We get it. If you work in the construction industry long enough machine damage will happen. In the past 20+ years we have seen everything from equipment submerged underwater, to damages during transport, to the commonplace broken window.
Since near its inception in 1997, Worldwide Rental Services has been filming an outbound video prior to machines leaving our shop yards. Filming every machine before it goes out protects our customers for damages that they did not cause and makes for an easier conversation when something does come up.
In the early days we supplied our various yards with small camcorders to do a walk around video and label the tape with each machine’s serial number, and store in a filing cabinet. Each time we would start the next video at the end of the last. When our customer would get a damage notification which they disputed we would simply grab the tape and head to their office to show them what it looked like and make a decision on what was a fair outcome. In hindsight, thank goodness we didn’t have a lot of machines.
This process became much easier with digital cameras and eventually the smart phone. These days, we have a phone centralized check-in and check-out process for every machine that leaves or comes back to the yard. This method allows us to create many videos and easily send them to our customers who request to review the damage to the returned rental machine. This process also evolved from a simple video to a complete checkout process that includes a mechanical checklist, pictures, video, and documentation of attachments. We believe the investment in time upfront is well worth the headaches saved down the road.
Our top priority has been protecting our customers since day 1. To that end, the checkout videos makes sure our customers are not billed for damage they did not cause, or it make for a more productive conversation when accidents do happen. Additionally, it’s fairly common that the equipment managers we work with may be in an office and never see the machine in question especially if they are charged with managing equipment on multiple projects—sometimes all around the US.
Worldwide continues to invest in procedures that help us provide better service to our customers.
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