Laptop Repair Rip Off

[rayinkrabi]

______________________________________________________

Hi All,

 

This post is intended to be a 'Heads up' to any who take their computer for repair.

 

I took my Dell laptop for repair into an IT shop in Ao Nang in August (it refused to start up...sometimes, so I suspected the power button).

 

They eventually called me to say the motherboard needs to be replaced (?).  I agreed to the work although the price was a bit high but I wanted to get it back asap.

I called in a few times to enquire about progress but was always told "not ready yet" The last time I was passing the shop I saw them loading their stock etc. onto trucks so it was clear they were moving.  They stopped answering their mobile after that and I became v concerned if I would see my laptop again.

 

I know a Thai chap who knows the owner of the IT shop and he tipped me off yesterday that my laptop was now awaiting my collection in another IT shop in Krabi town.  Bear in mind this was over 2 months since I first took it to Ao Nang.

 

Sure enough it was there..very dusty, dirty, and with some small scratches on the glossy case....and unrepaired.  The Technician at Krabi was excellent and spent over an hour dismantling it trying to get it to start without success, all free of charge ! 

 

Then he dropped a 'bombshell' on me by saying that the CMOS battery and 4gb of ram were 'missing' (always had 8gb before I took it for repair). 

 

Has anyone ever heard of ram etc. being stolen from a customer's computer before?  I'm also now concerned the thief has taken or swapped other components (main battery etc.).  My advice to anyone taking a computer for repair is to agree the full spec and condition with them first and then check the info in 'Computer Information' upon collection.

 

Regards, Ray.

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[OneMoreFarang]

I hope you get things sorted.

In my experience good shops make an inventory of your computer and accessories.

I had this done several times in service centers.

I guess it's a question of where you go. With a DELL notebook I would go to an authorized DELL service center.

If someone can recommend a shop then maybe other shops can also be ok. I.e. I used a notebook chain in Pantip a couple of times (years ago). I wouldn't go to any shop and hope they will get things done. Unfortunately lot of shops and technicians have little idea about what they are doing.

[Stocky]

14 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Unfortunately lot of shops and technicians have little idea about what they are doing.

Yep, you'd probably understand the YouTube tear down vlog he's using better than him.

[OneMoreFarang]

53 minutes ago, Stocky said:

Yep, you'd probably understand the YouTube tear down vlog he's using better than him.

"tear down" sounds about right.

And I guess the big difference is if you tear down your own device or that of someone else...

[rayinkrabi]

Thanks for your comments.

 

Funny enough I've decided to do this already, actually looking forward to it and am just awaiting my new power button assembly to arrive (This is just for starters).  I'll also upgrade the memory to 16gb, (got to buy another module anyway to replace the stolen one).  

 

Bought a new precision screwdriver set today and with the aid of youtube I'm going to fix this problem once and for all.  The big difference is that I will be using great care and attention to detail, including protecting the case and checking / cleaning all components along the way...And I won't be stealing any bits.????

 

All A bit annoying really as I've only just realised my laptop was well under 2 yrs old (bought end of Oct 2016) when I first took it to the 'professionals' so was prob covered by warranty anyway.

 

The good news is my WD Blue 1tb hard drive is still installed & doesn't appear to touched by the thief, can't verify the main battery yet though as I can't see a date on it unlike the hard drive. 

[skippy]

Cheap As Chips are laptops so best to buy them by the dozen.

[rayinkrabi]

Yes indeed, some are and imo best avoided.  This one of mine on the other hand is a fairly high spec model and always worked great & fast until the power button problem.

 

I'm a firm believer in the old saying 'you get what u pay for' but I still prefer my trusty ol' HP tower pc, still going strong at over 10 yrs old...although I've done lots of upgrades along the way.

[rayinkrabi]

Update:  The Thai friend of the Ao Nang shop owner has clearly passed the news of the 'missing' ram & cmos battery onto him/her, (I never asked for him to do this). 

 

The owner has said I can collect new ram in a few days ????

