Policies, terms, rates, and conditions:
Warranty policy:
Warranty on bench repairs and used gear sold: Unless otherwise agreed to in writing in advance, all repair work performed in our shop, and all used gear sold by us, is warrantied against failure for ninety (90) days from the date on which the equipment is delivered to the customer by the shipping company, or, in cases where the customer picks up the gear from our shop, the day of the pickup, regardless of how long the customer chooses to wait before putting the repaired gear into service.
If a problem arises with equipment we have repaired or sold, we will make every effort to resolve the problem without additional charge if the problem was due to our error or a failure in a part supplied by MP&A. If equipment we repaired fails within the warranty period, whether our standard or a custom agreed-to period, you must notify us of the issue (before the end of the warranty period!!!). We will first make every effort to resolve it without returning the equipment to us. If a return is deemed necessary, we will send you a shipping label on our acccount if you request it. However, it is the customer’s responsibility to properly pack the gear for return shipment. If we determine that the failure is indeed our responsibility, we will also pay the outgoing ground shipping of returned gear back to the customer; however, any expedited shipping desired by our customer will be at the customer’s expense.
If gear is put into service and subsequently fails due to installation error, adverse conditions at the site where the gear is being used, lightning or power line surges, vandalism, acts of God, or any other cause not related to the quality of our work and the parts we furnished, the warranty is void. In that case, MP&A will repair the equipment again, but only at our normal published rates and costs. MP&A reserves the right to refuse to honor our warranty if, in our judgment, the damage to the equipment was not due to any defects in our work or parts supplied by us, but rather was caused by one of these excluded causes. Under no circumstances is MP&A liable for any subsequent or collateral damage to other gear, loss of revenue, or expenses incurred by a customer due to a failure covered by our warranty; our sole obligation is to repair the damage to the equipment originally sent us for repair. A new 90-day warranty period will be honored on any equipment repaired again under this warranty policy, with a maximum of two re-repairs.
Note: There is no warranty offered on any transmitter that uses three-phase power if that unit is installed at a site with open Delta power. The customer installs that transmitter in such an environment at their own risk. Closed Delta or Wye connections are acceptable and will not void the warranty.
MP&A makes every effort to thoroughly test the equipment we repair before we deem it ready to ship. However, it is not practical for us to test every possible function or configuration of every piece of gear we repair; that is why we require the customer to note in writing when their equipment is shipped to us all failures, any special requests, and any descriptions of non-standard usage of the gear to be repaired. If you do not note all failures (especially subtle ones) and/or special requests or non-standard usages, and your repaired gear does not meet your expectations for such special or non-standard usage, any re-repair may, at our sole discretion, incur additional charge.
MP&A assumes no responsibility for equipment failure during the warranty period caused by parts installed or modifications made by the customer; in such a case, any re-repair of the gear will be billed at our standard published rates and costs.
Please note well that much of the equipment we repair is no longer supported by the original manufacturers, if they are even still in business. We make every attempt possible to locate and supply the best quality replacement parts available for older and orphaned gear, but the quality of parts sourced can vary, especially for obsolete parts that are only available on the surplus market. Occasionally, despite our best efforts, substandard parts slip through our efforts to exclude them. Even though we test run most gear - and all transmitters - for at least 24 hours prior to shipment, some equipment fails after a short period of time in service. This is unfortunate, but beyond our control. Our aim is for you to be pleased with the work we do and the gear we sell, so we stand behind our repairs; if you have a failure due to a bad part, we will honor the warranty on that repair, subject to the restrictions noted above.
