Getting blamed for a problem you didn't cause

[PC-MOT]

I posted a while ago after I did a DC jack, and got a call a day later saying 'i've now got no sound'

It turns out that the whole wiring strap was missing (obviously before I got to it!) so I looked on ebay and found one for £5.

On this occasion I just ordered it and fitted it, simply because I KNEW the family had about 6 laptops in total. And sure enough they were grateful and gave me more work, ive just added the cost to the next few they have given me (and im sure they didnt realise that they hadnt had music and were just confusing it with one of the other laptops that DID have working speakers)

It depends on how yopu value them as customers ( i.e. do thik you will get more work...??)

 

[RockIT Man]

I dont go as far as taking photos of the machines or doing a full hardware inventory, but can see the sense in doing this.

I'll take pictures on occasion. For instance, I had a customer that wanted me to remove malware from their laptop. The laptop had a crack in the bottom left of the screen. I made sure to address the cracked screen before taking the computer. The customer didn't want me to replace the screen. They just wanted the malware gone. Once I got it to my workshop I took a few pictures just to be safe.

 

[RedFoxComp]

I'll take pictures on occasion. For instance, I had a customer that wanted me to remove malware from their laptop. The laptop had a crack in the bottom left of the screen. I made sure to address the cracked screen before taking the computer. The customer didn't want me to replace the screen. They just wanted the malware gone. Once I got it to my workshop I took a few pictures just to be safe.

I had a guy spill soup on his laptop and was insistant that he wanted JUST the keyboard replaced. When I pulled the keyboard off it was obvious the soup had leaked into the system. I called and recommended a full cleaning and he declined based on the fact that he "flipped it upside down right away and then let it dry and besides it's working now". I explained that liquids, especially something like soup, contain minerals that will corrode the components and cause them to fail. He snorted and told me to just put the keyboard in, so I took pictures of the soup stains under the keyboard and indicated that he had declined a full cleaning against recommendations.

When his laptop dies in a few months he'll be kicking himself. It was about a year old too... I don't understand some people.

 

[coffee]

Its threads like these that help you hone your skills as a tech/owner. Love it. Here is my latest which I think is pretty unbelieveable.

Have a service call recently with a man that complains that 2 months after replacing the motherboard in his laptop it will not power on. Records indicate we did the service about 1.5 years ago! I asked him onsite why he is complaining only now and told me that his son has been using it and didnt bother to tell him until recently. WHen it quit booting up the son just set it aside and used another I guess. So, Wanted free service and the MB replaced again!

I told him: NO.

Normally when I service equipment I do a full virus scan and also a cleaning. I try and check everything out as best I can. But there are always those looking to scam you. The hard part is trying to seperate those that are trying to scam you and those that simply are misguilded.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Take care,

coffee

 

[MobileTechie]

As a rule I just say no to these. I'm not sure if that's the best business approach or not. I'm sure there are some customers out there cursing me and blaming me for their problems. But I'm not doing free work unless it's my fault, in which case I'm happy to do it.

I've had it the other way around - I fixed some networking problems on a laptop and then got a call saying that it no longer powered up. Clearly no s/w changes I made could possibly be responsible for a power issue. I said I was happy to look at it and they said "but would that cost us £x?" and of course I had to reply "yes, it's an entirely unrelated problem".

 

[PCX]

For 16K,

I am not going to go into the whole process that I use or even the utilities or programs that I use, but basically my process goes like this.

1. Customer drops off computer and pays a diagnostics fee upfront.
2. Immediately, a tech pulls the drive out and runs a diagnostics on the hard drive on one of our dedicated machines (running linux) that we use for diagnostics, virus scans, cloning, data recovery, backup, etc. We do a short diagnostics first (also check for bad sectors) and then we run an extended if needed. Obviously, if it fails with a read error or with tons of bad sectors on the short scan, then we do not need to run an extended scan. Also, if the computer is time consuming to take apart, then we run the test on that same computer and then we move on to the next test. This does set us back about 2 to 4 hours, but it saves in actual handling time.
3. While the hard drive is being tested (if we were able to pull the drive out easily; 98% of the time), we put the computer on a diagnostics bench for a memtest86+ test.
4. Once both of those are done, we run a diagnostics on the motherboard.
5. After documenting all that we find, we either contact the customer or troubleshoot the problem depending on whether or not it is hardware or software related.

A full diagnostics will take about a full work day or more depending on the issue. Also, it is important to have the ability to show your customer the actual diagnostics print out and explain to them where each piece of hardware failed.

 

[cyabro]

For 16K,

I am not going to go into the whole process that I use or even the utilities or programs that I use, but basically my process goes like this.

1. Customer drops off computer and pays a diagnostics fee upfront.
2. Immediately, a tech pulls the drive out and runs a diagnostics on the hard drive on one of our dedicated machines (running linux) that we use for diagnostics, virus scans, cloning, data recovery, backup, etc. We do a short diagnostics first (also check for bad sectors) and then we run an extended if needed. Obviously, if it fails with a read error or with tons of bad sectors on the short scan, then we do not need to run an extended scan. Also, if the computer is time consuming to take apart, then we run the test on that same computer and then we move on to the next test. This does set us back about 2 to 4 hours, but it saves in actual handling time.
3. While the hard drive is being tested (if we were able to pull the drive out easily; 98% of the time), we put the computer on a diagnostics bench for a memtest86+ test.
4. Once both of those are done, we run a diagnostics on the motherboard.
5. After documenting all that we find, we either contact the customer or troubleshoot the problem depending on whether or not it is hardware or software related.

A full diagnostics will take about a full work day or more depending on the issue. Also, it is important to have the ability to show your customer the actual diagnostics print out and explain to them where each piece of hardware failed.

What do you use to run diagnostic on the motherboard?

 

[PCX]

Sorry, for the simple fact that my competitors could be reading this, I would rather not say. I will say that it is not cheap and that NASA and Google uses the same diagnostics.

You are more than welcome to PM me.