The question this answers
What to write down when a repair goes wrong
A list for both sides of the counter. Most of it is the same list — the dates, the references, the words used at the time. The rest depends on which side of it you're standing.
Nothing here is urgent on day one. The entries that matter later are almost always the ordinary ones written while nothing seemed wrong.
Whichever side you're on
- The date the item was handed over, and the date it came back. Two dates, not one.
- The reference or job number exactly as printed — including when the same one is reused.
- What was reported, in the words used at the time rather than a tidied version written later.
- Who was dealt with and how: counter, phone, email, message.
- A photo of the item on the day it changed hands — the screen, the serial, the marks it already had.
- Every docket and receipt kept whole, rather than cropped down to the total.
If it's your item
- What it was doing wrong, described the same way each time so the entries can sit next to each other.
- The date you first reported it, kept separate from the date it actually went in.
- Anything you were told about the cause, written down the day you were told it.
- What you were without while it was away, as dates rather than "a while".
- Anything you were offered, and what you said back.
If you did the repair
- The job sheet as written on the day — not a summary put together afterwards.
- Parts used, listed on the receipt rather than carried in your head.
- What the customer reported, in their words, alongside what you found.
- The date you told them it was ready, and how you told them.
- Photos of the item when it arrived and when it left.
A checklist of what to record. It doesn't say what any of it means for a particular situation, and nothing here is legal advice.