[simoh1490]

Bigger repair shops, especially dealers such as Dell, always count in and count out the RAM, it's fairly standard practise here for the reasons you have now discovered,

[rayinkrabi]

For what it's worth, the shop I took it in to for repair was indeed one of the biggest name shops in Thailand which I made clear & named in my first post.

 

 

 

[skippy]

46 minutes ago, rayinkrabi said:

For what it's worth, the shop I took it in to for repair was indeed one of the biggest name shops in Thailand which I made clear & named in my first post...however the Thai Visa mod's objected and removed it because of that.

 

 

 

Why the objection ?

[zoza]

On ‎11‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 7:40 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I hope you get things sorted.

In my experience good shops make an inventory of your computer and accessories.

I had this done several times in service centers.

I guess it's a question of where you go. With a DELL notebook I would go to an authorized DELL service center.

If someone can recommend a shop then maybe other shops can also be ok. I.e. I used a notebook chain in Pantip a couple of times (years ago). I wouldn't go to any shop and hope they will get things done. Unfortunately lot of shops and technicians have little idea about what they are doing.

I have tried the main Dell service center (Chon Buri) and from my experience not any better than anywhere else, and even after my shoddy treatment people were still advising others to use this place, you are better trying to fix it yourself or if you can stake out the local shopping Mall but the only thing I found out was TIT, and they do what they want. 

[JamJar]

7 hours ago, zoza said:

I have tried the main Dell service center (Chon Buri) and from my experience not any better than anywhere else, and even after my shoddy treatment people were still advising others to use this place, you are better trying to fix it yourself or if you can stake out the local shopping Mall but the only thing I found out was TIT, and they do what they want. 

 

Not that it is relevant to this particular thread, but the ACER service centre in Chonburi has been exemplary over the years.

Often service whilst you wait. Though usually, I have the parts and they fit them for me.

This happens when you need to tear down the whole machine to fit a part, so I don't want to do it myself.

They've always done good clean work whilst I wait, at a very reasonable price.

So I'd like to recommend them on that basis. Credit were credit is due.

 

[zoza]

11 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

Not that it is relevant to this particular thread, but the ACER service centre in Chonburi has been exemplary over the years.

Often service whilst you wait. Though usually, I have the parts and they fit them for me.

This happens when you need to tear down the whole machine to fit a part, so I don't want to do it myself.

They've always done good clean work whilst I wait, at a very reasonable price.

So I'd like to recommend them on that basis. Credit were credit is due.

 

if you get charged top price and when you get it home you have no sound and the laptop makes squealing noises because it has not been put back

together correctly, and they then tell you, you need to pay again for their second shoddy repair there is no credit to share, but if you have the address of the Acer service I would have a look and search for any reports as I had been advised that dell was quite good? They could not even tell me what work had been done? so it was a couple of bad credit days.

[rayinkrabi]

On 11/10/2018 at 6:19 AM, rayinkrabi said:

Update:  The Thai friend of the Ao Nang shop owner has clearly passed the news of the 'missing' ram & cmos battery onto him/her, (I never asked for him to do this). 

 

The owner has said I can collect new ram in a few days ????

Further update:  The 'new ram' was never available for collection as promised, so I decided to formally complain to the 'company head office' (they have over 350 shops nationwide ! who obviously were concerned enough to contact the 'responsible' person.   

 

I received a small package a few days later containing a 4gb ram stick and a small (1 cm dia lithium battery)...the type used in a wristwatch etc. and clearly no good for a computer ????           

 

I had already contacted Dell who have been v professional and sent an 'onsite' Technician to my house yesterday.  He repaired my laptop very quickly which is now up and running like new...BUT with only 4gb of ram as the Dell Technician told me the ram posted to me is broken and useless.

 

Hmm...Was this huge IT company just having a laugh at my expense?

