Reboot Computers

The LED screen of my not quite three-​year-​old HP Envy m4 laptop was mysteriously broken (either the boyfriend or the dog), and I brought it to this local small business to see about fixing it. This is located right next to 16 Handles on Route 4, directly across from Home Depot. He gave it a cursory look and told me right off the bat that it would be so expensive to repair it wouldn’t be worth it. He had a bit of an attitude about «those little HP netbooks» that sounded distinctly like tech snobbery. Now, this was an almost $ 900 laptop when I purchased it, and I was pretty unwilling to just write it off. I told him I really wanted it fixed, so he reluctantly went on his computer and then quoted me $ 279 for just the replacement LED screen. That wasn’t including tax, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t including installation either, since he said it would be $ 279 for «just the screen.» I was really shocked at how expensive it was and I just couldn’t see why. Then he told me that while the store wouldn’t be interested in purchasing it, I should just sell it on ebay for parts and I could get a good bit of money that way. I went home really, really discouraged, but then I started doing some research, and within ten minutes, I had identified the part information for the exact LED screen I needed and found it on amazon for $ 48. Ordered it, purchased the appropriate electronics screwdriver and an exacto knife for less than $ 10 total, watched a youtube video explaining how to replace a screen on my exact model of computer, and within 5 minutes I had replaced the screen and had a perfectly working laptop. Now, I am not a tech idiot, but I am also not an expert. This whole situation just made me really angry. Even granted that outside of
, the same screen was advertised at between $ 60 and $ 85 on other websites, how can you justify a jump to $ 279 for the same part? Where did that number come from? Did he look at the wrong part? Did he not know what he was talking about? Did he intentionally quote a ridiculously high price because he didn’t want to do it? Or is this place in the habit of massively overcharging customers? Whatever the explanation, I will absolutely not be going back, and I will tell everyone to avoid this business. How disappointing… I always prefer to give my patronage to small businesses, but this place has priced itself right out of the competition.