Desktop boot problem and bad repair shop experience: seeking your opinion

[JRoss]

Bummer situation for all involved. A couple of things come to mind.

1. I work on a lot of Dells and use generic power supplies. That being said, some Dell machines require proprietary parts.
2. I recently worked on a machine that was in sleep mode when it lost power and/or experienced a power spike. It corrupted the installation and created problems that appeared to be Hardware related.
3. New workstations (tower only) are pretty darned cheap these days. When I look at a clients machine and see that it is 3+ years old and having strange, unexplainable issues, I quote my possible repair cost and also the cost for replacing the tower with a new one. Often the differrence is so little that it makes no sense to repair the old unit.

Personally in these kind of situations, I eat it. I'm not perfect after all and I want my client to at least be content enough not to badmouth me all over the countryside. At least they will see me as fair and $100 is a drop in the bucket.

The bottom line for me in this situation is that the computer was not fixed. Unless it is a situation far beyond my control, I don't charge if I can't repair it. I chalk it up to experience and hope that they tell their associates that I am fair and honest. What more can I ask for?

My 2 cents.

Jim

 

[GeorgeSpelvin]

Got the machine back, eventually sold what was left of it

I got the machine back and eventually decided to sell it to someone I know who likes to tinker and he replaced the motherboard, processor, both hard drives (which I kept), and power supply. Eventually, he got a working system out of the deal and I got a little cash to buy some extra RAM for my new system.

The main thing is, the repair shop turned the computer over to me and charged me nothing after I made a big stink. As noted, they weren't too pleased about it, but I'm sure they'll get over it.

It seem that these days, if you run into problems with burned out components on a motherboard or anything that would run you into hundreds of $$$ to fix in a 3 or 4 years old system (as mine was), it doesn't appear to make sense to fix it. Desktop prices have apparently gone through the floor in the last few years...

 

[NWPhotog]

Glad things worked out for you. Desktop prices are always going through the floor. It is what keeps us buying new HW!