Computer Technicians In Chiang Mai

[eljuwa]

Hello Forum Members

It is my desire to share my nightmarish experience with a certain Computer Technician in Chiang Mai. I would not want my worst enemy to undergo this experience of mine. Also, I wish to caution other prospective customers of this situation. I will leave names out in order that I may comply with the Forum etiquette. Here is my story.

I had a completely healthy operating computer with all of my records, in the world. I also had a Back-up (Carbon Copy) of my hard drive in that computer. I wanted to upgrade my software to Snow Leopard ( I had already bought the disc). To do this upgrade I needed more RAM. So my needs were to (1) Get the extra RAM and (2) Insert the Snow Leopard. This technician came to my place on a free call and I described my needs. He said that he wanted to take my computer to his place to do some research. I said "What research do you need to install RAM ?" I should have known at that time that this technician is not experienced. So he takes my computer away. I get a call that evening from him stating that he lost my hard drive, lost all my records including the Back-up. My hard drive was DEAD. He proceeded to buy a new hard drive. I did not get my computer back for 3 days. Now, I get my computer back with the new hard drive and the Snow Leopard installed.

The total charge for all of this was an astronomical 9,000 baht. His direct costs were: 4 GB of RAM and cost of a hard drive (it was not an expensive one). I did not get a breakdown of this. His cost of labor should have been - 2 service calls of 1,000 baht.

There are two matters that concern me. (1) The excessive cost (2) Inexperienced technicians like this should not be performing computer services.

I wish to take the following actions.

(1) Within the Forum guidelines and etiquette, report and expose the name of this person. No one should use his services.

(2) Make similar reports and exposes to the Expats Club and Chiangmai Grapewine.

(3) Report this incident to the Better Business Bureau in Chiang Mai - if they have any such organization in Chiang Mai.

Kindly extend your comments to me.

Thanks very much

James

PS: Hello Dolly referred a new computer technician to me. He made one service call ( 500 Baht) and successfully recovered my i-tunes music from my i-pod to my new hard drive. I am totally satisfied with this new technician's services.

[onthedarkside]

Defamation (name & shame) not allowed on this forum.

Forum rule 6) Not to post comments that could be reasonably construed as defamation or libel.Defamation is the issuance of a false statement about another person, which causes that person to suffer harm. Libel involves the making of defamatory statements in a printed or fixed medium, such as a magazine or newspaper.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

better business bureau? that's a hearty laugh.

In my building there is a business owner who is the wife of connected policeman.

They sell "Mineral Water" for 2 baht a liter.

Except its really just filtered tap water.

You haven't been in Thailand long enough.

[Dante99]

Backup should be on a second drive preferably an external drive.

Hope you got your old hard drive back and that the data was encrypted using File Vault or similar. If not, possibly your largest concerns should be what may have happened or is happening with your data.

James, since you asked, you ought to watch your ass better.

[hellodolly]

You had me worried there for a bit that it had been the one I refereed you to.

Thanks for the information. As I had told you I had no experience with him on a Mac just my PC and he had told me he worked on Macs.

Glad you got your tunes back.

[eljuwa]

You had me worried there for a bit that it had been the one I refereed you to.

Thanks for the information. As I had told you I had no experience with him on a Mac just my PC and he had told me he worked on Macs.

Glad you got your tunes back.

Hello Dolly, with your reference of the Comp. Tech., I am over the moon. Thanks again. Suchart is great on Mac's also. For the cost of 500 Baht, he did all I wanted done. Thanks a million.

[eljuwa]

Backup should be on a second drive preferably an external drive.

Hope you got your old hard drive back and that the data was encrypted using File Vault or similar. If not, possibly your largest concerns should be what may have happened or is happening with your data.

James, since you asked, you ought to watch your ass better.

Hi Dante99: Yes, I do have an external H Drive now, also. I can not always use the quote that I should have known. I made a mistake and I am paying for it. Thanks for your advice.

[KRS1]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

[RogerL]

I also have found Suchart to be very competent at resolving computer problems. Have recommend him to others needing help with their computers.

