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Frustrations of the Computer Business
Working in the computer business is great, especially if you have your own business. You get to choose your own hours, what jobs you want to work on and it stays interesting as there is often a new problem that you have never seen before.
However, there can be a lot of frustrations too such as clients who call you for advice and have no intention of paying you. Clients who are very slow to pay and clients who always ask for discounts. Thats just to name a small few.
What are you biggest frustrations in the computer business? Drop us a comment. As always, you dont need to sign up to comment and you can even post anonymously.
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ISPs! I have more problems out of ISPs than anything else, enough said.
As far as customers go, remember this “You have to fix the customer FIRST, then fix the computer” After that, all will fall into place.
24/7 Tech support for life for a 20 dollar service…wish I had that with my car or home!!!
@Anon,
You should have just kept their PC. You don’t get your car back from the auto mechanic unless you pay either.
Here it is, unsorted and rough-cut:
Dropping me an email asking for something that an easy one word Goggle search would answer much more comprehensively.
Not knowing the simplest basics like where does the download go on XP or Vista.
Not knowing the difference between a downloaded installer/setup program and the “real thing” itself.
Asking what an error means without quoting the message varbatim and without a screen shot.
When I ask for a screen shot “not knowing” how to do it instead of googling it.
General resistance to learning anything new.
If I had to sum it up: Laziness, complacency, mental immobility; let’s say “human weaknesses”.
How to get more clients? What to charge? How to get a steady flow of customers? Having a variable income is not ideal. Have to figure out ways to have a more steady flow.
John,
Do you have a local talk radio station where listeners can call in with on air requests or questions? If you do and if you can match a few criteria (see below) here is a tip:
I love my my job, but I work for someone who doesn’t care about the clients (we only service businesses) as much as I do. As much as I try, I cannot steer the owner in the right direction.
Because of that, I’ve been wanting to go out on my own, but not sure if I could really run a successful business. Not worried what-so-ever about the technical side, but the business side.
So that’s mostly what’s frustrating me these days.
Sorry, previous post got messed up.
John,
Do you have a local talk radio station where listeners can call in with on air requests or questions? If you do and if you can match a few criteria (see below) here is a tip:
Go to the station and suggest a *regular* one hour call-in show about computer problems where you are the “expert guest”. Get your phone number out.
I am in the lucky position to this once every month and trust me, it is a HUGE blessing.
Criteria:
Able to speak non-geek about computers.
Able to find analogies granny can relate to.
Able to speak slowly, clearly and in “good English”.
And know your stuff, okay?
Good luck.
We have a busy computer repair shop geared toward home users. We have people come in to ask a “quick question” and will spend hours trying to get free information from our techs. This keeps our techs from repairing paying customer computers. It’s worse when we sell a new or used computer to someone who thinks we owe them unlimited support. Some people will call several times a day asking questions such as how do I post to Ebay, or how can I find a phone number on the internet.
We try to promote good customer services but we have to draw the line somewhere. We try to point out that this is how we make a living but many times people just do not get the hint.
I am curious to see how others handle this. In fact, I was going to ask the Tech Nibble people to write an article on the topic. Thank you
The phone calls asking support questions without wanting to pay. They look in the phone book and call computer repair stores and treat them like some sort of public utility. I have slowed mine down somewhat, I normally listen to their question, then I ask them. Let me get your billing information, they will then normally say, why do you need that?
Then I tell them we charge $40 an hour for phone support, they move on to the next store to ask free questions. We do mostly small business repair anyway, I discovered early on that residential repair for the most part was time consuming and not near as profitable.
Everyone Have A Great Day!!
john
When customers (or company employees) choose not to tell you that they recently tried installing some software or hardware or don’t tell you some other really important information that would help you troubleshoot the problem they expect you to fix.
Most of my frustrations primarily come from inept software/hardware developers and organizations. I have found few that are excluded from this category.
There is a heavy emphasis on sweeping issues that affect small “non-representative” groups of users under the rug. Too often, the dollars internally for development and debugging don’t exist. All too often, these are “Show Stopper” issues that are simply unacceptable.
Another area that has become increasingly difficult to deal with is the lack of explanation of “what happened” when something doesn’t work. That is, when I call in a problem and instead of being given an explanation of what is happening, I’m instead given a “fix” to try. The fix is great and all, but what if that fix doesn’t work? Support doesn’t want to talk to me anymore and my problem has become odd and rare (see previous paragraph). I’m left to my own devices to develop a solution. Without understanding of what’s going on, I cannot innovate a solution. Very frustrating.
