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NEC TG-16/TE/TurboDuo => TG-16/TE/TurboDuo Sales & Trades => Topic started by: ctoomey on February 16, 2007, 10:57:17 AM

Title: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: ctoomey on February 16, 2007, 10:57:17 AM
Hello,

I am offering to repair Turbo Express units that have sound/speaker problems. I will repair the common speaker problem found in virtually all Turbo Express units.

I am willing to do this for $40 (subject to change) plus shipping. You can find a good unit on ebay for $65-95 and with the speaker fix have a perfect unit for <$140!

Please feel free to send an email to ctoomey75@hotmail.com

You can check out my profile on ebay, I have a 100% rating.


Thanks!
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 16, 2007, 06:08:12 PM
This is a easy fix with like $1.00 in parts. I think even Dean only charged $10 for this fix.......
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: ctoomey on February 16, 2007, 11:23:42 PM
Many other services charge $65 plus shipping.

$40 isnt making anybody rich. Its a fair price for getting sound back on an express for those not good with a soldering gun etc.

By fixing peoples TBE units I am doing them a pretty big favor...I figure $40 is the price of a very nice bottle of wine. I think a nice bottle of wine is reasonable compensation for fixing someones Turbo Express. It usually takes about 45 minutes of my time, including prep work, cleaning the unit etc.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 05:20:44 AM
I figure $40 is the price of a very nice bottle of wine. I think a nice bottle of wine is reasonable compensation for fixing someones Turbo Express.
Are you saying you need members here to support your expensive alcoholism problem?



Like I said,even Dean charges less,10 bucks,and the info to do the fix is already posted. Its a very simple fix about anyone can do except a select few. No one is going to be crazy enough to send a guy with nothing of a post count 40 bucks and a Turboexpress.

If people really need this fix done,and Dean is not around to do it,Ill do it for $10 bucks,cause as you said,its about a hours work,and the cap can be bought at Radioshack for around $1.00. The last thing we need around here is another mad man trying to overcharge on mods and fixes.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: ctoomey on February 17, 2007, 05:27:48 AM
Kind of shocked at the response to be honest but I've been around enough to know there's always one who's role in life is to spend hours throwing stones at every possible post (maybe that's why you don't have the $$$ to enjoy $40 bottles of wine?)

Just trying to help out people that can't solder (or dont own a solder gun etc) and don't want to ante up $65+ to get it fixed by old school gamer or another repair shop. $40 seems pretty fair to me, if somebody had offered to do it for me at that cost I would have jumped on it.

Sorry for the post though, I'll let you get back to adding endless inane replies to posts.

-And for the record, I think that a 100% feedback score on ebay is much more important than having 1000+ posts on a board about an old video game system.

.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: FM-77 on February 17, 2007, 05:49:01 AM
40 bucks? I would do it for free (if I lived in USA like most of you, that is). :D
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: ctoomey on February 17, 2007, 05:56:20 AM
Wish you guys had been around when I was looking for Dean to do this!!!!

My offer still stands (I guess we all value an hour of our time differently), though with one guys offering $10 and another for free, I doubt I'll have any takers!
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 06:04:50 AM
Kind of shocked at the response to be honest with you.
 


How can my post shock you. Your trying to take a fix a well known guy created,who charged only $10 to do,and charge $40. What kinda reaction did you think you were going to get. I dont even like Dean,and typically I feel that he overcharges on mods,but I always felt he charged a fair pricing for this fix,and your making afeeble attempt to dupe people into paying you $30 more then they can pay Dean. Thats simply retarded.

Quote
Just trying to help out people that can't solder and dont want to ante up $65+ to get it fixed by old school gamer or another repair shop. $40 seems pretty fair to me, if somebody had offered to do it for me at that cost I would have jumped on it.
 


Last I heard,even though Dean does not post here,he does at the Neo forums,and still checks emails. I am sure he still offers this fix,and I'm sure he still charges the posted price. No one needs your services here guy. No one is gonna buy you your bottle of wine.         



 
Quote
Sorry for the post though, I'll let you get back to adding to you 1000+ posts (about a 15 year old video game system nonetheless)


Ahh,this comment I love the most,because basically your insulting anyone who loves old game systems and loves to talk about them. There are alot of other members here that have even higher post counts then me,and others in the 300-500 range who just joined a year ago.

 Basically you openly show you care nothing for the system,the accomplishments done on it,this site,its members and you obviously have something against us having posted 1000+ times about 15 year old game systems. You sound as if you have nothing but contempt for it so maybe you should just take your drinking habit and run off now wino.

