I have a notebook I bought in 2011 and now it won't turn on anymore. I took it to an authorized service center for the brand and the technician wants to charge almost a thousand reais just to look at it and try to fix it. Don't you think that's way too expensive for such an old device? Can they charge that much without any guarantee it'll actually work?
Let me be straight with you: a 2011 notebook is worth maybe 50-100 reais on a used site, so charging a thousand reais to try to fix it is absolutely ridiculous. The technician is offering you a service, not a guarantee of results. Legally he can charge for his work hours even if he can't solve it, but in the case of an authorized service center, they should be more transparent about this before touching the device.
What I'd do: first, ask for a detailed written quote before anything else. Ask exactly what he's going to do, how long it takes, and what the real chances are of it working. If he says he doesn't know without opening it, that's fine, but then he should only charge for the diagnosis, not the "attempt". If they insist on a thousand reais without giving you clarity, find another smaller repair shop - independent technicians tend to be cheaper and often solve the problem for way less.
Honestly, if the repair cost ends up close to the price of a decent used notebook, it's not worth it. But before you give up, take a photo of the exact model and check forums or YouTube videos to see if it's a common problem that's easy to fix. Sometimes it's just a dead battery, loose connector, or something like that.
Log into answer.
