I got ripped.

[bazooka]

My wife brought home a co-workers workstation.


It was a Pentium 2 233 Mz Compaq workstation.

The lady wanted me to troubleshoot and tell her what was wrong.

The scsi hard drive went kerplunk while I was troubleshooting.

I called her and told her that she needed another hard drive and a stick of ram.

I also told her how much money she was looking at spending and that I could build her a new pc for pretty much the same amount of money.

She said she would think about it and let me know.

While she was thinking, her computer was completely unusable.

She said she wanted it back, and I tried once again to tell her it was unuseable.

She doesn't understand that parts do wear out and that the computer was working but poorly when I got it.

I told her I threw the defective drive away after I talked to her about it, and she was very rude and hostile.

She told me I was to troubleshoot and let her know what was wrong.

I told her in the middle of troubleshooting that the hard drive was ruined, and that I replaced the drive with an Ide drive of the same size.

She said she was not going to pay me and that I destroyed her computer, which was untrue.

I installed win2k sp2 on the drive and that was it. I did not even install an antivirus program on it, so I hope she catches a million viruses.

I did a ton of work and wasted my time and got nothing out of it.

She was telling her co-workers that I destroyed her computer, and now my business reputation is ruined.

[BJ_M]

you shouldn't have thrown the scsi drive away-- other than that .... it is a nasty world out there ....

hope you charged her for win Xp -- but didnt register it - so it time bombs in 30 days

[Hardcoreruss]

Kick her in the head

[bazooka]

I had thoughts of either putting Windows M.E on it, or have her fight with Linux.

[tekkieman]

The lady wanted me to troubleshoot and tell her what was wrong.

Maybe that's all you should have done. Doing any more without consent gives the customer too many options.

[bazooka]

The lady wanted me to troubleshoot and tell her what was wrong.

Maybe that's all you should have done. Doing any more without consent gives the customer too many options.

That was all that I did at first. I cleaned the tower out and it could still use more cleaning.

It gives filthy a new meaning.

[Capmaster]

That'll teach you to try and help someone out zook. She could have been a little more understanding when you replaced the HD ...figuring you knew what you were doing.

Normally you'd be advised to consult the customer at every step of the way to avoid confusion and misunderstanding, but you figure if she's your wife's coworker, that she would be happy to get the free diagnostic and thank you for fixing it gratis. But with people ...you never know who's going to try and screw you.

I'll bet you won't be so quick to help out next time. It's a shame that generosity is rewarded with a slap in the face like that :P

[bazooka]

She is stuck with a 640x480 resolution and 16 colors.

She will get tired of that real quick.

Maybe next time she will understand.

[yoda313]

She is stuck with a 640x480 resolution and 16 colors.

She will get tired of that real quick.

Maybe next time she will understand.

Hello,

ooh.... nasty

You should have stuck her with ME

(or put mac osx on it!!! (I know that's probably not possible )

Kevin

[Dr. DOS]

That is a great story of why I cringe at helping family and friends with their machines. As soon as you pop the case thing can get broken (of old age or a fat hand) and your fucked because of it.

[Capmaster]

There are many ways to screw over her PC before you give it back:

1) Dribble a few drops of vinegar on the motherboard. In about 2 weeks she'll probably have opens where the copper got etched.

2) With the PC cold, wiggle her HD 12V red wire back and forth until it opens. Then jam it into a hole in the heatsink of the CPU where the intermittent is located on the wire, so it makes tenuous contact. It gets hot ...it opens Cool it down and it works again. That'll keep her returning it for service many times

3) Take a 12 gauge stranded copper wire and strip the insulation. Cut off 1/2" long sections. Keep doing that until you have about a small handful of copper whiskers. Then shove those in the floppy, inside the CD, between the CPU and the board, inside the power supply, everywhere you can think. Then wait for the update from your wife after she gets it home

[offline]

Common problem. Used to see it all the time when
I was doing IT services. Don't do any unauthorised work, don't promise to maintain data, customer must make a taped/or signed recording authorising work over $100, make a
notice that all items not picked up in 60 days will
be sold to recover costs, notice that all parts supplied
are owned by you until invoice paid in full.
Also get SOHO insurance and mobile insurance.
Always state up front a minimum charge as often
finding the problem means fixing it.

I would not have thown out the defective drive. That's
a no no

[enstg8er]

you better not bring your pc to me for help...

[enstg8er]

and sadly, a lesson in life- any time you do someone a fovor, they are the ones most likely to screw you.

[smearbrick1]

This is a simple case of "Do exactly what the customer wants." Anything above and beyond that results in a negative outcome will get you nothing but headaches. The real bitch of these situations is that if you would've done something that fixed her computer without asking, she wouldn't have had a problem with it.

Still, I can see why she would irritated. No need for her to attempt to ruin your reputation.