(http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/9564/drunkqn9.png) (http://imageshack.us/)
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 06:06:30 AM
I see you edited your post after you sobered up and realized you insulted all the high post counters here. Kinda too late now,cause I got you on quote.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 06:31:14 AM
Since you decided to add to and edit your original post I will reply back to it again.


Kind of shocked at the response to be honest but I've been around enough to know there's always one who's role in life is to spend hours throwing stones at every possible post (maybe that's why you don't have the $$$ to enjoy $40 bottles of wine?)

You deserve to have stones thrown at you,dean offers this fix for 30 bucks less then you are trying to offer it. As for wine,if I am going to buy a bottle,its going to be a $200-300 dollar bottle of something old and good,and I am going to enjoy it with a round of sharp cheddar and smoked ham. Thats why they call you a wino,because your blowing $40 bucks on burn wine to get drunk fast and you don't care how it taste.

Quote
Just trying to help out people that can't solder (or dont own a solder gun etc) and don't want to ante up $65+ to get it fixed by old school gamer or another repair shop. $40 seems pretty fair to me, if somebody had offered to do it for me at that cost I would have jumped on it.


The only person your helping is yourself at charging $40.

Quote
Sorry for the post though, I'll let you get back to adding endless inane replies to posts.

I'm sorry your such a dumb ass. Or at least you must be for thinking you were going to come on here and assume you could rip people off for $30 more then what Dean was charging. And don't say you did not know he was only charging $10,because you used his god damned thread for the fix info and thanked him for it.


Quote
-And for the record, I think that a 100% feedback score on ebay is much more important than having 1000+ posts on a board about an old video game system.

You can have 100 percent all you like. No one knows you here in this community and your asking them to send you a system and money. Thats stupid. As for the ebay thing, the only ctoomey ids on there have extremely low feedback,and ebay has no id linked to your hotmail. As for mine and Deans feedback on ebay,we both have excellent feedback as sellers and buyers. Esp Dean as of late because of his mad comics spree and me for selling modded systems and games and computer hardware and buying games. As I said,no one needs your $40 offer,so you should just go away.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: vestcoat on February 17, 2007, 07:38:36 AM
Jesus chirst, Michael.  Try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  ctoomey comes along, makes a handful of posts as a new member of our forum and you're already calling him a wino and telling him to go away because you don't agree with the price he offered to do work. 

So what?  Don't give him 40 bucks then.  Start your own topic with a better price and create some healthy competition rather than driving everyone you don't agree with away. 

I do a fair amount of sewing jobs and alterations for people.  Most of it is fairly simple work and my friends could save a lot of money by doing it themselves.  But frankly, I don't mind changing a reasonably high price because, when Sunday afternoon rolls around, I can think of 20 other things I'd rather do then sew someone else's stupid shirt/jacket/pants/whatever.  Obviously, a sewing machine is a lot more expensive then a $10 soldering gun, but not everyone wants to learn how to solder, buy a gun, go to radio shack and put their Turbo Express on the line.  I know how to solder and could probably figure out the mod, but I've already done some similar work and this stuff is intimidating to some people.

I agree that $40 is a little pricey, but when you factor in 45 minutes of work plus screwing around at the post office I don't think it's totally outrageous.  I also agree that I would be hesitant to mail my TE to a brand new member, but he seems eager to help and doesn't deserve to be flamed as soon as he posts on here.  I probably would have responded the same way he did to your snarky reply.

That said, your wino cartoon is awesome.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: ctoomey on February 17, 2007, 08:33:39 AM

LOL

Man, I got owned! Michael, your sharp wit, superior intelect, ebay research skills and clip art ability have me waving the white flag! Truly you are the king of video game message boards.

Anyway, to Vestcoat's post (finally an intelligent post), an hour of my life is simply more valuable than Michaels I guess. For those of you that can't get a hold of Dean (he's clearly the brains behind this fix but impossible to get in touch with), and don't want to pay $65 to a repair shop (that's the going rate, 'retarded' or not) I am more than happy to help for $40, a rate that I feel is reasonable compensation for my time.

OK, sorry for the interuption Michael,  let the witty retorts continue, GUY!! For me, its back to a cheap bottle of wine, perhaps a Rose?...Maybe just wine coolers tonight...We'll see!

