Looking for B1DEKQ000003? The TH-42PX60U repair kit has it.

B1DEKQ000003 is a power FET made by Panasonic and used in a number of power modules such as power and sustain boards.

For whatever reason - sometimes I suspect it is simply a marketing trick to enforce customers and partners to use only their own brand - Panasonic seems to be constantly changing the naming conventions of their semiconductors, specifically power / IGBT transistors.

A Google search for B1DEKQ000003 on Dec 3 2001 would yield Encompass and PartStore at the top, each offering the above said transistor for about $50.

You can't get much specification about the transistor let alone a more reasonable price.

Well of course both exist - substitutes and more reasonable prices.

Take the repair kit for  TH-42PX60U's power board:

It has the B1DEKQ000003 (or substitute) and a few other parts on top of that and as of today (Dec 3rd 2011) it is on sale for half the price Encompass asks!

Don't know how it looks on your end, but where I'm from it's a no-brainer.

LCX043AUB5 LCD panel for Sony KDF-55WF655 available

A customer asked us to find LCX043AUB5 for them and we bought a few along with the regular order from our vendor.

If you need the LCD you can get it here.

Is it really my problem that I do not speek Spanish / Chinese / Indonesian / whatever?

Lately there have been a few cases of customers accusing me of being rude or flat out stealing out of them.

The thing is, they do not speak English (and of course they do not read it) and any attempt to communicate to them that what they bought is not what they thought they were buying, but was what it SAID it was (in English) or any attempt to tell them that I can not understand what are they saying is, well, doomed as they do not speak English.

As you can see below one of them actually told me I *must* learn Spanish because there are 80 million Spanish speakers in USA.

Of course, considering he's the one with a problem in the first place it seems to me he should learn English although, in all fairness, I also see enough native English speakers who also buy based on what they *think* rather than what the listing says.

So perhaps it's even more important to learn to pay attention to what you are actually buying and applying common sense than learning another language.

And yet there are at least 200 million English speakers here in US and a recent study found the Hispanic children to be the largest poverty group in USA, ergo the least educated one.

So it seems to me the solution is to have everyone speak at least the official language of this country before they start accusing others. Maybe not perfectly - I myself am not a native English speaker either - but at least enough so you can communicate in the official language of the country.

If you can't then you should only blame yourself.

From where I stand I'd readily lose 80 million illiterate customers.

What do you think?

---

From: huongdao2010
To: coppelltvrepair
Subject: Other: huongdao2010 sent a message about YPPD-J015C YPPD-J016C NEW FOR 6871QYH039B 6871QZH044B #110666219259
Sent Date: Aug-15-11 04:14:51 PDT

                   

Hi ! My ic same part number excetp the letter E.A,B,C,E r they the same ? thank - huongdao2010 To:  huongdao2010 From:  coppelltvrepair Sent:  Aug-15-11 08:56 AM Dear huongdao2010, The answer is in the listing description - make sure to read all of it! - coppelltvrepair ---- From: huongdao2010 To: coppelltvrepair Subject: Other: huongdao2010 sent a message about YPPD-J015C YPPD-J016C NEW FOR 6871QYH039B 6871QZH044B #110666219259 Sent Date: Sep-27-11 08:00:28 PDT                    Dear coppelltvrepair, Hi ! i did not installed these ic until last week.It give me a very wear symtom i got only half picture and disappear after 15second other haft r in block.Look line the Ic were defective?Can do something about this? Thank - huongdao2010 To:  huongdao2010 From:  coppelltvrepair Sent:  Sep-27-11 10:16 AM Dear huongdao2010, I am sorry, I do not understand your English. But from the little I understand it seems to me you have a bad buffer board. If either of those ICs were defective you would not have gotten half an image. - coppelltvrepair ================ > From:Armando Martinez [mailto:mandyelectricoatyahoodotcom] >Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 8:11 PM >To: Coppell TV Repair >Subject: Re: RECLAMACION PURCHASE IN 09/12/2011    ID#27G75424W2450110K////ITEM#110637056886....I NEED THAT....6871QZH956A...YOU UNDERSTAND ME   >MRS ..KOLEV IN THE UNITED STATES NOW LIVES NEAR 80 MILLIONS  > SPANISH  ,YOU MUST LEARNIG SPANISH FOR YOU JOB.....YOU SENT ME  > WRONG ITEM  .I DON'T NEED REPAIR MY BOARD I NEED BOARD  > COMPLETE ...PLEASE I WILL RETURN YOUR KIT....YOU MUST GIVE ME MY  > MONEY...THANK...ARMANDO.I RETURN YOU THE  SAME WAY ....I WAIT FOR  > YOU ANWSER...BLEASING.ARMANDO..EXCUSME.....

