Should I have to pay for this?

[BigBearLives]

I took my laptop into repair place - he looked it over and came back to me at end of day with a repair price - it needed a new battery and keyboard and system reinstalling, and I accepted quote.

He's come back to me a couple of days later saying it's not worth repairing because there is a short circuit in the motherboard, and that this has fried the new battery. He is asking me to pay £40 towards the cost of the battery he ordered that is now useless.

I have looked online, and it appears there are ways to tell if motherboard has a short circuit before ruining a new battery.

AIBU to think that a repair shop should have checked this first, and I shouldn't be asked to pay for this, since I now have to buy a whole new laptop and this one has not been repaired and is useless to me.
Or is it totally reasonable for me to be asked to pay towards his losses on trying to fix it?

I wouldn't pay for something like that.

He could well have short circuited himself.

Is he holding your laptop hostage or have you got it back?

I wouldn't be happy paying for that

I don't have it back - I don't really care tbh if it's not repairable he can dispose of it if he prefers. I just don't want to have to pay £40 on top of having to get a new blinking laptop.

IS it really not repairable? How do you know?

Argh - well now I'm wondering.

I would just pay, and chalk it up to bad luck. You've "looked online" but he repairs computers for a living so I'd like to think he knows what he's doing. Maybe in your case there was no way of telling that there was a short circuit.

Is a new motherboard too expensive? I thought these things were fairly cheap these days.

Tell him to keep the computer for spares in lieu of paying for the battery if you don't want it back.

I would say it's his fault if he wrecked a battery, and part of the cost of doing business. I assume he is a business not a friend trying to fix it for you.

So are you proposing paying him nothing for the time he has spent evaluating your laptop?

That sounds like a load of old cobblers. He says it's totally unrepairable but you should give him £40. For something completely useless?
If he wanted his shitty £40 he should've said I can fix it if you give me the money...
Just say no thanks. I'll take it back or you can do what you like with it.

I wonder why didn't offer to replace the motherboard as well. AFAIK they are about £100 for a laptop so would still be worth your while. Have you used him before? He sounds a bit dodgy

I would ask for it back and take it elsewhere for a second opinion. And I wouldn't give him £40, because he should have tested if it was likely to kill a new battery before he put one in.

Did you properly wipe the hard drive before all this? If not, definitely ask for it back. Even if it IS dead, maybe you could part-exchange it.

He didn't say there would be a cost for evaluating the laptop.

He didn't offer to replace the motherboard - just said it's not repairable. I am trusting he knows what he's talking about - he is a professional who has a repair shop on the high street.

Tell him to cover the £40 battery fee in parts for keeping your laptop. If he kicks up a fuss ask him for a copy of the contract you entered into.

If he knew what he was doing he wouldn't have fried a new battery with a shirt circuit. That's easy stuff.

If he didn't do that by accident....then he wants your laptop to fix and sell on for more than the repair is worth.

Pick it up, pay nothing

I think he at least needs paying something given he has spent time on it, maybe give him £20 as a gesture.

It's easy to fry the motherboard in a laptop. Husband builds computers/ servers at home and has done it.
But it's also possible to replace them. I'd be sorely tempted to give him the money just to get it back, especially as I'm assuming all your data is still on the hard drive

How old is the laptop?

To replace it, he'd have to source a motherboard that is exactly the same model as the broken one and then move the CPU and memory chips from the old to the new one. On some motherboards, the memory chips are permanently installed and can't be moved, which means sourcing compatible replacements.

Unless you can get a motherboard replaced under warranty, it's almost never worth doing, particularly if the laptop is more than a couple of years old.

Fair enough - I'm not personally questioning him not saying to replace the motherboard. I don't know about it. I just would expect an expert to be able to check first if the laptop he's putting a new battery into is capable of receiving it without destroying it, and I would not expect said expert to ask the customer to pay for the battery that was damaged in this way.

Do you want it back if it's broken? Just don't pay anything and let him keep it for spares?