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I work as a PC Technician and recently came upon some bother with a customer. The machine a Dell Inspiron 1525 was brought to me with a wireless issue but the user refuses to listen to me, can anyone put my mind at ease and tell me my troubleshooting was ok?

Day 1

Machine was tested, Wireless card switch was disabled, re enabled and wireless card was active, connected to the internet and tested download 2GB file and streaming. Restarted Machine 4 times,ran downloads and streaming again Shut-down machine and restarted, ran downloads and streaming again Handed machine back to customer.

Day 2

Customer comes back reporting machine was not working Tested machine on my wireless all day for 8 hours

Day 3

Customer reported wireless issue again Tested machine overnight - no issue Ran Memory Diagnosis, Device Manager reported no issue.

Day 10

Customer rings dell, service engineer calls out Dell determine wireless card at fault. Dell replace Wireless Card and Motherboard Customer reports no issue with laptop

Day 20

Customer rings me threatening to sue for motherboard and wireless replacement. I ring dell who refuse to tell me troubleshooting steps to determine either wireless card or motherboard was at fault.

My Conclusion

16 Hours Operational on my Wireless network User error either with computer operation or with users wireless network Dell replaced motherboard and wireless card to cover their asses.

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Sounds fine to me, but I'll leave it to someone who knows more about laptop repair to give a more detailed answer. I wonder if it was a problem with the interaction between the customer's access point and wireless card, which is why you couldn't see the problem. – dsolimano Nov 29 '12 at 13:12
If you have everything on your end documented, the process seems fairly good. Having documentation of everything is a must to protect yourself. – nerdwaller Nov 29 '12 at 13:20
Have a look at my post here - mostly the comments - Turns out using G or N router made a difference meaning that it could have been fine at yours but not at the customers. – Dave Rook Nov 29 '12 at 13:26
If neither you nor the customer were able to reproduce the problem in your presence, it makes a fix much more difficult if not impossible. It sounds like you did what you could. I will ask, was there any specific reason they would have held you accountable for the mobo needing a replacement? – trpt4him Nov 29 '12 at 13:28
@trpt4him - probably the bill! Let's be honest if I asked someone to check it several times (at a price) and then another engineer comes in and fixes it there and then, I'd be annoyed; Don't get me wrong, I know this isn't how it works, but to the eyes of the customer it could be! – Dave Rook Nov 29 '12 at 13:32
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1 Answer

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You're good. You did your job, and from what it sounds like, the problem was not easily reproducible. This is Dell's fault. They really should be responsible for replacing it, but my guess is that this guy's warranty was up. Like nerdwaller said, make sure things are documented, just in case of a law suit, but I doubt this guy will do that. He just wanted to get you to pay. Unless there is some reason you would have been responsible for breaking the device, there is nothing the customer can do.

It sounds more like an issue with the customers wireless access point. dsolimano may be right there. That is why you can not reproduce the issue. You did fine.

Cheers!

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Thank you, made me feel so much better, the stress of this job can sometimes get to me. – Ninja2k Nov 29 '12 at 13:40
I can imagine. I have worked on tech support before, and boy was the annoying. I liked the job, but people can be so rude and inconsiderate. Luckily, now I am a software engineer, so that problem is solved. Just keep pressing on. These people need tech support more than they want to admit. – Josiah Nov 29 '12 at 13:45

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