Ike
4/15/2006, 03:12 AM
First I'll start with the questions, and then explain why I'm curious as to the answers.
1) Suppose you have some piece of equipment around the house (say a vacuum cleaner, a consumer electronics device, a microwave, a computer, even a car, anything really. Something that you commonly use, and may or may not be expensive. Also, suppose that the item in question is no longer under warranty) that craps out on you. In which order do the following thoughts go through your mind, if at all.
a) Time to start hunting for a new one
b) Find out how much it will cost to get it fixed vs. how much a new one will cost
c) Take it apart/fix it yourself.
d) Find something else around the house that will get the same job done for a while until you have the money/time/energy to go get a new one?
2) At what percentage of the price of a new item would you consider having the old one fixed by somebody else, if at all?
3) If your answer to question 1 had C in the formula at all, at what degree of complexity does this not become an option. For instance, I'll take apart damn near any piece of electronics, and even most parts of my car, and easily be able to repair the most common failures, but if something like a fridge, or the AC goes out, I'm calling the repairman because I know the problem is most likely a compressor and I'm not about to muck around with those.
4) If you opt to repair something yourself and cannot quickly locate the problem, do you continue to take the item apart, knowing that you are most likely going to have to buy a new one anyway?
Anyway, I was curious about what most people here would answer to these questions because today I had not one, but two of the things we regularly use around the house decide that they just didnt want to work much anymore. The first was the AC unit. Today it finally got warm enough to turn it on, and of course we did, and nothing came out. The repairman said it had 'frozen up', which I thought was odd for it being a 75 degree day, but he said it was common actually. The second was my PS2. It got a case of the infamous DRE disease. So without even thinking, I popped it open, voiding the already exipired warranty, and within 30 minutes I was back to playing Gran Turismo 4.
All of this made me wonder a little bit about what the average hillbilly tolerance is for putting up with stuff when it breaks, and how the average hillbilly handles it.
My answers are:
1) c,d,b,a
2) less than 20%, and decreasing with recurrence of problems
3)as mentioned before, fridges, ACs, anything that might have dangerous materials with which I am unfamiliar. And Hard disks.
4) absolutely. spare parts!
1) Suppose you have some piece of equipment around the house (say a vacuum cleaner, a consumer electronics device, a microwave, a computer, even a car, anything really. Something that you commonly use, and may or may not be expensive. Also, suppose that the item in question is no longer under warranty) that craps out on you. In which order do the following thoughts go through your mind, if at all.
a) Time to start hunting for a new one
b) Find out how much it will cost to get it fixed vs. how much a new one will cost
c) Take it apart/fix it yourself.
d) Find something else around the house that will get the same job done for a while until you have the money/time/energy to go get a new one?
2) At what percentage of the price of a new item would you consider having the old one fixed by somebody else, if at all?
3) If your answer to question 1 had C in the formula at all, at what degree of complexity does this not become an option. For instance, I'll take apart damn near any piece of electronics, and even most parts of my car, and easily be able to repair the most common failures, but if something like a fridge, or the AC goes out, I'm calling the repairman because I know the problem is most likely a compressor and I'm not about to muck around with those.
4) If you opt to repair something yourself and cannot quickly locate the problem, do you continue to take the item apart, knowing that you are most likely going to have to buy a new one anyway?
Anyway, I was curious about what most people here would answer to these questions because today I had not one, but two of the things we regularly use around the house decide that they just didnt want to work much anymore. The first was the AC unit. Today it finally got warm enough to turn it on, and of course we did, and nothing came out. The repairman said it had 'frozen up', which I thought was odd for it being a 75 degree day, but he said it was common actually. The second was my PS2. It got a case of the infamous DRE disease. So without even thinking, I popped it open, voiding the already exipired warranty, and within 30 minutes I was back to playing Gran Turismo 4.
All of this made me wonder a little bit about what the average hillbilly tolerance is for putting up with stuff when it breaks, and how the average hillbilly handles it.
My answers are:
1) c,d,b,a
2) less than 20%, and decreasing with recurrence of problems
3)as mentioned before, fridges, ACs, anything that might have dangerous materials with which I am unfamiliar. And Hard disks.
4) absolutely. spare parts!