Should I charge or should I not??

[Majestic]

Hi,

I have a bit of a dilemma here..

I quoted a client 2 hours (max) to fix his constant fan that goes on and off on his Compaq Presario v2000 laptop. Well I've already worked 3 1/2 hours and after having closed it up the same problem is there. I blasted the heatsink and cleaned the fan with both alcohol and compressed air and while the fan is a bit quieter it's still loud and annoying. His sempron 3000+ mobile chip is running at 60 - 62 Celsius average. The fan seems to go on and off every minute or two. Quite annoying.

Anyway, long story short-- I have not found the solution to this problem. I suspect -perhaps- it's the fan assembly that needs to be replaced, but I could be wrong. Also, he is running Windows XP with 384 megs of ram which I believe might cause an issue (if it keeps going to the hard drive for ram then the fan starts going..).

So seeing as I did not solve his issue BUT I put in 3 1/2 hours into his laptop I'm not sure how to go about this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Majestic

 

[doortodoorgeek]

lesson learned

i say eat the time and take it as a lessoned learned

 

[seedubya]

I'd have to say the same as doortodoorgeek. It's a real bitch when stuff like this happens. What you could do at this stage is order the fan for it (if it's not too expensive) and fit it. Then charge him for 2 hours + parts. Then it's not a complete loss.

 

[gunslinger]

I agree with both of the above statements. But I have a no fix no fee policy.

 

[Rider]

I agree, if you quoted 2 hours I think your bound by that.

 

[RyanMeray]

It depends on how you go about providing estimates. I always tell clients a range, say "2 to 3 hours," and then don't feel so bad when it turns out a hair longer than 3 hours. I also don't have any qualms about charging for that extra 15 to 30 minutes over my worst case in situations where I went well beyond the 3 hour mark.

 

[MrMille]

A quick google would suggest that the machine has been subjected to a bit of a drop or 'squeeze' which results in a tiny amount of interference between the fan and the laptop. Something to do with a thin vent and flimsy plastic...

While de-energised, stick something in there, and see if the fan moves easily, if not, then you know it's a physical interference issue.

Did you replace the thermal paste? Do a BIOS update too.

Hope that helps. Pain in the butt when you work and have to eat time.

 

[JRDtechnet]

Is the fan grinding like its bad or just load like its going to 100% to exhaust the heat?

When you cleaned the heatsink (I'm assuming heat pipe right?) did you take it out of the laptop and clean it? If not do that since its common for the fins to be absolutely caked with a THICK layer of dust which will trap the heat and make the fan run more often. Also download and install the newest bios update for that model. There may have been a fix for the fan control somewhere in one of the revisions.

Oh and no I wouldn't charge them unless it turns out to be a bad fan and then only charge for the part.

 

[Majestic]

It depends on how you go about providing estimates. I always tell clients a range, say "2 to 3 hours," and then don't feel so bad when it turns out a hair longer than 3 hours. I also don't have any qualms about charging for that extra 15 to 30 minutes over my worst case in situations where I went well beyond the 3 hour mark.

I topped it at 2 hours. That's lack of experience with time and laptops for you. I'll definitely not make this mistake in the future.

 

[Majestic]

Is the fan grinding like its bad or just load like its going to 100% to exhaust the heat?

When you cleaned the heatsink (I'm assuming heat pipe right?) did you take it out of the laptop and clean it? If not do that since its common for the fins to be absolutely caked with a THICK layer of dust which will trap the heat and make the fan run more often. Also download and install the newest bios update for that model. There may have been a fix for the fan control somewhere in one of the revisions.

Oh and no I wouldn't charge them unless it turns out to be a bad fan and then only charge for the part.

I took the heatpipe out of the laptop and cleaned it, yes. I did the same fort he fan. Although now that you mention it I did not put the newest bios on there, I'll give that a try. The fins were not caked with a thick layer of dust but it had a bit. I also pushed down on the fan to make sure it hadn't popped a bit out of place so to not make close contact.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[seedubya]

and then only charge for the part.

Why would he do that? Assuming the replacement works then he's fixed the problem so why would he not charge for his time?

 

[Pc Fixed Right]

Charge for what you originally quoted. Once the customer is happy they will keep coming back to you and you only as well as recommend you to friends, family etc. If they get a sour taste in their mouth you will lose future potential customers as well as this one.

 

[Majestic]

Forgot to mention that I did put thermal paste on the chip and that the fan kind of goes ON for about 20 seconds) then off and inbetween that could last anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Seeing as I cleaned both the fan and the heatpipe it puzzles me.

It has a thermal "shield" I guess on there and there was no thermal paste on the cpu originally. I figured it'd help....

Majestic

 

[JRDtechnet]

Why would he do that? Assuming the replacement works then he's fixed the problem so why would he not charge for his time?

Huh? He shouldn't charge for a new fan if needed? Unless I'm misunderstanding he didn't get a new fan but cleaned the original one.

 

[seedubya]

The way I read what you were saying was "he should replace the fan and ONLY charge for the part", perhaps I mistook you?

 

[JRDtechnet]

The way I read what you were saying was "he should replace the fan and ONLY charge for the part", perhaps I mistook you?

No, you got it. After working and charging the guy 3.5 hours and it needs a replacement part like a fan I wouldn't go back and charge him another hour on top of that plus the cost of the fan. I would go back and just charge him for the fan and eat the time spent doing the install.

 

[14049752]

This is why we charge a flat rate for in shop work. I know the topic has been hashed and rehashed, but I really think setting a flat rate ends up working best for you and your customer for shop repairs.

The way we do it is like this: We charge $XXX for diagnostic AND repair. All labor to repair the system is covered, the fee is taken up front. We only charge extra for some special services, such as data recovery (not backup..recovery!). All hardware labor, software repairs, data backup/restoration if a format is needed, etc are all covered. We'll install any software provided by the customer, within reason. Parts are additional.
I'll sometimes make an exception to do a diagnostic only for half price, but it's just that: an exception.
Most systems are finished fairly quickly, without any major trouble. Others may take some time and may have me pulling my hair out. I don't have to worry about keeping track of how long each system takes or what to bill.

On-site is billed hourly, and we have a few "install/upgrade" type services....but every shop repair is the same labor charge and gets a complete diagnosis before it leaves us.

 

[seedubya]

@jrdtechnet - OK now I get it. I'm suggesting that in total he would only charge 2 hours (what he quoted) + parts. I didn't think anyone had suggested that he charge for 3.5 hours. That would be v. bad mojo.

 

[Majestic]

well Thanks for all the input. Gives me food for thought should I come across this another time. In the meantime I'm updating the bios and then if that doesn't work I'll pitch a new fan to the client. I'll be charging 2 hours + parts.

Thanks for the all the help..

Majestic

 

[mnoakes]

SpeedFan

Hi, I know this is a bit of time down the road after you have probably handed the laptop back.

Did you try some FAN controlling software eg Speedfan

Did the bios in the laptop have any fan control / overclocking settings.

Just food for thought?