TECH REPAIR - The Biden Laptop Claim Should/Could Have NEVER Happened * A Lesson in Repair Shop Policies *

As a 15-year professional in the tech repair industry and someone who is connected with hundreds of tech repair professionals all across the country, without any reservation, I want to denounce John Paul Mac Isaac. Mr. Isaac should shut down his business, The Mac Shop in Wilmington, DE immediately and no longer do business in the tech repair industry.

Politics, truth, and reality aside, Mr. Isaac has done the one thing that is NEVER acceptable as someone who is entrusted with someone's private device. In fact, Mr. Isaac has three strikes against him in this case and, unlike baseball, any one of these strikes should take you out of the game. Mr. Isaac should be ejected from the industry -- for you football (aka, soccer) fans this is the equivalent of three red cards. Done, done, and done!

Allow me to briefly explain the three ways that Mr. Isaac has violated norms in the tech repair industry. 

1. He took responsibility (aka, liability) for a $5,000 (+/-) MacBook without collecting information that any even halfway legitimate repair business would collect (name & contact info). Many shops will have the customer sign a release form to allow them to work on the device. The last thing a shop wants is a customer that comes back later and claims the $5,000 device was working when they dropped it off and then sues you for $5K (it happens a lot!). Plus Mr. Isaac did not collect any type of payment? 
2. He read, in detail, the customers emails!!! WTF, who does that? "Oh, I do", says random repair tech reading this blog -- then you should be fired immediately and never again work in this industry. After all that he made a copy of the customers hard drive WITHOUT THE CUSTOMERS PERMISSION. Again, WT absolute F??? No excuse at all for reading and then copying the hard drive - NONE!
3. (This I have never heard of in my life) He gave this information -- that didn't belong to him -- to someone other than who he claims owned the device. A partisan political operative no less. Keep in mind my second point here, he should have NEVER had read his alleged customers emails in the first place.

First let me say that I spoke to a super professional shop owner who is a very strong republican and hates Biden. When I asked him about this "repair" he just said, "no way".

In a legitimate repair shop the customers information would have been collected at the time of check-in (in my shops we would always ask for an ID of some kind to collect customer info - 2 reasons; easier to be accurate & it verifies that it's not stolen). All this information is entered into a repair software database that would track the progress of the repair, allows you to contact the customer and act as a point of sale system. Once checked-in many shops will ask for a payment of some sort (I required payment for anything and everything that came into my shops). Most shops will then explain the process for liquid damage/ data recovery to the customer and either have them sign a release or add a note in the system that they had explained the process/polices to the customer. 

Professional shops then keep track of the repair and notify the customer of their progress for this type of repair -- often collecting a payment of some sort to continue working on the device. Saying, "if you would like us to do this it will be $X amount, how would you like to proceed?" Incremental payments guarantee you get paid something for your work. Plus, you can keep the customer updated on your progress to keep their mind at ease (in my shops, no payment = no work).

Once work has been completed a repair tech will take a glance at the devices data to see if it is intact. KEY WORD: GLANCE. The tech wants to inform the customer that the work has been successful. So they will glance at the a few of the file folders to see if there is in fact good data in these folders. Most shops will have a zero-tolerance policy on LOOKING at customer data. If a customer can't trust a shop with their private data, then that shop should not exist!

TIME TO CLOSE THE MAC SHOP MR. ISAAC

Violating a customer's privacy by leaking any data you happen to find is a unforgivable sin in the tech repair industry. If you cross that line as a repair shop owner there is no going back. You need to close your shop and move on in life to a career that does not involve you touching someone else's private property. And, if you made all of this up to help your favored political candidate you should simply go to jail.

A Call For Industry Standards

Even though the vast majority of tech repair shops operate in a professional manner there are some that do not. The industry needs to set standards and practices to police itself. This story does nothing to further the industry or entice more customers to repair shops. All it does is sully the reputation of hardworking professionals and small business owners around the country.

In order to further the industry, it is time to unite as an industry to set these important standards now!

Thanks for the read! 

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