Scheduling and Turnaround at Haze Guitars

TL;DR (Summary): Book your own appointment and speedy turnarounds. Hurrah!

Repair Turnaround Times

For the last few months, I’ve been trying out a new way of scheduling appointments. I didn’t want to blog about it until I was certain I could make it work.

In the bad old days, you dropped instruments to your repair person and they sat around the place until they were next in the pipeline. If your tech was busy, that could be weeks.

Now, I’m lucky enough to usually be busy (I hope it means I’m doing something right). This is obviously brilliant for any business owner but I’ve always hated telling someone they can have their guitar back in two or three weeks.

So I’ve done something about it.

Now, we book an appointment for a day in the future that works for us both. Based on the job, I’ll schedule time to work on the instrument soon after it arrives. Essentially, I’ll be able to work on it almost immediately.

You get most things back in a couple of days.

Repair Appointment Booking

On top of that, you can now make an appointment without having to phone, or email back and forth to arrange a time.

All of my availability is online and you can book your own appointment. Just find a time-slot and book in. You can do it in your underwear at 3am if you like (but pop some pants on before visiting). ;-)

You’ll see some of those buttons around the site. Just click to book a time. Or click the Appointments link up the top.

  1. Just pick a day and time that suits and enter your details.
  2. You get an email to confirm that date (and a reminder the day before so you don’t forget).
  3. Guitar gets repaired.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Isn’t there still a wait?

A. I still have a pipeline of work at any given time. When we book an appointment, it’s for a period when I can schedule work on your instrument. In the meantime, though, you get to keep and use the instrument.

Q. What if I need something done more quickly?

A. I’ve found out the hard way that the only way I can make this work reliably is to be strict with the schedule. If anything cuts in, it delays my work on other jobs out and has a knock-on effect for days or even weeks. It’s not fair on those in the pipeline and it causes me a lot of stress so… No cuts. Sorry.

Q. Are all jobs done so quickly?

A. Some work, by its nature, is slower or more involved. Some jobs, therefore, will take longer than a few days (finish touch-up, for example, is necessarily slow). Most stuff is pretty speedy, though.

Q. This seems innovative and brilliant. Who else does it?

A. I have to confess that I got the idea from New York Super-Repairguy, Evan Gluck, who was kind enough to provide some advice. Other than that, I think it’s just me.

Q. How's it working out?

A. Brilliantly so far. I've received a heap of great feedback on this. People have been overwhelmingly positive on it. Most things are sorted out in just a couple of days rather than a few weeks. People seem to like it and I like it. 

Q. I have a question that's less frequently asked…

A. Drop me a line and I'll get back to you. 

Tell me how it works again…

  1. Book appointment.
  2. Bring instrument.
  3. Instrument repaired.
  4. Rock and/or roll.