When 6871QYH039B fails, should buffers be replaced too? (same for 6871QYH039A, 6871QYH039B)

Question:

Hi. My concern is should I go ahead and get the Y-buffers too. Cant a bad buffer blow the new Y-sus? How can I check the buffers without replacing the Y-sus? Do you carry the buffers? Thanks, Geo.

Answer:

With this particular YSUS, an in fact with most sustain boards made by LG (at least in the 2004-2007 models) I would not worry about the buffers when a YSUS fails for several reasons:

 

First, the popular concept that when YSUS fails one should look for the buffers is most likely coming from the Samsung designs from the same time period. LG electrical design is similar and does not have the same failure characteristics as the Samsung boards.

In the Samsung cases it's the buffer board that fails first and damages the YSUS.

With LG, the sustain actually fails before the buffer and usually does not affect it.

Second, when the LG buffer ultimately fails (because that can happen too) it does not tend to damage the sustain. It is possible for it to happen, but it is rare.
 

Instead, when an LG plasma buffer board fails (e.g. in Toshiba 42HP66 or  50HP66) it will typically cause a vertical line as explained in this previous article.

As with any failure it is not guaranteed that it will happen that way. It's just the most common result.

 

So, in a nutshell, it's not worth worrying about the buffers at the time when you know the problem is in the sustain.

It's not bad to check them, but it would be unusual for them to have failed at the same time with the YSUS.

LG 42PC5D YSUS EBR36954501 EBR39214401 question

Question: 
I am trying to fix an LG 42PC5D, no picture, does not pre-warm up the screen, the fuse on the YSUS board FS5 1.5 amp is blown, it blew again after replacing, it is connected to the STEP-UP/FLYBACK SWITCHING REGULATOR on the board, I don't have a schematic and working on plasma is new, without tracing the circuit board traces, is this something this driver chip would fix this problem?

Answer:
It might or might not, I can't promise.

That fuse doesn't usually burn when the IPM fails. It is not impossible for it to happen, of course, but if I were you I'd search where the high current to blow the fuse is coming from.

It may or may not be the IPM.

ICP250 3A00SMT datasheet or equivalent substitute? Lucky you!

If Google has ranked this page high enough for you to land here while looking for a substitute or at least the damn value of that damn resistor with marking  ICP250 3A00SMT then you're in luck.

The damn value is 0.16 Ohm at 5 watt.

A good American (i.e. documented and distributed in America) substitute is TWW5JR15E. It is not exactly equivalent, but it is definitely a good substitute. 

I know because I use it for some time.

Now, this is not going to make me serious money, but as a sign of your gratitude you can (if you wish!) order two of the above from the below button. 

(It is two because in my world buying one of anything worth less than the postage to receive it is impractical; for that matter, if you want more just drop me an email.)

ICP250 3A00SMT REPLACEMENT / SUBSTITUTE (2 PCS):

A word of caution: This is reasonably powerful as far as resistors go. It is used in power boards like YPSU-J017A, TV sustain boards and possibly other power modules in consumer electronic devices.

This resistor does not burn without a reason!

You're probably going to have to replace more parts on that board!

