My son who will be graduating from college in a few days is on the Autism spectrum. He took his laptop in for repairs at his college’s IT services department and it was returned with scratches on the back of the screen. The screen is not damaged but the metal on the back shows scratches. My son is very particular and knows it went in pristine condition and came back with scratches and it is upsetting to him. I saw pictures and I can see the scratches, not deep but several. They did offer to refund him $44, which was the cost to do the internal repairs, but said it would cost hundreds to replace back (not sure if I am getting this all correct), so $44 was the most they would pay. I think a lot of people would just accept this and move on. What are your thoughts? I will plan to contact IT repair tomorrow and maybe disability services.
I’m sorry to say that I don’t think your son is due a replacement.
It needed repair. It would have been incredibly difficult for anyone to complete such a service without making any marks whatsoever. It’s an item with a large surface on it and they are handling it and taking it apart. I don’t see the relevance of your son having ASD in terms of them providing more compensation, and I feel they made a good will gesture.
My nephew is autistic. He would also be upset about this, but he has learned that he has to accept things in life that are beyond his control. He often vents on social media about things that seem trivial to people not on the spectrum. I am guessing that this is difficult for your son, but he has to cope with other people in life. I make no suggestions about how he can learn to do this.
It’s a computer outside…I would move on. Function is what is important. He isn’t going to have this laptop forever.
Some thoughts:
- Your son needs to be the one to contact the IT repair dept, not you.
- Your son needs to be the one to contact disability services if you feel that is necessary as well.
- Sometimes, when you drop off a laptop/computer for repair at a repair shop, they make you sign a waiver that states that they are not liable for minor cosmetic blemishes on the outside of the device. If you son signed such a document and if that document states that, then yes…the $44 is all you’re going to get.
- I’m not a federal ADA-law expert, but the ADA law might not necessarily mean that if your son’s computer gets scratched, then the repair shop is required to repair it in such a way (or provide a total replacement free of charge) as to totally remove the minor scratches on the outside of the PC.
Buy a laptop skin or protective case to cover the back.
How old is this laptop?
This might also be a good learning opportunity for your son to come up with some work-arounds for the anxiety that the computer scratches might be causing him.
The suggestion above to get a cover is good one. Or have him put a sticker over the scratched part. Is it a texture thing that’s bothering him? (i.e., similar to when an autistic person, for example, prefers certain types of socks that don’t have seams in them)
Hi-Great comments and pretty much all things I tried to explain to him. I only mention the ASD so commenters realize why this is a bigger deal to him than someone who is neurotypical. I know he is not entitled to anything additional due to his disability, just to help understand why it is a problem for him. Dad and I feel the $44 was reasonable. Stickers were not his style, I asked him about signing a waiver and suggested that it is a lesson to all of us to specifically request careful handling if he needs to have it repaired somewhere else again. It is a year old and dad and I said we need a new laptop anyway and would be glad to take it and buy him a new one. I think he needs time to calm down and I told him to let this be his dad and my problem and he should think about other things like finals this week and graduating on Saturday. Things like things can be extra upsetting to him because he is on the spectrum. The fact that he is graduating in 4 years with an ASD diagnosis and chronic illness shows to me how much progress he has made over the years and I don’t want this one set back to unravel him. I was reaching out to this site to see if anyone would find this response ($44) unreasonable and it appears that as far as I can tell, the average neurotypical person would not pursue anything further. I don’t want to diminish his feelings because they are real, but didn’t know if others would feel like he was due more compensation. I agree, that I would just move on.
Also, he has a cover, but it back was scratched during a repair so they must have taken it off? It is the principle for him, I think, that he brought in a pristine computer and they have it back scratched. The damage is cosmetic but it bothers him.
I’m not sure I or anyone else in my family would have asked for any compensation at all. As noted, this work means taking a machine apart. Function is far more important than a few scratches.
Agree-this is more the challenge of understanding the ASD mind and figuring out how to get him to accept this. I thought if there were others who said that was unacceptable we might want to rethink our response to our son.
@1Lotus I think your point about concentrating on exams and such is spot on. Put this issue on a sticky note to be discussed when your son graduates. I’ve done that with my ASD students. Let them know…we would talk about it…but gave them the day and time.
Emphasize the function of the computer.
Maybe I also have ASD, but I don’t like any scratches on my laptop(s) and I don’t even like people leaving finger marks on my screen. If I brought in a laptop without scratches for repair I should expect to have it back in the same condition. People take cars apart for repairs all the time, would you expect any scratches on your car when they are done? The IT service should have used a protective cloth on the laptop when they were working on it. No, $44 wouldn’t do it for me. I am with your son on this.
@1Lotus have you talked to the place where this computer was repaired. Perhaps you could question the damage in a different way than your student can…and get a different response. Worth a try.
I would like to add that sometime it is good to validate and support your kid’s feelings instead of making them feel like they being irrational.
I am in agreement also on this. It would drive me crazy if this happened. But unless your son took pictures of before and after not much can be done. You say (to the OP) that he does have a cover for it. Well, then just put it back on.
But there is no excuse for it to have scratches on it especially if it’s a lot of them. They should be using soft cloths to put the electronics on when working on them. But crap does happen. As suggested there are protective skins (different colors) you can get to fully protect the computer. Maybe suggest he gets one or gift him one that he picks out.
I am pretty anal when it comes to stuff like this. So I get it. He should write a complaint to the person in charge and this might be good for him to do anyway. But then move on especially if it’s student driven It. At a larger store like Apple they would just replace the outer cover if they could.
But there are all sorts of cool skins you can get and lots of students use them.
@1Lotus I am changing my mind about this. I do think you should reach out to the company that did this damage and the repairs.
I will have to agree with this. I have tons of laptops. I never get rid of my older ones and try, where possible, to maintain them myself. On many occasions, that involves taking out the bottom panel as that’s where most of my problems are (power supply, HDD, battery etc).
If you have the right tools (and any IT shop should), I don’t think there’s any reason to scratch the laptop anywhere. I’ve also taken my computers to repair centers on many occasions, and I’ve never had them damaged in any way, functionally or aesthetically.
I too would be upset if this happened to me.
I’m sure the OP is not going to tell her child he is being irrational. Maybe she hopes to help him accept that he can’t have everything the way he likes it.
Thank you. Good to hear your perspective. I later did think about the similarity to a car repair. My d said she would have already had a bunch of scratches on her computer that she wouldn’t have noticed a few more but empathetic having lived with her brother about how much of an impact that would have in him since he takes great care of his computer. Even dust on his electronics is meticulously removed.