Circuit board repair

[Vron]

Hi All,
I had a circuit board repaired before Xmas as my LCD TV wasn't working. The board came back with a note in it saying the only way to test is to fit it back into the TV - the TV still has the same fault. On examination of the board it doesn't look like anything at all has been done to it although the repairer says he has replaced 2 components. I took photographs of the board before it went back and unless the components have been replaced with exactly the same ones and soldered incredibly neatly the board looks the same as it came from the factory.

I emailed the repairer saying the board didn't work between Xmas and new year and got no response. I emailed again today and he has replied saying he did respond to me email (he didn't) and that if I want my £60 back I have to post the circuit board back so he can remove the components he "replaced"

I have had a second opinion on the TV and they tell me the fault is nothing to do with the Circuit board anyway it is a faulty ribbon cable and is not fixable anyway.

So - where do I stand with my £60. If I send the board back I know the original repairer is going to make it worse as he won't still have my original components to refit surely.

Small claims court? The guy still advertises on Ebay his repair service but as a Classified ad Ebay will not do anything.

Or just forget it and accept I have been conned?

[E31Shrew]

I would find it very strange, that he managed to diagnose a fault on your LCD TV, and then just ask you to send one board, as most have at least a couple.

What size is the telly and what brand?

[Vron]

Its a 32" LCD Bush. He advertised to fix the same fault on a 26" Bush LCD on Ebay so I emailed asking if he could fix a 32" displaying the same fault as his advert and he said he could.

[Pesty]

Not sure what to do in your situation. About the repair it is quite easy to solder SMT components very neatly if thats what were replaced or in fact conventional one too.

What to look for is a brighter joints or flux residue if he did not clean it off. Does he say what it was he actualy replaced on the reciept?

If the only way to test the PCB is to fit it to the TV how can he possibly know that his repair has worked and how did he fault find.

Edited by Pesty on Thursday 22 January 16:25

[E31Shrew]

Vron said:

Its a 32" LCD Bush. He advertised to fix the same fault on a 26" Bush LCD on Ebay so I emailed asking if he could fix a 32" displaying the same fault as his advert and he said he could.

To be honest Vron you're probably better off just putting it down to bad luck and buying a decent brand! Just out of interest what was the fault? Line of green pixels???

[E31Shrew]

A faulty ribbon cable sounds like a strange diagnosis also...If it is the cable thats faulty then I would expect that it can be replaced easily but seems a bit strange all the same!

[Vron]

Hi
The TV has an intermittent fault of displaying vertical thin lines of colour on a black background but the sound stays on OK. The receipt just says he has replaced "components" that can cause the fault. As soon as it came back I had my suspicions as I had photographed it and it looked exactly the same as when it went for repair.

I know BUSH isn't the best of brands but I bought it because I liked how it looked (to go on the wall) and the picture when it works is excellent.

[Vron]

E31Shrew said:

A faulty ribbon cable sounds like a strange diagnosis also...If it is the cable thats faulty then I would expect that it can be replaced easily but seems a bit strange all the same!

The faulty ribbon cable diagnosis has come from someone else, I would have thought if it was a ribbon cable I could just buy a replacement and plug it in?!

[E31Shrew]

Vron said:

E31Shrew said:

A faulty ribbon cable sounds like a strange diagnosis also...If it is the cable thats faulty then I would expect that it can be replaced easily but seems a bit strange all the same!

The faulty ribbon cable diagnosis has come from someone else, I would have thought if it was a ribbon cable I could just buy a replacement and plug it in?!

Agreed....sometimes they are soldered but in the main normally applied with a couple of edge type connectors. I very much doubt that that is the issue though. Normally when the screen is showing vertical lines of about 1 pixel width, its down to either a screen failure or one of the chips that addresses the panel. Either way it might work out to be uneconomical for a commercial repair company to bother with. If youre happy with a 'cheapie' telly then I expect you'll see equivalent brands at or around sub £250.00.

[rasputin]

If nothing looks different and no solder joints look new, his £60 service may be to sweat a couple of solder joints (melt but not replace solder) to fix a known issue.

And he wants the board back before issuing a refund because he knows you won't bother and eBay don't care.

Oh well...

[john_p]

I did get something very similar with my Dell laptop LCD, replacing the ribbon cable fixed that one.

However... that was on a 6 yr old laptop which was being open and closed daily.. Not a TV on the wall that does nothing..

[Vron]

Thanks for the replies. He knows I won't return the board because its just throwing good money after bad. I am just angry that he can carry on doing it to someone else as Ebay won't act against classified sellers.

The problem in buying another telly is that they are all black surrounds now and I want a silver one!!

[Adrian W]

I just read the op's first post, I don't know what the fault is, but I work in a fairly large group of electronics companies and if someone did a pcb repair or changed a part and you could see it had been done, the repair operator would be on a diaplinary,

Your not supposed to be able to tell!

[VxDuncan]

+1 You shouldn't be able to tell if it's been done well. Either:
He knew what parts were likely to be the prob. replaced them and it didn't fix the problem
Or
He didn't touch the board, and hence it hasn't been fixed.

No easy way to tell without a lot of hastle. Wouldn't go throwing accusations until you understand the full picture. Would suggest another time the whole set was needed to check it out properly.