Sony NSX-32GT1 broken front cover leads to Samsung Google TV

I recently acquired a brand new Sony NSX-32GT1 web TV with Google TV, which is pretty much a 32'' workstation at 1080p. It's way cool!

I got it cheap because its front cover was cracked, but, oddly enough, the display behind it was intact.

I didn't make a picture of the TV while it was assembled, but got a picture of the front cover once I took it off:

After being unable to find a replacement front cover for under $250 (which of course did not make any sense) what else could I do than what I did?

Here's what I did:

This is not a Photoshop at work here.

I took a 32'' Samsung LCD with broken display (you can find those easily on Craigslist) and just moved the Sony into it.

It needed a little rework and , in all fairness, it's not complete.

For one, the Sony had only two buttons on it - the power and the remote sync button (similar to the Sync button on the Wii consoles) while the Samsung had all the standard buttons for menu, channel, volume etc.

So there was a little and simple patchwork mapping two of the original buttons - POWER and MENU - to do what the two buttons on the Sony did.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the inside, I was just too excited doing it :-)

And second, the Sony has another panel with inputs, below the first one, as well as a side panel. Those feature another two HDMI inputs, USB inputs, LAN socket and earphones plug.

All those are currently still under the cover as frankly, I figured the main and coolest use of this TV is the built-in wireless Internet card ,so you don't really need to run a LAN cable to it.

Anyway, that's how it is.

I'll update here the Samsung model that I used for the job...as not every 32'' LCD TV will do...I tried a few others before finding this.

By the way, now the LCD is looking *directly* the open air where before it was behind the ultra-cool front cover, yet another optical surface anyway.

It's simply looks even better now, although unprotected.

I think it's cool.

A guide in style conversation

Below is an unmodified correspondence with a customer who claimed he has placed an order and received shipping instructions without a shipping address.

As conversation unfolds it turns out someone else has placed the order on his behalf and they have not received any shipping instructions at all since they haven't checked their email. In a separate conversation with that second person she explained she's in the process of moving and hasn't checked mails.

She was prompt and polite and the conversation with her is not quoted here for it is no different than many other conversations we and hopefully you have on a daily basis, regardless to the fact that it lead to an order cancellation - something that apparently both sides wanted and as such was organized and implemented without a problem or delay.

The conversation here is an illustration of the attitude of someone who has paid money and expects the world to make circles around them since THEY know they paid money. We see it every now and then and this post is, among other things, a simple reminder that a business deal has two sides and each side is entitled on its conditions on the deal.

You can also see how we would tend to respond in a similar situation because it would be in a similar way.
If a customer has a problem then we first need to know who the customer is, then what the problem is, then why did it appear and only THEN we will move on to fixing the problem.
We would not fix a problem just because someone said so or just because they're in a hurry - unless, of course, we already know them and have background of the problem.

We realize this policy won't please some people and we're OK with it. As Mr. Hamre brilliantly puts it, there are customers you wouldn't like to deal with even at gunpoint.

And since there's no way to know upfront which is which, we take it all and when a situation develops that clarifies the case we move towards fast and easy cancellation. Just as in this case, where the cancellation was quickly and efficiently arranged with the person who actually placed the order.

So...read and make your mind....if we are not your type of vendor just do not work with us.

As hinted below Mr. Hamre is more than capable of doing the job by himself and perhaps you may want to contact him and let him do it for you.

If anything, you may have a blast learning things about yourself that your mom never told you :-)

-----
From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:14 AM
To: support @ coppelltvrepair . com
Subject: ADDRESS??
Importance: High

Hi-
I bought your REPAIR SERVICE for $50 on e-bay...and got my shipping instructions, etc from you.

But, you didn't supply an ADDRESS to send the unit to. Please provide it, and I will ship the power supply ASAP.

Thanks
Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219
---


From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:52 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Did you read to the end of the shipping instructions?

You see, if we put the address at the top we KNOW you won’t make it to the end.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:08 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


Yes, wise-ass, I read to the end...want me to forward you a copy of the message so you can see for yourself?

