Anyone know about EasyTech Staples pricing?

[RegEdit]

I see these prices on their site:
Diagnostic $69.00
Virus / Spyware Removal $129.99
System Restore $99.99

So how much does it cost to repair an infected computer? $69.00 plus $129.00?
And what happens if their attempts to clean an infected computer fails and they have to reinstall Windows? Is it $99.00? Is it $69.00 + $99.00? Is it $69.00 + $129.00 + $99.00?

And what is YOUR pricing structure for a virus removal at your business?

 

[NeutronTech]

Mine's hourly. Minimum one hour. $85 first hour, 60 each additional.

Couldn't tell you about Staple's prices. I guess if it doesn't say they wave anything, you could have to pay all of it if they end up doing a restore.

 

[RegEdit]

Mine's hourly. Minimum one hour. $85 first hour, 60 each additional.

Geeez. Just curius.... How long does it take you to slave a drive to scan it for viruses, scan it, then fix a boot problem, try to repair some system damage, realize that it needs a reinstall, then reinstall and migrate their data?

 

[NeutronTech]

Geeez. Just curius.... How long does it take you to slave a drive to scan it for viruses, scan it, then fix a boot problem, try to repair some system damage, realize that it needs a reinstall, then reinstall and migrate their data?

However long it takes. I do all of my work onsite, so... I'm usually done in an hour to an hour and a half. It's been years since I've had to slave a drive. Usually the LiveCDs are enough to get it bootable so I can run my other scans or manually remove if I have to.

 

[RegEdit]

Yeah I saw that same page of theirs but I can't make heads or tails. I'm not sure if the "diagnostic" is added to "virus removal" price, or if a reinstall is needed is that added or included in the virus removal price.

 

[itmike]

double posted on database error. Sorry.

 

[itmike]

That is a good question. I'm still pondering the data recovery prices. $1000 for logical hard drive failure? I mean WOW! I've been undercharging.

Well that is for them to actually take it and send it to a clean room facility. That is actually a decent price for that. That isn't exactly the same thing as slaving the drive and trying to run data recovery software on the drive.

 

[RegEdit]

I'm still pondering the data recovery prices. $1000 for logical hard drive failure? I mean WOW! I've been undercharging.

I used to think that it was "highway robbery" until I researched what it takes to do things like recover from firmware module corruption. You need $10,000 equipment, specialized knowledge and an entire day can be spent just analyzing a drive.

Now if it's just "minor" software-based issues such as bad sectors, logical corruption, failed MBR or partition table THEN $1,000 is a rip off.

 

[Appleby]

Staples is the only office supply, computer, electronics store in my town, except Walmart. They are really pushing their Easy Tech stuff now and they are getting ALOT of business, since they are the only "big chain" store in town. I went in there the other day and saw a PILE of laptops sitting behind their counter.

They are taking alot of my business...or should I say, business I would otherwise get from new customers. I don't have the stomach to charge what they do either. However, I have gotten about 10 customers in the last few weeks that have told me, "Fix my computer, I don't care what it costs. Staples was going to charge me $130+ and they kept my computer for 2 weeks and never touched it." Seriously, I've had multiple people say they'd left their computers in there for 2 weeks plus, with no fix. Sheesh. I guess Staples is trying to compete with Best Buy...high prices and slow repair.

 

[Crgky127]

Yea sending out to seagate is $1000 for logical and $1500 for physical (including price of new external). I'm pretty sure in the even of a partial recovery, the customer gets sent a list of file names recovered, and is given the option to opt-out (either paying 99 or nothing,I don't remember). An in store recovery (minor issues) is something like $250, equipment provided for this was terrible. A simple data transfer is $100, and if it's an easy recovery some techs/management will charge that instead of 250, but if the seagate software (one of the suites I've heard Scott Moulton talk about, but rebranded for seagate) is used in store, it has to be 250.

If a virus removal turns into a restore (more often backup and restore), the virus removal charge is replaced. Though most management discourage selling virus removals in the first place.