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, rayinkrabi said:

I received a small package a few days later containing a 4gb ram stick and a small (1 cm dia lithium battery)...the type used in a wristwatch etc. and clearly no good for a computer

That sounds like a CMOS battery, and if so it is indeed what you put into desktop and laptops computers. Of course it is not the same as the large battery that powers a laptop. Maybe an error of communication?

 

[rayinkrabi]

No not at all, the battery they sent is only 1 cm (10 mm) diameter and the stolen 3v CMOS battery is about double the size at 20 mm.  No worries as I bought a replacement for 45 bt...much cheaper than the 400 bt quoted by the technician who discovered the 'missing' components.

 

I was suspicious as soon as I opened the package as the small battery & ram stick were both loose and touching 'floating around' in a small plastic bag with no additional 'wrapping' or anti static protection as would be expected if they were new.

 

In fact, on close inspection of the ram I see the gold contacts appear 'tarnished' & unevenly coloured...so I'm guessing it's been laying around on a shelf somewhere (?).

[rayinkrabi]

Further update to my earlier 'further update' ????

 

After typing my response to KittenKong I had a 're-think' & another look at the ram & small battery of which both are filthy and clearly second hand.  So as a last resort I carefully cleaned the ram gold contacts with a pencil eraser...The contacts are now gleaming so then fitted it into the 2nd slot...Eureeka... it worked ????

 

I use 'Speccy to check all the component specs...much better than the standard Windows tools imo.

 

I guess the Dell Technician didn't have time for this but I have no complaints about him at all as he clearly knew his stuff going by the speed & efficiency he stripped my laptop down and reassembled it.

 

I for one have learnt a few lessons from this saga...Thanks for all your input Fellow Members. 

 

Cheers, Ray. 

 

 

[KneeDeep]

On 11/11/2018 at 12:01 AM, zoza said:

if you get charged top price and when you get it home you have no sound and the laptop makes squealing noises because it has not been put back

together correctly, and they then tell you, you need to pay again for their second shoddy repair there is no credit to share, but if you have the address of the Acer service I would have a look and search for any reports as I had been advised that dell was quite good? They could not even tell me what work had been done? so it was a couple of bad credit days.

 

Not sure of what you meant to write here, but the ACER service centre charged 400 baht + VAT for their work. 

I sourced the part, and they disassembled  the device, fitted the part and reassembled the device. They have done the same on three different occasions. Excellent work done whilst you wait. No need to leave the device with them for days/weeks.

The ACER Service Centre is in Chonburi. 

[rayinkrabi]

Was this in the warranty period?  My experience has been that Dell responded immediately after I explained in full detail the facts of the situation, no problems whatsoever and no charges.  Absolutely brilliant and so professional.  Btw, my Dell warranty expires late 2019.  I should also add this was with 'Onsite Service'.  Wow.  I would never consider another brand after this.

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by rayinkrabi
Clarification

[KneeDeep]

12 hours ago, rayinkrabi said:

Was this in the warranty period?  My experience has been that Dell responded immediately after I explained in full detail the facts of the situation, no problems whatsoever and no charges.  Absolutely brilliant and so professional.  Btw, my Dell warranty expires late 2019.  I should also add this was with 'Onsite Service'.  Wow.  I would never consider another brand after this.

 

 

If this is addressed to me(try the Quote function), no. One device from 2007, the other from 2008. So a long time out of warranty.

They were almost apologetic when they told me that they would have to charge; 300 baht + VAT/400 baht + VAT.

 

Of course I was happy that their pricing was so reasonable and the work so clean, as compared to the butchers at Tukcom.

Edited December 15, 2018 by KneeDeep

[WonnabeBiker]

Hell yeah! By my school's computer teacher who also owned a computer shop. All new CRRUCIAL RAM bought in the U.S.

 

4 GB replaced with 1 GB...

...

 

At Zeer Street, I took one of several Thinkpads for a SSD upgrade. The guy tried the same fairy tale about "CPU / mainboard not working". I swapped computers and voila, the new HDD booted just fine.

 

Shame? What's that?!?