I recently came across a “sting” piece from the CBC about the various computer repair people over-charging and giving wrong diagnoses of the issues with computers. While I don’t necessarily agree with using a sting operation to determine just how bad the problem is (they could’ve just gotten the worst techs the various companies have), this isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this.
Slashdot has some good discussion and some of the comments to the original story are pretty good. Here’s my take on the issue:
When I was growing up, computers were an investment. If you have one, you were lucky. They have grown to be a more necessary part of our daily lives and, as such, we rely on them and their ability to store and preserve our data. In some cases, they have become so prevalent that for people with enough disposable income, computers are just a commodity. If one breaks, you buy a new one without worrying about fixing the other one. I see that regularly at work. It’s very unfortunate. Computer viruses are usually pretty easy to clean and prevent. I like to think of computers as a car. Most people don’t think twice about performing regular preventative maintenance on their cars. Oil gets changed every 3,000 miles or every 3 months, whichever comes first. The minute something sounds funny or starts acting weird, the car is taken to a mechanic to look at. Diagnosis fees are normal for your car, but people expect them to be free for computers.
Computer technicians can’t tell exactly what is wrong with the computer or what the solution might be simply by looking at the computer. That’s just not how it works. It’s very similar to auto mechanics. They aren’t able to tell what’s wrong with your car simply by hearing a sound or by you trying to tell them what it sounds like. They might have an idea, but it could be a number of things. The same goes for computers. That being said, computer technicians should be trained to diagnose problems correctly. You wouldn’t trust just any guy that calls himself a car guy with your car. Most people bring them to certified mechanics. Unfortunately, while there are professional certifications for certain aspects of computer support, there’s no good measure of how good a tech is. If he can memorize things and take a test well, he gets certified. There’s no hands on aspect to it.
The video from the CBC shows several techs completely failing to properly diagnose the issue. In fact, many of them seem to just be going through the motions and then taking a completely wild guess at what’s wrong. I take offense to what most of them did, being a computer technician myself. One of them went so far as to tell the woman her hard drive was dead and she’d have to take it to a special data recovery place for about $2,000, but then he started copying her data to his laptop without a problem (and without asking permission). I’d say that’s a pretty bad mis-diagnosis if you ask me. I also find it extremely unprofessional the way he left the data on his laptop saying “I’ll delete it later”. Under no circumstances should a tech be copying anyone’s data to their own device unless specifically asked by the client to backup their data.
The moral of the story is if you are looking for computer tech support, get referrals from friends. Chances are, the local hole in the wall independent computer store knows more than the big box, make as much money as we can place. The local stores are all about customer retention. The big boxes are about the bottom line. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out which one will offer you the best service for the best price.
The one other thing I want to point out is buying hardware from the techs. If you have something wrong with your car and need a part installed, that part is going to cost more coming from the mechanic than if you went out to buy it on your own. The same holds true for a computer technician. If they give you the parts, you’re probably going to pay more (after all, they do have to acquire them somehow, whether it’s keeping a stock, going out and buying them for you, or ordering them online for you). Their determination that the techs were giving them ridiculous prices for the parts is just wrong. First of all, the parts bought at a big box store are going to cost more than buying them online anyways. Then there’s the markup for buying the part from the tech. For example, the battery in my car died. I considered going to an auto parts store to buy a new one myself. However, it was about 8:00 pm on a dark cold January night. I decided to just let AAA come and install the battery. They came and the batter cost about $30 more than if I had bought it myself, but I didn’t have to leave the comfort of my home and install the battery in the below freezing weather.
So I guess the real moral of the story is that while some of what those techs did was unprofessional, the sting operation on them didn’t prove much more than the fact that there are some bad apples out there.
0 Responses to “Tech Support “Professionals” Over-charging and Mis-diagnosing”