Terms and repair conditions
What you can expect, what I need from you, and what happens if something goes wrong. Written in plain terms because a repair is a contract whether or not anyone calls it one.
Your data while the machine is here
Most repairs require the machine to be switched on and tested, which means files may be visible in the course of the work. Nothing is opened, copied or read beyond what the fault requires — checking that a drive mounts is not the same as looking through it.
Nothing is copied off the machine except where recovery or data transfer is the job you asked for, and where a copy is made for that reason it is deleted once you have confirmed the transfer is complete.
If a Windows or account password is needed to test a repair, it is used for that and nothing else, and you are welcome to change it as soon as the machine is back.
If evidence of illegal material is encountered, the work stops and the matter is reported. This is not discretionary.
Backups are your responsibility
Please back up anything you cannot lose before handing the machine over. Every reasonable care is taken, but repair work carries an irreducible risk to data — a drive already failing can fail completely during testing, and no amount of care changes that.
If you do not have a backup and the data matters, say so before the work starts. Making one first is usually possible, it is quoted separately, and it is almost always cheaper than a recovery attempt afterwards.
Except where loss is caused by my negligence, I cannot accept liability for data lost during a repair.
Collection and uncollected equipment
You will be contacted as soon as the work is finished. Equipment is held free of charge for 30 days from that message.
After 30 days, storage is charged at £2 a day. If equipment is still uncollected, I will write to you at the contact details you gave me, giving formal notice of my intention to sell it under Schedule 1 of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, together with a further period of not less than three months in which to collect it. Nothing is sold before that period has run out. Anything a sale raises above what you owe is yours.
Anything you ask to be disposed of is wiped before disposal.
Guarantee on work and parts
Labour is guaranteed for 90 days. If the same fault returns in that period, it is looked at again at no charge.
Parts I supply carry their manufacturer warranty, normally 12 months. Parts you supply yourself are fitted at your risk — the labour is still guaranteed, the part is not.
The guarantee does not cover new accidental damage, liquid damage, or a different fault that happens to appear on the same machine.
No fix, no fee
Diagnostics are free when you bring the machine in. If the fault cannot be fixed, or the repair is not economic and you decide against it, there is nothing to pay.
On-site diagnostics are £20, because the visit itself has a cost. That £20 comes off the bill if you go ahead with the repair.
Where a part has been ordered specifically for your machine and you then cancel, the part is chargeable. You will always be told the figure before anything is ordered.
Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
Services must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time, and for a reasonable price where none was agreed in advance. If they are not, you are entitled to have the work put right or to a price reduction.
Goods — including any part supplied — must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.
Nothing on this page limits those rights. Where anything here appears to conflict with the Act, the Act applies.
If something is not right, tell me first. Most problems are quicker to solve directly than through anyone else.