Complaint Review: Intrex Computer - Raleigh North Carolina

I would like to take a moment to address some of the grey areas and inaccuracies in the "reporting" done on this piece. As an Intrex technician at a different store, I'm very passionate about what I do and I feel like no one has really taken more than 10 seconds to look at the facts of this issue before passing judgement due to the sensationalism in journalism like this. Firstly, WRAL presented the issue with the laptop in question as a "crash" with no other explanation given, and while I can't go into the details of the customer's account with us for privacy reasons, the failure was not caused by or due to anything the Intrex technician did. It's unfortunate the aging system did fail during the time it was in Intrex, but without any negligence at all on our technicians part, the $350 cash the customer is demanding in settlement hardly seems fair. Which brings me to the next issue. Intrex did in fact offer her compensation in this case. We offered to cover both the diagnostic work and the labor needed to replace the motherboard free of charge. All she needed to pay for was the special order motherboard for her laptop which WRAL represented as "used". You have to understand that there are NO NEW MOTHERBOARDS for 5 year old proprietary laptops. All of them are refurbished or salvaged from non-functional machines. Intrex has an extensive network of reputable laptop part distributors and the motherboard in question would have been ordered from one of them had she chosen repair the unit. We did not have the motherboard on hand. Next, in the entire time that this has been an issue, no one has even bothered to have the laptop looked at by an independent technician to verify the cause of the problems. I'm sure that WRAL has an IT technician on payroll, and it would have been an inconsequential matter to have him examine the laptop to determine the actual cause of the failure if they were actually "On her side". It seems that in a matter that has been brought to the attention of the attourney general, at very minimum, an independent investigation into the actual cause of the failure would have been performed. Lastly, the "fine print" issue. Businesses use legally binding contracts in every facet of business. If you don't, you get sued and your business is no longer a business. Intrex is a small locally owned company and we do our best to keep the "legal jargon" to a minimum. If you think our "fine print" is meant to in some way trick the customer into agreeing to something they wouldn't otherwise, then simply take a look at the liability disclaimers offered by our competitors. Judge for yourself which takes away more of your rights as a consumer: Intrex: Intrex is not responsible for any loss of data that may occur while equipment is in our possession. Intrex is also not responsible for any part that fails while in our possession unless the failure was directly caused by us. We guarantee only that the parts installed by us will perform satisfactorily under conditions of normal usage for a period of 30 days after date of repair. CompUSA: No Consequential Damages. In no event shall CompUSA Inc., its subsidiaries or affiliates, or their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives, agents, contractors or suppliers (collectively, "CompUSA") be liable for special, incidental, consequential, punitive, indirect, or other special damages, including but not limited to, loss of data, use, or profits, however caused, whether for breach of contract, negligence, or otherwise, and whether or not CompUSA has been advised of the possibility of any such damages. Limitation of Liability IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPUSA INC., ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, OR AFFILIATES, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, OR AGENTS (Websites: CompUSA.com, CompUSABusiness.com, CompUSA.com.pr, CompUSAAuctions.com) BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF DATA, USE, OR PROFITS), HOWEVER CAUSED, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE CompUSA.com PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGES. YOU AGREE THAT THE CompUSA.com PARTIES MAXIMUM LIABILITY ARISING FROM ANY PRODUCT SOLD BY COMPUSA SHALL NOT EXCEED THE PRICE OF SUCH PRODUCT. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OF EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU TO THE EXTENT SUCH JURISDICTIONS LAW IS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT. Best Buy/Geek Squad: Limitation of Remedy: Under no circumstances shall Best Buy, Geek Squad, and/or its third-party service provider be liable to you or any other person for any damages, including without limitation any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, expenses costs, profits, lost savings or earnings, lost or corrupted data, or other liability arising out of or related to the services provided by Geek Squad and/or its third-party service provider or out of the installation, de-installation, use of, or inability to use your computer equipment, hardware, peripherals, or the network as a result of the services provided hereunder. Release of Liability: By signing the form on the opposite side of this page, you agree to release and hold harmless Best Buy, Geek Squad, and/or its third-party service provider from and against any loss, liability, or damage that you, the owner, or lessee may suffer. This includes but is not limited to data loss or lack of function in any component or element of your computer system and/or peripherals as a result of Geek Squad and/or its third-party service provider's agents, partners, and/or third-party service providers, regardless of the warranties, disclaimers, and waivers particular service and shall constitute liquidated damages and are a reasonable estimate of damages to you. Those liability clauses were cut and pasted directly from the web sites of CompUSA and Best Buy on 5/11/07. It looks fairly clear to me who has the interrests of their customer's more firmly in mind, but judge for yourself. Again, Intrex is a small locally owned company competing mainly with internet companies and big box stores. We go out of our way to try to do the best we can for our customers, but we simply don't have the profit margins to eat $350+ every time a computer component fails during the course of our diagnostics and stress testing unless we caused the issue in some manner. We've repaired over fifty thousand computers in the last couple years and earned awards for best Computer Repair service and Best Computer Retailer by the Herald Sun and the Chapel Hill Herald from a reader-only vote. Obviously we aren't going to be able to please every customer every day, but we are doing our best to be competetive with vendors and services hundereds of times our size and have managed to grow steadily throughout the process. Even stores as large as CompUSA have had issues competing with internet retailers as evidenced from their Raleigh store closing. Most of that is due to our attention to our customers and the extensive array of services available through our in-store repair shop. I've found a severe lack of responsibility in the "reporting" on this piece, and I felt compelled to at least partially respond to the seemingly deliberately misleading journalism. I'm sure that in the hustle and bustle of daily life, it's hard to trust the word of anyone, but rest assured had we done anything to contribute to the failure of this laptop, it would have been repaired or replaced at no cost to the customer. Any independent technician can easily verify our findings as well. As for replacing it just to quiet this news story, well, the only thing that would do is to re-enforce the growing sentiment in our society that he who yells the loudest gets the most free stuff, and what kind of example is that to set for our co-workers & children?