Final checks
I do av for a university. It’s with the IT department so It’s basically troubleshooting. Most new installs are handled by a contractor. For what ever reason they always use the same contractor for every new installation. They also use them for repairs, equipment swap, and reprogramming. I want to be trained to do all of that but this is beside the point. We’re a small team and have to deal with multiple sites in multiple cities.
The problem of their preferred contractor is that they never seem to fully test the systems they install, repair or modify. We’re constantly following behind and finding simple things that shouldn’t have been overlooked. For example we have three rooms that act as independent rooms and can be combined to show AV across the three rooms. We’re a busy team so we can’t always test the day of their work completion. I know we should try but other duties as assigned get in our way. The problem is most of the time their fix isn’t always correct. We follow up and find simple things that should have been caught like in the three rooms where one doesn’t receive audio when combined after the fix or the second room where the hdmi for laptop connection doesn’t send a signal now after hardware replacement. It’s like they are checking the bare minimum to get a sign off instead of fully testing to insure job completion. This is only one example but they have done this on every project and nothing has ever been good to go when they have left due to their lack of testing. They have been working with them for a long time and know our needs so it’s weird they can’t seem to fully test and correct things before handing it back over.
After this last fix and us testing a day after finding issues They have told us that they now must have someone there to help fully test their work at their completion to ensure that they are finished at the end of the work giving them time to fix while they are onsite. I get it and I wish we had the people to spare to do so but again small department and many cities and things usually happening all over. I’m looking for advice on how to proceed. Most of the problems are a lack of testing on their part when they finish. I’ve discussed with higher ups about the quality of the work and it seems that it’s over looked because they are a preferred contractor. So how do you handle constant need for additional work follow-up and lack of AV Contractors fully testing their equipment installation?