Was I cheated?

[Sheels Bunny]

I had kept my laptop updated with free windows 10 download, paid microsoft, kaspersky, zotero, updated drivers etc. When I had trouble with my charging port, I gave the laptop to the shop for repair. They kept giving excuses as to why it could not be repaired promptly. When I received it after almost a month, there was only windows 8, none of my apps and other software, including kaspersky and microsoft. They bluntly said nothing could be done.

 

[Slumy__57]

Yeah, I'd say you more or less got screwed over by them. Especially if you didn't give them permission to wipe your hard drive.

 

[WRXSTIGuy]

They should have informed you before they wiped your drive unless you told them when you dropped it off to fix it whatever it takes. You should have the software key numbers or receipts (perhaps in email) that should allow you to install everything back.

 

[theyeti87]

What shop was this?

 

[Sheels Bunny]

Yeah, I'd say you more or less got screwed over by them. Especially if you didn't give them permission to wipe your hard drive.

Can I get back what I lost? Do you think they took my software and are using it?

 

[Sheels Bunny]

What is meant by 'wiping the drive'?

 

[Sheels Bunny]

Yeah, I'd say you more or less got screwed over by them. Especially if you didn't give them permission to wipe your hard drive.

Is it necessary to wipe the drive to sort out charger port problem?

 

[okcnaline]

Charger problem is physical and not a software problem. Therefore, you're double f@$# over.

I'm sure there is a way to prove that they wiped your hard drive so you could sue them for destroying data without permission, but there's no guarantee that this will restore any previous money you spent on services.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

All OEM companies, and most 'repair' places like BestBuy all have a standard:
When the computer was taken out of the box, it was working AS advertised, so the solution to ANY problems is to put it "back to factory fresh" which will 'always' work.

This of course totally disregards the customer's data, setup, etc. but fulfills the only thing they care about - removing liability.

In regards to your laptop charging port, it isn't a simple ' swap a 10Cent part out' and hand it back. The parts inside your laptop are all FUSED together, onto the Motherboard. To 'typically fix' your problem they would had to complete disassemble the entire computer, every part completely, then order the EXACT same motherboard - USED. See they don't sell 'motherboard parts' like you can buy things off the shelf in Walmart. Then once they replaced it it immediately wouldn't allow Windows to run (you replaced the motherboard which violates the license), so they did the 'reduce liability' and used the Factory CDs to 'make it like out of the box' and it worked.

Not the best answer, but they did do exactly as they promised. They fixed and handed back your laptop working AS it was when you first unboxed it. So no legally and technically they didn't 'cheat' you.

 

[boosted1g]

If your laptop started with windows 8 and was then upgraded to windows 10 then it likley just as Tom Tancredi said.
Shops like Best Buy or local shops with complete idiot techs treat wiping the drive via factory recovery partition as standard operating procedure and is the "fix" for most every problem.

In regards to charging it could be a software issue (not likely), a problem with your charger itself, a problem with the port or a problem with the motherboard.
Testing the charger is simple with a multimeter for any tech with half a brain, testing the port requires full disassembly of the laptop and a motherbaord replacement is often times more expensive then the laptop is worth (sometimes more then even a new laptop).

The shop clearly tooke the easy road to "diagnosing" your computer and should have asked/notified you before they wiped it.
There is no recourse at this point because they either dont have the money to pay anything you would "win" in a court case, or you agreed to them wiping it in paragrah 17 in the agreement you signed for service.


NOW..if your PC came with Windows 10 when brand new from the factory and they installed Windows 8 then that is a clear violation of microsoft licensing and they can get in much deeper trouble for that being that they are a business.