yeah always good practice to get the r/o signed regardless of wty or customer pay, that way if it's not warranty there's a signed r/o that allows the shop to operate/do anything to it.
then give a copy to the customer when they pick the machine up. Always!! People need to keep records, and have documentation if they use the equipment for farm or business use and as a former service manager you never really knew if they were business or farm sometimes
sometimes the job seems like it will be 100% warranty up front; and when tech digs in, they find something that is simply NOT a defect. it happens. If a shop has never had that happen, they're not much of a shop.
secondly that document if signed is a legal document so if something happens and the owner says "I didn't authorize you to work on it"--and there is a signed work order saying differently, that's legal documentation. Important! Been down that road a few times and a signed r/o is VERY important if/when it goes to a courtroom. The R/O being signed means that the argument is null. Most of the time u don't even go to court if u have a signed r/o
one thing i seen recently was that the r/o had a place for signature but what were you signing for? Nothing on the r/o just a line with an x beside it. Legally, all you are doing is providing a signature but you don't know what for. Shops need to be careful with that
lastly, a BIG issue the place I used to work for had was shop warranty. Apparently everything had a lifetime warranty because the boss would ask the techs to replace a part for free year(s) after it was done before, no questions asked. That is ridiculous because some of the equipment was commercial equipment that had their hourmeters disconnected to stay within the warranty period and we all knew it. We'd hook them back up and document it if we seen it. So if a shop carries a 30 day warranty what does it cover? If there is nothing in writing, then it is wide open. The shop needs to protect itself as well as their customers. I have had a couple instances where the shop (and tech) had to pay for ENGINES because a repair was made to the engine previously, in one case 1 1/2 years prior and it was an oil leak, and then the engine failed (and in the one case, for a completely different reason--overheating), of course the consumer being savvy knew that there was nothing stating the shop warranty specifics and took FULL advantage. Company had to eat a $5900 engine and the tech had to put it in for free. That's not good business; that's being self-duped by the business' own stupidity it does not have to be that way!!
when I took my truck in for some repair (body repair) I had so sign the r/o, basically it authorized for them to work on the vehicle and then authorized for them to operate the vehicle. There is more to it but that was the nuts & bolts of it. I had no problem with it. Then when I went back to pick it up a month later, I got a copy of the shop warranty and had to sign it as well. That was the final document to be taken care of. But....point it, that eliminates me putting a scratch on it and then taking it back over there expecting THEM to fix it for free.
i also used to work for a jet ski dealer at one point and i came up with a solution of "well it wasn't like that when I dropped it off".....a pre-inspection form. Fill out every scratch and ding in the gelcoat on the form, make customer sign it. Then make him sign another form when he picked it up. That was well before the popularity of cell phone cameras which make things easier now. You don't know how much money that saved the shop. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gelcoat repairs are expensive, take a while, and jet ski customers are a pain in the backside to deal with if things don't go their way. I don't miss working on them, not one bit! The only good thing that came out of jet skis was the ladies that would bring them in for service, wasn't uncommon to take them out to dinner and a jet ski ride. Fun but it was offset by the other idiots.
Times have changed for sure
