Action line 90109 - Electronic repair Shop Published March 3, 2009 By Anonymous 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Complaint: I am concerned with the timeliness and attention that customers receive from the base Electronic Repair Shop. I bought a brand new flat screen television when I arrived at Incirlik nearly two years ago. I had the TV for one year when a power surge blew the power control board out. I am no wiz at electronics but I did some research on the problem and it is not a very expensive/long process to fix this. That is however if you have access to normal electronic repair shops. I contacted the folks at the base ERS and had my TV delivered to them. The first problem that I encountered was that it cost me $20.00 to move my TV from my house in Falcon to the shop which is, at the most, two miles away. After a week I contacted the Electronic Repair Shop and they had just requested the part from the manufacturer, they told me that it would take about 6-8 weeks for the part to arrive. I understand that it takes time, sometimes a lot of time for parts to be shipped to this country. I accepted this and left them alone. I had not heard anything back for three months. I decided to go in and speak to them. They explained why my TV was still in the shop, first they told me that the first part arrived and did not fit (later they tell me that the part was never shipped). They informed me that they were working with the manufacturer on getting a new piece. I have now been waiting six months for my television to be fixed. I do understand shipping times, and I understand that they do not have a lot of technicians working there. However, I get the feeling that they take their time because they know that they can. They are the only available repair shop here. I am not comfortable taking my television off base but I do trust that the base hires well trained and knowledgeable workers. I also know that they fall under AAFES. With that said, is there anything that the leadership can do to get them to work faster? I am not the only person who has had this problem. I have talked with two other families on base who ran into the same ordeal. One guy told me that it took them 13 months to fix his television! That was almost his entire tour here at Incirlik. When he told them that he was PCSing in a few months it was fixed just a week later ... I find that unacceptable. Thank you for your time and attention with this matter. Response: Thank you for bring this issue to my attention, and allowing me the opportunity to have it corrected. The time required to have an item repaired varies, primarily for two reasons: 1. Transit time of the parts coming from the manufacturer, which are located mainly in Japan and Korea and, 2. The age of the product, as spare parts are not stock piled for older equipment. Our AAFES repair shops are under contract to use only authentic parts for the brand of product that they are repairing, and that can cause delays while authentic parts are located. Although this process does require time, it should not exceed 6-10 weeks to complete the repair, including the shipping of the parts. Your issue is being investigated with our buying office on site in Japan, and corrective actions are being taken to eliminate excessive delays in the future. For the next time: contact the AAFES Services Business Manager 676-8906 or the General Manager at 676-6937, on any repair that has exceeded 10 weeks. We stand ready to assist. Thank you.