And you STILL haven't provided me with a shipping address.

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

---

From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:24 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Yes, I would like to have that email forwarded please.

We send between 10 and 20 of these every day and this is the first time someone has a complaint like yours.

If it’s a problem in the system then I’d like to catch it and prevent more problems before they have happened.

Oddly enough, I can’t see an email sent to jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com at all, so it must have been sent to a different email.

And yes, I am still not providing you with a shipping address.

I have to find what the problem was in the first place, resolve it and it will take care of the shipping address by itself.

Otherwise I’ll be patching a problem and not solving it.

You wouldn’t like us to have that approach on your board, would you?

If you don’t then please do not ask us to have it to other technical problems either.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:38 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Cc: Michele Kiersey
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


I work with Michele Kiersey, who was kind enough to procure the $50 service for me thru e-bay, as I do not have an e-bay account.

Next, e-bay sent the a message to Michele Kiersey (shyser_007)...she forwarded it to me. She must now go into e-bay to forward the message to you.

Kind of a real pain for your paying customers, wouldn't you say?

And, from my perspective, you have my money and yet refuse to even give me the address where to send the unit.

Does e-Bay know you conduct business this way?

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

---
From: Bobby Kolev
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:58 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Attached is the email that was sent to michele_k@charter.net.

You can see all the information in it such as when it was sent, where it was sent and what does it have.

Your observations for customer service are quite accurate only single-sided.

From here it looks like you would not have had these problems in the first place if:

1) You had your own eBay account
or

2) You had dealt directly with us and not through eBay and/or another party
and

3) michele_k had used a single email address for her eBay and PayPal accounts instead of michele_k@charter.net and michele_k@gmail.com


To summarize, an email with shipping instructions AND address was sent timely and to the email on file with eBay as listing promises.


The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control.

You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.

Not that I expect you to act a god of course.

---

"The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control."

Really? Are you friggin' serious?

That has GOT to be one of the biggest "its-not-my-fault" whines I have ever seen sent to a potential customer.

All was asking was for you to simply send me the address that did not appear on the message YOUR partner, e-Bay, forwarded after taking the money.

But no, you had to cop some wussy and pious attitude: real nice customer service.

(Hey- I thought Texans took pride in not being babies. Did you move there from Vermont or New York or someplace?)


"You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.
Not that I expect you to act a god of course."


Sorry to have called you a wise-ass.

That would be an insult to wise-asses everywhere.

You are an asshole. I would not do business with you people with a gun to my head.

Jim Hamre

How to test DELTA DPS-336AP from LVM-37W1 Westinghouse

Power board DELTA DPS-336AP is used in Westinghouse LVM-37W1 and possibly other LCD TVs.

It looks like this:

The board is hard to find and expensive , even second hand.

Coppell TV Repair offers a repair service for it and it is somewhat affordable compared to the price of a used board (let alone availability), but before you send it in you will want to check for yourself if it really needs the repair at all.

It's actually easier than many people think. You will need a voltmeter and if you don't have one I seriously suggest going to Walmart and buying one. Seriously, it's worth.

Here's the board's main connector (click to see larger):

When connected to power, the board produces a single 5V standby voltage which goes to the pin marked "5V STB", which is the 6th pin counting backwards.
You can measure 5V between "5VSTB" and any "GND" pin on any connector.

To activate the rest of the voltages on the board (wake up the board) you will need to ground the very last pin on the connector called PSON.

This often misleads people as most power boards require active 5V in order to activate the board and when they pass the 5VSTB to PSON and nothing happens they decide the board is bad.

Well in case of this and some other boards you need to ground the active signal to tell the board to wake up.

Here this is very nicely done as you can simply use the voltmeter's negative probe to short the two pins - PSON and GND which is on its left side; this allows, at the same time, to activate the power supply and get ground for the voltmeter so you can test the other voltages as indicated on the board next to the connectors.

