John Smith

I took my Onkyo amplifier to John to repair. There was no written or official quote. He demanded an up front fee of 140 to assess it (to cover 4 hours). After a week Id heard nothing and realised hed not given me a receipt of goods. After trying to get hold of him for 2 weeks, he told me hed get to it when he can!. Then suddenly, he advised he had looked at it and needed more time to work out what the problem was. In the 4 hours hed charged me for, he could not tell me anything about it, except it could be a transistor at the base, which he hadnt got to yet ( in 4 hrs?!). Hed not isolated them to test that theory though and he muttered something about powder solder! He told me he would need more time and money to investigate further. It was all very vague and suspicious so I collected it. Total waste of money!! Cant decide if hes totally incompetent, a con artist, or just odd. (think all of above!) Steer well clear! Update: Further to Peters review below- I had EXACTLY the same experience. I am now convinced hes a hobbyist tinkerer and trickster, who is in over his head and sees this as a great way to scam people. He had no idea what the issue was with my Onkyo either and gave endless vague answers too. In the end I turned up at his house to collect my amplified. He also tried to demand more money to keep investigating. He seemed annoyed I was rushing him ( after weeks!). I dont even think hed ever opened it up honestly! Hes totally unprofessional in his work, giving no record of what hes doing, no invoices, no receipts, no email answers etc.. He was so odd, that I was a bit scared of him also. This man should not be allowed to trade.
Apr 11th, 2023

Where to begin a terrible service overall. I found John online and made the mistake of entrusting him with the repair of my lovely Akai AA-1200 Receiver / Amplifier before reading the reviews. The whole experience was awful. In the end I gave up with him after paying out over 300 with no repair provided. John was quick to respond on the initial enquiry. Also quick to take my first payment. But after that the weeks and months went by John does not communicate on any progress, and takes a please dont contact me approach. He seems to resent any questioning and repeats phrases like Ill get to it when I get to it and what you dont realise is theres only one of me. I did visit John after a couple of months to collect my unrepaired amp. He talked me into continuing with it, I got the feeling he was on top of it and keen to complete the repair. I paid out more money, over 300 now. No receipt given at any point. Then more waiting, more criticism of me if I tried to contact him. He just would not say when hed get to work the hours Id paid him for. In the end I gave up and phoned him to say Id lost confidence in him, and would be collecting my property. It was very stressful and disappointing. On collection there were more of the same old excuses. He said hed identified two parts he needed to complete the repair, but would not give me the parts when I was there. Im not sure if John is just incompetent, or perhaps just way out of touch with reasonable expectations in the modern world. Reading other reviews (John tells me theyre largely not real people or made up reviews) part of me thinks it possible hes untrustworthy in some way. I dont know. All I do know is this service experience was the worst Ive had in my lifetime. An upsetting and costly waste of time. Cheers John.
Mar 3rd, 2023

Quite expensive for 40 minutes of basic analysis
Dec 8th, 2022

Positive: Quality
May 1st, 2022

Repaired my TV
Jan 21st, 2022