Here’s the back story…
I have an entire family of friends that live a few houses down. I’ve known them for over a decade, and they are like my second family.
When they have an issue with their computer, they call me.
A month or two ago, they had an EPIC failure in their computer. I tried all I could to bring it back but unfortunately, I didn’t have the resources to do so. So, naturally, they took it to a technician who does.
What does the technician do?
First, he simply swaps old parts onto a new motherboard and in a new case. Meh, ok. I can deal with that. I’ve done the same, in the name of “saving money.”
Second, he wipes the hard drive completely, with no attempt to recover old files. Had this been a hard drive failure like I had months ago, I would be able to deal with this… however this was not a hard drive failure. It was a corruption of the Operating System. The hard drive was still in good shape, therefore it could have been installed into a different PC as a slave drive to recover the files. This is PC Repair 101. No matter what, the client should be looked after. Therefore, if a format of the Hard Drive is needed, then all possible options to recover old files should be looked at, before just going in and doing it.
Third, the computer is locking up still. Brand new motherboard, brand new processor, and the damn thing locks up whenever it makes intense processes. Something tells me there is loose hardware in the computer, so now I gotta go in and make sure everything is locked in place.
I should mention, that the last time this guy worked on the computer, before he built them this new one, there were two PCI Cards and a memory module that were not fully installed, which caused the computer to lock up on occasion, which means they had to actively cut power in the middle of operation. Hence why it blew up.
Moving on…
Fourth, he installs Windows XP. What the hell!? Really? You’re gonna charge them $450 for a new motherboard and basic dual core processor and install an OS that is 8 years old?
Look… no one cares about what your opinion is. They want the latest and the greatest, especially if you’re overcharging by $150 – $200.
Therefore, Windows Vista would’ve been the way to go. If they have issues, guess what? More business for you (or me, actually, considering I’ll not recommend this shop ever again).
And now… we move on to the part that really pissed me off the most…
The guy actively hid several security updates as well as the update for Internet Explorer 8.
What. The. FUCK?
Are you serious?
I literally had to sit for an hour or so while I downloaded and installed Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer 8, as well as about 10 to 15 Hotfixes and Security updates.
And no, these were not recent updates. They dated to well over 6 months ago. They were actively hidden from Windows Update. They had just gotten the computer the same day that I got on it and set it up.
Let’s flash forward to now…
A week or so ago I asked my friend how it was running and he said this, and I quote.
It’s running great! Except it’s still locking up…
… umm… one would think that… if a “specialist” build the computer… the problems would go away… right?
I guess not.
Needless to say, I’ll not be recommending this particular PC Repair Shop to anyone. I’m tired of cleaning up after them.