It varies by management, but there was a general push to start everything with a diag (except software install, adding a hard drive, stuff that didn't fix a problem). I think this came about because too many stores had jobs being done requested by customers that had a self/nephew/etc diagnosis, plus it added to the bottom line. I would assume most managers would approve refunding a diag if the techs couldn't figure it out, but I never saw that situation at the store I was in, but other than that the 70 bucks was non refundable, repair or no repair, and had to be paid upon drop off before picking up a screwdriver.

Repair times is partly down to how much time the techs get spend on fixing stuff instead of doing a million other things (one of the reasons I left), and partly down to what kind of 'techs' the store has. One of my buddies who was in the office supplies department got moved to another store, and after a while became the head/only tech there. He knew more than the average joe, but one day I had to explain jumpers to him over the phone. Some were even worse. The one across town had more traffic, and terrible techs, and when we thought not being able to look at a pc for 3 days was bad, they were backed up 2 weeks. The exclusive parts supplier also often made repairs take a lot longer than if we were just able to order from newegg or something. I'm starting to get bad flash backs so I'll stop now.

 

[ExpletiveDeleted]

Ok, Ill confess... Easy Tech here... but ive also done a VERY VERY VERY small tech business for myself, and worked as a tech for a school district...

As for pricing:
Diagnostic is 69.99 this is mainly for hardware issues or really weird windows problems BSODS, no boots, corrupt boots, looping, etc. Then charges vary depending on solution... restore 100, maybe parts + install, major work gets outsourced @ a flat rate.

Virus Removal is 129.99 INCLUDES DIAGNOSTIC (NOT + 69.99 from above, this used to be seperate 69 + like 89, so its actually cheaper than it used to be), and usually anything extra required to get the PC back to normal (least my store does), except maybe installing NEW A/V, thats a Software Install - 29.99 plus software (maybe 24.99, if its one of our specially priced tech nortons, or something silly)

Data Transfer / Recovery: Simple transfer is 100 per 10GB (but most techs dont double charge for more, unless its takes exceptionally long, involving multiple attempts etc. Then there is a charge for recovery which is 250... yes if it has to be sent out, we send it to Seagate, and prices do range from 1000-2000 (no data - no charge).

Believe me, we dont want to keep your pc for long periods of time, but we are relatively new to tech, so we still havent balanced out man power vs work load... and occasionally get backed up, and some stores do not have the proper workspaces, but this is slowly changing (but we have a lot of stores, i can drive by about 6 in 15-30mins.

edit: crgky covered some of that better than me while i was writing my essay

edit2: An interesting charge that im not a fan of is similar to your 1st comment... if they have viruses, and we decide a system restore with data backup, we may need to do virus removal on your recovered data... i usually drop that last charge though, but i believe technically it would be diag 69 + backup 100 + rem 129 + sys restore 99, but usually if its in cuz they just think its viruses, then it came in as a FREE PC TuneUp (ill save comments on this for another thread) so no Diag, and usually i wont charge virus removal on the data backup if our tech pc simply catches them and no extra ordinary removal techniques are needed.

edit3: similar to link above, this is the brochure we have instore.. http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/tech_09/pdfs/staples_tech_services_brochure.pdf
There is a rate on the books for an hourly rate $69.99/hr, my store rarely uses this, usually opting to build the total price out of the specific services, imo it is more clear as we can say this is the price per each item for what we did, its harder to argue that we did something than it is to argue how long it took us to do it. Onsite is also done on a per service basis, but they also have a per hour charge, but atleast this makes sense as the customer sees how long it takes, but again dont think its used often.

 

[vdub12]

edit3: similar to link above, this is the brochure we have instore.. http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/tech_09/pdfs/staples_tech_services_brochure.pdf
There is a rate on the books for an hourly rate $69.99/hr, my store rarely uses this, usually opting to build the total price out of the specific services, imo it is more clear as we can say this is the price per each item for what we did, its harder to argue that we did something than it is to argue how long it took us to do it. Onsite is also done on a per service basis, but they also have a per hour charge, but atleast this makes sense as the customer sees how long it takes, but again dont think its used often.

