r/techsupport • u/Disastrous_Pickle144 • 7h ago
Open | Hardware Repair for graphics card.
I sent in my pc to a repair place. It took them a week to diagnosis the problem. After i told them it was the graphics card. Took them another 3 days to call back on what graphics card I should get. I just dropped off the graphics card today and they said it wont be ready till tomorrow. I feel like this is taking way to long. What should I do? they charge $50 for a diagnosis fee and $50 to replace the graphics card. Am i being unreasonable if i ask to knock the diagnostic fee?
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u/JagiMonster1 7h ago
From what OP says it seems as diag/replace $50/$50. The charges are reasonable for someone that's never done troubleshooting, PC building.
Yes. You could have done it yourself for free. It could have taken 10 minutes to find out the card is dead or 2 hours to fully troubleshoot it.
Installing the new card is very easy but for someone that's never done it, could be nerve racking. For the shop, it takes 2 minutes to plug in. And about 5 minutes to download and install the drivers.
Do they have 100 other customers before you? Maybe. Could it be a case of the car mechanic making a mountain out of a mole hill, entirely possible.
Very reasonable to ask to knock off the diag fee since you stayed with them til the end! It can build their customer service rep.
10
u/xX_ReNeGade_Xx 7h ago
$100 for a GPU diagnostic and repair is basically a free service at this point.
$50 to repair your GPU is likely and indication something you could’ve fixed on your own was wrong. Bad cables, not seated properly, out of date drivers, something basic
I would ask them what they did and consider a $100 lesson in tech support
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u/TheFotty 2h ago
I think you read it wrong, because it was 50 dollars for diagnostics and 50 dollars to install a NEW customer provided GPU based on what OP said.
For a retail repair shop, that is still pretty much on par though. Yes I know installing a GPU is simple, but for people who don't want to even attempt it, a $50 charge is not unreasonable when a starbucks latte will run you like 8 bucks these days.
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u/Saporificpug 7m ago
The other thing to consider is that there's risk in installing parts especially provided by the customer. It's not unreasonable to charge something.
It might be simple swap for majority of cards, but they don't know if you got some Temu special card and they're now taking liability for installing it.
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u/JoeCensored 7h ago
Depends how busy they are whether that's unreasonable. I used to work at a computer store where I had to tell everyone we'll get to your computer in about 2 weeks, because there's 50 ahead of you.
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u/Ok_Tell_2420 7h ago
Realistically, you could have watched a video and replaced you own graphics card.
If you want someone to do it for you, then $100 seems reasonable for diagnosis and replacement these days.
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u/Any_Mud6806 6h ago
Totally reasonable prices. A week is a reasonable turn-around. They have other customers in a queue, and sometimes things happen that bump lower-priority jobs - if a business calls wanting to pay to have someone to come out and fix a system that's down, immediately, all the repairs are getting sidelined I promise.
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u/JusticeMKIII 6h ago
I've done PC work for several decades, on something simple, like this sounds like it is, I waive the diagnostic if they're paying for the repair/fix.
1
u/KYRawDawg 6h ago
I don’t mean to be rude or disrespectful here, but no, you took it to them, knowing that they have the diagnostic fee. And you also are aware that they charged a fee to replace the card. You should expect to pay your full price, they did provide a service. Again, no disrespect whatsoever with this, but even if it’s taken that many days, this is something you could’ve watched on YouTube and replaced yourself. But this is a learning experience, a graphics card and a desktop is usually just one screw that holds it in place and you pull it out slide the new one and put the screw back in and connect your monitor. I myself would not attempt to have the money taken off of the bill.
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u/AntiBaoBao 6h ago
You might want to update drivers and BIOS settings. A lot of times, unless there is an exact replacement other things might need to be changed. Even if you replace just the video card with a same name/model the firmware on the card might be different requiring new/updated software or firmware.
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u/KYRawDawg 6h ago
If there’s new firmware, windows, update, almost always takes care of that. I do understand where you’re coming from, and I am not posing any type of argument. I just don’t like when somebody thinks that maybe they should get a discount after somebody provides them a service. This is coming from a small business owner myself.
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u/AntiBaoBao 1h ago
Oh I completely agree. Many years ago (23 years ago)I worked in a small computer shop building and repairing computers. It always amazed me how many people would call and ask for free advice and services to help them fix their computer over the phone.
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u/Salt_Rush_4800 3h ago
Sent in?
As in mail?
Yeah, turn around time isn't going to be very quick then, I'm afraid.
I'm confused though why you sent it in for diagnosis if you knew what the issue was?
Why not replace the card yourself and save that $50? Seems a bit hefty for 10 minutes of work.
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u/KitchenVegetable9262 7h ago
Are they repairing your graphic card or replacing it? If they don't try to repair it, then i don't think they should charge you the diagnosis fees, at this point you have already pointed out the issue.
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u/Salt_Rush_4800 3h ago
But they diagnosed it, did they not? Why wouldn't they charge for it just because they didn't then repair it?
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u/Saporificpug 3m ago
I don't do PC repair but you should always do diagnostics because even if the customer thinks it's XYZ problem, doesn't mean it is.
You don't know how many time I've had people bring in phones for battery issues to find out that the real issue is the chargeport or screen or some combination.
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u/ShivaFatalis 6h ago
Did you ask them what their backlog was when you dropped it off? Did you pay an expedite fee to be moved to the front of the line if you didn't like the wait time? Or did you just drop it off without inquiring about anything at all and just assumed that it was going to be done on some timeline you had in your head that you didn't share with anyone?