Clients aren’t too frustrating except for the usual delinquent accounts, pro-bono wanna-be’s and unreasonables. This goes with the territory in any business. Imagine what we would have to deal with if what we did was entirely creative in nature (like, say Advertising)?
I have found the most frustrating moments to be the ones spent on the phone with tech support or customer relations of those companies we buy hardware or software from. This absolutely includes Microsoft and ALL hardware brands we sell.
I have been in this business for almost thirty years now and have seen the customer relations degrade from year to year. Tech support has become laughable many years ago, but only recently many companies have outsourced such support to India or Argentinia. Often it is quite impossible to find a techy speaking comprehensible english.
Many hours on the phone for RMA are lost too
Lazy humans and government paperwork.
My frustrations with the computer business has led me to become a rebuilder of broken systems. I no longer accept service calls,I now invest in lots of systems that can be repaired and re sold. My income has dropped but so has my frustrations with clients who want more than they are paying for. I would get calls from clients stating that they could not perform certain tasks in Excel they never undertood that its not a technical issue. As a rebuilder I can stick to my passion of solving problems and restoring machines.
After being a tech for 15+ years, opening up a shop, and recently closed it to take a break. I thought I would drop a little bit of what I have seen.
“Tire Kickers”
The ones that will walk into a shop, look around, and begin to speak to you about some issues which then bleed into 10-30 minute blah blah session. Usually leaving with no repair job, nothing purchased, and loss of time. Imagine all that could have been done with that lost time… *sigh*
“Freebie Zombies”
Certain customers that given the opportunity will try and suck the years of experience out from your brain. Look for symptoms such as, “How do I get rid of this XXXX virus?” Or, “My computer is doing XXXX how do I fix it?” Beware… once you have opened this channel of communication. You may be approached by this and other zombies in grocery stores, restaurants, or random phone calls. Do not give your personal phone number out to these people. Stand firm, be direct and inform them you can help them for a fee. This has been noted to scare some of the zombies off.
“Paper Tiger/Brainiacs”
These lonely creatures are notorious for walking into a place of commerce and mentally flex for the establishment as well as other customers. Watch for certain symptoms such as interjecting their own information/opinion to a customer while you’re speaking.
“Jargon-Naught”
This strange character just received a computer and will start using techno-babble just to try and fit into the above category. But fails miserably. Using terms like, “Windows 98 64bit OS.” “Partition my zip file.” “Norton Internet Security is my Hardware Firewall. So I can surf encrypted online.” One has to have some empathy for the effort. But do resist from using terminology to toy with this user: ID-10-T error, P.O.S. component(s), PEBKAC, RTFM. Once you start, you will find it hard to resist to stop using these terms.
“I.K.T. users…” or “O.I.K.T.”
These users are the soul reason why some technicians have taken up MMA cage match fighting as a means to de-stress. Originally they come to you, lost… vulnerable… sad with their computing issues. So you feel for their situation, as well as pay for your rent/electric/coffee habit. So you begin to help them with their problems. Suddenly that sad, vulnerable little creature becomes the menacing, “I KNEW THAT…” or worse, “Oh… I knew that.” Watch for a parrot-like tonality which simply repeats that sentence over and over… again and again. This is a true test of your, “Tech-Fu.”
IDBI hardware users.
“I didn’t break it.” Notorious for purchasing hardware in a retail box and try to explain to you that the CAPS on the vid card somehow mysteriously flew off while trying to insert it. Or how they didn’t realize that the jumpers to the hard drive were not supposed to be connected to the floppy power (yes… it happened.)
Co-Inky-Dink Casualties.
Logic tells us that should your wipers on your car be replaced and air put in your tire by a service tech in the auto industry. Most anyone would not blame a technician if their car didn’t start a month later. So why blame a computer technician for yanking out a root kit and your power supply happened to die a week later?
Tech Trapper.
A close relative of the Freebie Zombie and historic fur trappers of the Great North. These sneaky devils will place items within their house to lure the unsuspecting technician. Usually beer, coffee, or even a casual dinner. Be aware of these types as they usually call with an invitation to simply come over and visit… or they want to catch up with you since it has been a while. But then will use the dreadful phrase, “Do you mind taking a look at this for a sec?” Do not fall for this tactic. As you the technician would never invite a friend or family member to simply come over to scrub your toilet, fold your laundry, and do the dishes… for free.
