How Much Does a Free Diagnosis Really Cost?

One of the things that really gets my goat is when some people advertise a free diagnosis. If you take the computer to these people they will set it on the counter and tell you what you need within a few minutes.  Maybe they take it in the back and come out in a minute or two or maybe they just base the diagnosis on what you tell them.  Then they give you a quote. 


We charge $25 for a diagnostic, but what you get in exchange is a qualified technician that takes whatever time he needs to give you an accurate answer, and I will stand behind that diagnosis. 

When we do a diagnostic, it typically takes an hour, and sometimes as much as a day to fully determine the exact issue.  Then we quote a price that is accurate.

We recently shopped our competitors by phone, and told them “My computer is acting funny”.  One major company told us that we needed a new hard drive, based on only that information.  Then he quoted a $300 repair.

Just for comparison, when we run a diagnostic on a hard drive, it takes between 1 and 3 hours depending on the hard drive’s size.   If we determine the hard drive needs replaced, we then discover if the data is recoverable, how much data there is, where it is located and we quote the price based on everything you might need.  This guy knew what was wrong, and gave a complete price over the phone without so much as asking what “acting funny” meant. 

Have you ever gone to have your car repaired, and then you pick it up only to find it still has a problem?  What happens when you go back to the shop?  Typically they find a new problem, and charge you for fixing that in addition to the original repair.  If you complain they will tell you that you had to have the other repair anyway.

Misdiagnosis is an absolute pet peeve of mine.  If the tech blows the diag, it’s on me, plain and simple. 

There are complicated cases where one problem has to be fixed before you can see the other issue, but if you do need two repairs and we only quoted one, we will call you and go over the options with you.  We will not give it back to you with one part fixed and another broken.

A good example of this kind of issue is a computer infected with a virus.  You clean the virus only to find there is hard drive corruption that requires a format and reload.  At Village Geek Computers, the cleaning will be free, and you only pay for the repair we should have quoted in the first place.

What I’m saying here is a free diagnosis can cost you a lot more than $25. 

~Steve