Guild Wars Guru Contest Winner for Vigorgaming.com

This story comes courtesy of forum user ecgnewq and is our Guild Wars Guru Contest Winner for Vigorgaming.com:

I worked For a computer retailer some years ago doing a little tech work as well as some some sales. We had a customer come in who you could tell knew very little about computers, but none the less was bound and determined to build his own machine. I pleaded with the customer that building a computer with no prior experience will be a bit challenging and further more may prove to be costly if components are not installed properly. The customer shrugged me off dismissing my plead for caution. I gathered the $1200.00 worth of parts and rang the bill up.

The customer came in to the store with the newly assembled computer stating it would not boot, that something was wrong with the parts I had sold him. I obliged the request for help by asking him to sit his machine on a tech bench and remove the side panel. As he did I knew immediately something was wrong as the smell of burnt electronics was still lingering in the case. Upon closer inspection the customer had purchased a CPU Heatsink and fan and on a socket 7 motherboard had affixed the heatsink to opposing tabs cocking the heatsink sideways. The heatsink managed to make contact with a compacitor arranged around the ZIF Socket which completely Exploded the capacitor. I explained to the customer his mistakes and explained the mistake would cost him as this was not warrantied damage. The Customer begrudging purchased a new motherboard and went about his way to again install the new parts.

The following day the customer was waiting outside the store when it opened with computer in hand and a disgruntled look on his face and began to yell complain that I sold him incompatible equipment that just simply had problems. I assured him that the computer components were of decent quality and that he may have some other issues going on and that no matter what I would see to it that we would get to the bottom of it. Upon opening the case on the test bench. Once again as he opens the case I smell burnt electronics. I closed my eyes simply knowing that this was going to get very unpleasant, very fast.

I looked around and the CPU had been Affixed, wires tied up nice and neat and everything appeared ok at quick glance. Just as I step back to scratch my head the customer says, “ I think it is defective my cards don’t fit in the case. Maybe this case ain’t right for this stuff you sold me….” I wondered what the customer could be talking about and took a closer look only to realize the motherboard had not been mounted on stand offs. Which had the motherboard shorted against the case mainboard mounting plate. I explained again the error in installation and before I could finish the customer says smugly , “I bet that ain’t covered under warranty huh?” I replied, “ Sorry sir, this is not a warranty return.” The customer at this point by now had spent $300 in motherboards and I asked are you sure you don’t want us to install that for you sir? He replied, “ Nah I got this.” So off the customer went again, new parts in hand, to enjoy yet another adventure with his parts.

Again the following day the customer shows up and looks a bit different then he had in the days previous to this. Computer in one hand coffee in the other. I replied, “ Well how did everything go?” He said “ Man I ain’t slept in two days, I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning and my $#@! still don’t work!!!” I said, “well lets go in and have a look.” He said ,” It turns on and goes into windows but it won’t pick up my modem. It also turns off by itself.” I turned the machine on and it posted fine but upon the IRQ post it didn’t show the modem and so immediately I looked at the back of the case and saw the card wasn’t seated properly. I figured no biggie I will get him in and out, happy as can be.

I pull open the case and as the cover comes off, my heart jumped into my throat. There was something definitely amiss. There were tiny black shaving on the Floor of the case and as I peered in amongst the many cards I noticed the PCI USR card had been placed into an ISA slot. My eyes bugged out and could only think HOW THE *@#$ ? PCI cards cannot fit in ISA slots….. I layed the case down and unscrewed the card. Upon moving the card from the slot I just could not believe what I was seeing. The customer ran out of PCI slots and decided to take a steak knife and saw through the divider (which was designed to align the contacts as well as prevent mis-installation of a non-comforming card. I had to ask him what the hell happened here. And he explained the story just as it was. It didn’t fit so I cut out the back piece. I removed the card and replaced it with an ISA card and showed him the difference and explained that his warranty had been voided and that this card should work if installed by a trained knowledgable professional. He again declined the offer for assistance and smiled as he left the store.

To put this story into a real perspective one must understand. That the installation labor was $125 and it could be done the same day. The customer spent Over $300 and 4 days building this machine as the customer was leaving.he replied I gotta get home. I said why’s that? He said cause my stocks is up and I gotta sell while they high. I could make some real money. After talking to the many briefly as he rushed off, He was rushing off to trade penny stocks. Time is money?! Or Maybe not.

Very interesting story lol!

LOL! That's why I did a ton of research before deciding to build my first rig. :P

Omg lol !! that is so funny, that would be something I would do so I will just continue to let hubby build our computers.

LOL, what an idiot.
That's so funny.
Love the ending too hahahaha.

i read that and it took me a good 20 minutes to stop laughing. gj on his part lol.

Oh my god.

Grats on winning. Ahh, I can't stand stubborness sometimes.

Who gave you the right to post this story... I thought this was between you and me only... j/k

Great story... except I pay for my computer to get installed cause I am not very patient and would like to order the computer and go pick it up all built and the only thing I need to do is to install software (oh the joys).

i gotta say.....this is the funniest story i have heard! Nice job winning

Great customer experience story
And congratz on winning.

Ha! That's a great story and a darn fine lesson to new computer builders. I researched for several months reading reviews, guides, forums, etc. before I attempted my first build. Of course, I didn't have anyone to help me if things went wrong. Always nice to have a friend show you, rather than wing it on your own.

OMFG! Thats is hilarious! Some people shouldnt build their own systems.

Have you ever read Ctrl-Alt-Del? If not you should, one of the main characters, Lucas, works as a PC help kind of guy in a computer store and absolutely HATES such incompetence.. which gets him fired.. Boy, I'd been you I'd have just shouted at the guy for such stupidity...
And penny shares!!! don't get me started... But in economics in school we do this mock stock trading thing.. you start off with £100,000 and can buy/sell shares as you like. Anyway one of my class-mates bought shares at 0.5 p / share, which went down to 0.1p.... The rules were that you had to invest in at least 5 companies.. he bought 1 share in 4 others.. anyway, his balance was down to £18,000, then the share price went to 1p and he had £180,000...
Only to sell it all and invest in OTHER penny shares.. He currently has less than £30,000 again

LOL! This is too #$@" unbelievable to be true.

Back in the box.
Back to the store.
Back to the stone ages.



That's all I have to say to that man.

I couldn't stop laughing while I was reading this. It's amazing how many people do this.

I could not believe this guy myself , in my years as a computer tech I often times heard stories like this but never had I witnessed something this bad first hand.