Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

Whenever somebody wants to pay us with a plastic card, we ask if we can run the card as debit. This will always generate something like the following conversation -

Customer: “Run it as credit, that way I get airline miles!”

Me: “Just curious, do you know who pays for those miles?”

Customer: “Well, I assume the bank does, or the airline.”

And here we get to the crux of the issue – the person who pays for those miles is me. Credit cards are free for users, but every time a merchant swipes one, it costs us money. The better the card for you, the more it costs us to accept it. Get some airline miles? We bought them for you. Get 1% cash back on all your transactions? That 1% comes from Happy Hamster Computer Repair’s bank account.

The rate varies based on the type of card we run, a “basic” card with no rewards system for it costs less than a “premium” card like airline miles, but on average when we swipe a card about 1.25% ends out in a wall street bank in New York somewhere. This is also why so few merchants accept American Express. American Express frequently demands up to 1.75% to run its cards!

Debit cards, on the other hand, are much friendlier. Running debit costs us about .69% which is roughly half of what it costs to run a credit card. So when we ask, “can we run that as debit?” there is a reason! It helps us keep our prices low, and helps keep more of your money local in the Portland community.

Have a good memorial day!

-Zac

PS – We did try running the company without accepting any plastic for 3 months once, just checks and cash. We found that nobody carries cash or a checkbook anymore, so this made things very inconvenient for our customers. In a perfect world, nobody would use any cards, but we understand that in America today, we can’t win that fight.

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

Today we received 3 unsolicited resumes. In the current economic climate, it’s not uncommon for us to get 1 or 2 a week, but 3 in a day was quite a haul. (Let me also state, clearly, that we are not currently hiring).

The thing about the resumes we received today is that they all shared a common, totally fatal, do-not-read-past-the-first-line commonality. Each one had an opening line at the top, and I would like to share the three openers we got today -

1) I believe that I have most of the qualities you require to fill the position being offered.

2) Dear HR Manager, I believe that I am fully qualified to work for your company, please consider my application for employment.

3) Dear hiring manager, I would like to apply for the position enclosed, I think that my skills make me an excellent candidate for this position.

Honestly, I’m not even going to bother tearing those apart, they speak for themselves. I mean, seriously, I am appalled at the 100% generic nature of them, the factual inaccuracies (these are unsolicited resumes, what do you mean you’re qualified for the position? There is no position!) and the poor grammar.

So, how do you go about applying for an unsolicited job? You do it like the following candidate -

“Dear Zac,

I recently moved into the area from out of state where I used to play the role of Lead Computer Technician for a company named Computer Geeks.  When I got to Portland, I began looking for a job along the lines of what I was previously doing but it isn’t often that one finds job postings for the kind of work done at a small computer repair shop.  So, I’ve been applying to corporate support jobs, webmaster jobs, quality assurance jobs and some administrator jobs.  All the while, I’ve been keeping up with your Happy Hamster blog and can directly relate to everything you’ve written in the past couple months.  From what you’ve written, it would seem that my previous job is exactly aligned with the work done at your shop.”

That individual I brought in for an interview, and I believe, if we were hiring, which we’re not, that he would be an excellent fit here. However, just by coming in he is now on my radar, and if any position opens here, or, more importantly, at any other shop, I will be able to recommend him for that spot. People too often think of resumes as having only one, binary purpose – get a job or don’t get a job. Resumes are far more then that, they are a possible introduction to the local community, a way to get to know the players and the companies in the industry you want to work with. The more people you meet, the greater the odds you will be able to leverage something out of somebody with somebody else to end out where you want to be. Do not think just because you don’t get a job that an interview/resume was a “waste” often times the people you meet, especially in a small, local industry like computer repair, will come back time and time again into your life.

Thanks everybody,
-Zac
Owner
Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

As a repair shop, we have a unique perspective on the Mac vs. PC question. I understand there are a lot of arguments on both sides, but I would like to present the repair argument. When it comes to physical damage (cracked LCD, bad keyboard etc) it always costs between 200 – 400% more to fix a mac than a PC, and the mac will look much less pretty when it is reassembled.

Let’s look at the two pieces of this equation -

Macs cost vastly more to repair because they are phenomenally more difficult to take apart. To take, for example, a Dell LCD screen out only requires taking off the front bezel (piece of plastic around the screen) unscrewing the LCD from the back bezel (back plastic) and screwing in/plugging in the new one.

Not on a Mac. On most Mac’s it’s at least two hours of time spent fully disassembling the entire computer to get the damn screen out. Those cute integrated hinges that slide seamlessly in the back of the machine? Yeah, that whole hinge assembly has to come out, and that requires disassembling the entire computer down to its component parts.

Macs are also much more expensive to repair because the pieces are so much more expensive. Average Dell LCD? About $125 – 150, Average Mac LCD? About $250 – 400. Sure, they are a little bit prettier, but because each is proprietary to the computer model it came with, they are very difficult to find replacements for. With a Dell, though, I can take a screen from a 4 year old Dell and it will fit and work in a new Dell perfectly. Not so with a Mac.

