Didn't fix laptop, still pay for the labor?

[tozymba]

My laptop didn't power on so I took my laptop to a repair shop and they said the power jack has to be replaced.
They just called me and told me that the laptop still didn't power on even with the new power jack and they said they discovered something burnt on the motherboard and the whole motherboard had to be replaced.
So I told them I don't want it to get it fixed (cause it costs too much to replace motherboard) but they said I still have to pay for the labor? (over $150)

Is this suppose to be like this? they didn't get anything fixed

 

[seavixen32]

They found the fault, which you declined to have done.

Who do you think is going to pay the labour charge? How can they fix the fault after you've told them you don't want it fixed?

I'm afraid you're wrong on this one so just bite the bullet and pay up.

 

[sygnus21]

Well if you're going to be stuck with a 150 bill you might as well see what they'll charge to fix the machine. A lot of tech places will absorb the "diagnostic" charge into the fix.

And I know this is a bit too late, but always inquire about charges "before" having anything "looked" at. Most places charge a service/diagnostic fee just to look. It prevents them from taking a loss of time and effort on troubleshooting an issue only to be told by the customer they don't want the fix.

They should have spelled this out before you committed to having them troubleshoot the issue, but even if they didn't, they still have a right to be paid for time and effort.

If you feel like you weren't notified you can try and fight it but......

Good luck.

 

[Dwarf]

There's no difference between this and you calling a tradesman to your house to fix an apparent problem. For example, a plumber to fix a leaking radiator, only to discover that the problem was, in fact, caused by you placing a dripping towel over the radiator in order to dry it. It has still cost the tradesman (in this case, a plumber) time and money, which he has to recoup from somewhere. Remember that in business, time IS money!

 

[tozymba]

Thanks everyone
I just got my laptop back (paid 120 w/ student discount)
Took out my hard drive but don't know what to do with the laptop..
I guess I should be more careful next time.

 

[smsff7]

I think you got ripped off. They would have had to open the laptop to fix the power jack (Otherwise how could they come off charging $150) that they told you was broken. They should have seen the burnt motherboard and talked to you before they tried to repair it.

 

[PwnFrnzy]

This is the exact reason that I'm a "do it yourself" -er.

 

[sygnus21]

I think you got ripped off. They would have had to open the laptop to fix the power jack (Otherwise how could they come off charging $150) that they told you was broken. They should have seen the burnt motherboard and talked to you before they tried to repair it.

This is the exact reason that I'm a "do it yourself" -er.

Regardless they still did the troubleshooting, and still need to be paid. That's why it is always wise to ask about charges before any troubleshooting is done.

And most business will have you sign something anyway which states their "service/Diagnostic" changes. Not sure if this happened with the OP but it should have, if not, bad idea.

I know I always ask about service charges anytime I need a tech for something.... even if they're avoiding the subject.

BTW I'm a do it yourself person as well, but sometimes you gotta let the pros handle things. This is where shopping around comes into play.

My two cents

 

[James Colbert]

I do welcome any necessary correction here, but given that they were wrong about the power jack being the problem, there shouldn't have been any charge for the misdiagnosis or replacement (unless, of course, the jack was bad and had to be replaced before discovering other issues, i.e., the burn). There should, however, be a diagnostic charge for finding the burnt MB, but $150 seems a bit excessive. Is that really the going rate for a diagnostic charge?

 

[sygnus21]

I don't know if that's the going rate, but it does seem a bit excessive. Only the OP knows what really went on for such a charge.

Again this is why you should always ask before having any troubleshooting work done. Never assume it's free, otherwise....... And get things in writting.

 

[A Guy]

I am a TV tech. If I misdiagnose a problem, and the repair doesn't fix it, then the customer doesn't pay if they decline a new higher est. They pay for the house call, which was quoted up front. Unless the shop quoted $150 to "attempt" the repair, they shouldn't be charging for their misdiagnoses. A quoted fee to diagnose would be different, but they were wrong, and now say pay us, we spent time? No, they shouldn't get paid. A Guy

 

[richyrichuk]

also have u spoke to citizen advice yet?

it depends on what wordage has been swapped before the repair, as a guy says u can dispute it is a mis diag, which is their fault.

 

[smsff7]

This is the exact reason that I'm a "do it yourself" -er.

So am I for my desktop, but with my notebook, I had a friend help me with the screen, as I don't know anything about notebook computers.

 

[PCAce]

@smsff7: I'm in agreement with you. If I did not know any better, I would say that the person who performed the jack swap inadvertently set the soldering iron in the wrong spot and burned it himself/herself and was too proud (or ashamed) to admit the blunder. Otherwise, they would have seen the burn mark before finishing their diagnosis and ordering the replacement part.

Either way, I'm a laptop repair technician, and if it isn't repairable and they bring it to me, I don't even charge them for disposing of the laptop. I do charge $50 for data retrieval if the customer brings in their own external drive to transfer the files, -OR- I remove the hard drive and hand it to them for free.

The last laptop repair I performed, I allowed the customer to observe and I explained things that she was curious about. This HP laptop, a dv9000 series, also was not receiving power input. After removing the jack and running continuity tests on the jack's printed circuit board, which checked out okay, I then checked the jack contacts with the board's four-wire connecting cable to the motherboard and determined that the female plug's internal spring was not making full contact on two of the four pins on the motherboard. I removed the wires from the connector, spread them a bit, replaced them in the connector and hooked up the power supply. Being successful, we re-assembled the unit and found that the laptop had not been turned on since April of 2010. This was about a month ago I repaired it.

Total time: 70-80 minutes
Total cost: $40