[hellodolly]

I recommended Suchart on a PM because I did not have first hand knowledge of his work on Macs. Apparently he is very good at them also. I am not a tech man but a few of my friends had recommended him as a whiz with soft ware. He also did some hardware for me.

His phone number is 089 556 3931.

Edited March 27, 2013 by hellodolly

[eljuwa]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

Please call SUCHART at 0895563931

You will be happy with his services

[chiangmaiexpat]

It sounds as if the cause of the dispute is a lack of proper communication and could have been avoided if the parties had a mutual understanding of the procedure and the cost from the beginning. A new high capacity HDD is about 150 USD and 4 GB DDR3 memory approx. 50 USD retail. This amounts to 6000 THB for the components. Hence, 9000 THB is a bit on the expensive side for Thailand, but certainly not "astronomical" if it involved two house calls plus installation. It would probably have been cheaper if you went to one of the computer plazas in town. Also, the chaps in the plazas have a fair amount of experience.

Frankly, grumbling about dilettantes is a bit pointless in Chiang Mai, even more so collecting a list of them, because that would include the majority of the work force. What we need is rather a list of people who perform their profession with, uhm, professionalism.

Cheers CM-Expat

Edited March 28, 2013 by chiangmaiexpat

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

It sounds as if the cause of the dispute is a lack of proper communication and could have been avoided if the parties had a mutual understanding of the procedure and the cost from the beginning. A new high capacity HDD is about 150 USD and 4 GB DDR3 memory approx. 50 USD retail. This amounts to 6000 THB for the components. Hence, 9000 THB is a bit on the expensive side for Thailand, but certainly not "astronomical" if it involved two house calls plus installation. It would probably have been cheaper if you went to one of the computer plazas in town. Also, the chaps in the plazas have a fair amount of experience.

Frankly, grumbling about dilettantes is a bit pointless in Chiang Mai, even more so collecting a list of them, because that would include the majority of the work force. What we need is rather a list of people who perform their profession with, uhm, professionalism.

Cheers CM-Expat

Yeah Apple RAM is expensive in Thailand. No way would I buy any without asking the price.

And the OP was warned by me about the price of RAM

and if I recall he he/she even said "price is not an issue"

so come on already

Sorry to hear about the hard drive failure which anyway sounds really strange for it happen during an upgrade and not before..

But a good lesson for any Apple owner about making upgrades. run a disk check using "Disk Utility" before upgrading.

Disk Utility.app is located in the Applications/Utility folder on pretty much all modern OSX operating systems.

The install/upgrade package should run that anyway so the whole scenario sounds a little fishy.

[eljuwa]

It sounds as if the cause of the dispute is a lack of proper communication and could have been avoided if the parties had a mutual understanding of the procedure and the cost from the beginning. A new high capacity HDD is about 150 USD and 4 GB DDR3 memory approx. 50 USD retail. This amounts to 6000 THB for the components. Hence, 9000 THB is a bit on the expensive side for Thailand, but certainly not "astronomical" if it involved two house calls plus installation. It would probably have been cheaper if you went to one of the computer plazas in town. Also, the chaps in the plazas have a fair amount of experience.

Frankly, grumbling about dilettantes is a bit pointless in Chiang Mai, even more so collecting a list of them, because that would include the majority of the work force. What we need is rather a list of people who perform their profession with, uhm, professionalism.

Cheers CM-Expat

Yeah Apple RAM is expensive in Thailand. No way would I buy any without asking the price.

And the OP was warned by me about the price of RAM

and if I recall he he/she even said "price is not an issue"

so come on already

Sorry to hear about the hard drive failure which anyway sounds really strange for it happen during an upgrade and not before..

But a good lesson for any Apple owner about making upgrades. run a disk check using "Disk Utility" before upgrading.

Disk Utility.app is located in the Applications/Utility folder on pretty much all modern OSX operating systems.

The install/upgrade package should run that anyway so the whole scenario sounds a little fishy.

Thanks very much. Your advice is much appreciated and well noted by me

[eljuwa]

It sounds as if the cause of the dispute is a lack of proper communication and could have been avoided if the parties had a mutual understanding of the procedure and the cost from the beginning. A new high capacity HDD is about 150 USD and 4 GB DDR3 memory approx. 50 USD retail. This amounts to 6000 THB for the components. Hence, 9000 THB is a bit on the expensive side for Thailand, but certainly not "astronomical" if it involved two house calls plus installation. It would probably have been cheaper if you went to one of the computer plazas in town. Also, the chaps in the plazas have a fair amount of experience.