On the other point, the fit and finish, we run into a simple problem with seamless, pretty design – it requires a lot of engineering tricks to achieve. For example, Dell LCD bezel’s are held on with screws.  You can see them, one is under each little rubber bump on the screen you  might be looking at as we speak. We can unscrew those, take apart the screen, put it back together, and screw them back in.

See where I’m headed here? Mac has no screws on the LCD. This means the design perfectly plastic/seamless/pretty…and almost impossible to take apart. Macs use 1-time use plastic tabs that snap under the edge of the frame when the thing is put together at the factory. As you can imagine, when we “unsnap” those 1 time tabs frequently they bend out of place (they are flimsy plastic). So while we can put Macs back together, usually there will be some bulge/tabs that snapped off/don’t snap back correctly, and they rarely look as perfect when we’re done as they did when we started. And yes, for the record, we follow Mac’s specific manuals to the letter for these repairs, there just isn’t a way around the issue.

So battle as much as you want about viruses and the rest, from a repair standpoint, PC’s beat Mac by leaps and bounds.

Thanks!

-Zac

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

Twice in the last couple of days we have had customer’s come in and say they can’t get their wireless to work. In both instances, the customers did not realize their laptop had a discrete wireless switch that turns the wireless on and off. This switch exists on many laptops, and it can be in various places around the bezel or as a switch on the side or front of the computer. Be aware of the location of your button, and next time your wireless stops working, check the button first! We hate to make people make the drive if we can avoid it.
Thanks!

-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

Many of our repeat customers have commented, “it looks so different!” when they see our constantly reorganized office. It’s really true, at least once every month or two we do a serious office furniture move.

There are two elements to our constant reorganizations. One is practical, often times we have to allow for new employees, new products, or other things that simply require furniture to move around.

The larger, and more common reason, is “because we want to.” I’m not much of a hippy, and i can’t even spell fung schway (that is 100% wrong, I am certain) but I do believe that moving things around changes the energy and thought processes of the people in the company. Learning to see new things in new places all the time stimulates discussion and ideas. Moving people around in the office forces people to make new friends across their desks and next to them. It also helps us keep the shop clean, it’s amazing how much gunk accumulates under an un-moved desk! The constant moving further requires us to throw things away a lot more often, as cleaning out ones desk to move to another will always turn up tons of useless crap you didn’t even realize you didn’t need.

I like to run a lean organization with people who are familiar and friendly with one another, and in computers, you need to always be thinking ahead, of the next new threat or new idea, and I think that the constant office shuffling helps that to occur. So the next time you come in, and all the desks are in new places again, know that it’s not some random hurricane that sweeps through, but a clearing of desks, ideas, and heads to allow us to continue to excel at serving you.

Thanks!
-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

The New York Times writes substantially better than I do, so even though we’ve discussed before how users get viruses, I am going to go ahead and post this link to their article about it. They go over many of the things we’ve talked about before, install your updates, don’t open e-mails you don’t trust, but also go into some greater detail about the hows and whys.

Give it a gander, just a page, and very informative!

-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

We are often asked about the differences between laptops, and laptop quality. I want to give you all a quick way to measure the quality of your laptop. Laptop hinges are a good way of measuring laptop quality. A laptop screen should open easily and seamlessly with one hand. Most cheap laptops fail this test, they require what we call the “clam shell” approach, in which you have to pry the top up from the bottom. Check your laptop, if you can’t easily adjust the laptop screen with one hand, it’s probably a cheap, low quality build.

If you want to check out some high quality builds, go ahead and stop in the shop, we’ll show you what a laptop built to last feels like.

Thanks,

-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

Part of my job here at Happy Hamster is to observe the competition. We like to check on other companies to see what sorts of computers and services they offer, and what kind of service and time line they can offer.

I do this every few weeks to different shops, and usually it passes without comment beyond an internal staff e-mail detailing my findings. Today, though, I had an experience so bad it left me shaking with rage, and I was only playing at being a fake customer!

I walked into a local computer store ( I don’t want to start any sort of flame war, so I’m not going to say which one) to do my standard check out. I have a bit of a spiel worked out that I go through with every store, so I can compare things fairly. I start by mentioning I have some sort of older computer, 3 – 4 years old, with a cracked LCD, or a bad keyboard, or a bad motherboard, or some other damage. I ask the sales rep if he thinks I should replace the part, what the replacement part costs, and what my options are for a new computer if I do not want to replace it. This conversation lets me go all over the place in terms of examining their knowledge of pricing on various system components, how well they deal with the question of repair vs. replace, and what their new computer offerings look like.

Today I went into a computer store which had one employee sitting behind a computer, behind a counter, talking to another customer. I saw a man in a back room, but he did not come out to greet me. I looked around at their shop for 1 – 2 minutes, looked at their new and used computer offerings, and then the man behind the counter acknowledged me and said he would be right with me (after ignoring me for the first minute or two).

