Job hassle [yet again]

No it is not, it is a tool sold for a job.

You can not expect to take it apart and change things and then have the manufacturer fix it if/when it stops working.

 

What a sad little man you are.

 

Apple allow customer fitting of hard drive upgrades, ram installation, graphics card installations-basically also if there's a spare bay you can fill it (so long as it's on their compatibles lists).Maybe they're more confident in their hardware.

 

Of course you can. Unless the part you've changed has caused the problem in the first place then you've as much rights as if you'd never opened the case up.

 

...not if you've broken the seal that invalidates the warranty, that's what it's there for.

 

Apple is a very straight forward format compared to a PC, there are to many variables/options when it comes to a PC.

 

Sounds to me like you need to get a disclaimer drawn up. You know:
'Whilst this work will be carried out to etc etc.... It will invalidate your warranty.... AT's company will not be responsible for repair or replacement to any parts not installed by him... If the customer is not willing to accept these terms they should not go ahead with the work.'

Really it's not difficult. You must have seen this model in a thousand places.

 

AT get them to sign something before you carry out any work.

Simple.

 

Won't people tell me to piss of though handing them a piece of paper before I even start work? I just hate operating like that.

 

For future reference you should really have made it clear to him at the time that the work you were doing would invalidate his manufacturers guarantee, and that whilst you were willing to upgrade with the components requested, you would not be held liable for the cost of replacement parts or labour for parts that mayu susbsequently fail and were not supplied by yourself!

Now if you haven't made that clear at the start (verbally would be sufficient if you knew and trusted the fella but a written waiver would be more secure for you), it gets trickier.

If its just 'your' part thats died and prevented the system from working, then just replace it -a dead memory stick like you mention is a good easy fix, and he'll rightly be pleased at you doing it under warranty

If its an Acer supplied part thats failed, tricky.

If you failed to notify him that the warranty on the rest would be voided, I'd explain to him that this is sadly the case, and if he's still expecting you to fix it then at most I'd offer a part payment towards the cost of replacement parts (but not labour - this could take hours to troubleshoot!) as a goodwill gesture (decide how much beforehand) and see where it goes from there.

Can you risk losing this guy as a customer, and potentially slagging off your services to others if he remains unhappy? How much business have you received from him directly and indirectly (recommendations to others etc)? Is he a good and regular customer you strive to keep? Answer these questions and it will guide you towards your response to him (or others who you face with similar issues in future) if you go down this route, and how generous or not you are willing to be!

I'd venture that a fair proportion of people know that using a non-approved/official repair or service company (as you are in this case) will void original manufacturers warranty, its common knowledge amongst people with a modicum of sense and intelligence if you ask me - probably why you didn't even bother explaining to him in the first place! So your offer is actually quite generous - maybe explain this to him (nicely of course).

If its a part you supplied that caused it (e.g. a PSU supplied by you blew up and killed everything else in the system) trickier still. Can't really cover all bases here...any lawyers present lol? As a consumer I'd at least want some act of good will from the supplier in such a situation but you in turn could be able to get something from the manufacturer, since the parts is covered by their warranty as well.

 

thats their option

 

And my business down the pan due to lack of customers :.

 

No.

I soemtimes had to cover myself when I was doing gardening work.

I had occassionally to quote for a price for replacing a fence......but had to make the proviso that if I hit anything nasty under ground that was goign to take me a lot longer, I would have to charge for that.

Not exactly the same thing but similer I think.

I don't know computers that well but what LS etc are suggesting sounds very reasonable to me. I doubt your business will suffer because every onelse will be doing that anyway.

Maybe as you say you don't have to get customers to sign but mention the proviso when discussing the job/work.

Then again if it isn't a written agreement it won't stand up ina court of law?? Anyone?

 

If this is a common scenario AT then you need a simple written disclaimer, it shouldn't put people off, but people need to know where they stand.....YOU should know where YOU stand.
Most of my work on people's houses has potential for unknowns to be uncovered, or tricky situations to be overcome. Most of the time you should have an idea of what is to be expected, but things can be more complicated than first impressions suggest - and in these situations it is absolutely vital that you make your customer aware of what's what before you start. It's not just protecting yourself from losing money, it's about looking vaguely professional and not letting your customers down.

 

I think I need to take some advice on how to apply this to my industry. Really the only hassle I have is data loss, hardware is so cheap that if I have to replace any of it due to my error I am only talking £100 not £1000's for data loss.

Out of 400 jobs I have had two near misses so far:-
1) I was working on a job and the hard drive failed on me - this was the fault I was called out for and I explained this luckily they understood it was not my fault but some other customer may have not been so nice about it
2) I put a brand new hard drive in a machine and it went pop. The power supply blew and I was very worried about as it may have taken the primary drive with it. I just RMA'ed the drive and luckily the customer had no issues with paying for a new power supply (it was a cheap one anyway).

These days I sometimes refuse to upgrade a PC unless I upgrade the power supply too even if the old one is technical ok you can't trust the data printed on cheap ones.

 

your customers should be backing up data regularly whether or no?

he who doesn't must bare the consequences.

(a point my local computer shop put to me very graphically.....he had a gentleman in his shop in tears because the hard drive hard gome up the swanny.........with it 3 years business records.........+the tax man was after him.........he hadn't backed up his data.)

 

Acer

If the acer has flagged up that the case has been open it is probably like Dell pc's so you take out your upgrades return it back to the original state and if like Dell reset the opening of the case can be done in the bios. If this can be done take the Acer in for repair under warranty
Dave

 

AT,
a bit of paper agreed by both parties containing what you expect the customer to do and what the customer can expect you to do before you start business often helps. It may will concentrate both your minds and with any luck convey some small portion of professionalism on your part.

IMHO slightly bombastic. It is not how it applies to your industry it is how it applies to you and your customer. After all it is you who are doing the work and your customer who you expect to pay you when given an invoice / bill. Nothing to do with your industry unless they are going to guarantee your work, pay you if the customer does not.... You are on your own as a trader.

 

I don't see how Trade can avoid giving a reasonable warranty on equipment he has supplied and work he has done.

Paul

 

In this case I didn't supply the faulty component though nor was it any work I have done that caused it.

I have aways wondered how much data loss is the customers responsibility. I mean if my hard drive fails now due to power surge I cannot sue my electricity board. It would be my fault for not backing up my data.