People (stupid relatives and long lost friends) whining because their computer is broke and asking me how to fix it. When I tell them I will have to look at it to diagnose the problem, they’re angered and tell me that I obviously have no clue about what I’m doing and am a terrible person. I normally cuss at them and hang up. I swear, complete strangers are nicer than some of these people.
Also when idiots schedule a time for me to look at their stuff, aren’t home at that time, and complain when I’m not there. I’m sorry, but if you dont get home 10 minutes tops after the time of your scheduled appointment I’m leaving.
When you change the PSU on a machine, and the customer gets it home and flips out because it still doesn’t work. Flip the switch in the back I say, “oh” is the response.
Beyond general laziness and wanting free stuff (which I am sure affects anyone with a product / service to sell), the thing that bothers me the most is when people will cause the same problem over and over again, won’t do their own general maintenance (clean your cases, people!), or will hover over me while I am fixing something, as though they even are interested in learning what I am doing.
Mine is clients that request that you reinstall their oem os and software and then they tell you that they do not have the restore disks. They seem to think that you just have everything that they need. Then they get upset when you tell them that you can without the disks.
My frustration has been around free.
I have found my frustration drops the more I charge. Here are my favorite things to say.
Free Advice…
If you bring the system by or setup an onsite appointment I am sure it is something we can fix for you.
–if they balk they are wasting your time and your money.
–If they say they just wanted to know how to do it I let them know we aren’t setup to work on issues that way.
Your fixed it you now own it…
My internet/printer/monitor/scanner/teenager doesn’t work since you fixed my machine. Advise…if it doesn’t work setup an onsite appointment. We support our service if this is an issue caused my our repair it is covered…for any other reason it is billable at our regular rate.
Can you swing by the house for a quick repair….
Sure…let’s set up an appointment. Helps us track our schedule. Just a reminder we charge $$$ per hour with a 1 hour minimum.
My biggest gripe are those customers who automatically blame you for everything that ever goes wrong with their computer after you worked on it.
Now you have touched the damn thing, that blue screen they are getting must have something to do with the work you did 18 months ago, right?
Businesses who run you 30, 60 or 90 days on your invoices when you have provided good, quick service. The number of days they make you wait is generally proportional to the size of the business.
Hearing the same ways people introduce their problems over the phone: “i’ve had a (brand name) for x number of years, I dont know a thing about computers. its acting….funny, whats wrong with it?
or my other favorite, “i just have a ‘quick’ question…”
most of the time i just shut my mind down and let them ramble their issue over the phone and reply the same way every single time. I have to see the machine my self before I can make a diagnosis. feel free to drop it off any time or I can come to your house… yes our rate is so much per hour
I work on a lot of laptops, we are an authorized service center for a lot of the major brand laptops. Dealing with college students the biggest thing I see is physical damage to machines. On our service form they have to mark any physical damage, we find spills and damage all of the time and the customer claims they didn’t do it. So I usually deal with angry parents wondering why the machines are not covered under warranty.
Another one is when you clean a customer’s computer of the virus they got. You recommend an anti virus, install it and activate it. 4 or 5 months later when the get a new virus, they call and say the anti virus is broke and that they were never supposed to ever get infected again. I then have to do my automated rant about virus resistant Vs. virus proof. Now when I offer these services I usually explain in terms the customer should clearly (no geek speak (polymorphic this, zero day that)) understand that this is a safeguard, not an end all security solution to every possible threat lurking online. Most of my customers get this.
I hate when customers or the general public call up asking questions on how to do stuff on their own, damn well knowing we charge for that, and it’s how we make our living.
I also hate when customers haggle your diagnostic fee. I picked up a machine from a client, charged him super low @ $55.00 to diagnose the problem, and give him an estimate as to how much all he requested, and found repairs would be. When I quoted him a fair $400.00, I advised him he should go buy a new PC at this point, something with a longer warranty than I could offer. I then tell him the $55.00 diagnostic fee is due. He flips out. “What fee?, why am I going to pay you when you didn’t fix anything. I never agreed to any of that, nor did I know about it.” I tried to explain to him that id id look at the PC, and did what I was asked. Though he didn’t want to fix it, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get paid for looking at it. I also explained to him that he did authorize the charge, it was on the work order he signed. He says “I never signed any work order” I said that I could bring it to him and show him he did. He then has the BALLS to tell me “Ok I will only give you $30.00, not $55.00” I said keep it all, I will drop off your PC tomorrow. He said “No, Take the $30.00 I want to do business with you in the future” I said I have to decline your offer for future business. and hung up.