Wireless network security check recommended every six months, why? Does the security key break down over time, lol.

 

[ExpletiveDeleted]

Wireless network security check recommended every six months, why? Does the security key break down over time, lol.

I honestly dont think i have ever charged this, maybe once or twice just to use it as a $10 charge more something silly like replacing a CMOS battery or an easy password recovery... the appropriate charge is technically the 40$ custom config which is basically the charge for anyhting that doesnt have a charge, but i cant bring myself to charge that much, maybe im selling myself short sometimes, but oh well.

I think it was really more used as a marketing ploy to get people back in the store so we can find things wrong with their PC (legitimately wrong, not oh that cookie is a virus). This has been more or less replaced by the now pretty much permanent Free PC Tune Up.

 

[vdub12]

I honestly dont think i have ever charged this, maybe once or twice just to use it as a $10 charge more something silly like replacing a CMOS battery or an easy password recovery... the appropriate charge is technically the 40$ custom config which is basically the charge for anyhting that doesnt have a charge, but i cant bring myself to charge that much, maybe im selling myself short sometimes, but oh well.

I think it was really more used as a marketing ploy to get people back in the store so we can find things wrong with their PC (legitimately wrong, not oh that cookie is a virus). This has been more or less replaced by the now pretty much permanent Free PC Tune Up.

Dude its a wireless network, if its secure it cannot become unsecured unless someone resets the router. It does not require a 6 month checkup for any cost.

 

[RegEdit]

OK so it's 129.99 for a diag + virus removal as long as no Windows reinstall is required.

How far does EasyTech go to be extra extra sure that there's no more viruses on a computer? I mean if it boots up fine, the internet connection works, msconfig works, regedit works.... Do you still run Process Explorer, AutoRuns, and GMER for good measure?

How far will EasyTech go to fix system typical damage left after cleaning a virus before declaring that a reinstall is needed? So often the file associations need to be fixed in the registry, a sfc /scannow might be needed, etc.

 

[ExpletiveDeleted]

OK so it's 129.99 for a diag + virus removal as long as no Windows reinstall is required.

How far does EasyTech go to be extra extra sure that there's no more viruses on a computer? I mean if it boots up fine, the internet connection works, msconfig works, regedit works.... Do you still run Process Explorer, AutoRuns, and GMER for good measure?

How far will EasyTech go to fix system typical damage left after cleaning a virus before declaring that a reinstall is needed? So often the file associations need to be fixed in the registry, a sfc /scannow might be needed, etc.

Really depends on the technician... as far as i have seen, there really is no policy or approved software for anything outside of Norton... we went a little outside of the box and took a store copy of Norton off the shelf and use that as a bootable cd for removing viruses outside of Windows... occasionally we will do some msconfig, regedit tweaks, sfc or windows Repairs from a windows cd... some techs will use additional freeware software (or semi-freeware, kind of a dont ask dont tell)... but it all depends on the tech. So if the Norton software report says its good, and we see no obivous problem, then usually thats the end... we do warranty our virus removal for 30 days presuming they have A/V loaded on the PC.

I wonder are these considered trade secrets... corporate cant find out who i am on here right???

 

[RegEdit]

Really depends on the technician

Roughly what percentage of computers there need reinstalls?
What percentage need Windows XP "repair installs"?

 

[maclaptech]

I do flat fee. $99 for standard repair and $129 for more complicated stuff.

 

[itmike]

I had a guy work with me that came from best buy. I know this isn't probably true everywhere, but probably is common in the big box world. He said the "geeks" were system restore whores. He said if you came in with a problem like a driver being out most of the geeks would automatically jump to system restore. He said they did this because it was easy and provided the most play time for them in the back.

 

[ExpletiveDeleted]

Roughly what percentage of computers there need reinstalls?
What percentage need Windows XP "repair installs"?

repair installs not often, it occasionally fixes something stupid without erasing everything

full restores more often, but we do try and avoid them because of the data backup concerns, missing ****, etc. Seeing more hard drive failures lately requireing systemrestore/windows install.

Cant really process an even rough percentage though... and store to store can vary greatly id imagine.