PC World Brentford Caught Charging Excessive Amounts

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Excessive charging, incorrect diagnosis and theft of personal data

An undercover investigation which targeted local PC repair shops found that five out of six wrongly diagnosed computer faults leaving their customer with an excessive bill.

To make their laptop appear faulty, the Sky News investigator loosened a memory chip to prevent Windows from loading - a repair would simply involve having the chip pushed back into place. The laptop was then equipped with screen capture software and a hidden built-in webcam to capture the work of the PC repair specialists.

PC World Brentford demanded an advance payment of £230 for a new motherboard, although they were not found to be snooping data,. The store has since apologised and refunded the money.

Shepherd's Bush repair shop Pix 4 was the only place that diagnosed the fault correctly and repaired it free of charge.

However, Revivial Computers in neighbouring Hammersmith performed less admirably according to Sky News claiming that a new motherboard would be needed at a cost of £130. The investigation also reported that at the same store surveillance software captured employees browsing files and copying holiday photos onto a memory stick. Inside one of the system's documents, another employee found fake banking login details and repeatedly attempted to access the customer's bank account.

Digitech in Putney, West London, were quick to fix the fault but were also found to be browsing through the system's pictures. A Digitech technician attempted to hide his tracks by clearing the list of recent documents, and a statement from the firm states that the photo browsing was merely an attempt to ensure working memory.

The investigation serves as a stark reminder for the less technically savvy.

"It's appalling. The Sky investigation has exposed what can happen in an unregulated industry with an increasing number of practitioners, the vast majority of whom I believe are competent, knowledgeable and have integrity. They provide an essential service to their clients." said Don from Ennismore ICT Consultancy Services.

"Many people with computers only have a basic knowledge of how the machines work internally. They trust the repairer to know what is wrong and fix it, perhaps not fully understanding that that person will have unfettered access to all the machine’s contents.

"This investigation also reinforces a golden rule 'never put information on a computer that you don't want other people to see'. People must, for whatever reason, be more cautious about the information they put on their computers and social-networking sites."

Robert Feldman of Ezee-PC.com said, “It is depressing but true that there are dishonest people in every walk of life. While most of us strive to do a good job and take pride in our work there are some who will always attempt to make a living dishonestly”

July 24, 2009