Question #1, is the customer inside warranty or not?
- If under warranty, and the question deals with something that falls under warranty, obviously no charge. You wouldn't charge them for a service call either, right?
- If not under warranty, you have to judge how long the support case is likely to take. Maybe give them a first fifteen minutes free to assess the issue. After that, you could charge a reduced rate version of your normal hourly rate (or a flat fee?).
Question #2, do you have a website that allows the client to self-help their way through the issue? Maybe start a Q&A page on your website. Also, videos go a long way helping end users refresh their skills when it comes to retrieving video.
- We sell two different levels of recording devices: Standalone DVR/NVRs and DW Spectrum VMS servers. We tell clients up front during the sales process that standalone devices are much harder to playback and retrieve video than the Spectrum system. We tell them that we will train them on both and offer to give them one free help session on their first incident. After that, help pulling video is a paid service call.
Question #3, does the manufacturer offer support as well? Some major manufacturers do, but sadly a large majority don't or can't. Depending on your answer here, your manufacturer might be able to assist them on their dime.
- Digital Watchdog has some pretty awful tech support for the Spectrum product. We lean on the actual developer for help, NX Optix. We generally sell Dahua and Hikvision cameras, which as many here know, do not offer any real US based support. Dahua has a Q&A section on their website, but I've never used it. The few issues we've had, we relied on our US based distributors for help.