Frankly, grumbling about dilettantes is a bit pointless in Chiang Mai, even more so collecting a list of them, because that would include the majority of the work force. What we need is rather a list of people who perform their profession with, uhm, professionalism.

Cheers CM-Expat

Thanks again

[seesip]

Definitely keep your backup on a separate drive. Also installing RAM and a new OS upgrade is definitely do-able for a generic user, just go to youtube and you'll see a bunch of videos showing how to do the install. Seems tricky but it's pretty foolproof.

[taotoo]

Do you have evidence that a new HD was actually installed?

[wolf5370]

My mother brought over a laptop from the UK on a visit. She had bought the laptop in an auction (stolen/recovered/unclaimed). It had worked fine so she brought it over for my girls to play with. This was a couple of years ago now.

When I powered it on it immediately went to the BIOS password, which it never had for my mum. So, I prepared to take out the BIOS batter to reset it. It was soldered to the board (rechargeable), but I reset it with the pins. Still the laptop would not get past the BIOS password (could not get into BIOS either). So, doing some research it turns out this model had a problem sometimes with the chip that holds the BIOS password and needed a chip replacement - supposedly it was board pull-able (removable). So, I took it to one of those laptop repair places in Panthip Plazza (Night Bazaar) on the 2nd floor (not naming and shaming there are several there). They took it in, tried all that I had already done, and eventually acquiesced and said they would order the chip and call in in 7 days.

3 weeks went past before I chased them up. They fobbed me off with "still waiting for chip". This went on for months - with the laptop visible in their little boxes on the racks behind the desk (which blocks entry into the shop). To cut a long story short, I never did get the repair - they disappeared for a while (shop shut) then opened up again (my laptop no longer visible) - I never got it back

It was a net loss of just thirty quid or so (auction cost) and various journeys back and forth to see them (and phone calls), but really annoying. I even told them if they can't do it, just order the chip and I'll put it in - or give it back and I'll get it done elsewhere - each time they said they would do it.

Most things I do myself, but had no idea where to order the chip from - laptop company wanted me to send it to them, but I thought the cost was not worth it (UPS both ways and getting stung for import taxes on return and non-warranty repair charge).

[wolf5370]

It sounds as if the cause of the dispute is a lack of proper communication and could have been avoided if the parties had a mutual understanding of the procedure and the cost from the beginning. A new high capacity HDD is about 150 USD and 4 GB DDR3 memory approx. 50 USD retail. This amounts to 6000 THB for the components. Hence, 9000 THB is a bit on the expensive side for Thailand, but certainly not "astronomical" if it involved two house calls plus installation. It would probably have been cheaper if you went to one of the computer plazas in town. Also, the chaps in the plazas have a fair amount of experience.

Frankly, grumbling about dilettantes is a bit pointless in Chiang Mai, even more so collecting a list of them, because that would include the majority of the work force. What we need is rather a list of people who perform their profession with, uhm, professionalism.

Cheers CM-Expat

Yeah Apple RAM is expensive in Thailand. No way would I buy any without asking the price.

And the OP was warned by me about the price of RAM

and if I recall he he/she even said "price is not an issue"

so come on already

Sorry to hear about the hard drive failure which anyway sounds really strange for it happen during an upgrade and not before..

But a good lesson for any Apple owner about making upgrades. run a disk check using "Disk Utility" before upgrading.

Disk Utility.app is located in the Applications/Utility folder on pretty much all modern OSX operating systems.

The install/upgrade package should run that anyway so the whole scenario sounds a little fishy.

Maybe he installed Snow Leopard successfully then wanted to take an image of the legitimate copy to propagate elsewhere, and cocked that up - with some of this imaging software it is easy to corrupt boot sectors etc and make the disk appear knackered (same software will usually fix it though - windows can be a pain here with its hidden boot partition, live partition and MBR), easy to cock up, pain to fix.

