In February I posted that my Zaurus 5500 wouldn't turn on and after trying every known trick to ressurect it, I decided it was dead. I was flashing the rom at the time and even though I have flashed many times and am very careful with this procedure, eventually the laws of statistics catch up with you, and I managed to get a corrupt rom somehow. I phoned Sharp who said it would be $50 just to look at it with a $10 charge for shipping back on top. They then said that if repair was needed then that $50 would become part of the repair cost. I asked how much it would cost if it was just a corrupt ROM but they always were very vague basically saying they might not charge any extra on top of the $60, but I could never pin them down to a cost. I mean I understand if it there is something wrong with it that you don't know, but I couldn't believe they'd couldn't give me this particular cost.
Well as money was tight that month I decided to put it in it's box until I could afford to send it. Well you know how things happen, one thing after another and soon a few months went by. I finally decided once and for all to send it at the beginning of this month and got it back today. Final bill was a whopping $108.26 just to reflash a corrupt ROM! I now know why they were vague. I know repairs are not cheap but that is one hell of a labor charge since there were no parts replaced!
I have to admit that they have you in a catch-22 situation ie I had already spent the $60 so when they said it was another $48.26 i couldn't very well say no since it would be a waste of $60 and a useless PDA. I like my Zaurus a lot, but that amount could have nearly bought me another new PDA. If it ever needs fixing again, there won't be a next time that's for sure!
Well you live and you learn.
