Restricting access
Quote "The OFT also said today it would not be investigating the market for repairs of domestic electrical equipment, because it did not find enough evidence to support claims that manufacturers are restricting access to technical information and spare parts by independent repairers."
As a self employed copier engineer and previous experience as an electronic engineer i frequently repair washing machines and other domestic appliances including TV's, PC's consoles etc.From my experience It is almost impossible to get hold of "Service Manuals" for all but the most common devices and parts seem to be lucky dip most of the time.
It should be a requirement for manufacturers to supply a complete service manual on demand and get rid of (or properly document) the "secret" service interfaces as well, KM and Olivetti i am looking at you.