The story goes like this:

My 4 year old mashed 2 DVDs into the optical drive of my Intel iMac 24" 2009 model so it starts making a terrible noise trying to eject them. I tried everything I could to get them out but eventually realised it was going to be an inside job.

Now, I'm not a computer technician but I am pretty able and willing to give things a go, so after reading up on it and talking to tech guys at work, I cracked on.

It was relatively straightforward and I disassembled the drive and removed the DVDs. Put everything back together very carefully, with all the clips and connections in the right place, but there's still a noise. I figure the drive must be knackered so I'm thinking I'll just disconnect it and buy an external one.

So I take it apart again but can't find the power cable clip to the optical drive. I give up and accept that the experts should do it.

Anyway, I get a phone call today to say they've already done the work, despite me asking them to contact me first to tell me the damage, and it's going to cost me £150 sans VAT

I asked if the drive was working? Nope, it was a dodgy thermal sensor making the fans crank up so they replaced that and the charge was for labour at, get this, £69 per hour.

Does this sound right? It's moot anyway because I've paid to get the computer back but it seems a bit extreme to me.

Any thoughts?

£69 per hour is not bad, car dealers charge £150 per hour. In reality any specialist will charge a high hourly rate however they are expected to to repair things quicker and get it right first time. How long would you take to fix the drive on a poke and hope basis? -------------------------------------------------------------- Oh yes, you couldn't!

If it was an Authorized Apple Repair place then that seems very reasonable.

Jobs' tax system strikes again.

It was an independent Mac specialist.

I should have just taken it to them to remove the DVDs in the first place. That took me, a non-expert, 30 minutes.

What I was annoyed about was the fact that the guy booted it up while I was there and immediately said "It's probably a thermal sensor", so he already had an idea, but still took 2.5 hours to 'diagnose' it, unless it was just his boss making it up to gain the £££.

Oh well, live and learn

Jobs' tax system strikes again.

not really; speaking to the engineer Lenovo sent out to replace a laptop motherboard and hearing what he charges Lenovo, £69 an hour is cheap

What I was annoyed about was the fact that the guy booted it up while I was there and immediately said "It's probably a thermal sensor", so he already had an idea, but still took 2.5 hours to 'diagnose' it, unless it was just his boss making it up to gain the £££.

was the 2.5 hours to diagnose or to diagnose and fix the problem? you were paying for their knowledge/experience to do a job that you couldn't do yourself, why do you feel like you've been "had"?

New DVD drives can be had for £8,; but oh!!! only specially ROM'ed drives will work in an Apple product, so yes, you've been had, you bought a MAC

is that a slimline slot loading drive for £8? not a bad price

I'm assuming that was a Super Drive? (DVD writer as well)... TBH, Apple don't tend to use cr@p in the desktops (Pioneers in the G5's).. So although I agree you can get drives for £8, they won't work as well or last as long and you'll soon be stumping up £69 again.

£69's a good price considering they actually diagnosed a completely different cause to what you suspected, And Mac's are worth the investment I reckon (which is the subject matter of another thread I'm about to start, lol).. If you're not a power user and you keep on top of software maintenance they'll last for aaaaaaggeeeessssssssssss. (My G5 PowerMac is still my main system.. it's only weakness is HD content..but I'm hoping a super dooper graphics board will help that, still researching it)

I think you gotta good price and spent money on a machine that was worth it.. and personally, I'd replace the optical drive as well if you can find the cash because an iMac with an external disc drive kinda defeats the point of owning an iMac.

In *theory* Any of the slot loading Apple drives of previous machines (all the way back to the G3 iMac and the G4 Cube) should go in to your iMac and work.. So searching eBay for a used part could be really cost effective, especially if you don't need to write DVD's and can survive with a combo drive rather than s super drive... And the ROM thing is only really applicable to older Mac's.. as far as I know the intel Macs can use non apple drives, but you'd have to do some research before plumping up the readies.. I've got a Plextor in my Mac, It's an off the shelf drive and it works fine, even boots the computer (which is where the old Rom issue use to cause problems)

Using non Apple hardware violates the OS T&C's.... YOU HACKING PIRATE!!!!!