When a charger you fitted fails, the customer calls you — but who pays for your return visit is decided by where the fault lives, and by two documents you already hold. Your supply agreement answers for the product; your own customer terms answer for your work — and the three fault types land in three different pockets.
Key Takeaways
- The customer calls the installer, but the callback cost splits three ways: product defect, workmanship fault, or neither.
- A product warranty speaks to the unit; installer labour is covered only where the written terms say so.
- The diagnostic visit is the expensive part — agree the no-fault-found case in your terms before it happens.
- Itemised invoices with serial numbers are the evidence that routes a fault to the right pocket.
Three Pockets: Where the Fault Lives Decides Who Pays
| Where the fault lives | Whose terms answer | Who pays for the callback visit |
|---|---|---|
| A defect in the unit itself | The manufacturer’s warranty document, claimed through your supply agreement | The unit is the maker’s problem — but your travel and diagnosis time is covered only if the warranty terms or supply agreement say so |
| A fault in the installation work | Your own workmanship guarantee to the customer | You. That is the guarantee working as intended: the visit is the price of standing behind your work |
| Neither: damage, misuse, or a site supply problem | Your customer terms, plus the exclusions in the product warranty document | The customer — if your terms said so before the visit. If not, expect to absorb it or argue about it |
Note the asymmetry in the first row: a product warranty speaks to the unit — repair, replacement or credit, on its written terms. Whether it contributes to the installer’s labour is a separate line: present in some agreements, absent in others, never implied. What it covers beyond the unit is whatever its written terms say; reading them is the installer’s job before stocking the brand, not after the first failure.
The Diagnosis Is the Expensive Part
The first return visit often only establishes which pocket the fault lives in — and that visit has already cost you a van, a fitter and half a day. Two habits keep it under control. First, agree the no-fault-found case in advance: your customer terms should state how a visit that finds damage, misuse or a site problem is charged, so the conversation happens at booking, not on the doorstep. Second, keep the evidence that routes the claim: serial number, installation date, itemised invoice splitting hardware from circuit work, photographs. Our guide to the spare parts and RMA process shows what a complete claim pack looks like.
Settle It on Paper Before the First Job
- In the supply agreement: the claim route, what evidence is required, who carries carriage on a returned unit, and whether a replacement ships before the failed unit goes back. Ask all four; assume none.
- In your customer terms: your workmanship guarantee and its period — yours to set, since no standard period exists — plus the wording for diagnostic visits that find neither a product defect nor a workmanship fault.
- On every invoice: hardware and installation work as separate lines, with the unit’s serial number recorded. That split is what lets a future fault be routed to the right pocket without argument.
The Product Half at EVDANCE
EVDANCE is a Shenzhen manufacturer founded in 2011, exporting to more than 30 countries, with a 3-year standard warranty — the EV-ACT5006T (up to 48 A, NACS, 25 ft cable, IP65/IP66, ETL/FCC/CE) among them. Before you stock any brand, ours included, request the written warranty handling for your market via the reseller and distributor programme or contact us: claim route, evidence, carriage, installer labour. If the labour answer is “not covered”, word your own guarantee accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
The unit is faulty and in warranty. Am I automatically repaid for my visit?
No. The warranty answers for the unit, on its written terms. Your labour and travel are repaid only where the warranty terms or your supply agreement state it. If both are silent, treat the visit as your cost — and close that gap before the next order, not during the next claim.
The customer damaged the cable. Who pays for the visit?
Damage and misuse sit outside both the product warranty and your workmanship guarantee, so your customer terms decide. If they state that diagnostic visits for non-warranty faults are chargeable, the customer pays; if they are silent, the argument is yours to have. The wording is cheap. The doorstep negotiation is not.
The supplier wants the failed unit back before sending a replacement. Who carries the downtime?
Whoever the supply agreement says — which is why carriage and advance-replacement questions belong in the agreement, asked while you are choosing suppliers. During a live claim, you hold no leverage you did not write down earlier.
Related Reading
- EV Charger Warranty and After-Sales Terms: A Distributor’s Checklist
- EV Charger Spare Parts and RMA Process for Distributors
- Common EV Charger Faults and How Suppliers Should Handle Them
