Had a client argue with me for 20 minutes about a dead power supply last week

Guy swore up and down it was a virus because his PC wouldn't turn on, even showed me a YouTube video claiming power supply failures don't happen. Has anyone else had customers fight you on basic diagnostics like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey_barnes1mo ago

People get so defensive when their whole understanding of how something works gets questioned. It's like they've watched a few YouTube tutorials and suddenly they're experts, then when reality hits they double down instead of admitting they were wrong. I see this with cars too - guys who swear their engine knocking is just "normal" because a guy in a video told them it's fine, even when the mechanic is showing them the broken part. The internet made everyone think they're a specialist in everything, and common sense got thrown out the window. Had a neighbor argue with me once that his lawn mower didn't need new oil because some blogger said manufacturers just want to sell you overpriced filters. People trust a stranger on a screen more than their own eyes and ears, it's wild.

richard1371mo ago

Oh man, this is a whole other level. I actually wonder sometimes if part of this is people treating their tech like some kind of identity thing. Like if their computer fails in a basic way, it means they're not as smart as they thought, so the brain just won't accept simple answers. I had a buddy who swore his router was being hacked because his wifi kept cutting out. Spent three days changing passwords and yelling at his ISP. Turns out his cat had chewed through the cable behind the desk. He could see the frayed wire with his own eyes and still argued it was "the hackers finding a new way in." People build entire stories in their heads to avoid feeling dumb about a chewed up cable. It's like their pride short circuits before the machine does.