Good luck!

4H.V1838.401 inverter hacking for Insignia NS-LCD37 LCD TV

This is a quick post for all the poor suckers who are trying to find 4H.V1838.401/D for a reasonable price.

I know how it feels, I was one of them myself when I bought a malfunctioning Insignia NS-LCD37 for $25 and diagnosed it with band inverter.

Well, at the time of writing this there weren't any good replacements to be found, not for a decent price anyway.

You could buy the transformers on eBay for $25 per piece, but I would have needed at least two PLUS at least two FETs that I found shorted and God only knows what else. That's easily $60, not to mention the FETs weren't available anywhere either and I would have to find and use substitutes...

This was easily a bad proposition so I set out to searching a replacement rather than repairing the inverter. You don't expect to pay more than $60 for a 37'' LCD inverter anyway...at least I don't and you shouldn't either.

In fact, I paid even less since I happened to have one handy.

Only it wasn't 4H.V1838.401/D.

It was 4H.V1448.481/C1 used in the next Insignia model, NS-LCD37-09.

Which is a totally different beast altogether, but that's another story.

The point is, while not an exact match, it is widely available, cheap and does the job!
What more could you want?!

Ah, pictures...right:


Here are the two inverters next to each other:

The first problem, as you will see, is that the connectors for the CCFL wires are different sizes:

This is an easy problem if you use good cutters. Just cut in half all connectors, including the one for the common ground which is at the corner of the board:

It's really as simple as that!

The next problem you'll encounter is that the new board is slightly larger than the original and doesn't fit the borders made by the little metal plates at the two ends.
I just bent those a few times until they broke and then put tape on top to make sure they won't short:

The great news is the main cable doesn't require any changes at all, it just goes straight in:

Next, of course, you'll need to tweak a bit the metal shield (if you opt to install it at all) so that it can do some decent covering and allows for fastening with bolts. A little tweaking with pliers goes a long way:

Finally, you won't be able to use most of the fastening bolts, but you should be able to use at least three, which is more than sufficient for steady positioning.

I didn't take a picture of the working TV since it sold and went out before I could make that extra shot.

And if you wonder how did I know all that in the first place...well, that's just how I am.

Modesty comes first, of course.

He said, I said, but he said and then I said...a look at the facts again

This post is a response to a buyer's review on eBay that we blamed everything but our own parts for his problems.

I've said it before and I'll repeat once again that people take the freedom of speech waaaay to far.

So instead of exercising in a free speech like many customers tend to do I'll yet again refer to the actual fact as they can be verified with an independent party, in this case - the eBay messaging:

You judge for yourself.

Customer review:
Went bad. Seller Blamed everything but his part. Ive repaired tv's for 10 years

 (author's note: why do so many people write "tv's" as opposed to "TVs"? Is it really incorrect as I think it is or is it just me? Not picking on this particular buyer, I often see it written that way especially by customers claiming to be 10 or more years in the business. Either English has a set of rules that I don't know of or...well, anyway, back to the point...)

Customer correspondence as fetched from the eBay history:

From: mainstreetpc
To: coppelltvrepair
Subject: Other: mainstreetpc sent a message about 6871QZH056B 6870QZH004B ZSUS BOARD *** REPAIR KIT *** #110623320783
Sent Date: Jul-23-11 09:28:53 PDT

Dear coppelltvrepair, Hi, I just wanted to let you know that this repair kit worked for about 2 days after it was installed and then blew again. Thanks Micky

---

 

