When things just fall to shit... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 08:42:02 am
content: Just wondering how you more experienced people handle when things go horribly wrong and it's out of your control?I've had a couple experiences like this, here's todays:A friend has a wireless guitar system. I've replaced the connector on the transmitter before because it was busted up badly and he insisted he didn't want to take it back to the store or manufacturer/importer because it would take too long. Fair enough, I replaced it, all was fine.It's been a year I think, and he called me saying he's having new problems with it. The connector is dodgy again (not much you can do, it's a horrible design), so he's getting signal issues. I told him I'd check it out, and it just seems to be slightly dirty contacts and a slightly dodgy plug on the new cable he has. Cleaned the contacts, pulled the transmitter apart to double check everything inside was happy, and all is well.Plugged in the receiver, switched it on and BOOM... safety switch tripped. Shit. Just to repeat, this wasn't the transmitter I had opened up, this is the receiver sitting in a rack on the other side of the room. Fuse looked absolutely annihilated, and there was a faint burnt component smell, so I erred on the side of caution and opened the unit up rather than just replace the fuse. Inside I saw an RF choke blown to pieces on the mains input section. Bugger.So even though this was out of my hands, I feel somewhat compelled to get it back up and running because it ate shit under my care. I called him up and explained the situation, asked if he wanted to send it for warranty repairs or not, and all is cool. I think he understood it was just bad luck and timing, but I still have that feeling like "If only it had been HIM that turned it on when it blew, I wouldn't feel like I should give a shit at all" haha.So there's a spare receiver in the rack too, so I tuned it in to the transmitter and gave it a test to confirm the clean contacts got rid of the dropouts and all seems fine. I give the cable a bit of wiggling like he explained to me would cause the dropout... and the connector pins snap. He'd obviously wiggled the fuck out of it before he told me "Hey, if you wiggle that plug it'll act up and you'll see what I mean", and I tried to be somewhat gentle about it, but still, now I feel compelled to go buy a new plug and put it on the lead because it broke in my care.So how do the pros deal with this stuff? Do you look at it and just say flat out "Bad luck, bad timing, it's broken and it'll cost $X to fix", or do you just wear it and fix it up as if it's YOUR bad luck. This isn't a business thing here, just a mate, but down the track I'd like to get paid to fix things now and then so it'd be nice to know.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 09:07:28 am
content: Oh bugger. It's always like that with buddies. Once you touch a thing and it is your responsibility to the end of your life. Once I changed the cable of a mouse for a buddy and it turned out that I was responsible for every bug and every malware thereafter. A year later his motherboard died and it was MY fault! If it wasn't junk it wouldn't have come to me in the first place, I'm amazed it lasted that long, is what I said.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 12:16:48 pm
content: Remember folks: No good deed goes unpunished!

author: Ajahn Lambda
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 03:23:36 pm
content: Quote from: David Aurora on May 03, 2012, 08:42:02 amTherein lies the problem.No one wants to screw their friends over, especially if it's a) to do with an area of your own expertise, and b) a hobby or project of theirs and they're at a point of frustration. You're doing them a (presumably free) favor by offering advice, service, and so on, but each situation is different. In yours, I'd say you both erred by not utilizing the manufacturer's warranty, but since the equipment is his and he was impatient, it's really on him to get it serviced properly now.If it's one of my customers, I take everything case by case (oh the joys of small business). Most people are pretty reasonable, and they usually just want to get the problem solved. I treat each customer the best I am able, because I want them to know and feel that I appreciate their business. Now if one of my products fails in the field, I will do what I can to service or exchange it as soon as possible, again on a case by case basis. I've always got the fact that these are the people putting food on my table in my mind.As for friends and family, of course it's always more personal and up-close, but if there's money to be spent, it'sgot to betheirs (unless it's a gift or something like that, in which case: duh). Otherwise, you'll turn intoThe Giving Tree. It's not that I don't want to help them. More the fact that they'vegot tohelp themselves (I've done more harm than good by 'helping' people, I think), and that professional services do cost something (time, money, sanity, etc.). We're human, and we hate to see others suffer; I follow a Buddhist teaching of taking the middle road to minimize suffering, so between all of the 'expenses', I try to meet them half-way, and hopefully it'll make our relationship stronger than before.That said, I have never charged a dime for helping my family and friends with things I have more expertise. I usually look at their situation, evaluate it honestly, and give them my recommendation with as little bias as I'm able. When it comes time to parts or technical work, they buy parts, and the labor is paid with food, drink, and subsequently, a continued harmony and friendship.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 03:36:34 pm
content: I fixed one of my friend's laptop before but luckily nothing happened , if anything did i was a number away.Being the only expert in computers in my circle they have no other choice but to call me upI just hope nothing goes damaged under my testing and repair

author: elliott
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 05:05:27 pm
content: Quote from: Dave.S on May 03, 2012, 03:36:34 pmThat isn't a bad position to have until you have to call them up and say "I was just re-installing Windows and the hard drive started clicking and it blue screened, you're going to need a new drive." Of course this happened after the Thailand flooding, when hard drive prices were even more insane than they are now. I ended up selling him a nearly new one out of one of my laptops, which was just asking for trouble, but it turned out OK.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 05:17:20 pm
content: Quote from: elliott on May 03, 2012, 05:05:27 pmI had to break that news to my friend ... turned out it was his RAM mismatch! Bugger he actually bought a backup disk in case shit happens ( Like Mainboard's SATA controller in the northbridge broke down ... ) Or worse harddisk going corrupted