[Capmaster]

you better not bring your pc to me for help...

I've been shat upon by in-laws who want something for nothing ....the latest is getting sucked into transferring my mother-in-law's entire VHS collection to DVD. But I never got outright ripped off by any of them.

[bazooka]

you better not bring your pc to me for help...

I will not work on her pc the next time.

The sad thing is I have repaired tons of my wife's coworkers pc's before with no problems and now because the lady does not understand that parts wear out, she may have ruined my reputation.

[offline]

I was working for a dealer one time when an angry
customer turned up. He was red faced and shouting
at the top of his voice about how we had damaged
his server. Turns out a new fault had developed as
someone at his office had knocked it over and was
too afraid to tell him.

Anyway the sales manager
said in a quiet steady voice "if you don't ******* calm down I'm going to ******* throw you out and then I'm
going to tie your piece of shit computer to my towbar
and I'm going to drive around in circles!"

We all laughed at that image. They guy calmed down
immediately and later sent us a big box of donuts
when we were able to show him how the tower had
been damaged. No idea what happened to that employee though

[bazooka]

That is a funny image.

That got him to calm down real quick.

[offline]

That is a funny image

He was of the NorthCat species - he was making
a promise that he intended to carry out in full.
I even think he was a little disappointed when the
guy suddenly shut up.

We had some fun times at that place

Not to worry, Bazook. The bad taste goes away
after a few hours and by next week you will have
all but forgoten it. Her co-workers most likely already know what type of person she is.

[thayne]

This is why I refuse to work on anyones computer, period. I tell them take it to compusa

[Silvas]

the latest is getting sucked into transferring my mother-in-law's entire VHS collection to DVD.

You too, huh? Fun, isn't it?

[yoda313]

the latest is getting sucked into transferring my mother-in-law's entire VHS collection to DVD.

You too, huh? Fun, isn't it?

Hello,

Depends on WHICH video collection it is doesn't it???

Kevin

[Capmaster]

the latest is getting sucked into transferring my mother-in-law's entire VHS collection to DVD.

You too, huh? Fun, isn't it?

Yes. Especially since my wife finally listened to my bitching about how I just finished transferring our 2,000 VHS movies in 2 years and her mother comes along and volunteers me to do hers .....and she stops prompting my M-I-L for the next bagful, the M-I-L starts sending over the bags with my wife's other sisters and brother without even waiting for my wife to pick them up

I should encode them all in PAL

[glockjs]

Kick her in the head

i second that

[Capmaster]

Oh ...in my post I use the abbreviation "M-I-L". Please don't confuse that with "M I L F"

[bazooka]

Oh ...in my post I use the abbreviation "M-I-L". Please don't confuse that with "M I L F"

Mil = Witch that flew in on a broom

[Capmaster]

Oh ...in my post I use the abbreviation "M-I-L". Please don't confuse that with "M I L F"

Mil = Witch that flew in on a broom

Your turn Russ

[jimmalenko]

I often get badgered/dobbed into fixing friends and family's computers, or buying new ones on their behalf.

New is easy. I use my work's supplier of PCs for parts so I get a pretty reasonable discount off their "to the public" prices, and I simply add $100 to the total for my troubles of building the PC, installing software, delivery and installation in their home. I have found this to work pretty well.

Now fixing is a whole different kettle of fish. Rule number 1 is never buy any parts until you have their money. Not just their verbal OK, but their cash - in your hand or bank account. Rule number 2 is never make guarantees about fixing the problem. Say you'll take a look at it. Swap parts in and out to determine the cause of the problem. Tell them you know what's wrong with it, this is the part they'll need, and this is how much it'll cost. If you are less than 100% sure as to what the problem is, save yourself the hassle and tell them to take it to a computer shop.

[Roundabout]

I've done a lot of "moonlighting" type PC repairs for small businesses in the area, and I always make sure that I tell them a minimum charge up front. I also tell them the maximum they will be charged without further authorization. That usually eliminates any problems later.

One thing you can't do, is throw away their old parts, until they have a chance to see them. When I was at Sony, that was a requirement, not optional. On any unit that is out of warranty, the customer has a right to receive their old parts back, it belongs to them.

On a rare occasion, somehow the old part would get lost before the customer picks up the unit, and if that same customer demanded the old part and we don't have it, they would completely no charge the repair. That would squelch any complaints.

Most of the PC repairs I've done, I'll ask if they want the old HDD or whatever, and so far, they've said "just throw it away". But I give them the option.

Yes, it's bad when the unit dies while in your possession. It's now your word against theirs as to the real working condition when you received it. That's where it would come in handy to have all the standard disclaimers.

If I get more serious about doing these repairs, I'll have to put more thought into having people sign something when I pick up their unit, to protect myself from just such a thing as you have encountered.