Ok, Many of you know that among other things, we do a bit of mystery shopping.
Sometimes, though, when I am just shopping and not 'working' I really wish that I had been mystery shopping at the time.
Recently I had occasian to visit Southgate Computers on Eyreka Road in Southgate Michigan.
We are a multi computer household, and from time to time, one of our computers develops issues.
Now, I can fix quite a few things on my own, but every once in a while I get in over my head.
We were looking for someone we could go to ewhen that happened. When I was in over my head and just needed a little bit of help. Someone I could pay a fair price for fair work, knowing that I would be treated fairly. Preferrable a l;ocal company, rather than one of the big chain stores. I really like to keep my money in the community if I can.
Computers and cars are two areas that are ripe for shams and scams. So many of us have them, we have come to depend on them, yet we are somewhat powerless when something goes wrong with one. We are at the mercy of the repair guy. Well, I hoped that I had found a company that I could trust.
My interaction with Southgate Computers began a couple months back, when I took in a laptop. A friend had soldered the power connector, but something still wasn't quite right. The employee looked at it, wiggled a few things and told me that the computer didn't need repaired, it just needed a new cord. She pulled one out, plugged it in and voila! It worked like a charm.
She could have told me it needed a new joghnson grommet in the psRI port module, and I would have believed her. I was prepared to spend up to about $150 to get that machine working, and I walked out the door with a $40 cord and a working laptop.
I was thrilled. Finally, I thought. A company that isn't going to try to cheat me.
Alas, I was sadly mistaken.
Last week our desktop started bogging down and overheating, so I opened it up to clean it. As I suspected it not only had dust bunnies, but entire colonies of dust rabbits, seemingly reproducing like rabbits do. In my zeal to clean out all the little fuzzy culprits, I unplugged the Processor chip by accident when removing the heat sink that sits on top of it.
For those who don't know, this is a small flat piece of silicon, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 small pins on the back, each with their corresponding hole in the motherboard, or main circuit board of the computer.
Steady hands were never my forte, that's why I didn't pursue a career in electronics, despite my interest, and why I'm probably never going to be a optical surgeon. So replacing the chip proved to be a task that was a bit overwhelming to me. No matter how hard I tried, not all 350 pins would line up with their holes at the same time.
Finally in disgust, I took the computer to Southgate Computers to see what they would charge to put the processor back in for me.
The guy at the counter gave me his best used car salesman smirk and said, "Well, you'll have to pay for a diagnosis, that's $65, but the cost applies toward any repair, and if it can't be fixed, it applies to the purchase of a new or used system."
Yeah, OK, I didn't need a diagnosis, I knew what the problem was, the processor was in my hand and not in the motherboard where it belonged, but... whatever.
Did I mention that they made me pay in advance?
I got a call a few days later from the tech at Southgate Computers.
It went something like this:
HIM--"I checked out your computer and there are a bunch of blown capacitors on your motherboard, it's really in bad shape. I wouldn't put any more money into this computer.
ME-- "Those capacitors aren't keeping the system from working though are they?"
HIM-- They probably will. I can't see how the system would work like this. It's basically shot. We can set you up with a used system if you want to come in and talk to us"
ME-- "I don't want to replace it, I have too much on that hard drive that I don't want to lose. Is there any way you can fix it?"
HIM -- Well, we can remove the hard drive and sell you an enclosure for it, so you have an external hard drive for your new machine with all your data. That would be your best bet. Frankly, I'm not even sure if I could have put the processor back in that unit, one of the pins is bent."
ME-- "wait a minute, you haven't put the processor back in yet? That was my entire reason for bringing it in to you."
HIN -- No, I wanted to wait and see what you wanted to do.
ME -- "What I want to do is have you put my computer back together. The mother board was working just fine when I brought it in, so if there are damaged components that must have happened at your shop, but I'm more interested in how you managed to run any kind of diagnosis without putting the processor back in. The unit won't even power on without that"
HIM -- "Well, I can try to put it back in, if I can straighten the pin, but it probably won't work."
ME -- Ok, just do your best and when I get back into town, I'll come over and we can talk about my options.
I picked up my computer today, the processor had been reinstalled, the computer works fine, and I am using it to write this rant.
I am $65 poorer, and learned a valuable lesson.
The next computer issue I have I don't know where I will go, but I know where I won't go.
