Computer store charges

Kohaashi

Kohaashi

Kohaashi

Soldato
Joined
21 Jun 2005
Posts
2,737
Location
UK
Hi

My mates HDD recently failed on his laptop so he took it local computer store to have it replaced. They haven't replaced the drive. I agreed with my mate that I could replace it for him for the cost of the replacement drive, so my mate went to collect the laptop today only to find they are charging him £25 for a diagnostic check, which simply means they've ran a disc-check app and left it for a couple of hours, at most!

He signed an agreement with them that he will responsible for their charges, however he never agreed for them to supposedly do a diagnostic.

Can they legally get away with this or should he just refuse to pay and demand his property back? They've done nothing worth getting paid for. I just hate seeing people get conned.
 
I don't see how they've done anything wrong if he signed an agreement to pay their charges and they ran checks prior to replacing the drive. They've ultimately spent some time working on it when they could've done something for another customer that intends to pay.
 
Chadd said:
Hi

My mates HDD recently failed on his laptop so he took it local computer store to have it replaced. They haven't replaced the drive. I agreed with my mate that I could replace it for him for the cost of the replacement drive, so my mate went to collect the laptop today only to find they are charging him £25 for a diagnostic check, which simply means they've ran a disc-check app and left it for a couple of hours, at most!

He signed an agreement with them that he will responsible for their charges, however he never agreed for them to supposedly do a diagnostic.

Can they legally get away with this or should he just refuse to pay and demand his property back? They've done nothing worth getting paid for. I just hate seeing people get conned.
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If he's signed an agreement & they've done work then he should pay
 
Sorry OP, I agree with the others.

He signed an agreement and they have done work to the laptop. He should pay. End of.

"They've done nothing worth getting paid for" Well, actually, they have. Why would they have run a diagnostic check/other tests/whatever they did for free?
 
They didn't change the drive because they told him to get the disc with the drivers first (the one that came with the laptop). They could have just got these off the internet though.

I know it's not loads of money, but I doubt they've even turned the thing on. He already knew the HDD was broken that's why he took it there.

I just though there was a law where you could refuse to pay if the charges were unreasonable. Is that not correct?
 
So...

1. He knew the HDD was broken.
2. Took it in to be fixed.
3. They later(?) said they needed drivers before they can do anything.
4. He changed his mind.

So if they didn't replace the drive because of drivers (lol), why didn't they ask him for the drivers along with the laptop at the time?

Seems pretty fair for him to ask for his laptop back for free as they haven't done anything with it.
 
Chadd said:
They didn't change the drive because they told him to get the disc with the drivers first (the one that came with the laptop). They could have just got these off the internet though.

I know it's not loads of money, but I doubt they've even turned the thing on. He already knew the HDD was broken that's why he took it there.

I just though there was a law where you could refuse to pay if the charges were unreasonable. Is that not correct?
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If he told them all he wanted was the drive replaced then they may have done work he did not sanction and this could be unfair unless the agreement he signed states he agrees to any work they feel may be needed
 
When he goes to collect he could ask for a print out of the results of the diagnostics test. Good chance there won't be one and it would be hard for them to justify a fee without any proof work was done.
 
Used to have this when I worked in a computer shop but a £20 charge basically to say what's wrong with it. If your friend signed the agreement then he should pay as that is what he agreed to do (captain obvious). But why say they needed the driver disk I don't know, you can get everything needed online nowadays. :o
 
I should imagine that they ran a diagnostic check on the laptop to ensure that the HDD had indeed failed. No point in them blindy replacing the HDD cause that's what the customer thinks is wrong, better to confirm that first then replace the fault part.

I am not sure your mate has much of a case to not pay the charge.
 
imb4tman said:
When he goes to collect he could ask for a print out of the results of the diagnostics test. Good chance there won't be one and it would be hard for them to justify a fee without any proof work was done.
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+1, do this.

Although, if they do come up with a diagnostic test, then it looks bad for your buddy, who will now have to pay. Obv if no test results then he can tell them to foadtbhirlmofo.

