Repairs

From Dell hell to Genius Bar: A customer service journey

I didn't get how important support was. Then, recently, I had back-to-back experiences dealing with both great and terrible support for products that failed. If you make a consumer product, there are important lessons in these experiences.

Experience number 1: Dell

I bought a cheap computer for my mother, for her birthday. A few months later, but still during the warranty period, it died. Utterly. Power supply, I think, although maybe the motherboard. I started the support process, eventually did a frustrating online chat (we've all been there, right?), and against my wishes agreed to have a Dell … Read more

CNET Roadside Assistance 41: Hyundai help and DIY

There's an Easter Egg in Hyundai's color codes, what's the point of all of this advanced engine tech anyway, and where do we go for our DIY car maintenance needs? We get to the bottom of these questions and more on on this week's episode of CNET Roadside Assistance.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 41 SHOW NOTES

New study shows 88 percent of auto repair shops recycle tires

From 1989 to 2001, a company called Used Rubber USA operated a retail store, offering cool gear to city-dwelling hipsters, on the corner of Fillmore and Haight streets in San Francisco. The company still turns old tires into book bags, wallets or belts and other merchandise--now online only.

Recycling used tires isn't a new idea, and now a study shows that most auto repair shops recycle tires rather than send them off to a landfill.

The organization Car Care Council has been urging auto repair shops to recycle more vehicle parts and engine fluids, in a consumer education campaign … Read more

Patagonia encourages selling its used gear on eBay

Unlike many companies that discourage the repair and reselling of items, outdoor gear retailer Patagonia has decided to not only tolerate, but even sanction the practice.

Patagonia announced today it's partnering with eBay to open a marketplace for the company's used products as part of its sustainability plan.

The online eBay store is called the Common Threads Initiative. It's open to any eBay sellers wishing to sell genuine Patagonia products. By signing on to a pledge, community sellers will be given a badge on their post and included under the store's umbrella, as well as promoted … Read more

What to do when a Windows PC won't start

A day like any other: you're ready to get your compute on, but when you press the power button on your machine, nothing happens. Maybe the screen stays blank, or maybe it shows a blinking cursor and nothing else. Nightmare scenarios race through your mind: big repair bill? Lost data? New PC? (Gasp!)

Don't panic. Put away the sledgehammer. All is probably not lost--at least not yet.

A reader contacted me the other day to ask how she could revive her PC, which she had configured to dual-boot Windows XP and Vista. It seems she ran a popular … Read more

Apple replacing MacBook bottom case

Apple has started replacing the bottom case of MacBooks sold over the last year and a half.

According to the company, some MacBooks have a problem in which the rubber surface on the bottom of MacBooks separates from the underside of the computer. The issue affects MacBooks shipped between October 2009 and April 2011.

Apple is offering three free ways to fix the problem.

Apple said that it will replace the bottom case on affected MacBooks at the Genius Bar at any of its retail stores. In addition, consumers can choose to work with an Apple authorized service provider to … Read more

Registry repair

We're constantly installing and uninstalling the programs that we review for Download.com, and we're sure you can imagine the mess that this creates on our computer: files, icons, and menu items that are left behind, and lots and lots of registry errors. Fortunately, there's a wide variety of registry cleaners that can tidy things up for us. Argente - Registry Cleaner is one such program. We can't say that there's anything about it that really sets it apart from the crowd, but it does an adequate job as far as we can tell.

The … Read more

Digital City 113: How to fix a dead TV, plus hands-on with Nintendo's 3DS

This week: CNET television guru David Katzmaier joins us to talk about Dan's back-from-the-dead TV repair tale, while Scott goes over his impressions of Nintendo's new 3DS handheld and mourns for his beloved Jets.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

iFixit throws an iFit over iPhone screws

Tamper-resistant screws are popping up in another Apple product, the iPhone 4, and some users say they're feeling screwed by the change.

Among the most outraged, it seems, is iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, who sent out an e-mail today blasting the tech giant for its change to a proprietary, tamper-resistant screw called a pentalobe on later shipments of the iPhone 4. Wiens believes Apple stopped using standard Phillips and Torx screws on the iPhone 4 and other products to "keep you out of your own hardware."

Apple has not yet responded to CNET's request for comment.

But while some are annoyed by the change, not everyone thinks it's a bad idea. "As a service tech, you would be surprised to see how many people open up their machines to try and fix them before bringing them in for warranty service. And in doing so [they] cause more damage than the original problem was," wrote a commenter on iPodnn.

Some consumers feel strongly that users should have the ability to open up their devices to remove and replace batteries, memory, and drives.

Then again, notes another commenter to iPodnn, "Apple is selling an 'appliance experience.' If you don't like that, don't buy these products. When's the last time you tried to open up your cell phone, clock radio, or car stereo? Or your TV? These aren't user-serviceable devices and neither are iPhones, iPods, or iPads. Factor that into your buying decision." … Read more

Bringing a flat-screen TV back from the dead

There are few technology tragedies as sad as a dead big-screen TV. Sharp-eyed readers may recall that I suffered just such a misfortune in November 2010, when my nearly 5-year-old 42-inch set dropped dead unexpectedly. At the time, I described the scene as follows:

After attempting to revive the set by turning it off and on, unplugging and reconnecting the power plug, and other basic troubleshooting, I had to face the hard conclusion that my television was dead.

From there, I detailed the research, purchase, and installation process for my new plasma, a 50-inch Samsung 3DTV. That new set has been great, even if the 3D highlight so far has been the 3D Yule Log special on one of Time Warner's on-demand channels. For a complete accounting of how I chose my new TV, you can read the full blow by blow here. I'm sure I could have done some additional troubleshooting on the dead TV at the time, but a good reason to upgrade to a new flat-screen doesn't come along every day, and I was probably looking for an excuse.

Dead, but not gone But the story doesn't end there. I had expected the promised two-man white glove delivery team to not only unbox my new set, but also lug my old, nonfunctioning one down to the the first floor of my downtown Manhattan walk-up building (in exchange for a generous tip, of course). This didn't happen, as one delivery guy stayed with the double-parked truck, while I had to help the other one carry the Samsung up four flights of stairs. After that, owing to a combination of holidays, CES prep, and general laziness, the old set sat undisturbed in a corner of my kitchen, waiting for me to get around to tossing it. … Read more