PS- The pic was great...Amazing one would spend the time doing that, but funny nonetheless!
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: nat on February 17, 2007, 08:57:44 AM

I agree that $40 is a little pricey, but when you factor in 45 minutes of work plus screwing around at the post office I don't think it's totally outrageous. 

Not at all. If I were going to offer to do these for people as a service, I probably would charge in the $30-40 range. Just for the plain and simple fact of having to wait in line at the f*cking post for 25-45 minutes. The actual mod is the easy part!

God the post office f*cking sucks when you live in the city. Once I had a package come in that required a signature but I wasn't home when they came by so they left a note for me to pick it up at the post office. Actually, this has happened many many times, but this particular time I went down and waited in line for 35 minutes. When I finally got up front, I handed them my ticket. He disappeared for a minute then came back and said the driver must have taken it back out with him that second day to make a second delivery attempt. Man I was livid.

Here where I live the average line time is 30 minutes. I have never had to wait less than 25 minutes, and have had to wait as long as 1 hour before. Why don't they hire more f*cking postal workers? It's always the same two douchebags and a line of 50 or more people. One time I took an early lunchbreak from work (like 10 or 10:30am) to go to the post office and take care of some stuff. I thought I would outsmart the masses and beat the line. I couldn't have been more wrong. It made absolutely no difference. I think that day I had to wait 45 minutes then speed back to work to make it on time. I didn't even actually get to eat lunch.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 12:51:05 PM
I'm guess none of you have the ability then to print off prepaid shipping labels from paypal for USPS. If you do this you don't have to wait in any line then. You can just carry your packages in and drop them at the counter,or package drop slot,or outgoing mail dock.  It shouldn't be everyone elses problem you have to wait in line at the post office. Imagine if every ebay seller decided to charge $30-40 because they have to stand in line too...

Besides,this is a gaming community,and people should want to help,not profit off everyone. The guy specifically joined just for this soul purpose more or less and even made the comment showing he frowns upon people who actively post in this community. He has posted about nothing else but for the hopes of making 40 bucks. He assumes people can't get ahold of Dean. Dean is easily found on the Neo forums.

 Dean who over charges even charges hardly anything for this fix. I mean,come on,your just unscrewing the unit,unhooking the ribbon cables,and soldering 1 cap to two jumpers.Honestly I cant see this even taking 35-40 mins considering you can get a TE apart in 5. Anyone willing to send this guy a TE & pay this guy $40 when he comes from nowhere with no background here has more problems then just dead audio.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: nat on February 17, 2007, 05:31:41 PM
I'm guess none of you have the ability then to print off prepaid shipping labels from paypal for USPS.

No, I don't have that ability.

But 99.9% of the waiting I do is to pick up incoming packages. I'm fairly sure there is no ticket I can print online that is going to help me get through the line any quicker for that.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 17, 2007, 10:28:52 PM
So you have to wait in line to get you mail too? Don't you have a mail box,or a front door step? I never have any of the problems you are complaining about,nor does my other friend who buys and sells on ebay.

Come to think of it,if I had to go pick up my packages because the post man wont drop them off I would be complaining to the Post Master General of your route that your mail man is  a lazy scum bucket.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Keranu on February 18, 2007, 06:08:59 AM
Come to think of it,if I had to go pick up my packages because the post man wont drop them of I would be complaining to the Post Master General of your route that your mail man is  a lazy scum bucket.
:mrgreen:
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: vestcoat on February 18, 2007, 07:18:48 AM
So you have to wait in line to get you mail too? Don't you have a mail box,or a front door step? I never have any of the problems you are complaining about,nor does my other friend who buys and sells on ebay.

Come to think of it,if I had to go pick up my packages because the post man wont drop them of I would be complaining to the Post Master General of your route that your mail man is  a lazy scum bucket.

If you live in an apartment with a locked front door and no private porch the mail carrier is most likely to leave a note to pick up your package rather than leave it on the steps.  I used to live in a duplex in a shitty neighborhood and the door at the bottom of my stairs was usually locked.  More often than not, whatever package I was expecting would end up at the post office and I'd have to find time to pick it up.  It sucks.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: nat on February 18, 2007, 07:40:16 AM
So you have to wait in line to get you mail too? Don't you have a mail box,or a front door step? I never have any of the problems you are complaining about,nor does my other friend who buys and sells on ebay.

Come to think of it,if I had to go pick up my packages because the post man wont drop them of I would be complaining to the Post Master General of your route that your mail man is  a lazy scum bucket.

Perhaps I ought to.