I hate people like that, who do they think they are?
One of my business clients referred their in-law. After I met her in her home and she handed me 2 of her computers, I gave her a quote for the diagnostics and my onsite pickup. Well I put the computers on my workbench for the next day (this was on a Sunday). As I was up getting ready for my IT job, the woman calls me EARLY in the morning saying her “College Students” diagnosed the computers apparently right after I picked them up. She wanted them back so she could do what they said and buy a new mouse or something. I was already feeling kinda weary about this customer because I just got that feeling she wasn’t going to pay after the services were rendered. You all know that feeling. So I told her she had to pay me for coming out. She did and I avoided a potential head ache.
Ron, These assholes would have likely caused me more hassle if I kept it. It’s only $55.00, and it’s not the money that pissed me off, it was the principle.
They will get their PC back. And if they ever call again, I am making sure everyone in my office refers them to geek squad.
The NUMBER ONE thing that drives me insane with this line of work (both in my business and my regular IT job) is what I call “Magic Wand” theory. Nearly everyone thinks that every computer question they have is “simple” for us techs to figure out, and that it will only take us a “second” to do the repair. Ergo, we all have magic wands in our pockets to wave at the ailing computer and, viola, it’s fixed!
Umm, you damn fools; if it was that simple of a problem to fix, YOU WOULD HAVE PERFORMED THE “FIX” YOURSELF!!!
Easily, in my opinion, the most aggravating part of this line of work. At times, I really start thinking about looking into doing something else.
lots of good posts here not much to add, except one that I’m fairly successful at dodging now, and that is
“how did this happen?”
to which I reply,
“I dunno, I wasn’t sitting right there beside you when you did it.”
but I’ve pretty much gotta 2nd EVERYTHING SAID HERE SO FAR.
my biggest frustration for now in the computer business if that I’m just computer technician for a small period (2 months stage) and I haven’t like you a stable job in this field but I now I have the skill because my chief is proud of my work and I like to do it and I would like he recruit me. What worry me is should I keep dreaming working in this field nor should I go for another work, thats a shame cos I know I’m totaly up and motivated for ;(
Pretty much everything listed on this forum has been a frustration for me. But one of my favorites is when the local wannabe geek comes in my store and starts misquoting things he read on a google forum somewhere. He tries his best to stump me on a question while other customers are in the store, just so he can prove that he knows something that I couldn’t answer at that moment.
I find it most annoying when a customer wants to speak techno to me so that I have a ‘clear’ understanding of the problem. The problem is that he has no idea that he is misusing terms to describe his problem (yes, this almost always happens with men and not women).
I usually let them ramble on to my amusement until they themselves are confused beyond understanding their own problem. THEN I start asking the questions necessary to successfully understand their issue.
I had a lady calling the tower the hard drive. Now that’s plain retarded. Now matter how many times I corrected her, she still carried on.
I think everyone else here has summed things up very well.
I would like to add when PC techs get a hold of a Mac because how different can it be? Then it becomes too late when they realize they’re in way over their heads and us Apple authorized shops get a box full of parts where an ibook G4 used to exist. Or a miss-diagnosed and miss-repaired computer with an already angry customer carrying it in.
Another small addition is PC techs hating Macs because they don’t know them. But they don’t want to divulge the fact there is something computerized they don’t know (heaven forbid). So they get on techie sites and bash Macs.
Before another PC vs. Mac screaming match ensues, which I hope doesn’t. May I point out I didn’t once say PCs suck or Macs rule. I’m just saying for our sake, stick to what you know. And if you don’t know it, don’t bash it.
Almost forgot: Sony Vaois and Gateways just plain old suck to work on….I hope the manufacturers are monitoring this blog…
Or when the customer gives you the whole “It’s working perfect….but” speech and the “It’s only something small” referring to the problem so no matter what it may be they don’t expect to pay more than €20 for the fix even if it in fact took you hours to repair.
Oh, and another one that I get so often is the “It won’t print/go online/play music” or whatever, but failing to tell you that in actual fact that it doesn’t turn on at all because they spilt water all over it or dropped it etc. Like whatever task they had in their head when they sat down was cause of the promlem, eh no, it’s that it won’t bloody turn on you dolt!!!!
I’m still trying to figure out what I charge from my friends and family.
