Self-Diagnosis, a True Story of Frustration and Expense

(Plus, What Really Should Have Happened)

Here is a true story we heard a few days ago from our marketing manager. Her father, a retired CEO, was having computer problems. We will call our protagonist Mike (mostly because it is his name). Mike spends a few hours trying to self-diagnose a problem-which has something to do with auto-adjusting screen brightness. Over the next several hours, Mike gets very frustrated, so he takes the laptop to a local tech store with on-site support and waits. An hour later-after four teenage, part-time tech support clerks take turns trying to fix the problem-there is still no solution.

The diagnosis: “This computer’s screen is irreparably broken. You need a new laptop.”

So (and of course this story continues), five hours after starting to troubleshoot, Mike heads home… a new laptop under his arm and $1800 fewer dollars in his bank account. Now he calls his daughter to see if she can come down for the weekend to help him set up the new computer. Of course she says yes, and of course she helps, but she cannot resist taking a look at the “broken” computer because the problem sounds just like the issue her mother had a few months earlier with the same model. Three minutes later (and a display criteria switched from On to Off) the “irreparably broken” laptop is fixed. Well, Mike is furious about having bought a new (and very unnecessary) computer.

The moral of this story: Just as you should not have your car serviced by a car salesman masquerading as a mechanic, you might want to question a retail outlet’s true motivations in providing break/fix service.

As a member of The SynchroNet Way family, you can trust us to be your first line of defense. Depending on your level of technical expertise, trying to troubleshoot or fix an issue on your own may end up doing more harm than good, and can take you down an unnecessarily expensive path. We have seen many instances where self-diagnosis went wrong and caused unnecessary downtime and we don’t ever want that to be your fate. Instead, we’ll leverage our extensive expertise to find the best solution for you-not to pad our pockets.

Do not imitate Mike. Call us first, and let us help you avoid wasting your time or your hard-earned resources while your blood pressure spikes. It is why we are here. And we love that responsibility.