That one customer who insisted I just swap the power supply when the board was clearly fried

Had a guy bring in a Dell Optiplex last Tuesday, smelled like burnt electronics the second he walked in. I popped it open and showed him the swollen caps on the motherboard, but he kept saying just try a new PSU first because his cousin told him that's always the fix. Finally convinced him to let me test it with a known good board and then he saw the smoke come out of the old one. Do you guys ever just let them waste $60 on a part you know won't help?

2 comments

2 Comments

patkelly17d agoTop Commenter

Yeah, don't you just hate wasting time like that? I usually offer to do the PSU swap for free if they buy the part, then when it still doesn't work, they finally listen.

rayy8317d ago

Respectfully, I see it a little different. Free labor just teaches people they can ignore good advice and still get bailed out. If you swap the PSU for nothing and it still doesn't work, they might finally listen, but they also learned they can waste your time with no consequence. Someone who brings their computer to a shop and argues about the diagnosis before even trying your fix isn't going to magically appreciate your help later. They'll just find someone else to blame when the next thing breaks. Letting them sit with a dead machine for a day or two usually makes them more open to your original suggestion.