Ben Preiss
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 Sites to Save Repair Costs Nothing can be more frustrating than when your beloved (INSERT GADGET NAME HERE) suddenly stops working. Especially in the case of object like the iPod: it has tons of your favorite music that you paid for on it. “Some sites like macfixit.com, fixmyxp.com and macosxhints.com are devoted to a single product, while others like avsforum.com sponsor debates on a big product area, in this case home theaters, televisions and stereos,” the NY Times said. “People with laptops that have suddenly gone blank can turn to www.notebookforums.com or notebookreview.com, and there are even a few sites like www.highdefforum.com for fixing TVs.” There are lots of websites that offer tips that may be surprisingly simple. For example, inserting a small folded piece of paper into your portable Apple player (to put pressure on the hard drive) can fix about 70% of failed iPods. Don’t be so quick to throw out that device or send it into service; doing your research on the web first could save a lot of money.  Yaniv Bensadon, the chief executive of fixya.com, started his site after he moved back to Israel from the United States and found that his electronics would often malfunction in the new environment. The manuals and the support offered by the manufacturers rarely helped.
His site groups questions and answers to problems and organizes them according to product type, brand name and model number. The page for the Microsoft Xbox 360, for instance, lists more than 100 questions with answers. Most provide a single solution, but one common problem, overheating, has 81 posts debating the best fix. All but about a dozen of the questions had answers, although some were a bit brief. (Microsoft has offered to fix those overheating Xbox 360s.)
“Like any other consumer out there, I had problems with my Xerox printer, Palm Treo 700, Belkin wireless router and even Sony portable DVD,” Mr. Bensadon said. “On each of the problems I posted, I received a great solution within 5 to 10 hours.”
Fixya rates the people who offer advice. Anyone can claim to be an expert on a topic, but their rating will rise or fall with the quality of their answers. The site also offers paid services from users who charge about $10 to $20 a problem.
(nytimes)References: fixya, nytimes Comment: on When Gadgets Fails, Find Help Online |
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