Yeah, no. You paid $80 for it and the only specifications you looked for was “has Windows 7”? And yes, computer repair shops need to charge more than the cost of parts. drachillix speaks the truth for anyone who has fixed computer issues and charged for it (as employee or freelance) – a decent amount of people will blame YOU for every single fucking thing that pops up for the next ever. Either you didn’t fix it like you said you did or you obviously fucked something else up when you resolved the original issue!!!11 :rolleyes:
But more importantly, I gotta ask you:
I’m not really getting this simile. IME, the limpness of a dick isn’t correlated to - or dependent upon - the morning’s humidity. Soooo… Am I just missing something?
I understand the concept of caveat emptor, really I do. I bought a second hand computer off a trade-site and was under no illusions that it was going to be brilliant.
My issue was with the retail repair shop. As I mentioned in the OP, I’d been listening to ads all morning for a company that a) don’t charge for quotes, and b) would come to ME to fix the computer. I thought I’d do the right thing by looking up a local company, and take my computer to them.
I don’t have any problems with paying for the repairs. Fuck me dead, why would I take the box there if I didn’t want to PAY for it?? Are you all fucking morons??
What pissed me off was the quick turnaround when I took issue with the charges. I had already passed over my credit card to pay for the diagnostics. They wouldn’t have been out of pocket had I just told them to dump it…but they quickly backed down and offered me a cheaper charge.
Why the hell didn’t they just do that in the first place? Because as it stands now, all I can see is that they tried to fleece me (as a middle-aged technologically-challenged woman) out of over a hundred bucks.
I may be middle-aged…I may be challenged in the tech stuff…but I’m not fucking stupid.
How is this any different than any other financial negotiation? I offer you a good or service for $X. You think $X is too high, and start walking, so I make you a new offer for $Y, where Y is less than X. Sounds like pretty standard negotiating procedure, to me.
It’s not standard for me, I’m used to fixed prices. In fact most of the people/companies whose services I use have published prices and the repair shop which just fixed my laptop gave me a list of quotes for possible diagnostics and repairs before I left it there; the full list was posted on the wall. I don’t know how is it in Australia, though.
But that assumes that the customer knows that the original price is too high! The only reason I complained is that the computer itself was tres cheap in the first place. If I’d previously paid $2000 for my computer, why would I think that their quoted price too high?
In Australia, we ‘assume’ the price quoted is a reasonable one. Alas, too often, we’re given prices that are far beyond what is reasonable.
I wouldn’t expect the computer shop to quote me the platinum service repair price and be negotiated down from there, particularly on an older machine (although, seriously people, Windows 7 is less than 5 years old, and was only superseded in 2012 - this is not an XP machine, and I know plenty of people still persisting with those).
Standard form is they give you choices if there are choices to be made, like “We can add 2GB of name brand RAM for xty dollars, or generic brand for something less. A full virus and spyware scan will run you umpty dollars, or we can wipe it clean and do a complete Windows reinstall”.
I’d be as shocked as Kam to have a computer shop say the work would cost one amount and then instantly drop their price when that was too high UNLESS they explained what they were going to substitute/leave out to get it down. If they said “Since you’re clearly on a tight budget we could probably find some secondhand RAM out the back and that would only cost a smaller amount, and we could do this instead of that which would be a less labour intensive and therefore cheaper job. Might not get all the bugs because it isn’t as thorough, but if cost is an issue it’s an option.”
I work for a dealership service department, if you think I don’t know whats involved in pricing repairs for complicated equipment and then communicating with the customer then you would be quite wrong.
People keep asking why she bought a crappy computer in the first place when that is really quite irrelevant, the only important facts are the repairs needed and the price quoted.
The computer needed X repairs and the company immediately quoted a price that is probably double the market value of those repairs. How do we know it was double? Because no company immediately discounts to that extent unless it still is left with a profitable margin. It was clearly just price gouging and an attempt to take advantage of perceived ignorance in the value of computer repairs.
Its like a lady coming into my workshop with a 60 year old car that has faulty brake pads. I could profitably change them for €100, but instead quote her €1000 to do the job. If I get the money then great but I wouldn’t kid myself that it wasn’t an unscrupulous act that could hurt my companies reputation should an informed person hear about it.
If I was to quote €1000 and then immediately drop the price to €500 at the first raised eyebrow then I will have clearly tipped my hand and cannot be surprised at the customer walking away thinking “what a fucking chancer, I’m not coming back here again”.
