[TV MAN]

Most all of us here are "Restorers" and work as such, taking care to use quality replacement parts, install them carefully, check and address possible future problems, check alignment, trying our best to make our restoration the best that we can. We take the time. Repairman was a whole different world. There were very good ones with a good reputation and others that were shady, inexperienced and incompetent. Often either the tech was pushed for output (ask me how I know this), dishonest, or just trying to make a living. Maybe he worked for an appliance business where repair was secondary, and he was to 'condemn' some of the older or more difficult to repair units in favor of selling a new unit.

If he was an independent, the more sets he could repair in a day, the more money he made, so long as it would run past his warranty period. He knew if it came back after that time, there would be another repair job. Also, if he is short on capitol, he may not stock many parts, and to order parts was time consuming and costly, all while the customer is breathing down his neck. I am sure some just read a book or two and started. Seems on repairs, you either have it or you don't. You would be surprised how many of my fellow techs (currently) are parts changers - not techs. They change parts until the unit works again, rather than paying attention and diagnosing the problem before attempting a repair. Then you have the dishonest repairman that would charge for new parts when using discounted, used parts, or charging for parts and services not even performed! That always burned me up!

Then, there is the "customer". They often want something for nothing and are impatient. So, if he can make it work again by soldering in an on hand part, clipping out a bad part or jumping something that will 'make it work' again, he has a completed paid service call and a customer off his back. Some customers are almost impossible to please. There are a lot of sets that are looked at, or a repair attempted,  and if it appears to be a time consuming diagnoses and repair, he closes it up as 'not repairable' and moves on to easier jobs that he can make money on. Remember, most of these guys were in it to make a living, not a hobby like most of us. Yea, it is an aggravation when we see a hacked set, but also remember most of those old sets were "played out", used up before they were replaced, unlike what we often do today - which is upgrade. On the good, most of these old sets were owned by depression era people who never threw anything away.

Just my 2 cents