From: mikem@beanpot.ma30.bull.com (Mike Machnik)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Ripoff Repair Places
Date: 23 Jul 92 15:42:50 GMT
Reply-To: mikem@beanpot.ma30.bull.com (Mike Machnik)
Organization: Bull Worldwide Information Systems

This is part III of the continuing saga of my attempt to repair a Mac SE.
I have good news: it's now fixed and works perfectly.  However, I thought
people should be warned of how it almost cost over $300 to fix this thing.
Here's what happened:

My girlfriend had a power surge in her house a few weeks ago while using her
SE.  She called a local AUTHORIZED APPLE repair place, reported the error
code under the sad Mac, and they told her it was likely a fried SIMM - est.
cost about $40-$50.  I brought it in for her while I was out there a few
weeks ago.  Two days later they called her, said it was the logic board, and
would cost $315 (which she doesn't have).  Suspicious, I called the place
myself and they said they'd replaced the SIMMs but that it still didn't work,
and they weren't sure but it appeared to be the logic board.  I had no way of
knowing whether this was true or not, but since she doesn't have the money, I
suggested she ask them to return it to its original state so she could get the 
SE back and if they ask why, tell them she's waiting to get up the money for 
the repair.  Then I'd take it and do what I could do with it.

I picked up two Larry Pina books and a T-15 and went to work.  I'd never even
opened a Mac before, although I have had a Classic for 2 years.  The error code
indicated that the bad SIMM was #2; I had no other SIMMs, so I swapped it
with the 1 MB SIMM in slot #1 and the new code indicated that #1 was bad.
Looked like the SIMM to me, but I had nothing to replace it with and I didn't
want to have her spend the money for another 1MB module if it was going to
turn out that something else was bad too.  So, I went down to MY local
Mac store where they gave me for free four 256K SIMMs.  I replaced the bad
1MB and its partner with two 256's, bringing it down from 4MB to 2.5 but with
all good SIMMs, and guess what.  It's as good as new.

"Authorized" Apple Repair Place estimate: $315 for logic board & labor
Actual cost: 2 Pina books - about $70 total
             1 T-15 - $11 (had to get a 20-incher, all I could find)
             2 256K SIMMs - $0
        TOT - about $81, zip for parts.  The books & T-15 are reusable, so
it's not as if the entire $81 was sunk into just this repair.

Needless to say, she (and I) are not too happy at the way the place near her
wanted to rip her off.  We'll be writing a letter to the manager there and
cc'ing the Better Business Bureau, along with Apple (my suggestion) since
they are an authorized Apple repair place.  And if anyone from Apple is
reading this, I think you should know how some of your licensees are doing
business.  Fortunately, I have the receipt she was given when she picked up
the SE which explicitly states that the problem was diagnosed as a bad logic
board.  This should be a lot of fun and very interesting.

Any other examples of places ripping you off?  I wouldn't be surprised if this
thing happens quite often, since Mac users are perceived to be not as
knowledgeable about the details of computers and thus more likely to nod
their heads in agreement and pay up the outrageous bills.  The moral is, like
surgery, get a second opinion.  Or, unlike surgery, do it yourself. :-)
--
 == Mike Machnik                     Bull HN Information Systems Inc. ==
 == 508-294-2177                     300 Concord Road   MA30-836A     ==
 == mikem@beanpot.ma30.bull.com      Billerica, MA 01821              ==