Re: Idiot reasons for returning electronics

I had a guy return a built-up kit to me (unsolicited) and demanded that I fix it "under warranty". He claimed that he had checked every component twice and all the soldering and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, so therefore it must be a faulty component. He also said he refused to follow the troubleshooting instructions and measure supply voltages because this would further damage the unit.

The fault - the main 7805 voltage reg installed backwards.

Dave.

"David L. Jones" "Phil Allison"

• A regular job I had when working for Pre Pak in the early 70s was repairing all the CDI ignition kits they sold.

Yep - nearly all of them came back for fault finding and de-bugging.

The single most common problem was that the constructors ( ie tattooed petrol heads ) had used plumber's (acid) flux to help solder the parts onto the PCB !!!!!!!!!!

Eventually, the owner of Pre Pak ( Ian Ralph) decided to " bite the bullet " and supply a yard or so of resin cored solder with each kit - accompanied by a note explaining what it was for.

He at least had the optimism ( more than mine) to assume his kit buyers were literate.

...... Phil

That sounds about right, corse, [sic] it wasn't the buyers fault, he just believed everything he was told, And the nasty man at Campsie Hi-Fi, new when he was on a winner, when '' Phil the Fool '' walked in.

bassett

"Phil Allison" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

A colleague ever had a client that want to exchange the floppy drive in his (bosses) computer as the drive did not work. The colleague found the drive in perfect order so he asked the client for an explanation. "It does not read anything and the door will not open anymore" the client complained. It turned out to be that he managed to push a 3.5" floppy into the CDROM player. I could hardly believe it until I checked out for myself but it was there black on white: The complaint, the diagnosis and the bill.

petrus bitbyter

In the UK a few years back there was a documentary on the rise of the home computer age, an amusing anecdote from the Sinclair company which sold some of its computers as home build kits. Some bloke returned an assembled unit for fault finding as it didn't work, the Sinclair engineer opened it up and found it very neatly and precisely assembled - with Airfix glue!

Makes a change from "the computer works fine - but I broke the cup holder!".

Someone once told me about an EA kit which was returned to DSE's Kit Dept because it didn't work. It might have been a Playmaster amp. I don't remember what its problem was. Anyway, apparently the kit notes said to insulate the mains wiring with spaghetti ... and the constructor had taken it literally and threaded the wiring through pasta tubes (uncooked). :-)

Bob

A variation of the toast-in-the-VHS story !

geoff

I can verify that one. A friend of mine was there when this happened. I think it became one of the service department 'trophies' at DSE.

Acid-core flux and plumber's soldering irons were also very regular as Phil mentioned.

A patron threw it across the room (20kgs) so that must be a warrantee repair.

Pulled the cables out of the wall, i wonder if the sparky was to blame for that....

It amazes me what these dsickheads expect to be covered by warranty, and their rude approach to staff. I've had staff abused several times over computer problems, and each time it's been the ID10T error.

Bruce

Not quite the same Phil, but I am sure many older TV techs will remember the many customers who tried to fix their own TV and bought and fitted a new 1S2 because it was the only valve in their set that didn't light up.

David

Pity they didn't tap the 1S2 with their finger while the set was on to see if it would light up. They would receive the shock of their life that it works ok without a visible heater glow.

:-) Glenn

I was working on an Italian gentleman's valve TV once, with the power on. He was very curious about what was inside it, and asked "Whatsa this?" as he pointed at the 1S2. Before I could say "Don't touch that!", he grabbed it and sure jumped!

Bob