Warranty repair or just DIY?

[contink]

Thought I'd ask this question as the Acer discussion raised some interesting points about the amount of cr*p support and warranty issues that tend to crop up with some suppliers.

 

Personally I build and supply my own workstations so I'm a little different, but even when it comes to laptops my approach is often one of trying to fix the issue myself. Experience has taught me that the opportunity cost in hours lost chasing support or coming up with a "temporary" replacement for the 3 months a laptop is away is just more than trying to get it fixed under warranty.

 

Am I alone in this approach or is this fairly common?

[greenfieldsupport]

Your not alone,

 

our support contract has become so useless lately that we've put in a system of 4 swap-out pc's to be used while the pc's are away for to be repaired for weeks, just for a PSU fitted or a motherboard changed, a job which could be done here in minutes.

 

When it comes to laptops, we do tend to stick to the warrentys though, however most we find break after the warrenty has run out.

 

We have alot of machines that we have built here also.

[broc]

In our case it depends upon the supplier, some are really hard work, others not so bad.

 

We have been known to swap HDDs rather than go through the hassle of spending an hour on the phone doing all sorts of 'tests' to convince the supplier it was duff. We have also replaced laptop keyboards and TFT screens that we suspected were vandalised rather than argue the case.

 

We tend to just replace laptop A/C adapters & batteries too.

[mckeder]

Personally,

 

I prefer to do all of my own work. Its much easier to get it done and it gets done faster and more money efficient. I build all of my own systems (including most laptops if I can get the parts) so I am fairly decent when it comes to doing things that need to be done. I almost refuse to pay someone to fix something for me that can easily (or I can learn) to fix myself.

 

Maybe I am just stubborn though.

[bishopsgarthstockton]

dude.... yu can buid new laptops.... ??

how and where do you shop for parts... ?

[mckeder]

Normally I just use old cases if I have any lying around. If I do then I just buy the parts either off of ebay or the vendors website.

 

Mostly I only build laptops for the company and personal use but once my business gets off the ground, I will build them and sell them.

[m2d2]

One good thing about the Dell Latitudes we bought a couple of years ago is that they come with an on-site repair warranty.

 

This means that in most cases a teacher is only deprived a day's worth of use.

 

I just wish we hadn't had to make so much use of the warranty.

 

Swings and round abouts, I guess

[bishopsgarthstockton]

Normally I just use old cases if I have any lying around. If I do then I just buy the parts either off of ebay or the vendors website.

 

Mostly I only build laptops for the company and personal use but once my business gets off the ground, I will build them and sell them.

 

wish i had the freedome to sort laptops out and crap

[Oops_my_bad]

Wow - cant believe some of you guys have the time to build your own workstations and laptops 8O

[tech_guy]

Yeah, I wish we could - at least we'd know what was going in to them and not put up with some of the dodgy stuff even some of the big players stuff into their workstations...

[contink]

Gotta admit that it's a pain in the butt when you get to machine number 20 and your hands are a mass of painful cuts with aluminium dust and lord knows what else in them.

 

But when it comes to resolving problems I know what went in, and have spares to replace anything that goes bad. Wish I hadn't just picked up a laptop trolley school though :?

[mckeder]

Yeah, It does really suck when you get to about the 50th desktop that you have built in a 2 week span. Thats the worst. Its even worse when its your 10th or 11th laptop you had to sodder the power source back onto. Thats a pain in the butt too!

 

But the nice thing about it is, you know exactly what you did, when you did it, how you did it and with what parts you did it with. Also, who likes talking to tech support in India? I sure don't. I would rather do it myself and pay the for the parts if they go bad.

[Geoff]

This is why I like Thin Clients. If one breaks, then it's dead and there's nothing you can do about it. Send it back in a box and wait for a replacement to turn up. In the meanwhile, just shove a spare system in it's place. It only takes a few minutes to set one up. Unlike a full blown desktop PC that needs imaging, etc.