Computer scam

A while back my computer, the one I built from scratch, stopped working. It just won't power up. Everything was still under warranty, so I just started sending things back. First I tried the power supply, but still wouldn't power up, then the mother board, still nothing. Tried bypassing the power switch, swapping memory, etc. Still nothing. Not even an attempt to boot. I wanted to get a new CPU anyway, so I ordered one but it made no difference (no surprise there).

So I decided to take it to this guy a couple of blocks away on Thompson and 3rd. He was clearly a part-timer, since his card said "chess instructor" and his place of work is a chess store on Thompson. So I didn't expect speed, but I figured he was probably competent. I took it in and explained the situation. I first wanted an estimate, a "diagnosis" of the problem and then after that I would decide if I wanted it fixed. He seemed unhappy with that, he's one of those guys who always seems angry all the time and likes to yell. He said he would do that for 30 bucks. That's a bit steep, but this is NY and I'm tired of messing with this machine.

So he calls me the next day and says a bunch of crap. He says that the hard drives are wrong, and that the jumpers were set wrong, and that I might have to replace the case, and that all this could run like 200 dollars. None of this makes any sense to me. First of all, everything had worked the way I had it set up before and I hadn't changed anything, so this crap about the drives was just that. Secondly, what does the case have to do with anything? I expressed this opinion but neither of us could really understand one another due to the language barrier. He yelled some more and said he would be working on it. I decided to go down there after work.

So I showed up and said that I hadn't really understood anything he said on the phone; I was trying to give him an out to retract the B.S. he tried to feed me over the phone. But he went on. The first thing he said was that my jumpers on the hard drives were wrong, one had to be a master one had to be a slave, etc. But with these new drives you can use "cable select" mode where you just put the jumper on the first slot and it figures it out by where the drive is on the cable. And all this had worked before with no changes and I could see with my eyes that things were right. Either he doesn't know what he's talking about or he's scamming me.

Then he says that the case might be bad. I ask what the case has to do with it, and he says that's what people always say but he knows these things. I asked "do you mean the switches are bad" meaning the power switch or something. But he just makes noises and won't commit to saying anything. I ask what he really thinks the problem is. This time he gets angry: "I don't work that way. I don't give information, because information is power". I say I don't care how he's going to fix it I just want to know what the diagnosis is before I commit to anything. But he says he doesn't work that way "You give me the computer and when you come back it is fixed". He tells me it could be as much as 200 dollars.

I'm starting to realize that this isn't a scam like I had feared, he just doesn't know what the problem is yet. I said: "look, if you don't know what the problem is yet that's cool, I can wait" But then he starts yelling because I've implied he might not know what he's doing. So I said "well just tell me what's the diagnosis" but then he goes off again about that's not how he works, and information is money or power or something.

I try to pull some information out of him but he won't budge. So I say, "I think I'm going to have to call this off." "Why?" "Because I don't trust you." Now he gets really defensive because the other chess guys are listening in and he doesn't like that. Finally, he just says it's probably the case or that my new power supply is too much for the system. "What?!?" He says: "look, there is too much watts in this power supply". I'm just stunned by this. He says "look, what do you think a fuse is for, eh?" "To limit the amount of current." "There, you see." "What?!? You don't know what your talking about! That's it I'm taking it home." He still wants his $30 for his "diagnosis". I say, "look if you want money for your diagnosis then tell me what's wrong with my computer." He won't say anything though, he just continues yelling because he wants some money. Eventually I just gave him $15 and left.