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 05:28:23 pm
content: Quote from: HAL-42b on May 03, 2012, 09:07:28 amLol, that remind me selling my car to a friend years ago, he would call me for everything even for a flat tire… That was the first and last time I sold something to a friend or family member.Yeah David, to be honest I stop repairing things for friends years ago, just because couple things went wrong, no one got mad at me they understood it was not my fault but like you said this kind a things make you feel sad.There is another side of the story too, like I stopped repairing, selling things to friends and family I also stop lending things to them, here some example: Getting your almost new Bosh drill hammer back covered in cement or losing your gear and even telling “I never borrowed such a thing from you”Last thing I lost was a Weller soldering station, after a year a friend (not good one anymore) couldn’t find my soldering station he lost itI mean come on… how the hell can you lose a soldering station. Man this gets me mad again

author: Pentium100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2012, 11:32:34 pm
content: Quote from: Dave.S on May 03, 2012, 05:17:20 pmMe too, though in my case the drive was not completely dead, so I told him "start saving money for a new drive". The drive lasted a few months and when it failed again (lots of bad sectors) they guy was ready for it.I repair stuff for my friends, they sometimes give me some vintage equipment or just tell their friends that I'm good at repairing stuff (and the friends of friends pay me to repair their stuff).

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 03:24:12 am
content: Haha glad to see you guys get what I mean. Yesterday was so damn frustrating. Today is shaping up to be a winner too, with the manufacturer's response to the "Part is exploded beyond recognition, please tell me the specs" question the old standard "Please contact your nearest authorised service centre..."Yeah I'll have to start thinking carefully about the work with friends thing here. The catch though is that I'm usually playing with audio gear, and all my friends are musicians, so it's pretty easy to find myself with a screwdriver in hand pulling stuff apart when mates drop round with "A little bit of a problem with my ______" haha. Stuff like this I'd usually just say "Take it to the store/dealer and let them handle it", but this guy specifically said to me he would prefer I do it because he's sick of sending stuff away for repairs and having it come back not quite right after 3 months. I can relate to be honest, that's one of the big things that got me interested in fixing gear.Good times haha

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 03:52:52 am
content: I do repair stuff for friends from time to time. As a general rule I will not take money from good friends, my time and small spare parts (stuff I have in stock, like resistors or caps) are free for them. I always make sure before I take the work they understand there is a chance things might be worse afterwards. Luckily so far I had no problems.I prefer to get payed in kind from friends. This way I have not spent any money on computer hardware in years.

author: MrPlacid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 06:10:35 am
content: I heard many horror stories like these while listening to talk radio all day.If you lend money to friend, expect to lose that friend (and never see your cash). This came from Dr. Joy Brown, a radio psychiatrist.If you give a computer to a friend, expect to be his tech support for life.I heard it happen to cars too. Every little problems the car develop is your fault. Imagine the argument your friend and his wife has when the car has a problem, you're in the middle.

author: elliott
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2012, 08:25:51 am
content: Quote from: MrPlacid on May 04, 2012, 06:10:35 amThat isn't the case with car guys though, we know shit happens. Though when I picked up a non-running Fiero from a friend in a trade he helped me swap the fuel pump so I could get it to run, fixed the clutch hydraulics and a few other things the previous owner hacked up at his place too. Turned out the clutch pressure plate was totally gone though, his shop didn't have a lift so I used another friend's shop for that. I couldn't blame him for anything, he had the car for 48 hours before I decided I had to have it. The car I traded him was a rotted out shell of a '59 Rambler with no title, he knew what he was getting into with that too.

author: johnwa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2012, 09:13:24 am
content: Quote from: david77 on May 04, 2012, 03:52:52 amYes, this is my way of thinking too. I am quite happy to try to repair things for friends, for free, but only on the condition that they have already written it off as not worth fixing. At least this way it doesn't matter if you stuff it up even more.

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2012, 10:13:09 am
content: Quote from: johnwa on May 07, 2012, 09:13:24 amYeah that was basically my stipulation for touching this thing. It seemed like a very obvious "Let the manufacturer deal with this bullshit" situation and that was my suggestion, but the guy was pretty sure he was way out of warranty, he felt like he'd already got his money's worth from the unit, and he seemed more inclined to bin it if it's stuffed than to bugger around sending it in for a service. His attitude was basically "Well, it's at your place now, you know more than I do, if you're happy to take a crack at it then go for it".