Last week, I was using the computer and my monitor went kablooey. No problem, I just went and got my spare monitor and put it on, and went on with my day. But then 3 days later, THAT monitor goes kablooey, too. Well, the spare monitor was REALLY shitty, so I figured I'd try another monitor. So my brother had a spare monitor, which he gave me to use.
Well, it would start to boot, but once it got past the windows screen, and before it got to the "Applying security policy" stuff, it would just shut off. So I took my computer into the shop- Compu Svcs (it says Compu Max in the phone book) in Smyrna. What a terrible, terrible mistake THAT was.
They were pretty cool when I went in there, they remarked on my Dell small case, acted like I had the holy grail of computer cases or something.
They charged a $30 diagnostic fee up front, which I have absolutely no problem with. They took my computer in that afternoon (about 3:00) and said they would have an answer for me yesterday (Wed.) at 5 pm, but NOT to call before 5 pm, because they wouldn't know anything before then. OK, whatever, man.
So I counted down the minutes until 5 pm yesterday, and called. They said they were still looking at it, and they would call me today at 3. I asked them if they had gotten to look at it yet, and he said he had, but he didn't know anything for sure yet. I totally think he was lying to me when he said that, but it didn't really bother me all that much- I used to work in the auto repair business, and if people called and asked about their car and we told them we hadn't looked at it yet, 9 times out of 10 we'd be called slackers. Never mind that there are 100 cars in front of you, but I digress.
So he calls me today at about noon, and tells me my motherboard and video cards are both shot all to hell. "OK", I said, "how much to replace them?" He says I can buy a whole new computer for only $399 (normally $599, but they'd take $200 off if I traded in my old computer), and they would move my memory and my other stuff over to the new computer for me for free. Oh, and I also had to pay $129 to get windows XP, which they assured me I REALLY needed. "OK," I said, "Let me talk this over with my husband and I will call you back."
So I get off the phone with them to think it over. The whole thing seemed just downright shady to me. So I called C&C computer services in M'boro to see what they thought. They said sometimes it isn't worth it to replace the motherboard and video card, but sometimes it is, and to bring it in and they'd look at it and see.
I called back Compu Svcs, and asked them how much, exactly, would it cost to just put the motherboard and the video card in, and they would NOT tell me. The guy at C&C had told me it would be between $80 and $175 to replace the motherboard depending on the model of my computer, but the guy at Compu Svcs wouldn't even estimate,he just kept telling me it was too expansive. I told him I liked my case and all the memory and everything. He said I could keep my memory, they would transfer it over to the new computer, but I would have to have a new case. I asked them to put my computer back together, because I wanted it back. They acted like I had asked them to bend over and kiss their own asses. You'd think people NEVER wanted their computer back when they told people this. So I had to get firm and tell them to put the computer back together, and I would be there in one hour to pick it up.
So when I got there, I had no problems picking it up. Drove to M'boro. On the sign for C&C, they said diagnostics were $19.95. I kicked myself for not calling them first. Took my computer in, the guy had a hard time getting it to power on- the asshats at Compu Svcs had not put all the wiring back together, but when he put my computer back together, lo and behold, it worked fine.
There was NOTHING wrong with my computer, it's working just fine. In fact, I am sitting here typing on it now. The guy at C&C told me to try resetting the monitor, which I did, and now everything is A-OK. I have never been so blatantly lied to before by a company! Stay far away from the Compu Svcs people!
(also crossposted to my journal)