What Would You DO? Repair Requires Additional Parts Not Mentioned During Diagnosis

[vr6rafal]

So What Do You Do?

In case of laptop/computer not powering on.

You do your regular diagnosis, (swap parts, test parts in other computer) and end up with a conclusion that motherboard needs replacement.

You get replacement motherboard, install it, laptop powers on, but you notice artifacts all over screen, which can only be bad video card.

Now you have additional parts that need to be replaced.

There's no way to know that the video card was bad when the laptop would not power on!!

What do you do when client is not happy about the additional cost which wasn't mentioned at beginning?

A: Do you force client to pay for video card?

B: Fix what was originally agreed upon and return laptop to client without repairing video card?

C: Put back the original broken motherboard and return laptop back to client unfixed and charge diagnosis charge and loose money on shipping motherboard back and possible restocking fees?

D: Put back the original broken motherboard and return laptop back to client unfixed and charge diagnosis charge + restocking fees + shipping back of unused parts fees.

What would you do, in similar situations?

 

[blackburgpchelp]

Does this laptop have a discrete video card? Most have integrated graphics chips on the system board, which would suggest the replacement system board you received should be RMA'd.

-Rance

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Does this laptop have a discrete video card? Most have integrated graphics chips on the system board, which would suggest the replacement system board you received should be RMA'd.

-Rance

Great point! check into that 1st than get back with us. Other than that when you have a bad MOBO and can't test other components without a working MOBO, sometimes you have to say we weren't able to do a full diagnostic due to it not even powering up, so even with a new MOBO there may be additional problems. I know we are guilty of digging holes for ourselves like this especially just starting out and otherwise, but live and learn.

Personally an out of warranty laptop that needs a MOBO replacement isn't worth the money. So when I run into that situation I try to explain to them they can get a better, faster, newer computer for almost what they are putting into their broken one. If they still want it fixed...

 

[vr6rafal]

dedicated/discrete/plug-in video card not part of motherboard.

 

[JRDtechnet]

If the laptop has a vga port plug in an external to verify that its a bad video card.

 

[vr6rafal]

LOL - Yes I have verified everything and the video card is bad. artifacts all over the screen (both external and internal)

What would you do, in similar situations?

A: Do you force client to pay for video card?

B: Fix what was originally agreed upon and return laptop to client without repairing video card?

C: Put back the original broken motherboard and return laptop back to client unfixed and charge diagnosis charge and loose money on shipping motherboard back and possible restocking fees?

D: Put back the original broken motherboard and return laptop back to client unfixed and charge diagnosis charge + restocking fees + shipping back of unused parts fees.

 

[CPCR]

I usually let clients know that Laptop repairs (hardware) require at least a budget of £100 beforehand, if they are not prepared to pay that then it is not worth the effort, laptop repairs are very different to desktop repairs as the parts can be specific to the model except HDD, DVD, RAM, etc so in many situatuions you can never really tell what is wrong until you actually fix it.

In this case though I would be testing/replacing the inverter after plugging in and external monitor.

-Mark

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I usually let clients know that Laptop repairs (hardware) require at least a budget of £100 beforehand, if they are not prepared to pay that then it is not worth the effort, laptop repairs are very different to desktop repairs as the parts can be specific to the model except HDD, DVD, RAM, etc so in many situatuions you can never really tell what is wrong until you actually fix it.

This is true. Beyond that it is up to the customer. This is why we charge a diag up front to protect the customer and ourselves. That way if the customer decides to scrap it, they are out the diag fee and thats it. If we have to send parts back, restock, whatever, the diag fee washes that out so it is not a total loss except in actual time spent.

LOL - Yes I have verified everything and the video card is bad. artifacts all over the screen (both external and internal)

Every laptop I've ever worked on always had integrated GPU. So while I've never serviced a laptop with an external video card wouldn't that mean artifacts externally = bad board.

 

[Daifne]

Maybe an obvious question, but did you try uninstalling and reinstalling the video drivers?

 

[bagellad]

Well, you can't "force" the customer to buy a video card. It seems to me you can give him the choice of cancelling the repair and paying the included costs or going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if the customer just leaves the machine with you and doesn't pay you. Sounds like the type.

 

[CPCR]

I did have one laptop a while back that had an onboard ATI card, very rare and to be honest not that impressive, a quick search on ebay and I found one, gave the customer the updated price and off it went.

 

[mortaltech]

In our business we have to protect ourselves @ all times. I would suggest that you taylor you workorder so that your customers know that with laptop repair such as this that you may encounter unforseen problems, and that they will be notified of such before you order any addition parts.

 

[MrMille]

A, B, C, or D

 

[vr6rafal]

Actually a lot of high-end "entertainment laptops" have a separate dedicated video card.

Yeah we will be amending our work order to include a clause stating unforeseen problems, but that won't do much if this happens again. The biggest complaint was we did not tell he during our initial diagnosis we only mentioned bad motherboard & bad lcd screen. It makes us look very amateurish and unprofessional.

Our mistake was not making sure that the client was aware of any possible additional parts, probably then the client would not take the chance and we would not be in this situation.

What sucks here is that we're going to take the loss on the parts because the client refused the repair because of cost.

You live you learn, every day we learn something new,
just word of advice to all the techies out there, always make the client aware of everything, even if it costs you the job because it scares the client away, its better off than taking the loss later on!!

 

[ootuoyetahi]

What happens when you bring your car in to the shop? They tell you what is wrong and you decide whether you want to fix it or not. Same guidelines apply here.

 

[seedubya]

vr6rafal, this seems very simple. You messed up, you pay. It's a bitch but what can you do?

 

[hext]

vr6rafal, this seems very simple. You messed up, you pay. It's a bitch but what can you do?

agreed, lesson learned is a lesson earned ....even if it cost you $$ ££