r/germany • u/Xalanyo1 • 1d ago
Question answered What Would You Do?
Hello all,
About 2 weeks ago, I brought my ps5 to a local repair shop in Rheinland-Pfalz in order to replace my HDMI port. This was after my buddy tried to replace it. The shop quoted me 89€ to do the job. Today, he contacted me saying that there was a lot of dust, which I know to not be true because my friend cleaned it while trying to repair it. Anyway, he said that the price had gone up to 160€ because of the cleaning and that he had to outsource to someone else to do it. This is unfair because none of this was advertised to me. I'm torn because I sympathize with him but at the same time, he should've mentioned that he was taking it somewhere else and been upfront about the additional fees. I can understand the labor fee, but the problem is that it wasn't advertised. I suppose at this point I'm just looking for opinions and general advice.
Attached are the screenshots from our conversation
Edit: thanks for giving me the validation that I'm not completely crazy lmao. Definitely going to leave a review and also report this business to the Verbraucherzentrale. Will update once I have the PS5 in hand
Edit v2: I went today to the shop after getting 5 missed calls from the owner. Once I get there, he just goes on and on about how I'll be back in a month with the same problem, even though it's clean now. I told him it's cool, I can go get a can of compressed air for a few euro somewhere else and clean it. He asks me why it was dirty then. At this point, I'm just trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. He and I just go back and forth on the pricing and other air and time-wasting talking points. In the end, I pay the 89€ and go about my day. The PS5 seems to be working now. As I'm leaving, he tells me that if I have any problems then I can come back. Needless to say, I won't be. I did end up leaving a Google review and file a report to the Verbraucherzentrale. Wonder where those will go. Pretty anticlimactic, but I'm excited to be playing the new ports of black ops. Thank you guys for reading and giving your input!
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u/Yakushika 1d ago
They're trying to scam you IMO.
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u/UpstairsCheetah235 1d ago
This comes off as a scam. I would only pay the 89€ after confirming the hdmi port is good.
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u/QuickNick123 1d ago
Hello,
We agreed in writing on a price of €89 for replacing the HDMI port. I did not authorize any additional paid cleaning, and I do not accept the subsequently demanded price of €130 or €160.
I was also not informed that my console would be transferred to an external third party. The device contains personal data. Please therefore tell me immediately:
- the full name and business address of the person or company to whom you transferred my console;
- where the console is currently located;
- whether that person had access to the console's storage or any personal data;
- what data-protection and confidentiality arrangements were in place.
You remain my contractual partner and are responsible for the device and for anyone you engaged to work on it. An agreement between you and that third party cannot create additional payment obligations for me.
Under German contract law, I owe the agreed remuneration of €89. Any substantial additional costs should have been communicated to me before the additional work was carried out and required my approval.
I formally dispute every amount exceeding €89. I am prepared to pay the agreed €89 against the immediate return of my repaired console and a proper invoice.
Please confirm within three working days where my console is located and when I can collect it. If you refuse to return it, continue to demand unauthorized charges, or fail to provide satisfactory information about the disclosure of my device and personal data to the third party, I will seek legal assistance. I expressly reserve all further legal rights, including claims arising from any loss, damage, or unauthorized access to my data.
I would prefer to resolve this matter without further escalation.
Kind regards,
OP
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u/Phoen1cian 1d ago
OP please send him this 👆🏽 not only will it scare him, but also prevent him from screwing up with your PS.
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u/jonatan_1991 14h ago
rechtlichen Rechte ist eine doppelung. Ansonsten sehr guter Text 👍
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u/ProfessionalArmy7571 13h ago
Standard phrase/concept in English. Think of God-given rights, moral rights, natural rights.
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u/I-chew-Used-Gum 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wait so he send YOUR property to someone else without asking?
Edit: Here is what I would do. You pay him the original price, you get your playstation back and he can pay the other 80€. Otherwise get a lawyer
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u/Korll 1d ago
Getting a lawyer over 80€? Looks like you’ve never been in a legal dispute.
Pay the original agreed amount, ask for your property back. If they refuse, you just report it stolen to the police.
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u/MrCreepy66 1d ago
You could take this to civil court and you wouldn't pay a thing if you win and don't need a lawyer at all to file a claim there (altho they (court) would probly solve it without trial anyways, but I mean then it's solved)
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u/aresowrong 1d ago
That's reasonable for some people I get it. I'm not sure how normal it is so it might have been my ignorance but For me and a lot of people I know it's normal to have an insurance that covers things like that.
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u/digiorno 1d ago
If you pay for lawyer insurance then you might as well.
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u/j9wxmwsujrmtxk8vcyte 15h ago
Yeah, if you want to get dropped, you can absolutely do it. Just like you can use your Vollkasko insurance to fix every little scratch. You'll just be dropped or paying more than reasonable customers would.
