This rare occurrence depends on the circumstances associated with your piece of equipment, but I will always carefully explain the reason/s.

We focus on complex and often ‘unrepairable’ hi-fi equipment and fix almost all of it. This is important because:

• Much of it is older equipment, lacking any service data
• Much of it has visited others who could not effect repair
• It requires a technically-focused component-level approach that many do not offer
• Much of it has been tinkered with by all the wrong people before I get to see it, accumulating a range of damage along the way.

Think of it this way: if the sorts of repairs that are routine for us were easy, there’d be no demand for our services. Yet we are almost always fully booked, without advertising, and are known for solving the tough jobs that most others cannot.

There will occasionally be circumstances where repairs aren’t viable within sensible bounds, though. There are also intermittent faults that may be challenging to isolate and resolve and may require further work to eliminate. These are some of the challenges of working with complex electronic equipment, and they need to be clearly understood by potential customers.

Viability

In cases where repair costs are likely to exceed equipment value or customer budget, we may deem the work non-viable. We consider the condition, faults, value and work needed to properly repair a piece of equipment and even the customer when making this call. Let’s look at some examples:

• A customer doesn’t want or cannot afford to have the equipment properly repaired
• Critical parts and/or substitutes are no longer available
• A repair is unlikely to be viable or reliable for technical reasons
• A repair is not worth pursuing due to equipment condition, value, or customer issues

To avoid disappointment and maximise the likelihood of satisfaction, it’s vitally important to understand that we are not responsible for equipment condition, faults or repair viability. We offer our expertise to assist customers and their equipment, but we assume no responsibility for any issues it may have.

Example

I was contacted by the owner of an old amplifier, in very poor condition, with various issues. The owner had emptied a can of WD-40 into it, it had been modified, tinkered with, and was damaged, filthy and not well cared for. It was brought to me too late, something I explained to him and which he seemed to understand, until he didn’t. I should have rejected this job, because my attempts to help saw me blamed for all the issues.

After working through issues with the unit, I concluded that further work was not viable due to its poor condition and problems beyond our control. Despite only charging our minimum, I was ‘blamed’ for not fixing the amplifier, as though all of its problems were now my responsibility! Whilst convenient for the owner, this is of course a ridiculous position. I’d never touched his unit until it was brought to me. I never received thanks or an apology.

That customer is now blacklisted, and an example of why I screen equipment and customers. We’re here for reasonable people, not all people!

Expectations

Again, we are not responsible for the condition and faults of equipment presented to us, often after decades of abuse, poor or absent service history, tinkering, etc. We will, of course, do our best to assist people, but this does not mean we magically become responsible for the condition of the equipment!