Customer service or not

[hk blues]

52 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Would you know?

 I had my Panasonic air conditioner fixed (couple of years back now).  The guy took it to his shop and it came back fixed.  Great, it was only the capacitor.  A couple of years later it needed to be fixed again, this time for another problem.  The repairman charged me 7500 pesos for a "motherboard".  I said:  "The darn thing is only 5 years old, how is it that it needs a "motherboard"?"  The repairman said:  "The aircon is only 5 years old but the motherboard is at least 10 years old, where did you get it repaired last?" 

I wouldn't know - that's why I mentioned the technicians being crafty. But, what's the alternative - leave broken things broken and buy new every time? It's an option but not the best for me. If it's an expensive item and relatively new I'd use the recommended/designated repair store as it's more likely to be reliable. 

Regardless, i still doubt a technician would bother to swap parts in a cheap item i.e. my cd player. I just don't see the few pesos being worth the effort. Your A/C - yes, there is money to be made doing it. 

[Gary D]

4 hours ago, hk blues said:

I wouldn't know - that's why I mentioned the technicians being crafty. But, what's the alternative - leave broken things broken and buy new every time? It's an option but not the best for me. If it's an expensive item and relatively new I'd use the recommended/designated repair store as it's more likely to be reliable. 

Regardless, i still doubt a technician would bother to swap parts in a cheap item i.e. my cd player. I just don't see the few pesos being worth the effort. Your A/C - yes, there is money to be made doing it. 

It used to be tv's and early analogue phones. You took your Sony tv to be repaired and it would come back with a cheap Chinese motherboard. I guess there was a market for the original parts.