Power Port Repair...Upset Customer...??

[smokeeater405]

I recently COMPLETELY tore down a Compaq Presario laptop, to the motherboard level, to access the power port cable. The customer also needed a charger, which I located on Ebay from a trusted supplier. I quoted 29.99 for the new power port cable, and 19.99 for the new charger. I also charged 75.00 for labor.

When I advised the customer of the price they flipped out. Said that the labor rate is extremely "steep", and that their "IT guys" at their job could have probably fixed it. Obviously, if it gets to that point I will tell them take it to their blessed "IT guys" to fix, but my question is, does this seem steep to anyone else? I charge 25 per hour for personal computer repair, which I believe is relatively reasonable, and I quoted 3 hours for complete tear down and reinstall of the part, which I also believe is reasonable. They mentioned that they only paid 200 for the computer, and they also said "the labor is higher than the parts." If you take your car to a mechanic and have the timing chain replaced you will pay 40-50 for the part and about 300 for labor. Obvious answer on that one, just needed to vent I guess.

Just want to make sure. Please advise??

 

[Martyn]

I recently COMPLETELY tore down a Compaq Presario laptop, to the motherboard level, to access the power port cable. The customer also needed a charger, which I located on Ebay from a trusted supplier. I quoted 29.99 for the new power port cable, and 19.99 for the new charger. I also charged 75.00 for labor.

When I advised the customer of the price they flipped out. Said that the labor rate is extremely "steep", and that their "IT guys" at their job could have probably fixed it. Obviously, if it gets to that point I will tell them take it to their blessed "IT guys" to fix, but my question is, does this seem steep to anyone else? I charge 25 per hour for personal computer repair, which I believe is relatively reasonable, and I quoted 3 hours for complete tear down and reinstall of the part, which I also believe is reasonable. They mentioned that they only paid 200 for the computer, and they also said "the labor is higher than the parts." If you take your car to a mechanic and have the timing chain replaced you will pay 40-50 for the part and about 300 for labor. Obvious answer on that one, just needed to vent I guess.

Just want to make sure. Please advise??

Changing the power jack is labour intensive so £75 is a fair labour charge. What you should have done(if you didn't) is give them the price before you stripped down. I.e. " if it is a power jack problem this is what I charge" I do this and my last client didn't want to spend that amount so I just did a data recovery instead. It's all about managing expectations.

 

[MobileTechie]

Exactly, you always have to agree prices before you start work or you'll get this a lot.

In my area £75 isn't massively steep for a soldered socket but it's OTT for a simple cable replacement. I normally charge £60 + parts for those with the expectation that the cabled-socket cost c.£15. I don't make a mark up on those sorts of parts.

 

[Simmy]

Similar prices here - £70 plus parts if they drop the laptop off at the office. Usually £90 + parts if we collect. It's a clear case of a customer who doesn't understand the process of changing the DC jack. Customer is clearly a moron if their logic is "the labour is higher than the parts".

Are there any competitors in your area who offer the service? Maybe find out how much they charge so you can inform the customer that your charges are the going rate.

In this case, I would inform the customer that there is a £35 diagnostic fee for stripping and inspecting the laptop if they decided not to go ahead with the repair.

Was the DC jack visibly damaged from the outside?

 

[atlanticjim]

This is exactly why I charge a $50 bench fee applicable to the repair.

Right now I have a Dell Mini with a cracked screen. Of course I have to tear it down to see which screen it has. The client may decide it is not worth it to fix. In that case I put it back together and get my $50.

 

[rudger]

with DC Jack replacements I always tell them up front they are looking at a bill max cost £100, the price varies depending on the price of the socket, if it is on a daughterboard or if it is on a ribbon cable,
I then explain that the job is probably the hardest job to do on a laptop due to the complete stripdown removal of the old DC Jack soldering the new DC Jack and then a full re-assembly, if a customer is not comfortable with the price I inform them as part of the job the machine gets a system healthcheck before it is returned back to the customer (I do this automatically when I book a machine into the workshop). - this normally sways the customer to go for the repair.


Rudger.

 

[smokeeater405]

Update

I did forget to mention that they did not seem concerned with the price when they came in inquiring about the status, and they also stated they needed it urgently due to their son using it for college. If I am not mistaken I mentioned to them that I would have to break it completely down and I did not foresee at the time it being over 150 for the total of work.

And to answer one thread, no it was not evident from the outside that the power port was damaged. This model required me to remove everything to even thoroughly inspect the cable. And I am also one of the only repair shops in my area that does laptop repair to this extent.

 

[MobileTechie]

I did forget to mention that they did not seem concerned with the price when they came in inquiring about the status, and they also stated they needed it urgently due to their son using it for college. If I am not mistaken I mentioned to them that I would have to break it completely down and I did not foresee at the time it being over 150 for the total of work.

And to answer one thread, no it was not evident from the outside that the power port was damaged. This model required me to remove everything to even thoroughly inspect the cable. And I am also one of the only repair shops in my area that does laptop repair to this extent.

