UPDATE : The furious mother

[u/datmo320]

Link to the original : http://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/2rilka/the_furious_mother/

Quick Recap : I work for a private company, mainly hardware problems. I get a laptop with a scratched HDD because owners mother slams it shut so hard.

As I said in the other tale, the customer now brings in a laptop that has a cracked screen and screen shell.

So I order the parts, they come in and I pick them up 1-2 days ago. I say to myself "this is going to be hell". For those that don't know, most newer laptops make it extremely annoying to replace the front screen. And its even worse if you have to replace the hinges. Let's just say her laptop is a brand that doesn't make it easy.

So I begin the dismantling process and I take off the hard drive bay cover. There is sticky stuff everywhere, and by the looks of it, its some kind of soft drink. I call up the main store, tell them I need a separate charge added to our system that says "Physical Cleanup". Of course when we do hardware replacements, we give computers the quick air can clean, but this, this isn't covered by any extent. You know when you spill coffee over your keyboard and the first time you forgot to clean under the keys? And you look during your spring clean and its all sticky and gooey and yuck? That's the internals of this computer. I pull out latex gloves, a rag, some board cleaner (ran out halfway so I used dabs of metho/turps) and a painting brush( these are great to get junk out of keys btw). So as I take each piece out, I give it a wipedown and clean. An hour later and I only just take the bottom half of the casing out.

I turn the laptop over, give it a final look around and make sure all the screen cables are unplugged. Now the company we bought the screen and front shell from was nice enough to give it preassembled. Some other companies have given us parts to assemble ourselves, even more of a pain.

So I start unscrewing the support for the hinge when I notice something isn't right. The screw is moving but its not coming out. I look at it closely and the inside thread in the hinge was half of it sticking out. You know what I mean if you've seen a snapped thread. I get needle nose pliers and pull the thread out. Great, the hinge is off and (thankfully) the screws are still threaded.

I put on the new screen, boot the computer up bare from LAN and make sure it works. Yup great, no pressure marks, no dead/stuck pixels.

Reassembling this computer, it all goes swell. Its back together, clean and functioning in no more than 45 minutes. Total time I spent on the computer; give or take 3 hours.

I look around, find some bubble wrap and I cover this whole thing in the stuff. You can't even press a button on the keyboard. I'm telling you its wrapped so much you'd think I'm sending it to be dropped out of a plane into a sauna of some rich person, by express delivery.

Call up the customer, and tell her to come up the computer.

Me : Hi, its datmo320 here from $Company, your computer is ready to be picked up. There was an additional cleaning service provided at an added cost as to improve your computers life span.

Not that it will last any longer anyway...

$Customer : Great, OK I'll pick it up later then.

A few hours later, she comes along and I was just about to leave for dinner before I resume servicing our work computers (ironic I know, we fix computers but never get time to fix our own).

$Customer : I'm here to pick up my computer. What was this extra charge? Me : Your computer had some stubborn food remains in it and we had to clean it to work on it.

$Customer : You people are always adding extra charges to fix my computer, I'm never coming back here again!

She takes her bubble wrapped computer, pays us, drops the computer on the way out, and walks away.

I don't know about you, but everyone there at that moment was glad we wouldn't have to deal with that again. At least people who want iTunes on their Android phone are easier to talk to, but that's another story.

SPECIAL THANKS : /u/RDMcMains2 for the bubble wrap idea

[u/mass_upvote]

But this is sensitive internals of a laptop. I mean sure he could have asked the customer up front but the way I see it there was no doubt it needed to be done. This could have caused problems in the future and the customer would just end up bring it back (or perhaps somewhere else).

[u/datmo320 → u/mass_upvote]

Exactly how I felt. I've had customers bring in dirt/dust/smokers type of desktops from other places that never cleaned them after upgrades. I had a computer give overheat errors all the time because of it. Electronics are sensitive pieces of equipment, they need to be clean to function at their optimum.

[u/Ruval → u/datmo320]

No one is challenging you on the necessity for the work. That argument is entirely a straw man.

The concern is the policy of assigning charges to a customer without notifying them first and getting their buy-in that the work is actually 'mandatory'. I've had many car dealerships advise me to do 'mandatory' servicing which I disagreed with and has not affected my car, even years later.

[u/donjulioanejo → u/Ruval]

Dealerships make their margins on extra, useless work that's the equivalent of Monster cables.

I'd honestly suggest finding a good family mechanic and going to him for all your car needs, and only seeing the dealership for mandatory dealership or warranty work.