Opinion: IT repairers caught

By Lilia Guan on Jul 24, 2009 3:02 PM
Filed under Hardware

Reporters shocked at what laptop repairers did to their personal data.

Britain's Sky News sent PCs to six IT repair shops only to find that their private information was accessed by those to whom the machines were entrusted, the channel said.

It found some laptops had their "passwords, log-in details and holiday photographs [copied] to a portable memory stick by a technician".

Another shop charged customers for non-existent work and simple faults were misdiagnosed, Sky said.

Sky alleged a repairer hacked into their customer's financial accounts.

Obviously, if this story is true, it shows there are bad eggs in any industry.

Situations like this makes the break-fix industry into the equivalent of a dodgy car repairer - you send your car in for one thing and discover it has other problems and all the change in your car has disappeared as well as your favourite CD.

IT has become part of our lives.

PCs are no longer machines we use at work to leave behind at the end of the day.

Most of us have a laptop and or a PC which we use for work and play. On these machines are intimate details of our financial accounts, reading and watching habits.

When hardware breaks down, it's like losing your mobile phone. You are left thinking what a pain having to input all your information, favourite bookmarks, software etc into a new machine with a keyboard that hasn't got the same groove and dents as your normal computer.

So giving hardware - a precious asset - over to an IT repair men must make customers quake in their shoes.

How do you reassure your customers their machines will come back in good nick? Have you had any bizarre complaints from customers about their recently fixed machines? Is this activity is widespread in Australia?

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6 comments in this discussion

"On the upside, I had a Mac laptop a couple years ago that was experiencing wireless dropouts. The Apple reseller I sent it to opened it up and found that a previous repair by Apple had unseated ..."

By natecochrane

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Comments: 6

DOSPCRS Jul 24, 2009 4:44 PM	This does not surprise me one bit! I fix computers every single day and hear about customers being overcharged for terrible service -- I only hope other IT Repairers out there hold integrity and ethics in as high esteem as I do.
PITCREWCOMPUTERS Jul 24, 2009 5:41 PM	It doesn't surprise me either DOCSPCRS. There seems to be alot of shonky operators out there. I have even had customers too afraid to leave their computers for repair unless they can wait for them to be repaired. Because they have had a bad experience in the past with thievery. One of many cases I have heard from customers, is where a repairer will take out a component and replace it with a cheaper component or a lower capacity component and in one case a customer told me that a particular component disappeared all together! When things like this go on in the industry, it makes it very difficult for the honest and respected business owners out there.
natecochrane Jul 27, 2009 11:46 AM	Many years ago, I put a computer in for repair on the floppy drive, which was starting to make grinding noises. Many months later, the computer still hadn't been repaired and I was told that the floppy drive was no longer available (not true). So I demanded the computer back so I could take it elsewhere. The repairer told me I could have it back if I paid $500. But the machine isn't fixed, I said. Too bad, said the repairer. It's for warehousing and shelving and initial inspection, they said. That time it took government intervention to get the machine back. I bought a second-hand floppy drive for about $100 and installed it myself in about half an hour. The repairer was bailed out soon after by a vendor after it went broke.
QldTechie Jul 27, 2009 4:51 PM	Very easy to do the wrong thing. Difficult to uphold high standards. Can the customer tell the difference? When they ring up for help and I try to explain to them my procedures they are often only interested in 2 things: How quickly can the job be done; How much will it cost? They don't know how to tell if the PC is going to be fixed properly or not. I say I have a "Standard Tune Up Procedure" that covers everything including: Clean up, Security & Updates. This is in addition to Troubleshooting the faults. Some like the idea, others say they will just buy a new PC or go somewhere else. I offer to Transfer Data & Configure their new purchase. Again most now think that they can do it all for themselves. When I see things that aren't right I tell the Customer and ask if I can fix it - it is very difficult if they say not too. I ask my customers to sign a disclaimer warning them of the importance of Backing Up their valuable data before servicing and asking them to accept responsibility for Data Loss due to HDD faults. Not many are willing to pay me to do a Full Backup to Ext HDD before starting the job. Everyone today is conditioned by Traders to expect to pay the least. What more can i do?
alant Aug 14, 2009 4:42 PM	It's so common today. That is the main reason why customer prefer to pay more at bigger store like harvey norman, dick Smith,etc. It's about the trust. Unfortunately, minority of reseller are ruin it for everyone.
natecochrane Aug 19, 2009 3:09 PM	On the upside, I had a Mac laptop a couple years ago that was experiencing wireless dropouts. The Apple reseller I sent it to opened it up and found that a previous repair by Apple had unseated the wireless card. The reseller didn't charge me a thing. I was so impressed I upgraded the memory and bought some accessories from them.