Sometimes it’s pretty frustrating to notice how litle they value the stuff I do for them.
For example: I GAVE a usable used PC for a friend of mine. I assembled it,tested it, installed OS and some software so that it was ready for use.
I help him with his problems everytime he askes me. As I was visiting him sometime ago and we talked about project of mine, he said that he was willing to do the job much cheaper then professionals… I AM a professional tech and I have GIVEN him countles hours of my time without taking a cent! He found a old (probably broklen) PC of his and he thought I wanted it, he asked if he could get some money for it(I guess he forgot the PC I gave him).
So, I guess that the most frustrating thing for me is the people I love who kinda take my efforts for granted…
ps. Thanks for this and all other posts, keep em’ coming!:)
I have several things that really frustrate me:
1: In my town there are many guys popping up that claim they know everything about computers and they are drastically under cutting prices. They are also doing things rather illegally, for instance offering Windows Vista Ultimate including installation for $50.00. Customers don’t seems to realize that they shouldn’t be dealing with these guys.
2: The other frustration I seem to be finding is a source for inexpensive parts. Here in Canada I deal with D & H, Techdata, and Synnex. Its pretty bad when my cost is the same price as it is in the big stores. I buy in such small quantity that it doesn’t seem worth it and now we have an environmental fee that we have to add to the cost.
I love it when a customer tells me about their friend or nephew that is “really good with computers”. I had a customer that asked me to diagnose the PC, nothing major it had a few minor viruses, malware what have you. it could use a boost in memory to aid with the speed as well as some badly needed clean up. I have a modest diagnostic fee that is tagged onto the final price if the customer decides to go with my services. The customer decided that she would have her nephew look at it, so i warned her that if anything goes wrong that i will have to reassess her computer and the quoted price will probably change. she decided not to have it done, so I collected my diag. fee and went about my business. 2 weeks later I received a call from the same lady, this time telling me that the computer wouldn’t start up anymore. Turned out being her PSU which may or may not have been damaged because of her little technician. boosted the price of repair up considerably as well as labor. This time she opted for the repair.
their is always someone in the family that dabbles in computers but many people don’t understand that in most cases if we do not fix the computer we do not get paid. It means more to us than it does to your neighbor or cousin. Not to mention that your friend may not have all the resources (tools, software, hardware, over-all knowledge) to adequately diagnose and repair the issue. I always chuckle when i hear them say “Oh ill just have [insert relative here] look at it and see what he can do with it”
Anyone ever experience that?
My soapbox. This happens alot. I recieve a repair call. I ask about the problem. I schedule in a 2 hour slot because, “that sounds easy.” I get to the house, and I get a “since you’re here” list. I hate that. I’ve learned to ask more questions on the phone to figure out what they’re wanting before I get there, but it never fails that somebody has a since you’re here list…
Funny stuff on here. At least I know I am not alone on some of these things.
One of the other things that gets under my skin is when people think they own your forever for the lousy few dollars you charge them. Or the ones who insist on calling months later insisting that their problem they are having started the day after you dropped it off. Yeah Okay, surrreee. As if when their machine breaks, time STOPS and only resumes when they feel like calling you, no matter how long it has been.
Another aggravation for me is the lack of promotional material the vendors have these days. I’m looking for posters, brochures, banners, and display stands for products. The vendors, i.e. Logitech, Creative, etc., say they have nothing to give out or sell, but the larger stores like Best Buy have plenty of material like this. Does anybody know of a source for these types of materials?
i would have to say clients that just wont go away.. it sounds kind of mean i guess but i get some that come back every 2 or so weeks with a different little issue and even if they are willing to pay its kind of degradeing haveing to deal with there teadiouse rubbish on a weekly basis. some even with little questions like “where can i go to get a cheap hard drive” to things like repeatedly wanting a discusting machine cleaned every month
I am a newer business owner here and first off thanks for everything you guys do on this site it has been a big help. One thing that is a big annoyance to me is the local so called tech who undercuts everyone at 20 bucks a on-site visit. I am sure he will not last forever cause we all know you can’t make a real living doing that with other costs involved but he is like a knat buzzing around. hehe
Oh MAN, have I got a lot to say about THIS one! I don’t own my own business, but I’m very computer savvy, and will take “jobs” from time to time from people at my day job. What a pain in the behind it can be. There are some people who truly need the help, and are afraid to take their computers to REAL shops because they know they will be paying FULL price. I am African American and live in a black / latin part of Los Angeles. For the most part, these types of communities have people in them that don’t believe in paying full price for anything that they can get a deal on, and that includes computers. The “deals” I’ve been approached about consist of things like installing bootlegged versions of Windows, upgrading computers to make them run faster for RIDICULOUSLY low amounts of money, preserving computers for people that are still running Windows 95 and 98 (and once even a Windows 3.1 machine!), people trying to milk me for free repairs for the rest of my life, based on the fact that I only worked on their computer ONCE……that’s gotta be a favorite one of mine. I can fix someone’s computer (for dirt cheap I might add), and for the next 6 months to a YEAR, everytime something goes wrong with their computer, they try to get me to come back to their houses to fix it for FREE, with their excuse being, “well, you’re the one who worked on it in the first place) insinuating that everything that goes wrong with it after that point is MY fault, because I must have done something wrong to it.
