As a freelancer you’ve probably had to get someone to repair your computer at some point. If you haven’t yet, then drop us the brand name and model number. When the time comes for technical assistance, you will need to find someone who can diagnose the problem and then hopefully repair it.
So, who do you turn to? Not one of the highstreet chains, according to a new Which? Survey.
They went around to most of the major stores, equipped with 12 desktop computers and 12 laptops, they all had really basic faults which should have been easily identifiable and fixed. Except in many cases they weren’t. The stores included: Best Buy, Carphone Warehouse, Comet and PC World.
On the laptop tests, the results were particularly bad. Only a few stores correctly diagnosed a software problem. At least one store from each chain (and all the PC World ones!) made a misdiagnosis, suggesting a new harddrive or motherboard was needed.
There was more success with desktop PCs… nine out of 12 were fully fixed. Best Buy came out particularly well diagnosing and fixing the problem (a disconnected hard-drive) at no charge. PC World were poor again, as were Carphone Warehouse who contributed one misdiagnosis and then, in another store, announced that the repair man had left and so couldn’t help.
Not one of the chains successfully diagnosed and repaired all the faults.
In all honesty, the results are hardly surprising. These are nationwide chains with a remit far wider than computer repairs; they sell stereos, HD TVs and all manner of audio accessories. However, a store with a name like PC World really should be doing better.
Personally, I’ve always used an independent repair specialist. The sign of a good repair service is one which gives check-ups for free without a hard sell afterwards. My local shop recommended I sell the components of one hard-to-repair laptop, rather than pay them to fix it, because that would make more financial sense from my perspective. Would you get that from Comet?
Read the full Which? report here.
Experienced any poor advice or brilliant service? Feel free to let us know below…
Photo by Alex Clark – CC
