[Chooriwrocaey]

Yeh i'm just wondering if they have the rights to prosecute him

You would think so, but apparently not. Otherwise you'd think they would have done something by now to get from doing it again.

[thakitt]

Well that's the unfortunate thing about the industry. No geek with exceptional computer skills wants to work for a computer repair shop. It doesn't pay well and so it's not exactly the holy grail of computer jobs. In the end these type of jobs attract those that think they know things about computers, however they have never really been all that proficient. You could tell some of them had an idea roughly where the issue could be however they identified the wrong component at fault.

If the jobs paid well and offered incentives like corporate IT departments, then you'd probably see the quality of store techs improve. Secondly you might only need to hire half as many computer techs as proficient techies identify and fix problems much faster than those that have no idea. So hire 1 good techie at $50,000 instead of two crap ones for $60,000.

[Super-Luser]

Laptop parts can and do cost a bomb, as each motherboard will only fit in that given laptop.

You try getting a motherboard for a 2 or 3 year old laptop without suppliers giving you insane figures for new parts.

That said 250 is still excessive.

£250 is the price of a new laptop....

[thakitt]

Here is something else related giving geeks a bad name.

Desperate perverted geeks! [rofl] http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UlxZxo...eature=related

[BJEugene]

Causes me no end of grief, you try to be honest with someone and they instantly think you're trying to rip them off.

[Voliscietle]

Ugh, the House of Horrors one pisses me off! Even with the bit of redemption during his 'getaway'

I freakin' hate thieves....what a douchebag! I hope he can be prosecuted in some fashion...

[johnsonjunior]

Just to comment on the OP video.

Not always does ram problems present themselves as actual ram problems.

I had a computer in my company that started acting up. When I went to go take a look at it, I was presented with graphical corruption and BSOD's. But the computer was still booting and the graphical corruption was present on the POST screen.

Probably 95% of the Techs out there would have most likely diagnosed this as a graphics card problem with the way the graphical corruption was presenting itself.

But after I changed out the motherboard (graphics were built in), the error was still present. Next, I did check out the ram, and after removing a single chip, the errors vanished. So in the end, it ended up costing $10 to fix. The only explanation I could imagine was that the part of the RAM chip that was bad was being assigned to act as GPU memory.

In the end, I did fix the problem, just took a little longer then expected.

[fruttomma]

Well, comes as no surprise to me, i see this kind of BS all the time. Basically they need to have more stringent criteria for hiring technicians, i dont know how it is in the US, but they generally dont get paid much, so obviously you cant get the guys who actually know whats going on. Clueless technicians give good ones a bad name, which is why the good guys eventually get fed up and leave.

Also i just want to point out, adding a faulty RAM stick, depending on the fault of the RAM they can damage the motherboard, or also cause cold boot issues since the bios needs to be reset, maybe more than once.
Now a good tech will know this, but it can be easy to catch somebody offguard and make them think its both a board+ram failure, ive seen boards refuse to boot several times even once faulty RAM was replaced, and only after lots of fiddling would it POST.
So unless youre quite tenacious its easy to make the mistake thinking the mobo is also dead.

[giftplas]

Blardy #@$@!... dam those ppl... and GeekSquad.. they are pretty famous rite?... shame on them man...[cursing]

Hmmmz.. by think of it.. my uncle works something like GeekSquad in the states.. hopefully hes not one of them...

So, the moral story of this is... u must have at least one good friend (an onion ) or someone in the family..lol which its a geek... ..

Cheers

[Chooriwrocaey]

Blardy #@$@!... dam those ppl... and GeekSquad.. they are pretty famous rite?... shame on them man...[cursing]

Hmmmz.. by think of it.. my uncle works something like GeekSquad in the states.. hopefully hes not one of them...

So, the moral story of this is... u must have at least one good friend (an onion ) or someone in the family..lol which its a geek... ..

Cheers

Seems like the rate of geeks is declining. At least over here in the states.

I almost started working for geek squad a few years back, but turns out I was 1 to many times late to work to get the job. Which pissed me off cause they had all ready given me the job then had to taken it back from me on my last day in the department I was in.

After seeing that **** tho kinda happy I didn't start working for them.

[Savviers]

You just can not trust computer repair shops for the most part.

Case in point, I had gotten a new computer (first one) when i had gotten out of middle school. I took it to comp usa half a dozen times to have serviced under its warranty... after countless back and forth confrontations i decided to rip into the thing myself... bought 2 256 sticks of ram swapped them out and voila... computer was purring like a cat.

