Rant: The client who asked me to 'fix' their 10 year old power supply

I had this guy come into my shop last Tuesday with a tower that wouldn't boot. He said it just stopped working one morning. I popped the side panel and saw a cheap 400 watt unit with a bulging capacitor near the fan. I told him the power supply was shot and he needed a new one, around $60 for a decent brand. He got real defensive and said I was just trying to upsell him. He asked if I could just solder a new cap on there instead. I tried to explain how these units aren't built for that kind of fix, but he wasn't hearing it. He grabbed his tower and walked out. A week later he came back with the same computer, said he tried to fix it himself and fried the motherboard too. Anyone else run into clients who think you're scamming them when you recommend a straightforward replacement?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_ross1mo ago

Damn dude that is rough. I feel your pain, people get so weird about hardware sometimes like we are making stuff up to get a few bucks out of them. I had a guy once argue with me for 20 minutes that his 15 year old HDD was fine because it still "spun up" even though it was clicking like a dying cricket. He took it home, tried to clone it himself, and came back crying about his vacation photos the next week. Its like they have to learn the hard way even when you straight up tell them what is going to happen.

king.lisa1mo ago

What was his excuse when he came back the next day after the drive died completely? People will fight you over a diagnosis they asked for, then act shocked when the inevitable happens. Makes me wonder if some folks just need to see the smoke before they believe there's a fire.