systems-and-solutions.co.uk

The original free computer health check - how it all started with a discussion between Kevin Ackland and Eric Shaw. 

The original offer of the free annual health check with systems and solutions was back in 2004. Our customers bought custom built computers from us and because they were so reliable we never saw them again! Worse still the few faulty computers we had meant that when we did see our customers they were a bit annoyed. Sure, they came to us for that immediate service and support but it would have been better to have seen these customers without having a problem to deal with.

 No one had attempted the FREE health check the same as ours in our industry for fear of opening up a “can of worms”, so we had think long and hard about how we would provide this valuable service and not give ourselves a big problem.

Introducing a free health check to new computers meant that we saw all our customers without problems and we were doing something free for them. This meant that they were very happy and therefore most of our contact with them was positive. We were concerned whether we could afford to do the checks and we were worried that customer would give us so much work that we wouldn’t be able to do our paid work. Whilst the theory seemed fine we have to run this in practise so we went about organising our workshop so we could cope with the demand.

The only way we can organise these FREE annual health checks is to invite you by email. We have to have your email address to qualify and I’m afraid we can’t make any exceptions.

The health check was really popular with our customers. They loved the idea of being able to get a free health check with their new computer and it was seen as extra service. We have literally hundreds of testimonials from happy customers thanking us for the health check.  Soon our customers were asking us to have the machine checked in again the following year. After much discussion we decided that we could extend the offer of a free health check to yet another year as we became more experienced in coping with the extra demand.

A little later we decided to give a health check for the life of our computer now that we were sure we could cope with the quantity of the health checks. The FREE health check for the life of the computer was then incorporated into our “cast iron guarantee”. When you bought a new computer from us you got this guarantee. In some instances it became the very reason why our loyal customers bought from us in preference to the large multi-nationals. It was a simple idea, a free health check on your computer for the life of your computer and it made such a contrast with the larger companies who sold health checks as a service. It was something that we knew we could support because we had introduced it gradually into our company.

By 2007 the workshop work had started to increase and we needed to hire more workshop staff. Because our workshop was better organised with better processes than the larger companies, we knew that we could offer free health checks to customers that had other manufacturers of computers which was another step forward and another commitment to our loyal customers.

 In 2008 the workshop had to take on additional staff because our customer base was naturally expanding, as we got more new customers they recommended us to others which further expanded our customer base. The health checks that we were doing back in 2004 were still being repeated in 2008 so the growth was exponential. Our free health check became a daily activity and a service that was and still is hugely popular.

 The final phase of our free health check expansion is to perform them on computers not supplied by us but with that offer comes with some restrictions but to do this we need to have the very best organised computer workshop and the very best expert technicians. Now that we are performing lots of FREE health checks it means that we have to find ways of doing the same important checks but more efficiently. Thanks to our expert engineers we have succeeded in making this service viable into the future.

Kevin Ackland awarding Microsoft Certified John Breen with the time utilisation award back in September 2008

Not only do our expert engineers work efficiently but they keep in contact with the customer at the earliest opportunity by telephone. Speaking directly to the person who is working on your machine means that you get the best possible service.