I started my explanation, and was met largely with dead silence. None of the standard, “okay” “uh huh” noises one expects in polite conversation. No engagement at all as I explained my problem. The entire time in the shop, in fact, the technician sat behind his computer, typing something and clicking on things on his computer. He never looked at me or made eye contact at any point. I asked my standard question, about should I replace or buy new,  and what were my price options, and he basically ignored the either or question. He told me my part would be $150, and my labor would be $100, and that the total would be $200. I asked him to check his math, and he hemmed and hawed and changed the parts price to $100. I asked him for a quote and he, I kid you not, wrote “$200″ on a piece of notebook paper, tore it out of his notebook, and handed it to me along with his business card. That was it, the entire quote.

The entire time in the store I grew slowly more and more angry as he refused to look at me, or engage me in conversation, always typing and clicking his computer. Every question I asked, he deflected, or gave a short, useless, one word answer. He clearly had no desire, at all, to help me. When I asked him for the specifications on a new laptop, he said, “they’re written on the laptop, you can borrow my pen if you want to write them down for yourself.”

Any other time as a consumer in my life, I would’ve demanded a manager, but I didn’t want to make a scene, so I simply left.

There are two big things here that I emphasize with my staff -

1) Engagement.  We engage our customers 100% when they walk in the door. We listen to your problem, and talk with you about all potential solutions. Often we will even advise people that a repair is bad idea, if the  cost/benefit doesn’t make sense. We look at all the solutions, including things the customer may not have ever thought of as an option (so you have a broken LCD screen, but the computer is 7 years old, have you thought about just using it as a desktop with a cheap external monitor? That might tide you over until you can afford a new computer…). We’re also very knowledgeable about our products, want to know about a laptop? No problem, my entire staff have the stats, pros and cons memorized and ready to go.

2) Engagement some more. Our entire store is designed to engage the customer. We have no counters to separate us from you, we’ll take your computer from you when you walk in the door, and you can look over my shoulder while I type up your invoice. We don’t try to protect ourselves from the customers with secret back rooms or tabletops. Hell, we barely even sit down, all of our work stations are standing (we wear special socks).

So yes, other computer stores bad, us good, not really news, but this one riled me up so much I felt like it was worth talking about. If your computer repair store does not engage you, come here, we will.

Thanks,

-Zac

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

I am going to relay a conversation that occurs every single day in our shop, at least once -

“Ok sir, so I can see here you’ve got a fairly old computer…”

“What do you mean fairly old? It’s only 5!”

“Right, sir, you see, in computers, 5 years is old, so you may not want to spend $200 repairing it…”

“But I paid $1,500 for it 5 years ago!”

“Yes sir, and now it’s worth about 15 cents.”

(Obviously we would never say that to a customer, but you get the point.)

So I want to do a little public service here, and tell you all the depreciation schedule for a laptop or desktop computer.

Assume your computer cost $1,000

When you walk out the front door of the store the value drops 50%

So your $1,000 computer is now worth $500

Every year from then on, your computer loses 20% of its value every year.

At the end of year 1, your $500 computer is worth $400

At the end of year 2, your $400 computer is worth $320

At the end of year 3, your $320 computer is worth $256

At the end of year 4, your $256 computer is worth $205

At the end of year 5, your $205 computer is worth $160

After 5 years, if your computer still runs, the best you can ever hope for is $99, the price of a “functional computer” to a low income individual. The individual model and specifications stop mattering at that point.

So, at Happy Hamster computer repair we go with the Consumer Reports recommended guidelines for when to recommend a repair. Consumer Reports says that when the price of the repair exceeds half the value of the item, you should replace the item instead of repairing it. We follow that same logic in our shop, so when we tell you that your 5 year old machine isn’t worth the fix, we do it to make sure you get the best possible value for your money!

Thanks everybody,

-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair

Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,

I’m going to try starting an occasional series that I will call “RTSHH” for “recalls that should have happened.” These posts will be based on problems we see across a model on a constant basis. For example, the bad graphics chips notorious for the HP DV2000, 6000 and 9000.

Today we’re going to talk about the Dell Inspiron 1525. It’s a cute little computer, about 2 years old now, and it has faulty hinges. We see approximately 4 of these, every month, with the same problem. The place where the hinge connects to the plastic monitor bezel snaps, and the bezel disintegrates in a fun flash of plastic.  It’s also unfortunately expensive to replace for two fun reasons -

1) Somewhat normal, it’s expensive because it’s a difficult/extensive job. It takes awhile to replace an entire bezel, you have to remove broken bezel from the computer, remove the LCD from the bezel, put the LCD into a new bezel, and put the new bezel on the computer.

2) Why we know this should be recalled – you can’t find non-broken bezels for this computer! We get many of our parts for random things like this (random hinge, random LCD, etc) from ebay.com but if you try to search ebay for an inspiron 1525 bezel, they are incredibly rare! This is unheard of for a Dell laptop. As a major manufacturer, Dell products get broken, taken apart, and put up on ebay by the thousands. As I write this right now, I can see fewer than 10 available full/functional bezel/back/hinge pieces available for the Inspiron 1525. For a similar model, made in a similar generation, the Vostro 1500 for example, dozens are on offer.

So, if you have an inspiron 1525, be careful with the hinges, try not to open or close the computer if you don’t need to, and when you do, go easy on it!

Thanks,

-Zac

Owner

Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair