Failure while in company hands. What do you do?

[mit74]

I recently had a computer where the HDD had failed. It was at our company for a replace and restore when within about 30 secs of using the DVD player to reinstall Windows it too failed. It was unlcear whether this was failing before we got it but the customer didn't mention anything. Does the company pay for the DVD player or the customer? Taking a £20 hit on a DVD player wouldn't be so bad but what if it were the motherboard it probably be different. As a small business with very little profit margin I wouldn't be very happy.
What have others done in this situation?

 

[eog]

No the customer pays for it. It would be differant if you physically damaged it while working on it. The DVD drive in this situation was clearly already faulty!

 

[Jim2k]

If it was us we would replace the DVD drive as a gesture of goodwill. If it was the MB etc then discuss it with the client and work something out.

I'm sure the official line would be that if you didnt break it then you don't need to pay for it but I bet you wouldnt see the client again!

 

[Ashankt]

Think about the service your offering this customer. Is it a £20 hit to you? Not really. In shops I've worked in in the past we've had lots of second user dvd drives etc. Explain to the customer you've used one of these so they won't go without but you have a sneaking suspicion it was already on its way out.

From a technical point of view I'd check the power supply

 

[estwig]

Give it back and deny everything!

 

[Jim2k]

Give it back and deny everything!

Oh yeah, thats what I meant Ha Ha

 

[mit74]

It's difficult to deny it if all they wanted was say a memory upgrade and the mobo blew bewfore you even touched it. You would lose that customer and probably many others through word of mouth and in a worse case scenario they would take you to court which would prove incredibly expensive.

 

[pcproblems]

I agree, it's certainly a difficult one when it's a mobo.

With the DVD, I might fit a 2nd hand one if i happened to have one or tell them that it's not working properly and suggest that they might like you to fit a new one for them

 

[Steve202]

Personally I would inform the customer that the DVD drive is on the way out and ask them if they want it replacing while your doing their HDD, giving them a discount on the DVD drive.

 

[estwig]

You could always blame it on your kids.

Works for me!

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

I recently had a computer where the HDD had failed. It was at our company for a replace and restore when within about 30 secs of using the DVD player to reinstall Windows it too failed. It was unlcear whether this was failing before we got it but the customer didn't mention anything. Does the company pay for the DVD player or the customer? Taking a £20 hit on a DVD player wouldn't be so bad but what if it were the motherboard it probably be different. As a small business with very little profit margin I wouldn't be very happy.
What have others done in this situation?

CD / DVD / Blu-ray drives fail all the time. I would tell the customer its fubar, install Windows using an external drive and let them choose to put a new one in or not.

I purchased a brand spanking new blu-ray reader from scan last year; I used it to play 4 blu-ray discs over a 4 month period. It then died; it wasn't cheap, £60 at the time.

You could always give the drive to them at cost, DVDRW is <£15 inc vat, ex delivery, DVD Reader is <£10 inc vat, ex delivery.

 

[mit74]

that situation is in the past now I just wondered what would happen if it's really expensive like an i7 processor!

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

that situation is in the past now I just wondered what would happen if it's really expensive like an i7 processor!

I have never experienced a dodgy processor or one which has died randomly. I have seen quite a few which have melted due to overheating.

If its not your fault you explain it to the customer, if you are honest and professional you shouldn't have any issues. You can always say you are happy not to charge for your time for replacing the part etc.

What I would say is before you even connect and turn on a PC you should give it a quick inspection i.e. does it look like the owner smokes, is there jam on the side of the case, are there any dents etc, anything which shows possible issues / age. Always ask how old the machine is before the customer hands it over. Anything over 3 years is going to have some issues including failing optical drives, hard drive performance issues, possible PSU failure if its a cheap piece of junk.