Dear mainstreetpc, It does happen sometimes. Sometimes it's because of the IC in the kit - it may be just bad. People tend to presume this as the only possible reason. Sometimes it's the way it is being installed. I know because I've done hundreds of these myself. How do you apply the heat transfer compound. How do you fasten and what bolts do you use to fasten the heat sink. How do you solder. Sometimes it's other components on the board that were hit during the initial shock when the first IC failed or just components (particularily the second FET) that are so worn out they just give up and damage the IPM in the aftermath of their own failure. I've seen that too and I've seen it enough times to be certain it's a failure cause on its own that has nothing to do with the IPM. And sometimes - quite often actually after a few days pass with the baord working - it's actually the OTHER sustain board that fails and people call us and tell us that the one we repaired for them failed. I know that for a fact too since we do lots of those repairs and you can't really argue with numbers. So yes, it can be any of the above. if I had a firm way knowing which one it was I'd told you in advance and if I knew an IC would fail I would not have sold it. What would you do in my place, with so many possibilities and no engineering strict way to narrow down and avoid the problem? - coppelltvrepair

Dell W5001C power issues, sound without picture problem and some other thoughts

Below is a request from a potential customer and my response to it.

This time it is not the usual customer complains, I promise.

The email, I take it, points to an earlier post in this blog, where the issue is also mentioned...but I figured I'd post the question and the answer anyway.

After all other professionals deserve to know what we think about them...and maybe even that we tend to sometimes admit we might be wrong...

Question:  How much to send in what ever boards for you guys to fix?  I turn the power on, and it takes 3...4...5  8 mins for it to boot up.  Then the tv is fine for hours and hours.

The Caps look good, but like you said maybe they are out.  I read a few ppl that posted after they did the fix you told them they get no picture now but sound and high pitch sound.

So how much and what are the odds you can fix my issues.

Thanks,

Another DELL Suckka

Kevin

Answer:

First off, Dell has very little to do with all this.

Like most American brands these days it's just a hat over an Asian company. In this case - Samsung.

The few ppl who have picture but no sound have a completely different problem (probably this one), which is the actually the even more common issue with those TVs and is more expensive to fix too; it is completely unrelated to the delayed power on.

What you describe sounds 100% like bad capacitors. It may be the ones from the post, it may be different ones...it may even be capacitors not on the power board, but on the main board...because there are ones in both places and they actually even do the same things...so there's always chance that it may be the other ones that have gone bad...and there are quite a few of them too.

But, statistically speaking, you can't go wrong starting with the ones the article talks about.

I know that's what I'd do before investigating anything else.

Working in TV repair industry for a while made me rethink my opinion of doctors who tell you bunch of seemingly useless stuff to do whenever they see you.

I mean if you see 50:1 ratio of problems with certain syndromes it is only natural - a sign of intelligence, in fact - to expect that the every new case with such symptoms will carry the same cause and therefore be treated the same way...especially if there's no big hurt doing it anyway.

Seriously, doctors are maybe not such a morons after all :-)

PHILIPS 37PF9431D dead, power board 310432838621 not producing output voltage

Coppell TV Repair for long offers a repair service for the above mentioned power board, but today I've got a board with a problem that I have not seen before so I decided to share it so that those blog followers who wouldn't anyway pay for a service at least get a chance of doing it right by themselves :-)


Symptom: When connected to power, the board clicks periodically about once every second - not a relay click, but an electric click as of a toroid on overdrive only more quite and nicer. Like it's trying to start and failing.

Problem: it turned out transistor 7006 had failed. Drain-Source was shorted and so the transistor had to be replaced. This is the beast in reference:

It is STP15NK50ZFP SuperMESH MOSFET  - 500V / 14A - and since we couldn't find one handy we used a substitute replacement.

Here is how it looked after the replacement:

Note the insulation barrier behind the replacement - if you do something like that you will need to have one too since the original is in plastic TO-220 corpus whereas the replacement is in TO-247 has metal back electrically connected to the drain (or source, whatever).

We checked for other damages on the board and when we couldn't find any we connected to power and voila, it worked like a charm!

