$125!!!!!??????

Late yesterday I dropped my ailing laptop off at the top computer repair shop in town. The shop is owned and run by a fellow from Pakistan who is extremely good at what he does and he's always dealt with me honestly and professionally. I explained the symptoms to his wife(who works the counter) and that I was reasonably certain it was just a bad solder joint or two in the powering section.

Well, he gives me a call a little while ago and tells me the estimate to repair it is $125. Well, I about flipped. I asked him how in the world he could justify charging that much to resolder a few connections (my diagnosis was correct). He was very professional and polite, and explained to me that disassembling and reassembling a laptop is very time consuming and the labor rate reflected that. Now, I've taken apart a few laptops in my time and I know it's a real pain in the arse. So, I had to give him that; he's right and I agreed to it.

After I hung up the phone, I got to thinking about my days in the tv repair business and being on the opposite end of the nearly identical conversation. I had to chuckle at myself for that one. I used to charge $35 just to come to the house and check out the set, whether I did anything else or not (and that was back in the early 80s). The man is good at what he does and deserves to be paid accordingly.

Frankly, I could have repaired the thing myself if I wanted to go out and buy all the tools and equipment I sold when I started driving truck 7 years ago. Probably wouldn't cost me more 5 or 6 thousand dollars.

I guess $125 isn't so bad after all.

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