Warranty work on transmitters: If a transmitter too big to be economically shipped back to us fails during its warranty period (unless otherwise specified and agreed to, 90 days from the date of delivery (or pickup from our shop, if the customer provides their own transportation)), we will supply replacement parts without charge to our customer. If the on-site presence of a qualified engineer is required to effect repairs to such a unit, MP&A will either arrange for an engineer in the customer’s area to come service the transmitter at our expense, or we will send one of our staff engineers to the customer’s site. However, in such event, our responsibility is only to furnish or pay for the engineer’s time while on site; his travel time and travel expenses (whether our staffer or an area engineer we hire), and his per diem charges for food and lodging while on-site, will be the sole responsibility of the customer.
Note: if we send an engineer (ours or a local) into the field on a warranty call for a transmitter we have rebuilt, and that engineer determines that the failure was due to improper installation or a substandard environment (including poor grounding, lack of surge protection, and inadequate cooling, or any other significant failure by the customer to follow good engineering practices), the customer will be responsible for all the costs associated with our engineer's trip to their facility, including labor, travel, per diems, parts and supplies needed to effect repairs, and any other expenses, at our published rates and terms.
Further note: Our experience with customer-provided transportation has been spotty, especially the use of trailers without proper suspension (such as U-hauls). Transmitters are complex and delicate pieces of equipment, and many subtle types of damage can occur due to the jarring and vibration caused by a long ride in a trailer without proper suspension. For this reason, MP&A's policy is that any customer who chooses to utilitize a trailer of any type has chosen to accept a transmitter with no warranty, and that any failures of that transmitter will only be repaired at the customer's expense, at our published rates and terms.
We also offer no warranty on transmitters sold and shipped to any foreign country.
Field work warranty: Unless otherwise agreed to in advance in writing, MP&A offers no warranty on equipment repaired at a customer's site, due to there being too many unknowns, especially at a site unfamiliar to us. Gnerally speaking, on larger projects MP&A will offer a warranty on the work, but in these cases, only if the terms and conditions of such a warranty are specified in advance as part of the scope of work agreement for that project. And even than, as noted above, the customer will be responsible for travel costs for any needed on-site warranty repair work.
For any questions about our warranty policy or any others about our repair shop work, feel free to click the Contact Us link and send us an email with your questions. We look forward to servicing your equipment and your station!
Payment terms:
For equipment repaired or sold: unless payment terms or an open account have been arranged in advance, payment in full must be made prior to shipment of any gear or parts. We accept major credit/debit cards, Paypal and other electronic payment methods, wire transfers, and checks. All payments made via credit/debit card or Paypal will incur a 3.3% processing charge. The customer is responsible for any wire transfer fees on either end. Checks must clear before shipment.
Late payment: Any open accounts are net 30 days from date of invoice. Any payments made later than that will incur a late fee of $25 plus 1.5% per month. Accounts more than 120 days overdue may be declared delinquent and referred for collections. In that case, open account privileges are withdrawn for that customer for all future work.
MP&A reserves the right to declare any equipment that remains unpaid for more than 180 days after the date of the first invoice submitted to be abandoned, and to take possession of, and title to, that gear, to be disposed of as we see fit. But note: we are not in the equipment repossession business. We would always much prefer to successfully arrange for payment and return of our customer's gear than potentially create ill will and have to market it elsewhere.
Open accounts: MP&A does grant open accounts on a limited, case-by-case basis. Bank and credit references will be required. Please contact our office if you wish to open an account.
For field work: Unless otherwise agreed upon in advance, payment in full for any field work is required when the work has been completed. On many projects, up-front payments and/or progress payments are required. Generally, written contracts with defined progress payment schedules will be required on larger jobs. As a standard contract stipulation, at the end of the job, payment of all outstanding charges will be required; either at the time or shortly after completion. The customer will be informed in writing of, and must acknowledge agreement with, payment terms before the project begins, whether there is a contract or not. If no such written agreement is stipulated, payment in full as noted here will be required. Payment in full of all oustanding invoices related to a project will be required before final documentation or other paper work product (such as FCC filings) are provided to the customer.
