Service Snitch: Computer Service and Repair Centers: Fixing Until You’re Broke

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Computer Service and Repair Centers: Fixing Until You’re Broke

When your computer slows down or stops working, you will frequently need to bring it in for repair. Your options will be either a chain store like CompUSA or Best Buy, or a local computer store. The process of repair begins the same way – you bring your ailing PC down to the repair location, where it is checked in. You leave with a receipt and the promise that you will be contacted with an estimate for the cost of repairs.

What It Costs

The two costs that you will incur when you bring your computer in for repair are parts and labor. Parts generally cost between $15 to $250, depending on what is being installed, upgraded or replaced. Finding out what parts cost is no big deal. You can just go to compusa.com and look up the cost of whatever part the technician says you need. The markup on parts is approximately 30% but you’d pay that no matter where you bought it.

Labor is priced at a flat or hourly rate depending on whether the technician can anticipate how much time the job is going to take. Labor is more profitable for the service center because few technicians earn more than $16 per hour and you will pay approximately $50 per hour for the work. It is also standard to try to sell you high-margin items that you do not need such as hardware and software upgrades, accessories and anti-virus / spyware protection software.

While it may sound fine when the technician explains to you what new hardware and software will cost, understand that the world of computers is one of slippery slopes. In other words, once you change one part, you may need to upgrade or replace several other parts that are not compatible with the new part. The same rule applies to software. Upgrading or installing new software can cause software that worked fine before to stop working. And finally, changing hardware can cause your software to have configuration problems.

Installing new parts and fixing software problems is labor-intensive. Before the technician goes to work, be sure to ask if making his recommended upgrades will cause hardware or software problems that will require additional upgrades, and if reconfiguring software will be included in the cost of replacing and upgrading hardware.

The big chains usually charge more money for service but lower prices for parts. So you would be advised to go to the local shop if you just want to have spyware removed from your computer and to a chain store if you know that you want to get a bigger hard-drive and more ram.

Hourly rates are more common among the local shops and flat rates are more common among the chain stores. It's normal to charge a minimum fee for a diagnosis and estimate - it's NOT normal to run up a four hour bill plus parts without consulting the customer first. Be prepared to spend a few hundred dollars when you bring in your computer for repairs. Service centers don’t like to take in and examine a unit to make $50.

The Computer Service Center Rep Says:

“You have a seriously corrupted operating system here! You need to format the drive and start over to be safe. Also, I ran a few tests and discovered your computer is running really slowly because it is infected with so much spyware, You really need to have [Brand X] anti-spyware / anti-virus package installed. Otherwise you're just going to get infected again.

Your PC/Mac is ancient, real old news (or this HP/Dell/Gateway part is proprietary- there's no way I can replace it). You're better off buying a new, custom PC from me than fixing this one. And when was the last time that you cleaned this thing? Mmmm. Hard drive is shot. Hear the clicking? You really could use a new one by a better brand. Do you need more RAM while you’re here?"

The Snitch Says:

“When he said your operating system was seriously corrupted, what he meant to say was ‘I tried a few free utilities I downloaded off the Internet and deleted all your ‘temp’ files. That didn't work. I don't actually know anything about Windows, and I'm in a hurry, so I give up.’

When he said that you needed to have anti-virus / anti-spyware software installed, he meant to say, ‘My corporate overlords have ordered me to pimp this software because they make an excellent markup on it, no matter that it is complicated, inappropriate for your situation or too much for your computer to handle. Also, I'm covering my ass in case I didn't do a good job cleaning up your machine - if you don't buy this stuff from me, I can always blame you. Some of the best anti-spyware programs are free, anyway.’

When he said that your computer was too old, or that the parts were proprietary and irreplaceable, what he meant was, ‘I can't be bothered diddling around locating parts that aren't listed with my primary supplier. I'm not willing to work hard to find you an economical solution; I'd rather sell you something new at a hefty markup. You can tell all your friends it's ‘custom’, but it's really going to be the cheapest parts I can find stuffed into a beautiful case.’

Ok, so now that we’ve covered the sales pitch, let’s talk about what they’re going to do with your computer once you hand it over. In the big corporate chains, turnover is key. There might be one or two lead technicians working with another couple of helpers to process dozens of computers in a day. What they do is give your PC the most cursory glance, poke through your files and photos for anything amusing, recommend the quickest, most bullet-proof solution and then ship your computer out to a central location where marginally more competent technicians implement the solution described by the first guy. If you leave your computer at one of these giant chains, it leaves that store shortly thereafter, and you will see it next several weeks or even a month later. When you get it back, it will usually have had one of two stock solutions implemented: a piece of hardware will be replaced or upgraded, or your PC will have been formatted and re-imaged: returned to factory defaults.

A small store starts off the same way, but will keep the machine in-house after the diagnosis is made. You can expect a well-organized and competent shop to effect repairs within a business week. If you’re nice to the boss, your work could even be done the same day. It only takes a few minutes – it’s just an issue of waiting for your turn. Generally, the tech will at least make an effort to accurately diagnose and resolve your issue without just wiping your hard drive clean. Small shops need to work a little harder than chain stores because local community customers are not unlimited and they know that losing people’s data gets them really upset. Nobody likes dealing with upset customers and whereas chain store technicians can just rubberstamp X number of repairs to meet their quotas and pass irate customers up the bureaucratic hierarchy, the technician in the local shop has to sit there and listen.

