So this is kind of an entertaining story.
A friend of mine that I play guitar with was talking to me about his refurb xbox 360 and how it had crapped out on him. I had never repaired an xbox before, but I do IT repair for a living. So I told him to bring it over and I would take a look.
Four months later he calls me and says he's in a rush and asks if he can drop off his guitar at my house. I comply. He shows up about forty minutes later with his guitar in hard case, and a big chrome box with a handle. I imagined it was recording equipment...or maybe some sort of hard case for a sidekick amp (although I have never seen that done)
Two months later he asks if I have ever fixed his xbox......
I explained that he had never brought it over and he said I've had it for two months and it was in the box.
He sounded agitated at this point so I explained to him that he didn't let me know that's what was in the box and I'm not in the neighborhood of nosing through other people's things. Especially my friends. He calms down and I tell him I'll look at it in the next few days.
Problem turned out to be the three red rings caused by the thermal paste issue. Easy fix. After the repair I played Halo 3 on it for a few hours to ensure it was indeed fixed. Then I proceed to call him and let him know that it was repaired and he could come pick it up free of charge via friend credit.
3.5 weeks later I called him again, "Hey man, you ever going to come get your xbox? It's sitting in the back seat of my car."
"Yeah brah, be right over."
Prior to all this I had tried to talk him into letting me mod his box because well it's fun. Obviously I was going to make him pay for parts and my associate and I were just going to charge him like 40 bucks for the labor. Which we can all agree is next to nothing.
He comes over. Get's the xbox, takes it home, plugs in power....and calls me to bitc* about how it now has 4 rings! He is outraged!!!! He's so glad he didn't invest any money in it!!!!!!! He's so mad he decided to take it to a local repair shop! (meanwhile i'm googling "4 red rings error xbox" at home) He gets to the repair shop, drops it off and I call him back....
"Hey man, 4 rings in an AV cable error. Are you sure you had it plugged in? Because I played on it for like three hours and it worked fine. Perhaps your cable is shorted internally and you just need a new one?"
He goes on to explain that he didn't think that it needed to be plugged in just to power up and see the green lights. I explain that is exactly what that specific error is for. So he turns the car around....
When he gets back to the repair shop the guy has it taken apart. My friend explains to the guy that it actually works and he brought it in by mistake. The disgruntled gent behind the counter starts to put it back together and tells my friend that will cost him fifty dollars since he's been working on it for almost an hour already! Repaired or not!
They argue for a while and then my friend winds up paying the guy to get his xbox back (which DID work just fine)
The moral of the story?
Be kind and have patience with people who have professional training. If there is a lack of communication, it's most likely because you left something out. Frustration will just get your wallet raped by a fat hairy guy in a wife beater with mustard stains! lol
(not to offend any fat hairy guys with mustard stains....as I am fat, hairy, and love mustard.)
I do wish I would have charged the guy though. What a dip sh*t, seriousely.