Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 12,861
- Reaction score
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Did anyone see the "House of Horrors" programme on ITV1? (Tuesday at 3:30 pm here in S. Wales, but different in other regions I suspect.) For anyone who doesn't know, it is a programme which "sets-up" rogue traders and films them as they rip-off their victims.
In tonight's programme there was a bloke who "repaired" PCs..... not! A high-spec PC was specially built by a guy from one of the computer mags. The parts were all tip-top, but he had deliberately left the graphics card loosened.... so a blank monitor. PC repair-man needed.............
Enter the rogue trader. He took off the side of the box and fiddled for a minute or two, then told the young woman "owner" that ...tut tut... he would need to take the PC away for further examination. But he suspected a problem with the RAM and possibly the graphics card...
Cutting the story short... he ended up removing the graphics card and replacing it with an inferior one: next, he removed one of the sticks of RAM, instantly downgrading the machine, but not happy with that, he also removed and replaced the PSU (again with an inferior substitute!) Effectively, he had removed what was (on the programme) estimated to be about £200 worth of perfect parts, and then charged the young woman £328 for the priviledge!
When then programme makers wanted to confront him, they discovered that his address was fake, so they organized another set-up. As the fellow began to examine the (same) PC at a different address, he became aware that he'd recently "worked" on it and decided to leg it as he was confronted. That's when a bit of justice came his way...... in his haste to escape in his very nice BMW........ he hit a wall and removed about a third of his front bumper.
Isn't it grim when people are prepared to rip-off others like this? We all know that they're about, but people who are not experts in these matters are so vulnerable. Makes me really mad!
In tonight's programme there was a bloke who "repaired" PCs..... not! A high-spec PC was specially built by a guy from one of the computer mags. The parts were all tip-top, but he had deliberately left the graphics card loosened.... so a blank monitor. PC repair-man needed.............
Enter the rogue trader. He took off the side of the box and fiddled for a minute or two, then told the young woman "owner" that ...tut tut... he would need to take the PC away for further examination. But he suspected a problem with the RAM and possibly the graphics card...
Cutting the story short... he ended up removing the graphics card and replacing it with an inferior one: next, he removed one of the sticks of RAM, instantly downgrading the machine, but not happy with that, he also removed and replaced the PSU (again with an inferior substitute!) Effectively, he had removed what was (on the programme) estimated to be about £200 worth of perfect parts, and then charged the young woman £328 for the priviledge!
When then programme makers wanted to confront him, they discovered that his address was fake, so they organized another set-up. As the fellow began to examine the (same) PC at a different address, he became aware that he'd recently "worked" on it and decided to leg it as he was confronted. That's when a bit of justice came his way...... in his haste to escape in his very nice BMW........ he hit a wall and removed about a third of his front bumper.
Isn't it grim when people are prepared to rip-off others like this? We all know that they're about, but people who are not experts in these matters are so vulnerable. Makes me really mad!