I really love fixing home computers, and am as good at it as most good store techs out there, and have been told that I have fixed problems for people that that couldn’t be figured out at shops that people have taken their computers to. But what really gets under my skin are the scam artists out there that come t me because they hear that I charge a good “ghetto” rate, and I can fix computers as good as a store, so I get these referrals of people with the most immoral of intentions. I guarantee you all that I have some stories that can rival those of you that own shops. Before I started declining checks as payment, about 75% of the checks I’d get from people would bounce. I once upgraded a computer for a gang banger, who’s girlfriend was a co-worker of mine. I told him all the parts to buy so that I could get it running rally fast for him. He bought all the parts and gave them too me. I installed all the hardware and software, made tons of adjustments, and got the computer running rally fast. When it was time to pay me for the “labor”, he scoffed at me to told me that I must be outta my “f**ckin mind” if I thought he was going to pay for labor, then threatened me that if I harassed his girlfriend about the deal at work, he’d “have something” for me.
I once work on an old lady’s computer at her home, as she was referred to me from a previous satisfied customer. Her computer was riddled with viruses. I got it all cleaned up, and installed some anti virus software. I told her the price over the phone, so she knew how much she owed me before I even got there. When it was time for her to pay me, she went into her bedroom and came out pushing a small dolly. On the dolly was a 5 gallon Arrowhead water jug…..FILLED WITH COINS. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. As she rolled the dolly up to my feet, she looks up right into my eyes and told me that I’m going to have to count out the exact amount of the payment because hr arthritis really bothers her and counting out that amount of CHANGE would make it flare up. Needless to say I was so disgusted by that experience that I walked out of the door (without taking the change) and chalked it up as a loss of my time.
There was once a lady who’s computer I upgraded (changed the RAM, installed a bigger hard drive AND cloned the smaller HD onto it, installed anti virus software)…in other words, I got hr old Pentium 4 computer running as fast as it was going to go for the money she was willing to pay me. For almost a YEAR after that, EVERYTHING THAT WENT WRONG WITH HER COMPUTER WAS MY FAULT AND I WAS EXPECTED TO FIX IT FOR FREE. A couple months after I upgraded her computer, she bought a new printer and couldn’t get it to “work”. She called me, and DEMANDED that I came over to “fix” it. I explained to her that if it was “new”, she probably needed to install the drivers on the disc that came with it so that the computer could “see” it. She interrupted me in mid sentence, saying that she wasn’t going to do “all that” and that I’d better come over there and fix it because I’m the one who worked on it in the first place and if it didn’t work, it’s because I did something wrong to it when I fixed it. I promptly hung up in her face. This woman kept on me for MONTHS, calling me, leaving threatening phone calls about fixing her computer, (of course I was saving all her messages on my voice recorder). I eventually had to involve the police. They heard all the messages she left me, and I explained the situation to them, starting from when I first worked on her computer. They asked me if I wanted to file a complaint, and I asked them if they could simply go to her house and talk to her about leaving me alone. Sure enough, they went and paid her a visit, and I never heard from her again.
I wish there were some sort of personality filter to be able to automatically weed out the crazies when accepting computer jobs. There are some really good moments when you see a customer that’s so satisfied because their computer is working “right as rain” after you’ve fixed it for them. Then there is the “dark side of the moon”, the people who are out to rip you off and the ones that are just CRAZY.
If anyone wants to share their computer woes with me directly, I’d be glad to hear them. You can reach me at:
the.desolate_one@yahoo.com
Wow… Where do I start?