When id worked at Circuit City... firedog always tried to tack on pointless apps (spyware defenders norton ect) and usually the customer didn't need these applications. But if you talked to a tech they made them seem absolutely neccisary.

90% of these computer repair agencys make profit by screwing our moms/dads/grandparents over...

and sadly since they dont know any better; they're typically taken in hook line and sinker.

[ReggieRed]

Typical shock horror news story... they tell you which ones got it wrong, but don't tell you the names of the companies that got it right! [rofl]

That guy claiming the HDD needed to be taken to a clean room! Classic! [rofl]

[Lauramalina]

You just can not trust computer repair shops for the most part.

Case in point, I had gotten a new computer (first one) when i had gotten out of middle school. I took it to comp usa half a dozen times to have serviced under its warranty... after countless back and forth confrontations i decided to rip into the thing myself... bought 2 256 sticks of ram swapped them out and voila... computer was purring like a cat.

When id worked at Circuit City... firedog always tried to tack on pointless apps (spyware defenders norton ect) and usually the customer didn't need these applications. But if you talked to a tech they made them seem absolutely neccisary.

90% of these computer repair agencys make profit by screwing our moms/dads/grandparents over...

and sadly since they dont know any better; they're typically taken in hook line and sinker.

Well, our local CompUSA at least had people who knew what they were doing and were only interested in fixing the actual problem myself. (But apparently they actually had some requirements for the job) Compared to the Best Buy that's just down the street, it looks like they've got kids in there who are fresh out of high school who might have only taken a computer tech class, or see it as a hobby at best. And Circuit City, well I don't go there. And neither does too many other people it would seem...

[fruttomma]

Typical shock horror news story... they tell you which ones got it wrong, but don't tell you the names of the companies that got it right! [rofl]

That guy claiming the HDD needed to be taken to a clean room! Classic! [rofl]

lol yeah, "once it gets to the room its already $2000!" LMAO where the hell did that come from ?

[pipitous]

Where I live there are virtually 1 or 2 tech jobs coming up over several years, so getting the kinda job I would enjoy doing as a full time career is an almost no go.
I love fixing PC's and have even done it for several years for friends and other people for very little money.

I tried over several years to establish a part time business fixing PC's, from my home, with a small callout fee within a certain radius of my house too, say 15-20 miles or so, charging £10-£15 an hour, mainly cos I love the work so much and consider it more of a hobbie and it also keeps my "hand in" and my head clued up etc.

I've seen local PC repair guys come and go, mainly because their prices were over inflated and they were only in it to try and get rich quick, where as I was hoping to build up a solid reputation over several years and let word of mouth spread my low prices and good customer satisfaction around.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to PC repair and will always try to charge what I think is a fair price for any work I do, without going crazy.

Like, if I'm working on someone's PC, and the owner maybe elderly and not particularely well off, or maybe even on a pension etc, then I might keep prices down but without cutting corners, If I've worked on their PC for maybe 5-6 hours cleaning out a really nasty virus or spyware infection and they have data that needs saving then I might feel bad at charging them £80+ or whatever and might only charge them £50 or even £40, it depends on the situation, We all have grandparents or elderly relatives we wouldn't want to see ripped off, maybe losing a large chunk of savings to fix some out of date PC.

That said, I'm not gonna rip off people, that can afford to be ripped off either.

But all this being said, the major problem is that your average "joe public", is expecting to have to pay £30+ an hour for PC repair in their homes and if you charge them less, they either think your less qualified than some sales monkey in PC world or they think their somehow losing out in the quality of the work your doing.

So unless you actually have a shop, where you can return the PC to work on or people can take it in to be repaired, then people can give you some very funny looks when you charge them less for 5 hours work than most over techs would charge for 1 hour.

Thats why I stopped doing it 2 years ago, people are just way to stupid and way too paranoid for their own bloody good!
Even when their plainly gaining in the deal, their still not happy.

[adarmaSen]

Snoopy, I agree with all you listed above. I was fortunate enough to grab a PC tech job (local privately run) a few years ago and enjoy it since I also consider it a hobby. I tend to be lenient when it comes to working for elderly and people that just seem pleasant to work for. I don't believe charging every second spent looking at a PC is really necessary.

My superiors were puzzled for a while why I wasn't charging as much as other disgruntled tech's who absolutely despise PC's, but once the customer referrals and positive feedback started coming in, it turned that around completely. Sure, you can make more money in the short term by charging out the %^$ for everything, but chances are you won't get any return business or referrals from unhappy customers. You need to build a customer base and keep them happy for any chance to stay afloat.

