brought my 5 year old desktop back to where i got it from to change my HDD or retrieve its data if possible after it died.
Fast forward a week+, i ask for an update and was told my GPU and RAM malfunctioned. After more enquiries customer service then says that my GPU RAM and PSU need to be replaced? Seems very unethical to push for a GPU replacement when i have a i5 8400.
This is coming from a highly reputable company from my country.
44 Comments
yes, it’s a scam
Scam
100%. This guy is making problems up
Get it back, pay the smallest amount possible for the diagnostic and service fee and troubleshoot yourself. If the HDD is dead/dying just buy a equivalent size SSD, and stress test your system. They are scamming you
Seems at the very least fishy.
GPU and RAM BOTH failed? I call bullshit. Even if it did fail, sounds like they broke your shit. They should pay for the replacement then, not you
Are those prices USD?
If USD, then the parts they are offering are also very overpriced.
Scam
In this situation I’d ask for screenshots at the very least. I’m surprised they’ve not done it themselves, I know I would have.
1. Why did you need someone else to install/swap a hdd? It’s a 5 minute task that’s super easy, you just mount the new drive and connect a power and data cable.
2. I can’t think of any reasonable way that changing a hdd would cause the gpu or memory to fail/stop working. That’s like taking your car to the shop to change the oil and having them tell you that it caused the transmission and battery to die. I’d suspect they either are lying or broke them on purpose.
I would pay them for the work done and take my pc back as is with all origional parts.
So it means your HDD, RAM and GPU failed at the same time? Can a mathematician do the maths and let us know the probability of this happening?
Look, take it back run the benchmarks yourself, Ubuntu has a very good memory test tool which you can run from the USB boot. Then run some GPU benchmarks…if you have any issues bring somewhere else for a second opinion and don’t mention previous diagnosis: just “I did this and this tests myself and got that and that issue”, see what they say coz they might spot physical damage or something else.
1. They damaged/broke your stuff and dont want to pay
2. All fine and they are just making Shit Up to sell you overpriced replacement parts. ( 99% this )
Pretty sure if you agree to the work done, not only would they charge you but also not install any new parts.
Either they ducked up and killed your components somehow, or they’re straight up lying.
In the repair business you touch it, you own it. 100% on them to fix on their own dime.
What brands ram ? For example corsair / kingston have a life long warranty…. You should not be buying new ram if its faulty.
update: just had the call back from them, claimed that the gpu issue was a misdiagnostic on their part, but that the ram indeed had problems and they would replace it for me free of charge as well as deliver it to my home free or charge.
like other comments said, likely a lie but told by whoever the customer service agent was 🤩. will think thrice before patronizing them again if they can’t even hire competent CS
“Kindly” LUL
I’ve been working with PCs for 20 years. The only time I’ve had such a systemic failure is back before surge protectors were standard in all power boards.
So either this guy is not using a surge protected power outlet (in the year of our lord 2024???) or he’s lying to your face in order to move stock he otherwise cannot move.
Ram is an easy test. You can use memtest86+ to test the ram, do the halving method: test all sticks, if fail, remove half and test again, if some failed but some pass just keep testing half from your bad batch until you’re left with the problematic ram. Repeat without verified bads incase you’re paranoid
For GPU, furmark is a good stress tester, usual problems that arise can be gpu memory dying (probably overheated and now has a poor connection) or the entire board is overheating and thermal throttling. Memory issues show up as weird artifacting on the screen and overheating just shows as the pc black screening. Furmark will help trigger any of these crashes to confirm this.
Your HDD can easily be transfered by hand. Using tools like Clonezilla, you can clone any drive to any other drive. Clonezilla can be a bit tricky, so you might want to see if you can find another tool for the job (or look up a guide on how to use clonezilla).
I get the uncertainty – if you havent done this stuff before it can be a bit overwhelming at first, and the jump to get a technician to service your PC for you may seem like a no-brainer, but i’ve worked computer retail. There are too many bad actors who find themselves sandwiched between the bargain savvy consumer and the rising costs of maintaining equipment, rent, etc, as well as keeping a supply of on-hand stock. One brick and mortar retail store I worked for would charge elderly customers $105 to install AVG Free, MalwareBytes, Spybot Search and Destroy, Adware Remover, and some other tool (all free), even if the customer didn’t ask for it. This is what he considered to be acceptable to make ends meet. So yeah, this guy is probably doing the same thing.
Super scam
It’s 2024 and you’re still using hard drives? This is why it takes hours to load into tarkov 😂🤷♀️
I was on team maybe until he tried to pedal some cheap ass PSU for no reason. Definitely just trying to squeeze change out of you.
How tf can they break GPU and RAM by replacing HDD? It must be some dark magic.
Scam. Why in the hell would you be responsible for paying to repair damage that occurred while the device was in their care?
it’s either a green tech working your ticket or a scam. either way, tell them to put it in original condition and you’re coming to get it **now**
Installing an HDD amounts to turning off the comp and connecting a couple cables then turning it back on, how did they fuck up the computer so bad, and why are you paying someone to do it?
So nothing was wrong with it right? You only needed HDD replaced or fixed. This would mean in their care those parts died…in which case they should be responsible for replacing them.
Even if it was going to die at the same time had you not brought it in, it was in their possession as they were working on it.
I’d threaten them in some way to either scare them from trying to scam or to actually try to get them to pay up.
Why would you give a whole pc for data recovery and not only your hdd? 😀
sure they probably fucked up, but still you created an issue yourself by not just unplugging the hdd (it takes 20 seconds and a quick google search, there is no excuse if you are above 14 years old honestly)…
Idk how this will go, I wish you best of luck, but next time, you’ll know better. You literally have all the info you need online for pretty much any minor troubleshoot, as long as you are not lazy…
If they are trying to force you to replace parts make sure they give you back your original parts also.
They broke , they fix .. free.
This reeks of scam. REEKS.
Yeah, it’s a scam. Demand your system back, including your “dead” ram and gpu. They are 100% perfectly fine but don’t let them swap out dead ones thinking you don’t know your system.
Pro builder / Tech here. I would never tell someone their gpu was not working like that and at the least I would offer a repair service or identify what exactly was happening or what I thought the problem was with data to back it up. Seriously… what is going wrong on heavy GPU usage? Is it resetting? Are there artifacts? It honestly doesn’t sound like these techs are Techs. go get your shit and tell them to leave it as is and go get yourself some memory from best buy
Def get a 2nd opinion
Absolutely a scam.
From swapping out a hdd? Not likely.
Those prices looks very familliar.. Are you from SG?
Definite scam
This is why I learned to service my own PC. I don’t need anyone’s help ever. 100% go get the machine, pay the diagnostic, and go elsewhere or learn to do it yourself.
In which world a hdd is 65 usd?
Kindly= scam
They should have testbences for the HDD, certainly a scam.
ripoff prices for the parts, also RAM RARELY fails, it either dies at the very beginning or like 20 years down the road (bathtub effect), ive had one RAM stick that was dead on arrival, that was about it.
85$ for 2×8 ddr4 is already scam.
They keep asking you and telling you what needs to be done, but you just keep asking if it’s ready yet