If you happen to have the same problem and can't find the appropriate replacement, below is a chance to get what we used at what we call reasonable price (especially considering you've got the whole solution laid in front of you):

How to solve support problems and avoid alienating vendors

The following is an unchanged message from our mailbox:

Dear Seller!
I'm running respected and responsible Business, where I can't take "used" or "rebuilt" IC chips(what is complete nonsence) for my Customer's repair jobs! Therefore, I need 2 chips replaced(mandatory) for the new ones! Not the way you treat my entity! One IC was brand new and legidemate, second one was used, with traces of "chiseling" out of heat sink and puncture marks. Still, I showed those 2 to my Customer, before instalationin his Y-sustainer module. He, also noticed that second one was "used". He agreed to try them both, as long as they work in tandem for a while. Yes, those 2 worked for a duration of 10 minutes with TV set completely operable. Then, of course the "used one" gave up with a click and the board went inoperable. You Must know, I can't replace just one IC, but both of the at the time! Why didn't you send me 2 new ones from the beginning? thinking: asshole will eat a s...t! Just get back you reputation, before it's too late, and send me 2 NEW ones now!

- algre1

The author is making a number of mistakes that I have come to realize over time I myself do when being in similar situation. Affected, I point all my energy towards a stupid/lame/idiotic counterpart - be it a telecom, bank or my local HOA - and then wonder why not only it didn't solve my problem, but often actually made it worse.

Over time, I learned that mistakes happen everywhere and I can't stop that from happening. I can only handle it in a way that doesn't disrupt my lifestyle significantly and helps me walk out faster and easier , even if I can't resolve it to the best of my liking.

So here it is, hoping it will help a poor customer avoid having to send an email like the above and maybe thinking (certainly incorrectly!) that they've "squared" the stupid/lame/idiotic vendor right on the spot:

1. Keep your cool!
When emotionally lifted, one tends to do a lot of things that only damage their own position - using bad language (never mind bad grammar), mixing facts and assumptions, being overly demanding in a situation that requires diplomacy to solve, taking offensive stand and thus causing anger in response...and God knows only what else.

Napoleon is said to have counted to 10 before giving a response to anything that angered him.

Think you are better than Napoleon?

2. Stick to the facts, not claims or assumptions

For example, claiming that you "are running a respected and reasonable Business" is fine, unless trying to impress it on someone who has a public record of doing just that (say over 2000 eBay customers with over 99% positive ratings) and you actually do not. You may be a respected and reasonable Business, but with a public profile of 7 transactions there is nothing behind your claim to back it up.
That matters to people.

Even worse is wearing your vendor's hat and trying to think on their behalf like illustrated above: " thinking: asshole will eat a s...t!". 

Not everyone thinks as you think. Some of us even have a different vocabulary altogether!

And there are always at least two completely different explanations to everything that may have happened...looking for them rather than wearing the opposite party's hat and continuing to build to your own position is not going to help you.

3.  Communicate, do not demand

A direct consequence from the fact that there are at least two completely different explanations to every problem is that it is theoretically possible for the problem to have been in you in the first place. 

Whether you like to admit it or not it is always a possibility.

This is not the best example for it since it is likely that customer above was right that one of the ICs they received may have been bad, but I've blogged before about how people tend to make incorrect conclusions only to justify their own thesis.

In either case, if you want to achieve optimal result you'll be better off working under the assumption that a problem may have been caused by either side.

Certainly better than to take a one-sided stand and alienate the very people you're trying to work out a solution for yourself with.

4.  Take responsibility for your own actions

If you received something - in this case an IC - that you consider bad, then why did not act immediately and did not call the vendor?! Why instead you asked your own customer (?!) what to do - if he knew he would not have been your customer to start with.

Perhaps the following in the original listing somehow pushed you off your way:

"Please make sure to test the IC you receive before you put it on a board! We try our best to pre-screen them here and catch some problems, but ultimately you will help yourself and help us if you run a few quick checks before you spend time soldering the IC on the board."

(complete listing can be found at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110587861804&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123 )

Frankly, I think most of the customer's anger comes from the fact that they did not listen to the advice, took an action against their better judgement and are now facing the consequences of that very own action.