I think that is his only get out of jail free card.
 
If your mate was technical enough to "know" the HDD needed replacing (as opposed to "strongly suspect" etc.), why did he take it into a shop? It's not difficult to replace the HDD in (most) laptops. I suspect he took it in and said "I think the HDD is broken" in which case isn't it 100% reasonable that the shop would work to confirm this before replacing a part?

Pay up IMO.

(Edit: that said, if he just goes in and kicks up a fuss I suspect the shop will release the laptop without payment rather than suffer any reputation consequences.)
 
steve-h said:
So...

1. He knew the HDD was broken.
2. Took it in to be fixed.
3. They later(?) said they needed drivers before they can do anything.
4. He changed his mind.

So if they didn't replace the drive because of drivers (lol), why didn't they ask him for the drivers along with the laptop at the time?

Seems pretty fair for him to ask for his laptop back for free as they haven't done anything with it.
Click to expand...

He took the laptop to them to be fixed which is when they asked for the drivers cd. He left the laptop with them and was returning with the drivers cd a few days later which is when I told him not to as they were going to charge him £150.00 which is ridiculous considering a HDD is approx £50.00 and doesn't take long at all to replace.

I'll go with him and double check the signed agreement. I was just wondering if they can actually get away with this if they had already implied to him that they were waiting for the cd's before they'd do anything. Would they not need to advise him of the diagnotic charge before hand?

I know what these little computer stores are like over charging people. I worked in one for a short period and the store would charge £30 to scan a photo into a word document, and £70 for a virus scan. The store would get away with it as well because some people don't have a clue, which is wrong.
 
Chadd said:
He took the laptop to them to be fixed which is when they asked for the drivers cd. He left the laptop with them and was returning with the drivers cd a few days later which is when I told him not to as they were going to charge him £150.00 which is ridiculous considering a HDD is approx £50.00 and doesn't take long at all to replace.

I'll go with him and double check the signed agreement. I was just wondering if they can actually get away with this if they had already implied to him that they were waiting for the cd's before they'd do anything. Would they not need to advise him of the diagnotic charge before hand?

I know what these little computer stores are like over charging people. I worked in one for a short period and the store would charge £30 to scan a photo into a word document, and £70 for a virus scan. The store would get away with it as well because some people don't have a clue, which is wrong.
Click to expand...


basically if he took it in , asked for it to be fixed then signed an agreement then he should pay for the work they've done

there would probably be a minimum charge of £25, did he think they would fix it for free?
 
Sounds like they were going to reinstall the OS and drivers for £150, if that's inc parts it's not a bad deal. How do you know the HDD was faulty? What work have they done so far?

They most likely asked for the driver CD as it makes the reinstall process a lot quicker (faster turnaround) and if they charge based on time as well, cheaper.

There's usually a minimum charge, stops people from wasting business time by bringing it in to get a once over for nothing and fixing it themselves or taking it elsewhere. They've more than likely run some diagnostics.

If you worked in a IT repair place before and think that £30 to scan a photo and £70 for a virus scan is borderline criminal, you're being naive (no offence intended). Running a small IT business is expensive, and like anything, if you get someone else to do it, it'll cost money that'll seem like a lot to someone who knows what they're doing. For example, you could get your car fixed with labour of £100+, but if you were a mechanic it'd seem stupidly pricey for a couple of hours work. You're paying for their skill as well as time. That's how it works. Try running a small IT business and charging what you think is reasonable. It wouldn't last for long at all.
 
JBuk said:
basically if he took it in , asked for it to be fixed then signed an agreement then he should pay for the work they've done

there would probably be a minimum charge of £25, did he think they would fix it for free?
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Of course he didn't expect it to be done for free. Personally though I believe they are over charging him because they think they can get away with it.

It wouldn't even take 5 minutes of their time to run a diagnostic even if they did do what they claim. These are like solicitors charges.

Thanks for your responses guys
 
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