computer fixed refuses to pay

[wjwren]

I collected a PC from a chaps house on Tuesday and informed him that the hard drive had gone, he said go ahead and replace it. Yesterday I was going to drop it back and he phoned me in the morning to check what time id be over and price (id given him a rough idea before but not an exact figure) He said dont bother fixing it I can get a hard drive from the market & a copied version of windows for £40. I told him I had already done the machine as requested. He asked what my charge was to fix the Hard drive and i informed him it was £75 for windows XP inc installation & £62 for the hard drive. He said this was a rip off as he can get windows for free off the internet and down the market they are doing hard drives for £40! I dont deal in copied software or hard drives from the market so on that basis I will never compete. For his information I googled hard drive replacement costs and found 3 prices all around the £150 mark, 2 of which didnt include windows or the installation of windows. Told him this and he wasnt having any of it.

He then said he just wants the PC back and he would be over in the morning to collect it and pay me for my time only.
Door bell goes - i handed him invoice for £30 and he said he wasnt paying it and picked up and ran to his car.
The bloke is 75 mouthed off for 2 mins about how he used to have his own business and he never put any profit on parts and by doing so I was ripping him off. He never answered why he wouldnt pay me a measly £30 for my time when he said he would do before.

[allergictocheese]

Does the negative word of mouth and time spent formulating and dealing with a small claim outweigh the benefit of winning less than £200?

I'd hazard a guess that it does in this case.

[paintman]

Had you put his defective hard drive back in?

[hedgefinder]

sorry, but I am at a total loss as to why you allowed him to take the computer away, let alone without paying for the entire original invoice.....

[t400ble]

I ran a my own computer shop for years

Every job had a price

All customers would be called in advance with the price, if they wanted the job doing I would

If they didn't they collected their PC back

No one took anything without paying. Ever.

[wjwren]

hedgefinder said:

sorry, but I am at a total loss as to why you allowed him to take the computer away, let alone without paying for the entire original invoice.....

I didnt allow him - he picked it up and ran off

[Cliftonite]

Do I understand this correctly?

You let him have his PC back before he paid you?

If so, just why???



P.S. Could you send him a virus or two?

[wjwren]

paintman said:

Had you put his defective hard drive back in?

yes old HD back in his Pc

[JagXJR]

Agreed.

Small claims court is your legal redress option now he has the PC back. I would have got the money first.

Also since you know where he lives have a word with Microsoft or FACT and see if they agree with his views, I believe they take this quite seriously.

[bitchstewie]

Microsoft and FACT aren't going to care about a domestic user.

In all honesty I'd chalk it down to experience given the amount involved.

[RichB]

wjwren said:

hedgefinder said:

sorry, but I am at a total loss as to why you allowed him to take the computer away, let alone without paying for the entire original invoice.....

I didnt allow him - he picked it up and ran off

So he forcibly entered your home/office/workshop and stole it?

[wjwren]

bhstewie said:

Microsoft and FACT aren't going to care about a domestic user.

In all honesty I'd chalk it down to experience given the amount involved.

agree, microsoft wont be bothered about this.

[98elise]

wjwren said:

hedgefinder said:

sorry, but I am at a total loss as to why you allowed him to take the computer away, let alone without paying for the entire original invoice.....

I didnt allow him - he picked it up and ran off

A 75 year old man carrying a laptop got away from you!

[hedgefinder]

wjwren said:

yes old HD back in his Pc

so he got it back in the same condition he dropped it off to you in?
If thats the case then I would just forget it.

[wjwren]

RichB said:

o he forcibly entered your home/office/workshop and stole it?

I had pc in hall, put it in porch, handed him invoice he looked at it said im not paying this picked pc up and ran to his car.

[WinstonWolf]

We get occasional calls from home users, wouldn't touch one of their machines with a fifty foot barge pole .

[stuart313]

Should have deleted the cd/usb boot from the bios and passworded it whilst you had the chance.

[wjwren]

WinstonWolf said:

We get occasional calls from home users, wouldn't touch one of their machines with a fifty foot barge pole .

you know what ive been thinking this a lot recently. It seems more hassle than it's worth. Stuff is so cheap nowdays especially on ebay etc that people want you to pick their pc up fix it and drop it back for £20.

[Cyberprog]

Small claims mate - simple to do and I bet he'll pay when the court papers hit his mat.

[WinstonWolf]

wjwren said:

WinstonWolf said:

We get occasional calls from home users, wouldn't touch one of their machines with a fifty foot barge pole .

you know what ive been thinking this a lot recently. It seems more hassle than it's worth. Stuff is so cheap nowdays especially on ebay etc that people want you to pick their pc up fix it and drop it back for £20.

There isn't enough money in it for the hassle. We have a minimum charge which gets rid of the dross.

It doesn't matter what you do on a home PC "it didn't do that before you touched it". They expect a lifetime warranty on anything you touch for that twenty quid, they're best directed towards your competitors