Please share this so others are aware. This kind of customer service frustrates me to no end.
One of my Gardner store’s competitors recently replaced a hard drive in a customer’s computer with a very old used part. One week after picking up his computer he noticed it wasn’t running correctly. When he returned to the store he was abruptly told he couldn’t get a refund and because the part was used there was no warranty.
Hard drive failure is normal with the expected life being somewhere between 2-3 years. Drives can survive longer, but I wouldn’t take many chances after that. If your computer is used in mission critical operations or it’s how you make your living new is the only way to go.
When the customer brought it in to my Gardner location we discovered the replaced hard drive was manufactured in 2006 and was a very small 250GB capacity. In 2006 a 250GB drive would have been more than adequate; however, with today’s operating systems and current data sizes it wouldn’t take long to fill a 250GB drive.
We immediately tested the drive for speed and functionality and within seconds found it to have detrimental failure. Had this customer put any data on the drive it would have been impossible to retrieve. Data is what keeps computer businesses alive – it’s not the plastic and metal.
According to my customer he believed he was receiving a new hard drive. Based on the price he paid, I would have also assumed he was getting new equipment. Instead he ended up with a nearly dead drive with an outdated copy of Windows 10 installed.
In my industry it’s not uncommon to offer used components to save a customer money. It is highly unethical, however, to not warn a customer of potential data loss due to a used hard drive. The hard drive is arguably the most important component in a system.
Before you agree to any repair it’s a good idea to ask the technician for a list of components that could possibly fail causing you data loss. Many replacement parts are simply not available new; however, hard drives of all capacities are available new and used. It’s always a good idea to double check the store’s work and make sure you’re getting what you paid for.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)