Had a customer argue with me for 20 minutes about a sticky shutter blade on a Canon AE-1 at my shop in Austin last week

Honestly, I'm still thinking about this. Guy comes in with a Canon AE-1, says the shutter blades are slow to open in cold weather. I pop the lens off, take a look, and tell him it's likely old lubricant turning to goo, a super common issue. He insists it's a spring tension problem and even pulls up some YouTube video from a guy who says you just need to oil the blades directly. I tried explaining that oil will attract dust and make it worse, but he was dead set. We stood there for almost half an hour, me showing him the gunk on a test camera and him quoting some random internet guy. Finally he packed up his camera and said he'd fix it himself at home. I'm not mad, just confused why some people trust a stranger on video more than the person holding their camera. Has anyone else dealt with customers ignoring your actual repair experience because of something they saw online?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardh445d ago

Had a buddy of mine who runs a small bike shop over in San Antonio tell me almost the exact same story but with a vintage Peugeot road bike. Guy brings it in complaining the gears slip when he shifts uphill. My friend takes one look at the derailleur and sees the cable housing is frayed and the chain is stretched, tells him it needs a new cable and chain. Customer whips out his phone and shows him a video where some TikTok mechanic says you just need to spray WD-40 on everything and tighten a random screw. My friend tried to show him the actual wear marks on the chain links, but the guy wouldn't listen. He left with the bike and came back two weeks later with the derailleur completely snapped off, asking if my friend could fix it for free. People really think a two minute video gives them more expertise than someone who's done this for fifteen years. It's wild how hard it is to prove anything to folks anymore when they've already made up their mind based on something they watched on their phone.

kelly.emma5d ago

Actually, I used to be one of those people who watched YouTube repair videos and thought I knew better than the pros. There was this time my car's AC wasn't blowing cold and I saw a video saying it just needed a cheap recharge can. Spent two days doing that and it barely helped. Finally took it to a shop and they found a busted compressor seal. Cost me way more in the long run because my cheap fix made things worse. That experience really humbled me. Now when someone tells me I'm wrong about something I actually know, like those sticky shutter blades, I just let them walk. They'll learn the hard way like I did.