Adrian C wrote:
Oh no, not me :-)

An article published in PC PRO caught my eye last month.

Probably worth a gander if ye or someone else is thinking of sticking
a pin in Yellow Pages for a PC service, or following up a dodgy fly
poster stuck to a lamp-post showing a mobile number ...


http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/367345/confessions-of-a-computer-repairman

A quick summary of cowboy efforts described in that ...

* Here today, gone tomorrow - they run off with your PC,
* The “beyond repair” bluff - offer a silly scrappage value,
* The memory game - don't install the memory as promised,
* The hostage situation - a ransom to return the PC,
* The blank screen of opportunity - non required parts,
* Virus cold-callers - remote access extortion,
* Hot-Kit shuffle - pinching internal expensive parts,
* The snoop patrol - pinching customers data,
* Phantom repairs - made up issues resolved at cost,
* The price gouge - extreme overcharging,
* The Windows wiper - reinstalling windows and data gone,
* The Insurance fiddle - falsified claims for replacement kit,
* Business shortcuts - shoddy work,
* The untrained expert - bodgers without skills,
* License-key lifting - user now denied software updates.

In the words of Shaw Taylor, "Keep 'em peeled!"

ISTM that computers are now becoming so ridiculously cheap that it is barely
worth bothering with trying to get one repaired...

--
Kev