This is why most shops tend to come and go every few years. People flock to the new places hoping for something fresh and a change from the rest. Once everyone figures out it's the same overpriced crap service...see ya later!

[Emunsesoxmete]

i didnt read all the replies.
But i had to mention around here, the best buy stores, they are absolutely the worst techs ever. And here, their favorite saying to everyone i have known that has gone to them is " your motherboard is bad, it needs to be replaced"

So far, out of the herd (6) of those computers said to have a bad motherboard,
1) I removed spy/malware and a virus, and computer is working fine 6 months later.
2) Replaced a power supply
3) Reseated a video card and tightened the loose screw
4) Replaced a data cable for the hard drive.
5) Removes a kitchen knife from inside the case and replaced a wire from power button to mainboard
6) reseated the 24 pin power cable

my personal experience with them was horrible. I had 100.00 to buy a modem.
I was looking at the choices and a geek squad guy walks by.
I tell him i have 100 bucks and ask whats the best modem in the under 100.00 range.
He replies, " u s robotics" and points to 140 dollar external modem.
I say " no no, i only have 100.00 the price has to be 100.00 or less with taxes included in that 100.00. So out of these over here for under 100 whats the best one?"

He says U S robotics" and points to the 140 dollar modem again.
Well, anyways the rest was anger and finally a manager overheard me talking louder than i should have been and well, it got DICEY.

[fruttomma]

Where I live there are virtually 1 or 2 tech jobs coming up over several years, so getting the kinda job I would enjoy doing as a full time career is an almost no go.
I love fixing PC's and have even done it for several years for friends and other people for very little money.

I tried over several years to establish a part time business fixing PC's, from my home, with a small callout fee within a certain radius of my house too, say 15-20 miles or so, charging £10-£15 an hour, mainly cos I love the work so much and consider it more of a hobbie and it also keeps my "hand in" and my head clued up etc.

I've seen local PC repair guys come and go, mainly because their prices were over inflated and they were only in it to try and get rich quick, where as I was hoping to build up a solid reputation over several years and let word of mouth spread my low prices and good customer satisfaction around.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to PC repair and will always try to charge what I think is a fair price for any work I do, without going crazy.

Like, if I'm working on someone's PC, and the owner maybe elderly and not particularely well off, or maybe even on a pension etc, then I might keep prices down but without cutting corners, If I've worked on their PC for maybe 5-6 hours cleaning out a really nasty virus or spyware infection and they have data that needs saving then I might feel bad at charging them £80+ or whatever and might only charge them £50 or even £40, it depends on the situation, We all have grandparents or elderly relatives we wouldn't want to see ripped off, maybe losing a large chunk of savings to fix some out of date PC.

That said, I'm not gonna rip off people, that can afford to be ripped off either.

But all this being said, the major problem is that your average "joe public", is expecting to have to pay £30+ an hour for PC repair in their homes and if you charge them less, they either think your less qualified than some sales monkey in PC world or they think their somehow losing out in the quality of the work your doing.

So unless you actually have a shop, where you can return the PC to work on or people can take it in to be repaired, then people can give you some very funny looks when you charge them less for 5 hours work than most over techs would charge for 1 hour.

Thats why I stopped doing it 2 years ago, people are just way to stupid and way too paranoid for their own bloody good!
Even when their plainly gaining in the deal, their still not happy.

I think most guys really into PCs do what you do (hell i did), we do it for fun, yet for some reason people think we are incompetent cause we do it cheaper than commercial guys [rolleyes].
Your average PC enthusiast knows a crapload more than most of this fly by night franchise techs that charge 4x more.

[Ygd2qr8k]

Christ, someone gave me $60 simply because they had an old dial-up connection listed as the default in Internet Options and thus could not connect to their high-speed.

Generally I build systems for friends/family for the cost of the parts, but this kind of crap isn't all that surprising.

The guy trying to pitch a new computer from GeekSquad is only doing it because GS doesn't pay all that well, but their commission package is very good. Which is why they try and sell you Norton ****, "internet security" packages and such other anus.

[Arbinknit]

So, the moral story of this is... u must have at least one good friend (an onion ) or someone in the family..lol which its a geek... ..

Cheers

AHH the horror to be that family member or friend! It's a thankless "JOB" that used to resemble a "HOBBY"