Repairs that don’t fix your laptop and charge for the privilege

That doesn’t sound very positive to me :(. Being charged £40 just to drag a favourite site to your Bookmarks bar, and to replace a driver, that should have costed no more than £5, or £10 at the most, a total of 10 minutes work. £40 in my company is a full two hours labour charge!!

I rather think the £40-00 was a charge for ‘Knowing How’ to sort it rather than any actual ‘Physical work on his machine.

Rather like going to a Solicitors for advice, where, similarly you are charged for his knowledge of the Law and all its ramifications, before engaging him to represent you in court. (Some do give free impartial advice, but they are few and far between.)

Of course, you can got to a Citizens Advice Bureau as regards to advice on some legal matters, but, the repair of ones PC is a somewhat different kettle of fish.

£40-00 is relatively cheap compared to most of the charges I have seen incurred by various friends, until they discovered I could remedy most of their ills.

Sounds to me like you’re trying to cover up for PC World here.

The article is about extortionate charges and poor workmanship.

Mark had it done, yes, but at a ridiculous price. Typical PC World and their KnowHow (or Not KnowHow) scam.

People don’t know any better, they see this conglomerate eyesore’s stores all over the place, and instead of doing research for a friendlier cheaper more experienced and professional independent guy, like me and my shop, they go to those morons.

The phrase “Fools and their money are easily parted” comes to mind.

I’ll drink to that!

Pareto was right, 80% are thick, the remaining 20% have the nous!

@ Wavechange: Don’t tell me to “let it rest” sunshine, it’s a free world, and you don’t own this forum. Encouraging people to try their own repairs is RECKLESS, and EXACTLY the reason I get people bringing Xboxes and laptops to me that they’ve tried fixing themselves (or had a “whizz kid neighbour” do it) with a heatgun or soldering iron, and made the problem worse, increasing the cost of the repair, that’s if they haven’t written it off with the damage!! You should always consult a qualified engineer if in doubt, that’s why guys like me exist, we’re qualified and experienced to do the job.

If you actually knew what you were doing, instead of being a bedroom enthusiast, you’d understand where I’m coming from, but you don’t so it’s pointless me explaining. Look where DIY gets most uneducated people, a trip to A+E.

Sorry Patrick, it’s just ignorant amateurs really make my blood boil! Electricity KILLS, so to go telling untrained people to fix it themselves is downright stupid. Do you see your average Joe climbing a 33,000V AC electricity pylon? No! Wonder why, hmmm? It doesn’t matter if it’s 110v, 240v, or 33,000v, it still kills. Even the innocent looking 19v from a laptop power brick can kill if a fault develops.

You need to understand and be experienced in the architecture of machinery, and electronics, before touching anything electrical, whether either a laptop, circuit board, or high voltage mains, to be able to efficiently repair it. If everyone was able to fix their own devices, there wouldn’t be thousands upon thousands of specialist companies, like me (not including corner shop amateurs that pop up like flies round poo) who fix appliances, computers, and cars, would there?

How would you feel if you told your best friend to fix his own high voltage plasma TV, and he got taken away in a coffin? Think on before you advise people.

Indeed, it is not difficult to go ahead and fix dangerous problems, but you need a logical mind, and to research fully. A few people are not exactly a full penny, so don’t have the capacity to perform such tasks. You need to gauge this before suggesting self repair, as some people are more a danger to themselves! You sound like you’re much older than me, so I apologize for not respecting my elders. I’m only 27, but am very passionate in what I do, hence the reason I spent so much time and money getting qualified in what I love.

In my life the only thing above machinery that gives me a purpose in life is my lovely girlfriend, and below her my dear friends. This is my end to this conversation, frankly I’ve had enough. I can’t change the repair industry, wish I could. Too many people get ripped of by “done one can do them all” people. My customers call me Superman of computers as I’m so quick and efficient, but I wish I REALLY was Superman, else I really would change the industry 🙂

So you’re telling us you’re an engineer, and you didn’t have backups? Everyone should know to take critical backups of data before sending a PC in for repair, especially to PC World, they couldn’t give a damn about customer data, they’ll just say your hard drive is knackered and format the thing. Even better don’t take it to them.

Gary Glitter forgot to wipe his hard drive before taking it in to PC World, look where that got him! It revealed his secret life to the world, and rightly so!

Just a few days ago I recovered data from a customer’s external HDD that PCW had accidentally formatted, just lucky they did a quick format, the data was still there, just the file table had been wiped!