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Thread ID: 105669	2009-12-10 06:47:00	$75 1 Hour PC cleanup...	xyz823 (13649)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
838452	2009-12-10 08:18:00	Yea yea I figured they prob run ccleaner or something of the sort lol. Is that really worth $75? Do people actually pay those prices? Mum and Dad computer users probably would, who actually trust people. eg The types of people who invested in finance companies. In the US they have TV ads for these computer cleaning services, and Leo Laporte has warned that they aren't worth it.	robbyp (2751)
838453	2009-12-10 08:56:00	Just seen a shop advertising this. Is $75 for a quick cleanup overpriced? Yea yea I figured they prob run ccleaner or something of the sort lol. Is that really worth $75? Do people actually pay those prices? It's probably no different to the shops charging $120 to go to a customer's home to spend an hour setting up their PC for them. It's not hard to take the case and monitor out of a box and plug a few leads in but I've done it plenty of times for "Mum and Dad computer users" who were not confident enough to do the job. I imagine it doesn't include setting up their email account, install AV and anti-virus programs and all that sort of thing though.	FoxyMX (5)
838454	2009-12-10 18:31:00	I charge $75 an hour. I "cleaned up" a tourists PC yesterday. Uninstalled Uniblue. Ran CCleaner, installed Spybot and Malware Bytes, updated his AV, scanned the PC and removed some minor spyware. Used Hijackthis as well. Tweaked services a bit - manually. Turned off UAC (as he complained about it). Took some things out of startup. Tested the net was now working (as before it wasn't). When he came back we tested it again with his Vodafone prepay vodem thing, which was rather poor but then Vodafone coverage here is complete rubbish. As he's off to the cities in the North Island next I told him it would be a lot better there than Wyndham as he was considered swapping to Telecoms cellphone internet. (Checked pricing and options for both on the net) I charged him $55, based on time I actually spent, not scanning time.	pctek (84)
838455	2009-12-10 19:23:00	In the last few days I spent 4 hrs cleaning crap off a disaster Vista notebook running like a dog for my daughters friend. Did it out of the kindness of my heart :P I find users are happy to pay $120 an hour for a lawyer or 70 bucks for a plumber but as soon as you invoice a end user $200 for hours spent cleaning up there disaster they question it. Its kinda why I will never go back to retail and will always try and stay cooperate or change career.	Battleneter2 (9361)
838456	2009-12-10 20:00:00	I find users are happy to pay $120 an hour for a lawyer or 70 bucks for a plumber Ain't that the truth, some lawyers wont even talk to you on the phone without charging . We had a problem with our security a few months back, something turned turtle in the controls - it cost me $60 just to have the guy turn up, he was here for 5 - 7 minutes and it cost another $40 on top of that . $75 / Hr is not expensive, I have seen many computer places charge way more than that . My own charge is $90 / hr , like Pctek though I very rarely charge it . I normally charge per job and what is actually required, thats why I prefer to clean out PC's in the workshop, as doing scans can take all day easily, and people are not charged when thats happening . I have a program that I enter the actual time worked . At the moment there are two PC's doing spyware scans in the workshop - should be finished around 10 ish - the people are Not be charegd while this is happening . Other times you are actually working and feel like charging more - theres been many times I have had to crawl under houses with next to no room to run cabling to make a LAN - through dog and cat @#(%^^ and god knows what else . One thing I see a lot of, is work done by cowboys, people that think they know hat they are doing and it takes longer to repair their damage . Those sort usually dont last long as they charge peanuts and don't fix properly, then wonder why they cant make an income . A complete charge out rate is not always going to the tech BTW . (I'll make these figures up) -- Lets say you work for a company making xyz - you get paid $20 . 00 / Hr - but your boss when he/she gets a job would actually be charging out your time at $80 . 00 / hr .	wainuitech (129)
838457	2009-12-10 20:36:00	One thing I see a lot of, is work done by cowboys, people that think they know hat they are doing and it takes longer to repair their damage. Those sort usually dont last long as they charge peanuts and don't fix properly, then wonder why they cant make an income. So what do you consider as an improper job?	xyz823 (13649)
838458	2009-12-10 20:40:00	Definitely echo Wainui's statements. IMO $75 for a 'one hour cleanup' should include... Remove obviously unnecessary/silly/dodgy software from add/remove programs, uniblue, various toolbars, mywebsearch, that kind of thing. Physically clean the dust out of the case if it's a desktop PC. Run Ccleaner, update flash, java, win updates, AV updates, HJT, any quick tweaks. Depending on how long that lot took, possibly throw a malwarebytes scan in there too. Let the customer know if there's a virus infection that's going to take longer to clean out, or if the PC could use a RAM upgrade or something like that. If the company in question has a shop and/or vehicles to run, then $75 an hour is not going to help an awful lot as an actual hourly rate, but as has already been said, the official hourly rate often doesn't get used a lot.	wratterus (105)
838459	2009-12-10 20:46:00	Doesn't anybody clean fans, grills and heatsinks any more?	R2x1 (4628)
838460	2009-12-10 20:51:00	Definitely echo Wainui's statements. IMO $75 for a 'one hour cleanup' should include... Remove obviously unnecessary/silly/dodgy software from add/remove programs, uniblue, various toolbars, mywebsearch, that kind of thing. Physically clean the dust out of the case if it's a desktop PC. Run Ccleaner, update flash, java, win updates, AV updates, HJT, any quick tweaks. Depending on how long that lot took, possibly throw a malwarebytes scan in there too. Let the customer know if there's a virus infection that's going to take longer to clean out, or if the PC could use a RAM upgrade or something like that. If the company in question has a shop and/or vehicles to run, then $75 an hour is not going to help an awful lot as an actual hourly rate, but as has already been said, the official hourly rate often doesn't get used a lot. Phew thats alright, its just a family friend said their computer (laptop) was going slow so would I be able to take a look at it. I ran ccleaner, updated everything, installed anti virus, firewall and malwarebytes. I also scan malwarebytes and antivirus and it removed a couple of trojans. Also disabled all unnecessary startup programs. Also removed all the trial software that was on there. I was doing it for free but they insisted on paying me and I had no idea how much to charge. So I said $50 because I am not professional or anything and I wasn't expecting payment. Was this too much or too little?	xyz823 (13649)
838461	2009-12-10 20:58:00	There's a big diff between an individual charging for something and a shop charging for something. It sounds good - eg you did well and it probably cost them less than if they took it to a shop. If they were happy with it you are all good! IMO $30 or $40 would have been sweet too, all depends on how well you know the person in question! It's nice to have someone insist on paying you...all too often friends/family think you are happy to do everything for them for free. Yes, I've just done this for 50 hours this week I would just love to get up early on Saturday and go out of my way to fix your PC for free. Would make my weekend. :badpc:	wratterus (105)
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