That's all relevant stuff. However the simple answer is to agree a price, preferably in writing, in advance. It's not hard to have a form. You have to take their contact details anyway so why not get them to sign off the quote? Then there can be no argument.

 

[nesrinamb]

Well you did tell the person it was unlikely that it would go over $150.

Also your rate seems more then just fair, I say you handle it pretty well but juts get the price in writing next time. Also you didn't loose your cool when the person said that they could get it fixed for a cheaper price by their in house IT.

 

[dgast]

Jack repair

You can do one of two things, put it together and ask for payment on your time or hand it to them in peices and let them get their IT guys to fix it. Either way you should be paid something for your time.

 

[SnoSalmon]

Even with the service manual, it's going to take a good hour and a half to take a laptop totally to pieces, work out the exact fault, solder in a new part and reassemble.
I would:
1 - apologize to the customer if they felt you hadn't communicated the charge clearly enough.
2 - explain that the DC jack repair involves a high level of skill and quite some time because of having to totally disassemble the laptop,
3 - explain your time needs justification. They needed a charger, you had to locate one for them. (this is assuming they asked you to find one, as opposed to a universal charger you can grab off the shelve)

Even though the client may have acted irrationally in blasting you for the charge, keep them on-side where you can. Good word of mouth is always a bonus. Bad word of mouth can be detrimental. I'm not suggesting you drop your charge or shoot yourself in the foot in any way, maybe offer them something to "make good" like a free PC clean with compressed air, or a discount on their next visit etc.

At worst they will storm out resolving to not come back, to only find the next time something breaks they will strike the same thing with any other decent tech. Stuff takes time.

 

[gikstar]

We don't get a large number of laptops to work on, but a number of the ones that we get, especially from new clients, you can tell that someone has been inside it before... there is a number of screws missing from the outside of the case.
We charge $125 for a DC Jack repair and we often farm it out to someone locally who has a lot of experience working on laptops. Unless you have done a lot of them and have a lot of experience taking them apart and putting them back together (without any parts leftover) it's not really worth a tech's time, especially when he can be out at a business site charging $135 hr.

This guy can get a number of people to take it apart for less, but to fix it and put it back together successfully is the real key.

So he (maybe) got a good deal on the computer and now it's in need of repair. Well, next time maybe he should purchase a new laptop from Dell and purchase their 4 yr warranty.

 

[SnoSalmon]

I typically print out the service manual pertaining to the removal of the mainboard and components required to get said mainboard out, then take it to a local electrical repair shop who do the disassembly, the repair and subsequent re assembly. I then ensure my time is covered on top of their charge including any printing etc, and return it to the customer.

I've never had any come back, and get positive feedback. I could do the soldering myself, but as gikstar said, I'd rather be on-site charging out my time there.

 

[jft135]

I charge $150 and eat the price of the part. Most shops in town charge at least $135 plus the part. I charge a little more because I hate DC Jack repairs and honestly don't care if it goes somewhere else.

 

[Adept PC Repair]

It all depends on your area.

Personally i'd be charging £60 for replacement of these, but some silly competiton in my area means I have to charge £40 inclusive of part.

Doesn't make much difference to me anyway, I usually have them done in 1 hour.

 

[Martyn]

I charge $150 and eat the price of the part. Most shops in town charge at least $135 plus the part. I charge a little more because I hate DC Jack repairs and honestly don't care if it goes somewhere else.

Pretty much my thinking. I used to charge £75 but put it up to £85.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

We do $85 flat fee repair on anything hardware for Laptops -- plus parts, DC jacks are pretty much always $100 - $120.
Also, and this may just be me, but because you are at $25/hr people usually expet a low bill -- we are at $50/hr bench and $75 onsite so no one is expecting a $25 repair.
Also pre-quote at least the labor, if you told them it will be $75 labor and whatever our parts cost then they know.

From the sounds of it I should probably advertise laptop repair more.... never realized so many people/shops dislike it so much! Laptops to us are a piece of cake compared to cell phones and tablets esp.

 

[compnet]

To be honest its probably your low rate like sprinter tech says. If you charge a super low hourly rate you are going to attract cheap people. Then when you hit them with 3 hours, which is too high by the way, they are going to get mad. Seems kind of like a bait and switch, advertise low prices and then find ways to inflate it.

I don't tell people the amount of hours it will take to do something, we have flat rates per job. Do you charge $3.50 labor for screen replacements?

Any laptop out there I can tear down to the board, replace the dc jack(solder or wire), and reassemble in less than an hour. Compaq presario cq series are probably 20-30 minutes. Ya when I started out it took longer, but I didn't charge people extra for my training.


In the end, charge more or charge flat rates in shop. Learn to get a %99 diagnosis without a tear down, or charge a higher tear down diagnosis fee.

 

[kwest]

I charge 125 for the dc jack replacement and 50 for power supply.

 

[carrcomp]

125$ for DC jack replacement is my rate. Flat rate every time.