PC Repair is it con?

[cw00]

They are microsoft and cisco certified system engineers which covers all hardware

 

[hitony]

There is a "testimonial" section on there web site, you could leave your thoughts on that, I suppose anyone can leave there personal thoughts on it if they so wish.

 

[Laptop Ell]

They are microsoft and cisco certified system engineers which covers all hardware

This was a simple query and what they did was terrible, but I'm also Microsoft & Cisco certified, but I don't know everything about every product, and nor would they, but that's not relevant in this case.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Well they'll regret that - the touchpad on my laptop has broken, i was considering getting it fixed there, no chance now. Great little bit of marketing for them!

Disgraceful behaviour.

 

[beorhthelm]

I am a grandad ...

if you're like most grandads i know, not frightened of a screwdriver, buy the Haynes Computer Manual. theres not much to DIY PC maintenance.

 

[ChapManiA]

Bens Grandad, did you have to sign a form before you handed over the computer which cleared them of any unrelated malfunction of your system?

 

[bhaexpress]

I normally have my pc repaired by somebody who posts on here but the tray of my DVD Rewriter got broken, granbddaughter fell on it when it was open.
Went to buy another tray from local shop but they said I needed to replace the rewrite complete £35 and they would fit it for free as it only took a minute. I accepted. They phoned to say it was fitted but the pc wouldnt power up after moving and saying that it was working prior to taking it to them they looked into it. Then phoned a hour later saying it was a faulty power unit which they would replace for £29 instead of the usual £49.

The shop said its is a common fault and often happens when you are moving a pc tower. Is it usual for this to happen or are they just using it as an excuse to get a charge for fitting the dvd rewriter and thus make a profitable job out of it.

I hate being conned through ignorance.

I have been fixing PCs for nearly twenty years. The chances of a power supply failing are about as remote as a lottery win. I think it's down to mishandling by the shop. Changing a DVD drive barely involves much more than unplugging the old one and slotting in the new one. I have moved thousands of PCs of all types let along towers and never known a power supply to fail. It is not a common fault.

However, an incompetent 'engineer' is a fairly common problem. Tell them to stuff their charge. Also, it would be one hell of a power supply for £49.

 

[bhaexpress]

They are microsoft and cisco certified system engineers which covers all hardware

Means sod all, do they have their certificates on display ? Anybody can say they have certification. Also, you can get both qualifications from learning from a book. It's the same as learning to drive by from reading about it. I have also worked with more than a few utterly clueless people with these qualifications.

 

[ChapManiA]

What would a PC engineer do if they are repairing a CD drive, then through no fault of their own, the customer's top of the range Inter Core i7 processor costing £400+ stops working?

 

[bhaexpress]

What would a PC engineer do if they are repairing a CD drive, then through no fault of their own, the customer's top of the range Inter Core i7 processor costing £400+ stops working?

And this has happened ?

 

[BensGrandad]

Bens Grandad, did you have to sign a form before you handed over the computer which cleared them of any unrelated malfunction of your system?

The repair form was in duplicate and I signed one and they signed the other as to what was on it I couldnt say as it is too long to stand and read in the shop but yoy are probably right that I sgned away any blame to them.

I was unable to add a testimonial so have completed the form on their contact us posting and must just wait and see if they reply. I will keep people informed of the outcome either way.

 

[readingstockport]

Point out that on average a satisfied customer will tell 3 people of their experience. an unsatisfied one will tell on average 10 and point out that you are a member of one of the busiest football message boards on t'web.

Let them make up their own minds on how many people you will be telling.

 

[BensGrandad]

I have told them that I have posted about it on NSC and they can read the reaction themeselves if they wish. Bearing in mind that they are a local company reliant on local business.

 

[ChapManiA]

And this has happened ?

It's not happened as far as I'm aware, but how would a situation be resolved if an expensive processor died during a repair, but not as a consequence of the repair.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

As remote and unlikely as it might seem to all of us. Is there any shadow of doubt that these people are a rip off? Says me, an amatuer PC fixer who has suffered a power supply failure last year.

I can't see that anyone has asked a couple of simple key questions:
1/ how old was the tower? less than 3 years the PS ought to be fine.
2/ how much use? on all the time or couple of tim,es per week?
3/ had the tower been expanded [additional drives. etc.] that may have put some strain on the PS?

We've all be quick to build the gallows for this company has anyone stopped to consider they may actually be telling the truth?

My motto is: "anything electrical or mechanical reserves the right to stop working whenever it likes" - hurrah for breakdown insurance and guarrentees.

Just an alternate view like .... you may all be spot on, but where is your proof?

 

[Cian]

They are microsoft and cisco certified system engineers which covers all hardware

Neither of those courses cover "all hardware", the Microsoft one covers none at all, and the Cisco one deals solely with Cisco networking kit.

Got the former and half of the latter (CCENT). Utterly useless to have if you're doing PC repair.

 

[beorhthelm]

We've all be quick to build the gallows for this company has anyone stopped to consider they may actually be telling the truth?

My motto is: "anything electrical or mechanical reserves the right to stop working whenever it likes" - hurrah for breakdown insurance and guarrentees.

like the motto. isnt that a law (like Murphy's)?

for me its the excuse that this is common that raises the suspicion. having dealt with hundreds of PCs and servers over 10 years in IT i cant think of a single incident where moving a machine caused a PSU failure. had a few problems with hard drives in transit, and had a few power supplies die either from years of 24/7 use or after power spikes. i carried out two office moves, kit simply stacked into boxes and trollyed around, without a single desktop lost to PSU failure.

we have no prove of anything though. could be the PSU bricked it due to too much power drawn, though i cant see it would draw any more than the previous. free fitting then offering a £49 unit for £29 is too much like old cowboy garage tricks to make you feel like you're being done a favour while being flecced.

 

[clapham_gull]

Also working in IT for years (although not specifically in hardware) I can confirm that's it's very rare for a power supply to go wrong. I'm only seen a couple - one was mine at home years ago and funnily enough I saw one just stop working this year on a Dell.

In my experience the the only bit of hardware on a PC that are notoriously flakey are DVD/CD drives but it isn't a power problem.

( With the work they do, I sort of expect hard drives to f*ck up eventually )

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

The PSU failure I had was intermittant to start with. The [tower] system refused to power up when in the upright position, but when laid on its side was okay - took me about an hour to establish this was the cause of the working / not working. New PSU and all was tickerty-boo.

I agree its rare, but we should also agree it's not impossible.
Maybe Grandad shoud write to rogue traders and see if they can fit them up to prove they are good or bad people.

 

[IKDRF]

Goodness, violence is never the correct option....

This says more about the poster of this comment than the repair shop in question.

much of his posting contains this sort of language. angry young chap.