The company in the OP could have advised not to repair the computer, to replace it instead, or they could have quoted a fair price. Instead, they elected to give the customer zero advice and instead tried to charge an extortionate amount of money for repairs that were not worth carrying out in the first place, at any price. They deserve any disdain the OP has.
It may be a cultural thing, but over here we like to think that we are negotiating in good faith. I’d walk away from even a good deal if I felt the seller was abusing my trust.
The seller in this case made it very, very clear that they had not negotiated in good faith.
For what it’s worth, seconded, thirded, and fourth…ded. Crystal clear rant. I’m rather baffled by the extent of the misunderstandings in this thread, tbh.
First of all, Fuck You for implying that the first quote is ‘padded’ or dishonest. The first quote assumes work that uses direct manufacturer parts, does more inspections and tests and is designed. The second quote will probably use generic brand parts and have fewer tests run. However while this cuts back on costs it does mean that other issues can crop up in the long run.
Some customers don’t like to think long term and prefer to be penny-wise pound foolish. Some just need said product functional to get them through the project coming up next month and afterwards they are going to replace it. We give them that option. Some customers simply don’t want to hear the details of what is needs replacement, testing and repair and only hear the pricing.
The reason I don’t give lists of things wrong with the product like a car repair place is because it is not a car. Furthermore, while I could mock up a 3rd or even 4th choice to the listings I’ve found it is not in either of our interests to do so unless the customer desperately seek such a choice. Otherwise analysis paralysis rules the day.
The irony is that for my work sometimes the margins are better on the cheaper options. Don’t know how it is in the computer world.
The OP makes no mention of any part of the conversation and merely states that the price magically went down. The lack of detail makes this rant empty - the repair place may very well have given a full listing of what both prices entailed but in their mind all they thought was ‘price magically went down!!!’
Holy Cow, you work from home, with an $80 PC? Damn! Times must really be desperate.
The $44 upfront service charge I’ve got no problem with.
However, charging $384 is a bit weird – two things are at play here, the shop tried to pull a fast one on you or you’re a complete and utter moronic idiot who should not even be close to a computer in the first place and didn’t listen correctly to what the PC repair guy said what these costs include.
Both are possible and not mutually exclusive to be present here.
A $ 384 repair usually means, that I’m selling the customer a new PC or completely refurbish their computer, e.g., new mainboard, CPU, Ram, etc
Usually I give several prices and explain how I come to those prices and what the customer get for that. Why prices vary, you ask? Have a look at 2 different CPU’s: i7 vs Celeronand both will fit into the same PC.
Your cheapo $80 PC might not even have a legal license, with what the PC could be reinstalled, HDD damaged, RAM faulty,etc…
You’re only the last person to say this, but do any of you realize that often people need to use “older” computer/software as a job requirement (BTDT and from kam’s rant it’s also her case).
A new computer will not have W7. Should she have been more careful about her purchase? Probably. But I’m remembering that time my team was required to bring Windows XP, we all bought old second-hand computers specifically because of that requirement, and then it turned out that it had to be XP Pro (which you could only obtain legally by pirating it and paying a license post-facto; buying it without a pirated copy was not possible). My opinion is that any employer or long-term client which requires certain specs should provide the equipment, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen.
This is not necessarily true. I just checked Dell’s website. There are many brand-new desktop and notebook systems available with Windows 7. Not the entire product line, mind you. But you can buy a new, warranted system with Windows 7.
Bullshit, I can still sell you a PC with XP or 7 or whatever you must have.
Also there was/is a legal Windows XP pro upgrade. Your company just choose to go down that weird road, doing it ass backwards. Your IT admin just did not know how do it properly from the get go.
With XP there was also a very good VLK license system in place for Schools, business etc available.
You’re also a moron, since the OP clearly stated that she bought the pos because it had Win7 - an upgrade from her obsolete XP PC.
You don’t seem to know that traditional retail markup is 50%. Sure, most businesses don’t discount their prices by 50% when a customer balks. But this is a small local operation and this may just be their business model. They may be desperate for work and willing to take the job at a loss so their employees have something to do. They might just be stupid.
The OP seems to take it on faith that the price is outrageous because it’s more than the cost of a new computer. Well, yeah. Sometimes fixing a car costs more than a new computer, too. They don’t know you just want a computer that works. If they did, they’d presumably have offered to format everything and reinstall Windows.
