I say that because it's a load of laughs dealing with people who come in and ask me for advice and then proceed to tell me that I'm wrong.
I love that so much that I celebrate by banging my head into the door repeatedly.
Chap comes in with a computer that he has put together himself and it will not boot up. I offer to take a look at it for $35 and tell him what's wrong and what it'll take to fix it.
The $35 is a bench fee. That's the cost of us looking at it. If the customer doesn't want us to do the work then they're only out $35. This protects them if I look over a computer and find that it's totally fried (from a lightning strike or some such) and tell them that the repairs are going to be more than a new computer is worth. If they want us to do the work then the $35 is the first hours labor. So if I diagnose a dead mother board and I have to replace it (an hour's job for me if I can get the same motherboard in), it costs only $35 and the cost of the part.
Background behind us lets slog on.
The customer decides not to let me look at it and wants to try what he thinks is wrong with it...bad memory. Why the customer brought the computer into me in the first place if he wanted to try different ram I'll never understand. I shrug since bad ram is one of the things that could cause a computer to not boot up, sell him the ram and send him on his way.
Next day he comes in and he wants to return the ram since it didn't fix the problem. I again offer to check it out for him for $35 and he refuses, actually telling me that "I know what I'm doing" in a rather snotty voice, does a store credit return and pays the difference to try a different CPU. Shrug, send him on his way with new CPU and go on about my life.
Next day here he is wanting a return on the CPU since that didn't fix the problem either. Again I offer to look at it for him. Nope, he wants to try a new power supply. This time he snaps at me and says something along the lines of "I don't need you! I can figure this out myself. I've done this before." I shrug, sell it and send him off on his way.
Now mind you I've taken classes, earned certifications, am A+ certified as well as a Compaq ACT and oh lets not forget that I'm the service manager of the store and oversee three other technicians who answer to me...but what the @#$% do I know?
Next day he's back since the power supply didn't work either. This time I don't offer to look at the computer, I inform him that I am only giving this guy a refund and sending him on his way...or I could look at it and tell him exactly what part he needs to make his computer work. I even inform him that I could likely find out by the end of the day instead of getting a new part each day until he figures it out.
Finally he relents and I grab the computer to put it on the counter. What's this? An odd rattle? I look under the motherboard and lo and behold, there is a little case screw that is bouncing around under the board having a merry old time of wedging itself between the metal contacts on the board and the metal of the case under it.
Pull the sucker out and sure enough it boots up just fine.
Let's re-cap with some number values.
Ram - $100
CPU - $150
Powersupply - $125
Actual cost of getting it fixed the first time - $35
[liquid feminine hygiene product] bag.
Mongo
I love that so much that I celebrate by banging my head into the door repeatedly.
Chap comes in with a computer that he has put together himself and it will not boot up. I offer to take a look at it for $35 and tell him what's wrong and what it'll take to fix it.
The $35 is a bench fee. That's the cost of us looking at it. If the customer doesn't want us to do the work then they're only out $35. This protects them if I look over a computer and find that it's totally fried (from a lightning strike or some such) and tell them that the repairs are going to be more than a new computer is worth. If they want us to do the work then the $35 is the first hours labor. So if I diagnose a dead mother board and I have to replace it (an hour's job for me if I can get the same motherboard in), it costs only $35 and the cost of the part.
Background behind us lets slog on.
The customer decides not to let me look at it and wants to try what he thinks is wrong with it...bad memory. Why the customer brought the computer into me in the first place if he wanted to try different ram I'll never understand. I shrug since bad ram is one of the things that could cause a computer to not boot up, sell him the ram and send him on his way.
Next day he comes in and he wants to return the ram since it didn't fix the problem. I again offer to check it out for him for $35 and he refuses, actually telling me that "I know what I'm doing" in a rather snotty voice, does a store credit return and pays the difference to try a different CPU. Shrug, send him on his way with new CPU and go on about my life.
Next day here he is wanting a return on the CPU since that didn't fix the problem either. Again I offer to look at it for him. Nope, he wants to try a new power supply. This time he snaps at me and says something along the lines of "I don't need you! I can figure this out myself. I've done this before." I shrug, sell it and send him off on his way.
Now mind you I've taken classes, earned certifications, am A+ certified as well as a Compaq ACT and oh lets not forget that I'm the service manager of the store and oversee three other technicians who answer to me...but what the @#$% do I know?
Next day he's back since the power supply didn't work either. This time I don't offer to look at the computer, I inform him that I am only giving this guy a refund and sending him on his way...or I could look at it and tell him exactly what part he needs to make his computer work. I even inform him that I could likely find out by the end of the day instead of getting a new part each day until he figures it out.
Finally he relents and I grab the computer to put it on the counter. What's this? An odd rattle? I look under the motherboard and lo and behold, there is a little case screw that is bouncing around under the board having a merry old time of wedging itself between the metal contacts on the board and the metal of the case under it.
Pull the sucker out and sure enough it boots up just fine.
Let's re-cap with some number values.
Ram - $100
CPU - $150
Powersupply - $125
Actual cost of getting it fixed the first time - $35
[liquid feminine hygiene product] bag.
Mongo
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