The local repair guy will, generally, be more experienced and more skilled than the chain store technicians, but he protects himself with a baffling wall of jargon and techno-nonsense if anything goes wrong. It is almost impossible to get him to admit culpability under any circumstances.

First let’s talk about how service center technicians take advantage of you financially and then we’ll move on to how they invade your privacy. First, beware if you don't get your broken parts back – frequently they are still under warranty from the manufacturer and the repair center orders a free replacement which it then sells to someone else. If it’s an expensive part, you might want to order the free replacement and sell it online. Second, repair centers can buy refurbished (i.e., used) parts much less expensively than new parts. It is not uncommon to sell you refurbished parts and charge you for new ones. On a related note, often people will upgrade hardware and the service center will keep the old parts and sell them to you as new since you have no idea what they installed in the back room. Oftentimes the old parts sill work but they perform worse from all the wear and tear, just like cars.

Another technique to not give you what you paid for that is common with neighborhood repair shops is installing software via a volume license. This means that the repair shop buys one copy of Windows and other popular software and one hundred licenses, giving the repair shop the right to install the software one hundred times but not to give any customers a copy of the CD. Woe betide you if you need to re-install or upgrade the program!. This is less common than it used to be, but still seen often. It's a blatant ripoff if someone sells you a computer or a program without original copies of the software (on a CD) and valid licenses to go with it. The big chain stores rarely exploit customers in this way because they are licensed retailers of most popular software packages and make their full profit when they sell you the software for the retail price.

The next way that repair shops take advantage of customers also involves under-delivering, but this time on service. You'd think that for $50 to $80 per hour you could count on the work being done by professionally trained, certified technicians and engineers, right? Wrong. Computer repair, for the most part, is performed by inexperienced, under-trained workers who usually make $10/hour or less. Many of the people working as computer technicians not only should not be charging you money, but they should be forcibly restrained from touching your computer!

For instance, it is not unusual for the Geek Squad to hire its “agents” right off the floor of Best Buy. Imagine that same slack-jawed, moonfaced adolescent who last week was explaining to you how many 'digimal metapixels' come in a new cell-phone trying to honestly and skillfully fix your computer or remove complex spyware.

And all the local PC repair guy needs is the ability to convince you he knows something about computers, which he normally does with an exceedingly snotty attitude, and then be able to look for the answer to you problems on the Internet. He just has to know a tiny bit more than you do to pass himself off as knowing a lot more.

Next, let’s spend a minute discussing privacy. When you drop your computer, rest assured that the shop technicians will poke through any and all of your personal information - candid snaps of you and your significant other, your daughter in a bikini, that highly confidential memorandum you’ve been writing for your employer - any and all pictures, music and movies on your PC will probably be looked at and made fun of, if not copied and posted on the Internet.

Also, your data may be erased unnecessarily, usually through incompetence or for convenience, or even to cover up mistakes a tech has made. You'll sign something to the effect that you absolve the service shop of any responsibility for data loss when you drop it off."

Protecting Yourself:

• If your computer is operating really slowly and you download music or porn, the problem is probably spyware. You can download Ad-Aware from http://www.lavasoft.de for free. It is one of the most effective spyware removal programs there is. SpySweeper from Webroot Software is the best, but it isn’t free. You can buy it for $30 at spysweeper.com. All the technician will do is run one of these two programs. If it doesn’t work, he’ll erase the hard-drive and re-install Windows. So run a spyware removal program before lugging your system to the shop.

• Sometimes Spyware cannot be removed. In such a case, you just need to erase your hard-drive and reinstall Windows. You can look up on the Internet how to do this, or just have your friend’s son do it for a few bucks. It’s really easy and not worth lugging your computer to the shop for this service.

• If you do bring your computer to the shop, make a backup of any data you want to keep before dropping your computer off. Erasing the hard-drive is standard operating procedure for technicians.

• Be aware that techs may snoop in your files – ask about policies regarding privacy and data security but more importantly, remove what you wouldn’t want to see on the Internet.

• Make sure you get a firm estimate before work is performed.

• If all the upgrades and replacements you need will be more than a few hundred dollars, consider just getting a new computer with all of the components already working. If you keep the same screen, the computer can be replaced for around $500. But don’t buy it from the computer shop, order it from Gateway or HP. You’ll get better quality for less money.

• Stay away from the big names- the bigger the service, the worse the quality- just like fast food. The prices are unreasonable, as well.

• Call around - get a clear idea of what your problem requires and what different stores are charging. Many won't give you a firm estimate over the phone, but they should be able to explain their rates clearly and tell you in detail what kind of services they will provide for you.

• Don't be bamboozled by “technospeak.” If someone can't readily and clearly explain key issues to you, or seems to respond to every question with a sales push, walk the other way. Chances are they are dangerously incompetent, or trying to swindle you.

• When you need expensive hardware upgrades or replacements and you’re going to have it done by the technician in your local shop, compare prices on parts to make sure you aren't being overcharged. You are welcome to go buy parts at CompUSA and then the local technicians will install and configure them for you.

Just Because You Were Curious.

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, median hourly earnings of computer repair technicians and related professionals was $16.90 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $13.11 and $21.36. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $10.31, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $26.28.

Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of repair technicians are shown below:

Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers $18.51
Computer systems design and related services 18.08
Office supplies, stationery, and gift stores 15.69
Electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance 14.95
Electronics and appliance stores 14.04

Posted by admin on 07/08 at 12:10 PM

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Saturday, July 08, 2006

Computer Service and Repair Centers: Fixing Until You’re Broke

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