Repair Shop Horror Stories?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I don't know if this was a thing elsewhere, but for a very long time (until the advent of "repair it yourself" tutorials on the net, really) there was a growing paranoia regarding PC & electronic repair shops, with users stating that their parts would be swapped for worn/inferior ones just so they'd have to go back to the shop or pay them to upgrade their junk.

I'm not sure how much credence I give to this theory, but I definitely know that my game port disappeared altogether after my dad took the Pentium II to the store (but I'm not sure if he had them actually replace the soundcard). Our CD drive broke almost on schedule, too. Hmmm.

A friend definitely told me that his Dreamcast came back with a missing modem, though, and that this one suddenly reappeared after he complained about it.

What about you? Any stories to share?

 

[Yousef]

So happy this is one field where I got almost nothing but positives, and any negatives are probably drowned out. Whether it being my phone, my ps4, my car, if you’re in kuwait you probably gonna find reliable tech and mech wizards for anything. Not sure if it’ll be like that forever cuz people are slowly getting lazier and sneakier these days, but I genuinely only have good stories to share and for that I’m grateful.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Yeah I have that fear, I just can't trust them sometimes (probably because I don't want to spend too much for it)

 

[otogirisou]

their parts would be swapped for worn/inferior ones

still happened here even today, not only electronics, but vehicles too.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

still happened here even today, not only electronics, but vehicles too.

Damn. That's something I'm always paranoid of, since I don't know nearly enough about cars to notice.

 

[DevilBusterAkemi]

I don't know if this was a thing elsewhere, but for a very long time (until the advent of "repair it yourself" tutorials on the net, really) there was a growing paranoia regarding PC & electronic repair shops, with users stating that their parts would be swapped for worn/inferior ones just so they'd have to go back to the shop or pay them to upgrade their junk.

I'm not sure how much credence I give to this theory, but I definitely know that my game port disappeared altogether after my dad took the Pentium II to the store (but I'm not sure if he had them actually replace the soundcard). Our CD drive broke almost on schedule, too. Hmmm.

A friend definitely told me that his Dreamcast came back with a missing modem, though, and that this one suddenly reappeared after he complained about it.

What about you? Any stories to share?

the Dreamcast modem doesn't shock me, but i don't think that was malice. they're really easy to forget to click on, speaking as a Dreamcast owner.

 

[TofuTehSurvivor]

Not a repair place, but a used game store near me tried to pull a couple quick ones on me during a big trade-in. They kept trying to nitpick my games and say things didn't work on them; probably because they knew I was walking away with cash instead of store credit. I knew something was up when they told me my copy of Paper Mario would not boot. Told them I clean my games (I do), and they said they cleaned it too. Took it home, popped it in, and it worked on the first try no hassle. Then I started to notice that they were specifically not taking ANY trades that had any type of Blockbuster label on them. I went back with my games, and called them out. Told them to fire up Paper Mario right in front of me. I had them load up all 8 games they had refused across four consoles right in front of me. They kept telling me the ONLY reason they couldn't take them originally is that they would not load. But I was just kind of thinking "come on man, if you're gonna bullshit me, at least tell me the real reason." If they had told me the truth I might have not bothered, but I also remember for a fact that I had bought 2 of those games from them previously. So suddenly you DON'T accept games with rental labels? Totally avoidable mess had they been honest.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I went back with my games, and called them out. Told them to fire up Paper Mario right in front of me. I had them load up all 8 games they had refused across four consoles right in front of me.

Mad respect, bro.

I wish I could be like that.

 

[KrossX]

Tec support here, I remember one time I had to salvage data from a desktop computer that had been taken to be serviced and never worked afterwards. I don't remember stolen parts but even CPU cooler was broken, as if brute force was used to remove it.

It's like car mechanics or AC repair, etc. There's unscrupulous and opportunist people everywhere, enough to ruin trust. And that includes "clients" that want to take advantage of you.

 

[Another Iori]

During the period of the first two PlayStations, I was quite suspicious about it, in fact, I think I was one of the few consumers of that historical period, who didn’t install any kind of physical modification on their systems.

 

[Antilocal123]

I once had to enter a repair shop and interact with another human being instead of hiding behind a screen it was super scary and I still get nightmares from it.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

The real horror experience is the life of the repairman. Having to open and clean up those filthy devices filled with hairs, dried body fluids and various dead small animals.

They're the unsung heroes of this age.

 

[What's His Face]

Bit on the opposite end of OP, but on the technician-side (which happened to a friend)...

Maggots.