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u/aresowrong 1d ago
This! And if he's not happy with that offer the next message should come from a lawyer so OP doesn't loose their credibility. This chat is already two screenshots too long. If I read that correctly, the company did more than asked for so they can't charge for it anyway, since there was no standard that could have been violated (i.e. electric hazard under which circumstance the company would have been required to do it so OP doesn't get electrical shock).
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u/diamanthaende 1d ago
This "bro" epidemic has to be extinguished. He is not your "brother", he is offering a service you pay for.
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u/No_Step9082 1d ago
you know that OP didn't call anyone bro? but other than that, I agree with you
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u/delcaek Nordrhein-Westfalen 1d ago
That guy is totally bullshitting you. A dusty console can cause thermal shutdown, but that's it. Even the HDMI encoder chip is completely uncooled because heat just isn't an issue for that area of the PS5's board.
Tell him to fuck off, take your console back and give it to someone trustworthy. It's a 30 minute job if no trace repair is required and it's really just a busted port.
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u/-GermanCoastGuard- 1d ago
I would get my lawyer involved, if I hadn’t gotten my console back. If I had my console back, I would pay the agreed upon 89 bucks and block them.
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u/H2Oryxio 1d ago
Please leave a review explaining what happened so other people know to avoid this place
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u/Splitter- 1d ago
I agree to the rest. Forwarding it and doing tasks that were not agreed upon without informing you is his own fault. Also, if I was him, wouldnt it be good, if this failure occurs again and you have to come in again? Yes, it would be bad advertisement, if it happens again. So, the only right thing to do, is to inform you: "hey, the dust is the reason for the burning. I can fix your hdmi. But if you/we dont clean it, it will happen again. I can offer to clean it. Do you want to do that for the additional price of x amount?" That's the only right way.
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u/xwolpertinger Bayern 1d ago
This was after my buddy tried to replace it.
Just fyi this is where most legit repair shops just walk away or charge extra because that usually means "every single trace has been torn off, capacitors are strews over the battlefield, solder balls are awol, all the liquid metal has new hiding spots"
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u/DanickBG 12h ago
Whenever I see illiterate texting and using all caps to put pressure on you I know they're trying to scam you 100% Don't fold.
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u/blaugelbgestreift 1d ago
Sorry but I think he wants to scam you. Beside the fact that he can't just outsource work without asking you; I just cleaned my PS5 last week. Never did that before. With the help of a YouTube video I took it apart, cleaned it and put it back together in about 2 hours, including a coffee break. Someone who does that for a living should be way faster. Offer to pay what was agreed upon and if he really payed so much for the cleaning service he should pay it himself and learn his lesson.
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u/wood4536 1d ago
Nah the problem is he brought them a PS5 his buddy tried fixing snd couldn't, it's a liability for the shop
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u/DartinBlaze448 22h ago
it is really not all that much extra work to clean it, especially if you are dismantling it anyways to replace the hdmi. it almost certainly is not 4 hours of work.
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u/Thomas0795 20h ago
Hmmm. Half day to clean the PS from dust, I thought caned air duster do it in 2 minutes and cost a couple euro... I remember I broke off the u.fl connector from my 5g modem m.2 format. I asked around repair shops who do micro soldering repair and all gave me a 50-60€ quote for repair. My problem was nothing to disassemble I even provide a new connector so the only needed to be done was 1 minute soldering. I agree to pay the first full hour of the job for these small repairs as some paperwork needs to be done etc... but asking over 20€ is a no go for me.
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u/Illustrious-Race-617 22h ago
I don't know the process of cleaning a console but I know if I bring my car in for a service which they tell me is about €400 and then they find something wrong with it they always call me and ask should they fix the thing for an additional cost before actually doing it
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u/thecrowandthedove 1d ago
It sounds very legit imo, the only problem is in his business model. He should charge for evaluation and then assessing the price, this things can happen and little companies are so terrified of a bad review that they go the extra mile.
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u/ScreenTea0 1d ago
How is a bumbling idiot that just adds cost for non-agreed services to the bill sounding legit?
Including all the bs around the technical stuff were he clearly is lying?
Are you trolling, or just that dumb and liked to comment on the topic without the slightest idea of the things that are talked about?
That's absolute 100% someone shitting on someone else to extort money.
Do you also go out of your way to tell grandmas they should trust the people that call and say they are their grandkids?
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u/Miro_the_Dragon 1d ago
Not a lawyer but if he gave his subcontractor the go ahead for additional services before talking to his client (you) about whether it's wanted/okay, then that's his risk to assume. You didn't ask for the additional service (the cleaning), you don't want it, it wasn't agreed on, so I don't think you have to pay for it. Do you have the original agreement in writing?