They cahrge about £60 labour to swap a hard drive for you, he's talking out of his rear end. Don't be took for a mug, go along this time, make it clear it's the last time you'll be coming out for free and next time he will have to pay a call out fee, then any support he needs which obviously isn't your obligation to provide he will be charged £20 per hour.
Advice please - refunding a customer
- Thread starter Simmy
- Start date
Sirrel Squirrel said:
Yeah they charge 60quid to hoover your insides ( the pc not your guts ) and tell you its knackered. Its then another 60+ to start fixing anything. Warry stuff is usually done over the phone because the stores dont want to loose man-hours fixing things they arent being paid extra money for.
This "customer" is the kind you dont need... they seem to think that because you ONCE came and got their printer working after they installed it wrongly, that you are now respsonsible for all and any problems they ever get with any pc/peripheral they ever buy again for the rest of their lives! i kid you not.
I had one guy saying id broken is monitor because 3 months previously id come out and replaced a faulty dvd writer! i didnt even sell him the damn pc!
"well you came and worked on the pc and now the monitor isnt working, it must have been something you did!"
What 3 MONTHS later??? "yes..."
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VIRII said:
No physical issues that I have ever seen.
The first problem was with Halo 2. It installed and played with no problems until one day the game loaded, the sound played, but the screen stayed black. The problem was with a windows update, which was installed automatically (this problem is fairly well known). I uninstalled that and the game worked again.
Another problem was that the DVD-RW wouldn't work. I went round and burned a DVD in Nero without any problems at all.
The third was a problem in Pro Evo Soccer 5. He appears to have reached a point in the game that freezes every time. However, if he plays a 'quick match' the game runs flawlessly again. I put this down to a glitch in the software as the hardware ran the game without any problems. I offered to install the latest patch, but he seemed adamant he could do that.
There have been various other problems, mainly with iTunes, in between. I can't remember them all off the top of my head though.
This time, he's complaining of more crashes, so I will see what happens. If something has failed, am I at least allowed to fix it for free, before having to give him a refund? All parts were brand new, so I should be able to RMA anything if there is a problem.
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Simmy said:
If he wants to go down the warranty route then fine. After this amount of time you are entitles to take back the pc and take upto 28 days to fix it IF it needs fixing. And to charge atesting fee if its not faulty. Dont take crud of this guy hes either a totally stupid user or hes trying it on.
Soldato
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If it's a hardware fault and under warranty you'll have to fix it for free, you can charge him if there isn't a fault though for wasted time
edit/ obviously the parts will be under warranty so you can get them replaced by the manufacturer
edit/ obviously the parts will be under warranty so you can get them replaced by the manufacturer
Sounds like his windows has become corrupt, I have to wipe and re isntall windows xp about once every 6 months because it just gets clogged up etc.
Nothing at all to do with hardware, I recommend you buy yourself an 80gb harddrive (£30) for yourself, install windows xp on it and install prime95, 3dmark03, memtest etc. and take it with you on any "warranty" call outs of which you are only responsible for failed hardware. You can then just open his case, take his harddrive out and yours in (to eliminate any software problems and run tests to establish if the hardware is fine), run your tests, if they pass then you can put his harddrive back in so it's in same state as you found it, and bugger off since any crashes are not your problem.
Nothing at all to do with hardware, I recommend you buy yourself an 80gb harddrive (£30) for yourself, install windows xp on it and install prime95, 3dmark03, memtest etc. and take it with you on any "warranty" call outs of which you are only responsible for failed hardware. You can then just open his case, take his harddrive out and yours in (to eliminate any software problems and run tests to establish if the hardware is fine), run your tests, if they pass then you can put his harddrive back in so it's in same state as you found it, and bugger off since any crashes are not your problem.
you have no obligation to give him support for any 3rd party software/hardware he may be putting on himself. its nice to hear your going to lengths to help him but he is taking the p.
As he is costing you more than hes paying tell him he is not going to get any more free support as everything YOU set up works flawlessly. things like bluetooth adapters and software is his problem. if he wants to take it to pc world let him spend £60 for something you offered him for free. And don't offer him a refun. as far as your conserned the hardware and software you supplyed when he bought it works.
As he is costing you more than hes paying tell him he is not going to get any more free support as everything YOU set up works flawlessly. things like bluetooth adapters and software is his problem. if he wants to take it to pc world let him spend £60 for something you offered him for free. And don't offer him a refun. as far as your conserned the hardware and software you supplyed when he bought it works.
Simmy said:I'd prefer to take the PC away and test it than stick around and chat with him tbh. But yeah, I will test it for a few days. If all tests pass flawlessly, I'll feel more confident when telling him where to go
If you sell me a car are you going to give me driving lessons for free?
I don't think so.
You sold him hardware, if he can't use software then it is 100% his problem and no-one elses.
Charge him for your time £30 an hour plus call out for any and ALL software problems that are of his making.
I fixed a PC for a numpty last year. It was full of viruses, trojans and other garbage that he got from spending his life downloading files from strangers on MSN etc.
I reinstalled windows for him. I told him not to download dodgy files etc. 6 months later he came around for another reinstall and once again it was full of dodgy software and downloads.
The third time he came round I told him TOUGH. I don't have the time.
Stop being so soft, this guy is taking you for a ride.
VIRII said:
Nice analogy, I think I'll use that on him
You're right, I do need to put my foot down. Once I can test the hardware and absolve myself, I'll tell him I'll start charging him.
