Count your computer fans!

[ElQueso]

My wife went and visited an Argentina friend of hers this evening. When she got home, she told me about a problem her friend had with CompuMundo, related to the import restrictions currently in place.

Her friend had bought a computer from CompuMundo some months ago (late last year). She had problems with it a few weeks ago. The computer was still under warranty. The problem was something related to the screen. My wife isn't a computer geek, so she didn't follow specifically what her friend said was actually wrong. CompuMundo had it for a few days and called her to come pick it up when it was ready.

She used the computer for a couple of weeks after that and the computer (a laptop) started shutting down automatically all of the sudden, on and off during that time. She took it to a friend of hers this time, who works on computers, to see what was wrong.

He figured (correctly) that it probably had something to do with the cooling. At first he figured he'd just clean out the intake ports and that would probably take care of the problem. But the ports weren't dirty. He then took the laptop apart to see if he could see what else might be causing the issue.

Lo and behold, there were places for two fans but ONE OF THEM WAS MISSING.

Apparently, CompuMundo took out one of the fans to add to their spare parts inventory. Her tech friend told her that the import restrictions are causing a lot of shortages and it seems as though CompuMundo used an inventive method to help replenish their stock...

 

[Crema Americana]

These types of scams happen too often... it's nothing new with the import restrictions. My mother in law had her computer fixed and the tech stole a stick of ram. I suppose he figured she didn't really need it and wouldn't notice it was gone.

It's hard to believe CompuMundo would have such a policy (though wouldn't completely surprise me) - most likely it was a worker that sells spare parts on the side.

 

[ElQueso]

These types of scams happen too often... it's nothing new with the import restrictions. My mother in law had her computer fixed and the tech stole a stick of ram. I suppose he figured she didn't really need it and wouldn't notice it was gone.

It's hard to believe CompuMundo would have such a policy (though wouldn't completely surprise me) - most likely it was a worker that sells spare parts on the side.

Yeah, I've heard of things similar to this before. What surprised me was that it was CompuMundo. And I'd just made a positive post a little while ago about customer service with bigger companies improving!

And I suppose you're right. I doubt it's the policy of CompuMundo, but probably a tech trying to augment his earnings.

 

[scotttswan]

I've said before and i'll say it again. Dell is the way to go in Argentina. Get a next day repair and they send someone round to fix any problems in a day.

 

[garygrunson]

Sometimes computers have two places for fans and only use one slot. The second slot is considered an expansion slot. The parts are produced for many different types of computers and then assembled for a certain spec. You should check the specs to see if they included two fans. If you open any computer up you will find many empty places, so it does not mean that something was removed. Fans are usually very generic and cheap.

However it is possible that someone took an extra fan out. But fans are REALLY cheap even here and I see no reason to take one. For a few pesos you can pick up a fan on Florida and they are plenty of stores selling them.

I could be wrong. Maybe someone needed a couple of pesos for a used fan...

 

[Gringoboy]

I fix PC's for a living and this certainly doesn't come as a surprise to me.
Certainly not saying that all PC specialists here do this, but when you open up a PC which may have been to another place previously, there are always tell tale signs if something is amiss.