I totally empathize with you. Before I was even a store tech I was pretty computer savvy and somehow was able to fix some problems that store techs couldn’t. I also fixed PCs for my coworkers. I also did it for free (but not if hardware was needed). This kept me very popular. Well once I acquired my original mentor he took me to the side and asked me why I was giving away my experience. He explained to me why I should charge. This is where I began to learn about how shice people can be. I had one customer after another flake and bail out on paying. At the time I was charging what those annoying freebie techs charge… $20 – $30 PER JOB NO MATTER WHAT. Well after being burned about 97% of the time I gave up on doing work for others and focused on college (Network Administration & Security Mngt) work. During that time I was a group home counselor. I took a job at Circuit City as a “PCI” (Computer Repair) Tech. I learned so much about how to charge people and gained additional experience working on systems. After I left there, I got a REALLY COOL IT job that I currently have as a LAB System application analyst / Assist / Intranet Developer / blah blah blah. With all that, my passion is truly just fixing PCs and working directly with people. So I found myself in a situation like yourself, wanting to pursue this passion. I started writing goals (what are your goals) and doing a lot of research. That’s how I found TechNibble.com. I was literally astonished by the content here. I purchased the business startup kit, got my business license and continued to write my goals and what it is I wanna do. One of the things I did was take Bryce’s “Terms of Service” template and modified some of it to account for my non paying customers. If you read the Terms, and I ran parts of it through an attorney to be sure I was right, you’ll see that your liability is greatly diminished. That is absolutely no excuse for shoty customer service though. It just protects you. Plus I had to sit down and really think about the lessons I learned and write an appropriate protocol for future events. It sounds like you mean well but you keep making the same mistakes. Another thing I had to do was be a little more selective about who my target audience is. African Americans and Latinos are not a bad group. You can usually tell who among that group will try to stiff you. You do that by stating what your fees are. If they thought it was gonna be free, this will automatically filter them. Next you have to put into your terms of service something protecting yourself. …”For non paying customer… 30 days after agreement… after 30days PC will change ownership to “your business name””. Also you should get a business license. Its really cost effective and can attract more serious people. If you use the Business Tool Kit it can help you look a little more professional. Vista Print also can help with your image. But even with all of that, you still have to be polite, non arrogant, and respectful. I am African American and most of my customers are African Americans I work with in the hospital system / Lab system. I have been tracking my customer acquisitions and referrals. Even in the bad economy, I am busy everyday working on people’s computers, or selling laptops. My customers’ payment rate is for the last several months 100%. I account this to God’s favor and my coming up with new ways to do things and how I am marketing my brand (my business). Last night I was leaving bible study, when a guy who is notorious for trying to get me to do free data extractions stopped me and my kids for some “advice”. I promptly told him to give me a call so I can schedule him an appointment. He knows I charge for those. Did he call? No. Did I avoid giving away services and wasting time? Yes
I hope all this rambling was helpful. Here is my regular email. ra2676@gmail.com
Wow! I want to thank you all for reminding me why I got out of this business 2 years ago. I think I experienced all of these situations. Robomonkey pretty much summed it up for me. I’ve dealt with them all and don’t miss it. I miss the work, not the customers :) Those looking for free work drove me nuts. I had people calling me at home all the time for instructions on how to do things I should be getting paid for. The tech trap was a bad one too. I lost a few friends that way. They would invite me over and then expect me to do services for free.
It’s like everyone here is inside my head, I work as a “little tech” in my office and I am basically the receptionist/secretary/accountant/ and catch all for the company I work for. My gripes are this:
-the man in charge of the company will do ANYTHING for a dollar, including working with shady people and doing shady business
-trying to get the nag calls away from my techs, you wouldn’t believe the BS people ask, I once had this poor old man call me and ask if I had the number to Yahoo because his cursor on his write email field wouldn’t work
-cheap ass people, be they of lower income or high income
-Any type of professional business (Docs, Dentists, Lawyers, Etc) that drag ASS paying their invoice, they want us to drop everything we are doing and immediately come to them with a problem, but don’t want to pay up front and pay their invoice I guess whenever they feel like it
-old people with computers, I may go to hell for that statement, but it’s true.