Customers like these really puts a downer on your day
I have been having similar problems with a customer same as OP, but thing is, he's one of my mates (and this may sound stupid) he's as thick as pig **** and I constantly get "this is broken" - "it stopped working" and 95% of the time it was him going onto dodgy sites without antivirus, and I said to him "None of my PC's I sell to non mates have no charges" and he didnt understand that he was getting it fixed for free and said it was my fault. I said everytime you call me out to fix a problem you created it'll be 40 quid an for the first hour and 15 thereafter.
It's been 3 months since I spoke to him about his PC (though we're still friends). It's like they say "If you give an inch, they'll take a mile."
It's been 3 months since I spoke to him about his PC (though we're still friends). It's like they say "If you give an inch, they'll take a mile."
Update
Ooooh yes
I see a glimmer of hope. I've just collected the PC and had a quick look at it. He's right, it's crashing all over the place. A quick check of each component has so far pointed to the master hard drive....which I didn't supply 
It's the hard drive I pulled from his last computer. I supplied a 250gb one, which he wanted to use as a backup drive and that's working fine and dandy
Question is, do I fix the PC and return it to him, or do I break all ties and refuse to fix it? If he gets someone else to fix it, it will void the warranty. If I fix it, he still has another 5months to bug the hell out of me, under warranty, but I will make a quick buck back off him.
I've still got to thoroughly check the hard drive and make sure it's nothing stupid like a faulty cable or motherboard, but it's looking promising so far.
Ooooh yes
I see a glimmer of hope. I've just collected the PC and had a quick look at it. He's right, it's crashing all over the place. A quick check of each component has so far pointed to the master hard drive....which I didn't supply It's the hard drive I pulled from his last computer. I supplied a 250gb one, which he wanted to use as a backup drive and that's working fine and dandy Question is, do I fix the PC and return it to him, or do I break all ties and refuse to fix it? If he gets someone else to fix it, it will void the warranty. If I fix it, he still has another 5months to bug the hell out of me, under warranty, but I will make a quick buck back off him.
I've still got to thoroughly check the hard drive and make sure it's nothing stupid like a faulty cable or motherboard, but it's looking promising so far.
i used to have a customer/friend like this...
went through the whole win 95/98/mill/xp senario.
everytime a new operating system came out he wanted an upgrade usually trying foc. everytime he got charged and paid for extras as well.
the best one was a phone call at 1.00am saying it wasnt working and could he bring it back. (this particular time he had had it for nearly 5 months and no moans).
so he turns up at the house (much to my wifes annoyance) and i hook it up and its dead. he says he hasnt used it since he had it back as he was moving house (feasable just). when i open it up the graphics card is out of its slot and the power supply not plugged in. put them back to rights and everything hunky dorey.
as for not using it , he couldnt explain how i sent it back with a clean install, and all his works logs were there right up to that afternoon.
never been seen to this day.
or the best one, that i will never forget, i supplied a new build to one of my older customers, spent a lot of money on it . he said his son in law new a bit so would give him a few pointers and the grand kids wanted to be able to play on it.
anyway delivered it and set it all up, he even bought a new desk for it , but put it in the conservatory with no power sockets.
any way we got around that
and he was happy.
i came away thinking in true arnie style..I'LL BE BACK
met his wife in town 12 months later and gingerly asked how they were getting on , only to be told, the son in law didnt know anything , and they (wife and husband ) went on a computer course . ( they are both in there 80s) good on them i say.
went through the whole win 95/98/mill/xp senario.
everytime a new operating system came out he wanted an upgrade usually trying foc. everytime he got charged and paid for extras as well.
the best one was a phone call at 1.00am saying it wasnt working and could he bring it back. (this particular time he had had it for nearly 5 months and no moans).
so he turns up at the house (much to my wifes annoyance) and i hook it up and its dead. he says he hasnt used it since he had it back as he was moving house (feasable just). when i open it up the graphics card is out of its slot and the power supply not plugged in. put them back to rights and everything hunky dorey.
as for not using it , he couldnt explain how i sent it back with a clean install, and all his works logs were there right up to that afternoon.
never been seen to this day.
or the best one, that i will never forget, i supplied a new build to one of my older customers, spent a lot of money on it . he said his son in law new a bit so would give him a few pointers and the grand kids wanted to be able to play on it.
anyway delivered it and set it all up, he even bought a new desk for it , but put it in the conservatory with no power sockets.
any way we got around that
and he was happy.i came away thinking in true arnie style..I'LL BE BACK
met his wife in town 12 months later and gingerly asked how they were getting on , only to be told, the son in law didnt know anything , and they (wife and husband ) went on a computer course . ( they are both in there 80s) good on them i say.
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Soldato
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Phone him up tell him the issue and tell him the cost of the replacement, your time and call out. as this is not within your warranty.
He'll probably argue the toss.
He'll probably argue the toss.
Associate
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I'd dump him while I could whilst explaining his warranty will be invalidated and cut the strings. He could be on your back for another year with a new hdd.
Associate
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VIRII said:
This man speak the truth.
Just so I've got this straight - your customer hasn't had any hardware issues, his problems have been all software related, and he's angling for a refund?! Sounds to me like you've got beyond the call of duty, beyond what most computer shops would have done, and if it went legal, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Grounds for a refund are :- goods are faulty, not as described, or not of satisfactory quality. The 'satisfactory quality' clause is a bit of a grey area, because he could argue that he's not satisfied, but it's neither your fault nor the hardware you supplied's fault that he hasn't got two braincells to rub together when it comes to IT.
I'd be tempted to take it to court, and see what happens.