Granted, I'd be pissed off too when I receive something that's not what it is supposed to be, but if I try and use it against the warning and it naturally fails me I am rather certain I'd be equally mad at the vendor and myself for allowing to get into such a situation in the first place.

5. Recognize the simple fact that problems happen everywhereNothing is perfect and problems happen all the time. In any business, in any activity.
If you think your own business is perfect perhaps the first thing to do is force yourself to realize that it isn't.

Nothing is.

When a Bad Thing happens you're way better off asking yourself what's the optimal way to fix it than who is to blame, because often there is nobody actually to blame.

You may have received a bad part, but that doesn't mean your vendor put it there on purpose.

Working under that assumption is as wrong as claiming your Business is very respectable when there certainly are customers - if you are any Business at all - who surely don't think so high of you. There always are.

We've got the same blames from customers who received perfectly looking ICs. They weren't picking on the look, they were just complaining that the parts burst as soon as you power them on.

Sometimes they would have been correct and the parts would have indeed been bad and other times - without a doubt since we do repairs too - it would be something else on the board that would cause it.

Either way, building up a conspiracy theory where the vendor is trying to cheat on you - YOU of all! - is flat out immature, unless you've already given that vendor something to cause them cast trouble upon you.

As almost always, there's a simple and efficient explanation for the trouble, which does not at all require drama and conflict: there may have been a faulty product and vendor may have overlooked it. it's only normal and most vendors actually actively warn you for such a possibility as indicated above:

"Please make sure to test the IC you receive before you put it on a board! We try our best to pre-screen them here and catch some problems, but ultimately you will help yourself and help us if you run a few quick checks before you spend time soldering the IC on the board."

CONCLUSION

Your own day and the day of people around you would be so much better if you manage to stay cool and try to resolve a problem working with someone rather than trying to take a command and enforce your view and solution on others!


Sometimes you may get temporarily what you look for, but with this attitude and approach you're certain to ruin your life in the long run. 

It's a vicious cycle and it gets worse and worse as you keep discovering more and more enemies as the world inevitably hits you with more and more problems.

I guess that's why Vicodine and drinking are gaining traction all the time :-)

Isn't it so much easier to just say 

Hello, I have a problem with the parts I received from you. One of them looks like it has been used, can I please send it back for exchange/refund as per your own policy?

Of course not everyone is smart/brave/strong enough for a two-liner like that.

Luckily, most of the buyers still are and that is a fact, not a belief.

If it wasn't we wouldn't have been in business.

To set the record straight, here is the response I sent to the above letter:

"You know, I believe your story and I am sorry to hear about your troubles.

What I will do is assume that the problem is on our end, apologize for your experience and give you 100% refund on your order.

I will not offer you working parts for two reasons: first, because the original pair that you had received has come from the same box that everyone else receives parts from; you don't seem to believe that story and it's your right, but I happen to be in the position to operate based on facts, not beliefs, so if anything I certainly can make a decision easier than you do. We may not have checked the IC, that's completely possible, but that's about it and to make sure it won't happen again I am just giving you the opportunity to choose someone who can do better job for you.

Second, I just can't accept staying in a business with someone who can treat me the way you do.
Service repairs business is based on negative experiences and is tough enough as it is; inability to behave in the face of yet another problem is more than a strong indication for me to want off.

Not sure it will get through properly, but in a nutshell that's what it is: we are sorry if we have made a mistake, but those mistakes do happen, they are not purposeful and we are handling them the best we can.

In this case, we will take the complete loss and we will also take the possibility of you deciding it's all our fault and making sure we get our negative coverage for it.

We can't and won't do anything to stop you from doing that.

We just make sure that we've done the best we could for a customer and then for us to stay out of future trouble.

- coppelltvrepair"

I would not be surprised if case develops further, but at this point the only thing I really wished to say was that I am always sorry seeing how the concept of "competition" actually leads to spoiling customers by being forced to give them anything they want or else.

In long run it works against those very customers and this is something that every American is now feeling and is about to feel much more as the economic crisis unfolds further.