[uptheos]

I also have found Suchart to be very competent at resolving computer problems. Have recommend him to others needing help with their computers.

Yup, he's really good and have known him for ages. Very reliable, fast and well worth the 300 baht I pay him for small things.

[eljuwa]

Do you have evidence that a new HD was actually installed?

Yes, I do. Checked out by my new Computer technician. Thanks, Taotoo

[taotoo]

Do you have evidence that a new HD was actually installed?

Yes, I do. Checked out by my new Computer technician. Thanks, Taotoo

That's reassuring. Did you get the broken one back too?

[eljuwa]

Do you have evidence that a new HD was actually installed?

Yes, I do. Checked out by my new Computer technician. Thanks, Taotoo

That's reassuring. Did you get the broken one back too?

Yes, I did. Thanks for your comments

[elektrified]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

If you go to Icon Plaza, get off at the 2nd or 3rd Floor (sorry I forget) and right next to the escalator is a guy who is set up in the hallway right next to the escalator. He has just about every part for every Acer laptop computer ever made. There is a woman who works with him who does all the talking, collects the money, etc. as the guy is always buy working. He is brilliant and does far superior work to the people working at the Acer repair center and is not overly expensive. He is quite busy so his turn-around is like 2-4 days depending on how much work has to be done. I've seen him recommended a few times on the forum. Easy to find as he is the only guy set up in the hall and not inside a storefront.

[market trader]

Sorry for the OP's troubles. However for the rest of us it appears as if we now have the name and number of a competent repair person.

[KRS1]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

If you go to Icon Plaza, get off at the 2nd or 3rd Floor (sorry I forget) and right next to the escalator is a guy who is set up in the hallway right next to the escalator. He has just about every part for every Acer laptop computer ever made. There is a woman who works with him who does all the talking, collects the money, etc. as the guy is always buy working. He is brilliant and does far superior work to the people working at the Acer repair center and is not overly expensive. He is quite busy so his turn-around is like 2-4 days depending on how much work has to be done. I've seen him recommended a few times on the forum. Easy to find as he is the only guy set up in the hall and not inside a storefront.

ICON or Pantip?

just checking to confirm location because there is a another guy at Panthip who is similar.

[hellodolly]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

If you go to Icon Plaza, get off at the 2nd or 3rd Floor (sorry I forget) and right next to the escalator is a guy who is set up in the hallway right next to the escalator. He has just about every part for every Acer laptop computer ever made. There is a woman who works with him who does all the talking, collects the money, etc. as the guy is always buy working. He is brilliant and does far superior work to the people working at the Acer repair center and is not overly expensive. He is quite busy so his turn-around is like 2-4 days depending on how much work has to be done. I've seen him recommended a few times on the forum. Easy to find as he is the only guy set up in the hall and not inside a storefront.

ICON or Pantip?

just checking to confirm location because there is a another guy at Panthip who is similar.

Pantip is on the second floor I don't think he specializes he is just plain good.

On the second floor one of the middle isles.

Besides it is just down the street from Subway in the McDonald's Mall

[elektrified]

Can someone suggest an expert laptop repairman?

My Acer died and the service center says i need a new mainboard, but being a audio amplifier repairman in a past life i know that a mainboard doesnt have to be replaced unless its a multilayer (3-4 layers) burn through. But nothing smelled burned when it decided to shut off.

A clever repairman can jump the traces.

If you go to Icon Plaza, get off at the 2nd or 3rd Floor (sorry I forget) and right next to the escalator is a guy who is set up in the hallway right next to the escalator. He has just about every part for every Acer laptop computer ever made. There is a woman who works with him who does all the talking, collects the money, etc. as the guy is always buy working. He is brilliant and does far superior work to the people working at the Acer repair center and is not overly expensive. He is quite busy so his turn-around is like 2-4 days depending on how much work has to be done. I've seen him recommended a few times on the forum. Easy to find as he is the only guy set up in the hall and not inside a storefront.

ICON or Pantip?

just checking to confirm location because there is a another guy at Panthip who is similar.

I was referring to Icon. Had to think for a minute if I meant Computer Plaza or Icon Plaza, but Icon Plaza as I don't believe they have escalators in Computer Plaza.