monitor repair bill

just got a call from the tv repair place, getting my old monitor fixed
seemed to be a loose connection, where the screen would go out and you would have to slap it on the side for it to work again
Well they told me they had to replace a transistor and it would cost me $133
now seeing how i have a brand new monitor already, it seems outragious, but is it? I never had a tv or monitor fixed before so i dont know what they typically charge.
The monitor is a 19" ProView, nothing special but i get a great picture with it
ooh yeah, almost forgot the best part, i told them when i dropped it off that i just wanted to find out what was wrong and how much it would be to fix it, its fixed already and he isnt willing to "unfix it" and let me have it back.
So what would you do? and is this to much?

Depends on the transistor, but I can think of very few that cost enough I would need to charge that much money to replace one myself. They must have pretty high shop rates.

The fact that they went ahead with repairs when you specifically told them you wanted an estimate first isn't right. Not sure what the laws in your area are, but it's not legal up here.

I used to work on TV's. You have to fix them to know if the repair will work or not. So many things are connected directly that one thing can burn out and cause others to weaken or go out to. Get a DC coupled Sansui amplifier repaired. It doesn't matter what goes out, big or small, it takes all the transisters with it.

That is a bit much though. It may be that he doesn't work on monitors much and had to spend time on the repair and buy the service manual, which ain't cheap. Computer monitors and TVs have some differences even though they do the same thing.

Me, I won't fix much more than a blown fuse on a monitor. They are not worth the expense in my opinion. Most likely you could have put a little with it and got you a brand new one with warranty. Of course, I'm the same way on TVs and I only have to buy the parts.

He may charge you for the estimate if you don't want it fixed. The repair price depends on what it is worth to you.

My $.02 worth.

Later

he did tell me that the transistor costed @ $30 so @ $100 for labor
i asked them if they wanted to buy it because it isnt worth fixing and they already fixed it, so they said no, but if i was gonna not get it they would take it, and of course course resell it (wonder what they would resell it for, hmmmmm)
he then told me that he would knock of 10% labor costs, but that isnt but $10, im gonna try to see if he will go lower, or else they can keep it, and maybe ill get it after they put it on their sell rack.
Course they have 3 15" monitors for sale there now, that are atleast 6 years old and want @ $60 for them.

Back when good 17-inch monitors were selling for over $300 I had one fixed for $125. I think for monitors 17-inch and larger $100 was the cheapest they would charge.

Whether the monitoris was worth fixing depends on how much it would costs to replace it. If a replacement costs only $200 then paying $133 is too much to fix it.

The place that fixed my monitor went out of business. I guess people are not willing to pay over $100 any more to fix them.

I used to be an electronic technician but did not fix it myself because I did not have any experience working on TVs or monitors. I find it strange that people think you can just "check it out" without replacing any parts. Anybody that tellls you otherwise must be using a crystal ball or have ESP. It is true that some simple things can be checked out without replacing any parts but that is the minority.

Depending on where you live and you pushed hard enough and got a lawyer you might get your monitor back without paying. Of course the repairman could turn around and sue you for the repair charge. They would even have a good chance of winning if they actually fixed your monitor and it works. My best bit of advice is if he fixed the monitor and it works then pay the man. Just make sure you get a warrany on the repair from him. Some battles are not worth fighting.

It sounds like he replaced either a horizontal output transistor or the regulator transistor. I would ask which it was. If it is the horizontal output and you did not smell a smokey smell when it went out, it may be worth the repair. If it is the regulator, I would let him deal with it.

This is why I say that. I have replaced the horizontal outpur transistor a lot of times. If you do NOT smell smoke, odds are the flyback transformer is OK. There is the chance it is damaged but it is fairly small. If the regulator transistor, or power supply, is at fault, there is usually a spike that hits everything in the monitor when it goes out and before it blows a fuse. Those components are not as "tuff" as the flyback, which is basically a transformer for high voltage. That power supply transister connects to everything where the horizontal transister is only connected to the flyback.

If he replaced that transister then that price may be OK. I would ask for the old parts though. I do that when someone works on my car too. I have worked on big TVs before on many occasions but I have a lot of respect for even a small computer monitor. They have one heck of a bite and no bark at all.

It's your decision. Take into account what he fixed, and how old the monitor is and what it is worth and worth to you. You may be sort of hooked on that thing.

Hope this helps give you info.

MisterEd said:

I find it strange that people think you can just "check it out" without replacing any parts. Anybody that tellls you otherwise must be using a crystal ball or have ESP. It is true that some simple things can be checked out without replacing any parts but that is the minority.

Click to expand...

Just 15 years of experience here... thing is, with some of these more costly parts it's not really practical to replace things just to make a more informed diagnosis. I learned that one the hard way

These days I research online common failures on the monitors I repair before even looking at them, and then go from there. If I find something that failed (like the HOT) because of something else, I tell the customer it's going to start costing a bit... especially if the customer was expecting not to pay a whole lot for an estimate. More often than not though I end up telling them repairing's not worth it considering how cheap they are to buy new

Then again, I'm independant and the shops usually have more business than I, so they may not have the time to consult the customer for everything. I confess these days this is more a hobby for me than a business.

This guy is sharking you. Don't fall for it. He made a promise to give you a choice. He should never have agreed to give you a price before he worked on it if he couldn't do it.

Here's where it gets tricky. Did you sign a mechanic's lean type form when you left it? If you did, he may just have you over a barrel. Still, this guy is being unreasonable. He tells you that it's worth nothing to him, but that he won't give it back to you. I'd start threatening to get the BBB involved.

Don't pay $120 to get it fixed. That really is more than a used 19" monitor is worth, IMHO.