Brought my computer home from a repair shop in worse shape than when I brought it in - tips on handling this?

Asked by Mariah (25883

) July 8th, 2012

So I did something incredibly stupid about a week ago. I didn’t look while inserting a memory card into my laptop and I put it into the adjacent slot, which happened to be the CD drive, and it got stuck. Herp derp.

I would have felt fine opening my computer up on my own, but figured that would void the warranty, so I brought it to a local shop. They took it overnight, in which time they took it apart and got the memory card out. Hooray!

Except not really, because I started noticing problems after I got it back. Namely, the power button, which usually is lit, isn’t, and about one time out of every 5 when I press the power button nothing happens. So I haven’t shut it down in ages because I don’t know what I’ll do if it’s shut down and I go to turn it on and nothing happens.

I’m going to bring it back to that shop tomorrow and tell them what’s happening. Is it reasonable to hope not to be charged for them to fix it since it’s obviously their mistake? I know I can’t prove that this just arose after they worked on it, but I hope they will be accommodating. If they’re not, what are my options?

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3 Answers

Your most important option, I think, is the ability to spread the word far and wide about this repair shop if they attempt to weasel out of their responsibility. For one thing, since you took it to them instead of doing the work yourself, you probably checked to see that they are an “authorized” repair facility for the manufacturer. The manufacturer will care greatly about who they give authorization to; if you get screwed by shoddy “authorized” repair work, then their accreditation may be revoked by the manufacturer, and there goes a lot of their business.

Be polite – of course you will be – but make them see the light, that it’s a significant bother for you to have to follow up with this repeat visit. If you had the problem yesterday you would have mentioned it to them yesterday. You’re not trying to get free work done; you’re trying to be made whole again.

CWOTUS (26102

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If this is a small shop, find out who the owner is and speak to him/her about the issue. The owner has a heavy stake in the result; the average careless or indifferent technician, not so much.

Buttonstc (27605

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Thanks you two. I brought it back today and they’re working on it free of charge, the most I had to do was ask “will I be charged for that?” which pleased non-confrontational me.

Mariah (25883

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