-people that are too ignorant to use their antivirus and antimalware programs
-when someone comes in says “I don’t know what’s wrong with it, just fix it” I will usually tack on an extra 25 bucks to someone that is rude
-I haven’t seen this one mentioned yet, the people that drop off their machine, and call an HOUR later to see if it’s ready and what’s wrong with, I am like “you’re computer hasn’t even gotten on the bench yet, we have people in front of you” like they are the most important person ever
-being a female, I cannot stand the sexist buttholes that will pass right by when I am speaking with them because they spot a male tech in our tech room, I also tack on an extra 25 bucks to them too
WOW, I feel so much better, thanks Technibble
I hate it when people are more than willing to pay £75 for a guy to spend 1 hour fixing their washing machine that cost £375, but yet the are very reluctant to pay you £35 an hour to fix their pc that cost £3000
Business customers I always ask for a 50% Deposit upfront.
And i always get cash upfront for any parts, no matter who the customer is, been burt once before never again
Married female clients who claim their husbands never leave work early and whose residences do not have back doors.
For Example-
Sound of car pulling up
She: “Oh no, that sounds like my husband’s car”
You: “Where is the back door?
She: “We don’t have a back door”
You: “Well, where did you want one”
My biggest complaint right now is that there aren’t 2 of me to handle all the work I could be doing.
That there is so many good ideas in my head and physically it’s difficult for me to accomplish them.
I dream about new apps I want to create, software and flowcharts at night.
Hmm, just reading through some of these, and I can agree with them all, I have owned my company since 2004 and have alot of these problems, and unlike Mark Thompson, I have been lucky enough for my 3-4 clients like that, that they have all had back doors :D
1. I have signs on the wall and clause in the workorder the customers sign saying that equipment left more than 30 days will be sold to recuperate labor/parts. Day 29 comes around and the customer calls, “Can I pay you in 5 days? That’s when I get paid.” :(
2. Or “It’s not too bad. It shouldn’t take you too long.” I get it on the bench and it turns out to be Fake Alert, WinAntivirus, Vundo, PersonalAV, Antivirus 2009 and 200 different infections in Malwarebytes and Spybot. Nah, not TOO BAD!! AND there happens to be 5 different accounts that I had to scan. On an XP machine with 256MB RAM. I have to temporarily install more memory just to get the multiple scans done before I become a little old lady.
3. Customers coming in and talking about personal non-computer related stuff that takes up an hour of what little time I have to work with. Please tell me how you get these people out without seeming rude.
4. First time callers wanting free phone support.
5. I don’t do home visits now that I run my own business because the last time I did the customer’s kids (3 of them) were climbing up on the chair I was in and jumping off onto the floor while the customer was asking me how to do this and that and why it happened and didn’t remember her password to the DSL box. So I’m on the phone with Windstream to get the password retreived/reset while the kids are literally bouncing off furniture and the walls.
6. People calling the tower a hard drive or modem. One person opened the case, took out the hard drive and brought only that so I could clean off viruses/spyware, install a new anti-virus and run windows updates. One lady gave me the monitor instead of the tower calling it the brain….apparently she didn’t have one to think with and was seriously mistaken.
TIPS: Get a work order signed and get the money up front for parts and/or half the quoted labor. Have a monitor, keyboard and mouse set up in the waiting area to prove that the computer boots and connects to the internet before they leave with it. Have the customer sign a copy of the virus/spyware reports to have proof that as of the date they walked out with the computer it was clean. Beg them to use firefox. If you use AVG, set it to the highest security (9.0 has a security feature to block possible dangerous sites) and install WOT (Web of Trust) firefox extension and show them how to read the ratings. If filesharing software is installed include a clause in the virus/spyware reports saying that you are not responsible for re-infection because of this. Don’t start doing free stuff for any one (especially a relative) or you’re in for life. Let your answering machine do it’s job when a customer is calling every half hour to see how the job is going and hope they don’t hop in the car and pay an “in person” visit.
I am just looking in to setting up my own business and reading these makes me worry
I am a capable tech, but how do I transition from the punk asshole undercut to a respectable technican. Also, is the business kit worth it?
thanks,
any advice would be awesome
star6966@hotmail.com
i’m same as erik and i would like to thank you all for posting these potential pitfalls in this buisness as it has made some interesting reading. as erik has posted, please can anyone send me advice on how to start-up?
craig_millward@hotmail.com
Most difficult part of this job i think is how to deal with clients,specially those who make your life difficult.its very easy for you to b blamed for something hmmmmh… makes me wonder really if i want to do work on client’s machine like my dad once told me.well i’ve got enough a lot of experience in technical but rarely customer dealing experience.any ideas how to tackle these and have a peace of mind ?