying him to fix your brake line with duct tape.

You payed to fix the initial problem, but the repair will most likely be temporary. Instead of actually fixing the problem, the third party repair shop did a little soldering here and there in way that just barely keeps things running. At some point in the not so distant future, you’re going to have to pay to get the problem fixed correctly. That means that the money you spent on a third party repair was a complete waste.

Not only was it wasteful, but you may have even payed someone to create a bigger problem than you originally had. Unless you get a factory repair, there is no way to be sure that your machinery is working properly. That quick fix done by some guy could end up doing damage to your machinery, and create an entirely new problem that needs a completely different repair.

Now you’re looking at the costs you payed to that third party repair guy, the cost of getting a certified repair to actually fix the problem, and the cost for repairing a new problem that could have been avoided. The cost of a third party repair ended up being substantially more than the certified factory repair.

That’s not to say that a third party repair won’t work. It may very well work out just fine, but do you really want to roll the dice? Gambling with your business can come back to bite you. The only way to ensure that you are getting a repair that will work is by getting a factory repair.

We’re Indramat specialists, and we can make sure you get real factory repair. Your part will come back to you in like-new condition, with a new warranty.