What should I look for in a professional electronics repair business?

A few things stand out with professional, trustworthy electronics repair businesses.

This was a theme I thought much about when creating Liquid Audio. My goal was to create and implement best practices across the range of services we offer and the work we undertake. With that in mind, here are some things I think are important.

Best Practice

• Create, educate, inform, add value, never harm
• A focus on technical excellence, integrity, professionalism, quality
• Inspect equipment rather than guess about condition/faults
• Advise when equipment is damaged or not viable to repair
• Recycle dead hi-fi equipment so it can be enjoyed again
• Utilise fixed, fair rates across the board
• Don’t appeal to the lowest price hunter and bargain seeker
• Champion component-level diagnosis and repair
• Advocate for consumers and improved industry standards
• Build long-term relationships with customers, colleagues and distributors
• Create, like our free half-million-word, 650+ article and video resource
• Invest in and use the best tools, test/measurement, soldering and rework equipment
• Education – Liquid Audio is powered by a Science honours degree and a lifetime immersion in all things technical, including electronics, hi-fi and music

Professional Behaviour

Technical excellence and fluency are implicit in a skilled repairer, but professional behaviour is no less important. Studies of positive and negative behaviours in workplaces highlight attributes that broadly apply across various workplaces and professional scenarios. I also undertook extensive learning/training on this topic over 25 years as a science educator and manager at Curtin University.

I’m not suggesting that you must look for these things or that they must matter to you, only that they very much matter to us and are a focus in terms of how we do business and interact with customers.