On Feb 14, 9:35*am, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:04:18 -0000, "Arfa Daily"

wrote:
I asked him why not, and he said that it
wouldn't be worth his while, because if he fitted a repaired board to a
customer's boiler, and it went wrong again a couple of weeks later, he would
be left out of pocket on the return call, and with a disgruntled customer
who probably wouldn't use him or recommend him again.

It's worse than that. *I know several manufacturers that go through
considerable effort to make sure their boards are destroyed and NOT
recycled. *The problem is that they lose control of the boards during
the recycling process and that recyclers are the major source of
"repairable" boards. *These boards are fished out of the recyling
bins, repaired (or not repaired) and placed back on the market through
various means. *When one of these boards fail, the customer goes after
the manufacturer and not the repair person. *The manufacturer usually
has to honor the warranty in order to salvage their reputation. *The
quantities involved are minor, but the irritations and support load is
sufficiently irritating to inspire manufacturers to destroy or crush
their boards before recycling. *Add to that the counterfeit
electronics problem, and little wonder the manufacturers want to
retain a strangle-hold on the product from cradle to grave. *

Oddly, some vendors require a "core deposit" which is common in the
automobile parts busines, before they will sell a replacement board.
In the US, repair shops are required to "offer" the old parts to the
customer, which usually means loss of any core deposit. *It's fairly
obvious that the core charge is solely to make sure the customer does
not retain the bad board, and later decide to have it repaired.

--
Jeff Liebermann * *
150 Felker St #D * *http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann * * AE6KS * *831-336-2558

On the other hand, the ABS/Traction control computer in my wife's 1996
car started to give intermittant error indications. A replacement was
$250, but would anyone want to rely on an unauthorized repaired board?
I don't even want to consider the liability to the repairer should any
controller repair contribute to an accident [like the ABS or the
boiler controls]. I will not even look further than faulty connections
or power supply issues on any equipment that even hints of safety
issues!

Neil S.