Oswego Computer Solutions : What are you paying for? Oswego, Illinois

We were called by Mr. Harwell (Ryan's dad) about Ryan's laptop issue.  The problem described was that Windows would not boot on his laptop.  When questioned about what this type of repair might cost, we let him know that our average cost of a repair in this category is $75-$125 (note: this was not a written quote).  He agreed to bring the laptop to our shop so that we could properly diagnose the problem.  Once we received the computer, we quickly found out that the power connector on the laptop was loose and causing an intermittent connection.  This caused the laptop to turn off while diagnostics were being run.  Our assumption was that this problem probably caused some file corruption which was causing the computer not to load Windows.  At this point we were dealing with 2 issues, one we were told about and one we were not. 

During the course of the 2 days that we had the computer, we were contacted several times by Ryan's parents wanting to know the status of the repair.  During one of these calls we were informed of the fact that there was a great deal of important information on the laptop that was not backed up.  We were asked to back up this information which obviously was not part of the original scope of work.  The hard drive was then removed from the laptop and the information was backed up onto CD-ROMs.  The hard drive was then put back into the laptop so that the repair could now be done without fear of losing data.  The repair was significantly complicated by the power problem.  In fact, we spent several minutes manipulating the power cord until we could get it into a position where the laptop would stay running.  At this point, we actually had to tape the power cord to our workbench to make sure that it would not move.  We then booted the computer into recovery console, ran disk repair utilities and solved the boot problem.  All of this took over 2 hours to accomplish. 

Due to the fact that we encountered a power issue that we were not told about and the fact that we were asked to back up data our final invoice went $25 over the top end of our average repair.  We thought this was a very fair price for what we had to do and when we called Ryan's parents to tell them that the computer was ready and that the cost was $150, there was no objection.  We stayed at our office until almost 7:00pm on a Friday night waiting for Ryan's dad to arrive to pick up the laptop.  No payment was collected and we were told that Ryan would pay us on Monday.  We typically don't allow a computer to leave our shop without payment but Ryan's dad seemed like a reasonable guy and he promised prompt payment.  As it turned out, Ryan of course did not show up on Monday nor Tuesday nor Wednesday etc...  After several calls to his parents, Ryan showed up on the following Monday with a check for $150 to cover the repair.  He left without any comment then returned minutes later to voice his disgust over the amount of the invoice. 

We have repaired hundreds of computers over the past several years and this is the first time we have encountered a complaint.  The fact is, most people are surprised by how little we charge for repairs compared to some of the larger retail stores.