I do have a mailbox, but the mail man refuses to put anything larger than a regular-sized letter inside it. Except for the newspaper-style coupons and advertisements form the grocery stores. Get plenty of those. Anything else that looks like it has dimensions any different than a plain old letter he will try to hand deliver to me at my door. Since I work normal business hours M-F, I am not home 83% of the time he tries to do this. At this point he will leave me a note saying I can come pick it up at the post office. The other 17% of the time I get lucky and he tries to do it on a Saturday, when I actually AM home. The rare occasion that this happens I always try to speak with him about it and attempt to explain that it is a very big inconvenience to have to drive 20 minutes to the post office, wait in line 1 hour, and then drive 20 minutes home to pick up a package that was already at my house but just didn't get left for me. Setting time aside for a post office run is such a big committment sometimes days will go by before I can free up 2 hours out of my day to go get my stuff. This is complicated by the fact that if you let them hold your package too long they will send it back to the sender.

Unfortunately, my mail man is small asian man who either does not understand English very well or pretends not to. His response is typically a smile, nod, and then he walks away.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 18, 2007, 01:13:23 PM
Ehh sounds like hes blowing you off and needs to do his job. Also,its a federal job so he should be able to speak english pretty well to get it,or engrish at the least. If nothing else you can always get a Po Box and have all mail directed there. This way any normal size packages that wont fit will be locked in a lock box,and they should just drop the key in your PO Box.

Either way it goes,I would seriously complain. I have lived in apartments with the built in a wall mail box at the front of the complex ,and when I had packages it was the guys job to bring them to my front door. Seriously,you have a post master general for a reason,to complain to. The very few problems I or my friend have had were both resolved by complaining to him. It works best when you hit the post office on a busy day and make a scene if you have to,holding up a long line will get your complaints heard better,because it embarrasses the Post Master.

Just like to quote Networks Howard Beale,
Quote
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad.

They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.

You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'

I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

  Funny how most of what he said still applies today.....
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Black Tiger on February 18, 2007, 03:34:37 PM
I'd gladly pay high prices for some of the mods I want done, that I can't find anyone willing to do.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: 2X4 on February 23, 2007, 12:53:01 PM
I shouldn't stir a kettle after its simmered down, but I really want a TE, and I see that ctoomey is selling one on ebay with the sound fix and insisting that it is worth "well over $200" and I don't really like seeing this beautiful gem held for ransom like that.  Especially when I want one.  Only months ago, I could have (obviously should have) purchased a brand new, unopened, shrinkwrapped with a cherry on top TE for $180.  The rarity hasn't climbed that far in a few months, and I have to agree with Michael that most people could easily do the sound mod themselves.  I believe in giving a guy a fair shake, but when you whore out a turbo express, man that's just wrong. 
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: Michael Helgeson on February 23, 2007, 02:06:53 PM
I think www.tzd.com (http://www.tzd.com/) may still sell them new for $180. If not,you can always pick up a couple of great condition used ones for around $200,do the fix,and be just as well off if not better.
Title: Re: TURBO EXPRESS SOUND REPAIR
Post by: vestcoat on February 23, 2007, 02:15:09 PM
I shouldn't stir a kettle after its simmered down, but I really want a TE, and I see that ctoomey is selling one on ebay with the sound fix and insisting that it is worth "well over $200" and I don't really like seeing this beautiful gem held for ransom like that.  Especially when I want one.  Only months ago, I could have (obviously should have) purchased a brand new, unopened, shrinkwrapped with a cherry on top TE for $180.  The rarity hasn't climbed that far in a few months, and I have to agree with Michael that most people could easily do the sound mod themselves.  I believe in giving a guy a fair shake, but when you whore out a turbo express, man that's just wrong. 

Turbo Zone Direct STILL has a few TE units left, go buy one already and keep it on the DL.  Read Ctoomey's auction again, he does not "insist" that a nice TE is worth over $200, he says that he 'believes' the whole package (with AC adapter) to be worth well over $200.  Is ctoomey exaggerating?  Yes, but he's not ransoming it off for $200-300 BIN like some other sellers do.  Even if you got both items at TZD, they would cost still you $200 and on ebay they are more expensive (that's why TZD instituted a one per customer limit).  I don't know what his reserve is, but it looks like it's been met and people are willingly bidding away.  Frankly, people on ebay are ill-informed enough to pay really high prices for a nice TE/GT.  I don't think ctoomey is doing anything wrong as long as he's not buying units from BT and reselling them after doing the fix.