EM – Elevator maintenance is a unique technical service directly related to the continuous operation and safety for human health. However, this service is currently in the style of “hundreds of flowers in bloom”, each firm follows its standard that quickly makes customers fall into the matrix. Should there be a general standardization, especially in industry human resources – a factor that is considered a prerequisite.
Price Matrix
Pretending to be a customer in need of maintenance services, a reporter from Elevator Magazine contacted the director of the HP elevator company. Our request: maintenance for a home lift in downtown of Hanoi. The director quickly came up with a figure of 15 million/year, sending a technician to maintain once a month. After we bargained, the representative reduced the price to 13 million and continued to reduce it by another million to satisfy customers.
But do the technical staff have professional skill training and certificates?
After the reporter’s aimless question, the director replied: the certificate is just a theory. Businesses can “buy one for 500 thousand VND” if customers require it without any difficulty.
Google the phrase “cheap elevator maintenance” from the suggested results on the first page, and we went to the website of the CE elevator business. After hearing our question, the sales staff of this unit provided a startlingly low price: only 6 million/year, once a month. Roughly, the maintenance cost of the elevator only costs about 500,000 VND per month, and there is always a 24/7 trouble-shooting technician.
The implementation of the maintenance contract will also be very flexible. The company will send people to perform. If the customer is satisfied, they will continue the service. If not, they will only have to pay for the first time.
As for the necessary certificates, “if you want, we will have a party to take care of everything, the important thing is technical skills”. The sales staff reassured us after our question.
Another elevator company offers a price for maintenance service of an imported elevator of 1 million VND and joint-venture elevators at 500,000 VND/time with the view that if the products are expensive, the service is also more costly.
From the lower price
The elevator maintenance will have to perform many stages: Check the operating status and safety features (operation, rescue, voltage, sensors); maintenance of the system outside the cabin and the electrical system along the travel of shaft with 20-30 intensive technical steps (cabin structure, electrical system, machine room, pit, drive parts) … Besides, it would be difficult to find low price for the cost of materials such as oil, grease, spare parts, or labor cost after accounting (?!).
Many firms are willing to accept maintenance services at very competitive prices, elevators from any brand. But people in the industry understand well that elevator from each brand is made up of distinctly different components. It is impossible for a square peg in a round hole. Synchronization for devices is very high. When replacing components, it must be in group, not discrete components. Which of these things the customer may be completely unaware of. Therefore, the situation of services and then ” the remedy may be worse than the disease” from a broken device with a small cost, but in the end, the customer will have to spend much money on other accessories. This situation has made many customers only can swallow their bitter pill, according to Mr. NHD, an industry expert.
To the higher price
In the segment of high-end maintenance services for elevators, we dissect the “giants” in the Vietnamese market such as Otis, GamaLift, Mitsubishi, etc. In fact, the services of these firms are mainly to serve the product provided by them.
Here is an example of maintenance prices at GM. There are three price ranges for customers to choose from: 19.5 million/year, maintenance once a month; 17.5 million/year, once every two months; 16.5 million/year, once every three months.
To have a preliminary assessment of the above service fee, we learn the general information in the maintenance quotation of this firm.
The capacity of the maintenance supply service is shown in the Certificate of Service Liability Insurance with a value of up to 1 billion VND. This is very important. Ensure that a 3rd intermediary party will be responsible for dealing with any loss of life and property during the customer’s maintenance service use.
The customer’s elevator maintenance procedure is explained in detail so that partners can control and monitor service quality, ensuring the right benefits.
Refer to the service price of Kone (Finland’s leading group in the field of elevators and escalators) for elevator maintenance services in Vietnam, which is also not cheap. It’s up to 2 million each time for home lift and 3 million for project elevator (elevator has from 5-6 stops).
Or the maintenance service price of an authorized distributor of OTIS imported elevators in Vietnam will also have a service fee of approximately 20 million/year (elevator has from 5 to 6 stops).
Is industry staff standardization necessary?
Once developed healthily, the elevator maintenance and repair service industry will significantly impact society. Consumers will benefit first. It is a transparent service, always with improvement towards customer satisfaction. Enterprises in elevators and elevator maintenance and repair services will compete by brand name and service quality instead of by price. This is also the fundamental principle that creates “category kings”. Great brands emerge to dominate the industry by this very principle. In addition, the workers in this particular service industry will also improve their career value, increase their income, and have a higher life quality.
We believe that businesses in the community of manufacturing and trading products, services, and maintenance of elevators need to join hands to develop appropriate standards. The general criteria for professional training and professional ethics agreed by the Vietnamese Elevator community and state management agencies is a suggestion. Or a healthy playground so that the customers who vote themselves would be a fair and objective method.
Thereby, poor-quality services can be screened and removed. At the same time, it requires other businesses to continuously find ways to improve the quality of their products and services. The elevator industry in general, and particularly maintenance services and elevator maintenance, will prosper and accelerate strongly, which cannot be denied. /