Deposits and refunds:
For transmitters and other large sales or rebuilds/retunes of a customer's unit: Typically, a deposit of 50% - 60% is required when purchasing a transmitter or having us rebuild and/or retune a customer's unit. The balance will need to be paid when the transmitter is ready to be shipped.
Nota Bene: If an order for a transmitter to be purchased or for a customer's unit to be rebuilt/retuned is canceled by the customer more than 14 days after receipt of said deposit, MP&A reserves the right to consider some or all of the deposit forfeit, depending on the effort put into the unit before we were notified of the cancellation. The amount we will refund will be determined at our sole discretion.
The most MP&A will refund on a deposit for a customer-canceled sale or rebuild is 50% of the deposit.
Rates:
Bench repair rates: Our rate for equipment (excluding ALL transmitters) repaired on our bench is $160/hr, with a two-hour minimum, and billed at 1/2 hour increments above that. There will be a one-hour charge for equipment sent in for evaluation, or a price quote, whether you choose to have us complete the repair or not. You may be credited for that time against the final cost of repair, but only to the extent that the time spent in evaluation is useful in the completion of the repair.
Transmitter repair rates: Our rate for all transmitters billed as hourly repair (as opposed to a flat fee) is $160/hr/tech, with a two hour minimum, and is billed in full hour increments after that. There will be a two-hour charge for all transmitters sent in for evaluation, a price quote, or estimate; regardless of whether you choose to complete the repair. You may be credited for that time against the final cost of repair, but only to the extent which the time spent in evaluation is useful to the completion of required repair.
Field repair rates (as of September 1, 2024):
For Mike Patton: $160/hr or $1600/day
For James Scullin and Frank McIntyre: $120/hour or $1200/day
For all other staff: $80/hour or $800/day
A “day” is defined as any day where a staff member spends 8 hours or more at the customer’s site or working on the customer’s project, including time spent obtaining needed parts and supplies in the area, or time spent at the staff member’s hotel doing research, analysis, preparing documentation, or any other work related to the project.
Minimum on-site times apply; generally the minimum on-site time for any field work will be the greater of the one-way travel time or two hours.
Travel time is billed at ½ of the published rates noted above, portal to portal, in half-hour increments, whether we are driving, flying, or some of both.
Mileage is billed at $0.70 per mile, and will include all highway and local mileage related to the project. Mileage charges when towing a trailer carrying equipment or supplies for the project are $1.00/mile due to towing vehicle mileage penalty caused by the trailer and trailer maintenance costs.
A per diem charge for food and lodging will be charged per staff member for every day where more than 5 hours is spent on the customer’s project, including travel days. This charge varies by area, but is never less than $250/crewmember/day and can be higher in cities or areas where hotel rooms are expensive.
We have had bad experiences in the past with customer-arranged hotel rooms. MP&A will choose hotel accommodations we deem suitable due to location and quality.
Airfare: All travel for any MP&A staffer will be booked at business class travel rates.
Rental car: Unless specifically agreed to in advance, we will rent a car for any field work. We have had bad experiences in the past when we found ourselves dependent on others for transportation.
Any costs for airfare, excess baggage charges, and rental cars will be passed along to our customers at our cost.
On field trips where muultiple customers are seen, generally we will total up and equally split and share the total costs for transportation (including travel time, mileage and/or airfare, rental car, etc) between all customers seen on that trip. Exceptions to this policy will be on a case-by-case basis and must be made in advance.
Departure from these terms and conditions:
If you have any questions about what your bill will be, you need to ask for clarification in advance, so there are no misunderstandings. In the absence of such requests, the terms laid out here will be used. Any departure from the rates, terms, and conditions noted here must be acknowledged in writing by authorized MP&A personnel to be valid and binding on MP&A, and only apply on a case-by-case basis. Written notices of agreed-upon rates, terms and conditions always supercede verbal agreements.
It is expressly understood and acknowledged that if you choose to do business with us, you agree to abide by, and be bound by, the terms and conditions stated above.