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Thread ID: 93481	2008-09-18 09:54:00	Venturing into a new job	qazwsxokmijn (102)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
706153	2008-09-18 23:58:00	I tried and failed. Muhahahahahahahaha. nevermind.:clap	Metla (12)
706154	2008-09-19 00:24:00	I tried and failed. No you didn't. You just got sick of it..........	pctek (84)
706155	2008-09-19 00:27:00	True. But spending all the money didn't help either. lmao. :D:D:D.	Metla (12)
706156	2008-09-19 01:59:00	Lunchtime LUXURY! < (In English accent) when I was a tech we were lucky to have a handfull of hot gravel......................................... You tell customers today and they wont believe you.	prefect (6291)
706157	2008-09-19 04:30:00	"I need to gather some info from you guys who are tinkering with customers' PCs. How much do you guys charge? I'm looking to charge my customers realistically, so maybe 50% of what you guys normally charge. Do you usually work at your customers' place, or do you take their PCs home for a couple of days? What sort of equipment should I buy? Anti-static gloves etc? What programs do you guys keep handy in your USB sticks? I can think of Avast, spybot and the like, anything else? What do I do with persistently bitchy customers who insist on knowing more than you do? What do you do if you made some sort of mistake? I am mostly experienced only with XP and Vista, so anything before XP is mostly out of my skills." Well I think it is a good idea to get get some kind of certificate or diploma before you start to charge for doing tech stuff, however I commend you for having a go and doing something for yourself. Don't take too much notice of some of the rather negative replies on here so far. Learn about as many OSs as you can and keep up with all the rapid changes going on in IT. Also don't feel bad if you can't fix something and have to get help from someone more qualified. If that was the case, don't charge anything for your time. Cheers LL :badpc:	lakewoodlady (103)
706158	2008-09-19 04:42:00	Don't take too much notice of some of the rather negative replies on here so far. Like? Learn about as many OSs as you can and keep up with all the rapid changes going on in IT. Also don't feel bad if you can't fix something and have to get help from someone more qualified. If that was the case, don't charge anything for your time. Cheers LL :badpc:That is all very well and good, but the core issue here is that the original poster cannot handle customers moaning at him for things he didn't do. If he goes into I.T. the customer thing WILL get worse; not better. Yes highly recommend he learn a qual to do with I.T, but more highly recommend he learns how to deal with the customers first	Myth (110)
706159	2008-09-19 06:06:00	Well I think it is a good idea to get get some kind of certificate or diploma before you start to charge for doing tech stuff, however I commend you for having a go and doing something for yourself. Don't take too much notice of some of the rather negative replies on here so far. Learn about as many OSs as you can and keep up with all the rapid changes going on in IT. Also don't feel bad if you can't fix something and have to get help from someone more qualified. If that was the case, don't charge anything for your time. Cheers LL :badpc: Thanks LL. I have no intention to get any PC certificate, and my (very) small business that I'm thinking is just for some money I could get on top of my student allowance. I'm not looking into anything big, maybe just a few tens or up to a hundred dollars a week. I will also be selling complete PCs and parts that I can buy from cheap stores from pricespy when customers request it. I will be charging much less than the $40+ qualified techs charge around here, maybe somewhere around $20. While I am confident I can fix most of everyday problems, I of course won't charge for something I cannot fix. And if something only takes me 5-10 mins to do, I will also charge much less at my discretion, just to make the customers happy. I don't have access to any ME/98/95 PCs, and so that's out of my field. I will say so in my advertisement that I only deal in XP and Vista. I know I'd be losing a bit of business, but I'm not taking chances on unfamiliar OSs. I can also set up internet, though when it comes to complex networking etc I'll have to come crying to you guys. IT customers are worse, you can expect lots and lots of moaning. Everything will be your fault. If you touch their PC, whatever happens to it from then on will be the result of whatever you did, even if all you did was lean on it. Being an amateur isn't good enough for a business, thats how all these cowboys end up giving us a bad rep. Not to say you are a bad tech but there is a LOT you need to know. Every man and his dog who twiddles at home thinks they then know enough to set up in business. Take a look in the Western Leader - that show you how many techs are advertising in just your area. Loads. Then go look at the Yellow Pages and Local Directory at PC shops and repair places. If I was still in Auckland I doubt if I would have started a shop at all - they're a dime a dozen. Temperamental customers is a risk I am willing to take. I've had experience with customers being overcharged a couple of dollars, with an intoxicated bastard outraged by the price of walnuts, and customers who threaten me if I don't make sure the manager does something, that she'll shop at a rival supermarket instead. I of course fully realise what can happen, but I want to escape the supermarket/shopping chain and do something else. I just can't keep up the fake smiles (though I am pleased at some genuinely nice customers). I don't want some manager telling me when I can have my tea and lunch. I will only be working when I can, mainly after uni and during Saturdays. As I said earlier, I'm not looking into anything big. Just a few customers a week. Maybe a day/half a day's work for you guys. Western Leader? There were only 3-4 computer techs listed in yesterday's paper, and the cheapest charges $40 an hour. Customers will know that I have no qualification, and it is obviously up to them if they want to trust me. George is doing tech work as well, he's a year younger than me but he is very successful where he is. I'm sure with time I can be as good as he is. Everybody starts from scratch.	qazwsxokmijn (102)
706160	2008-09-19 08:23:00	I work fulltime in retail but do afterhours pc repair work, I have no formal IT qualifications, But have worked with computers since Windows 3.1 It would be fair to day I know them inside out, However I couldn't offer assistance with Macs or Linux, cause simply I have no experience, so I don't. So called "professional" repairers in my town leave much to be desired at times... Poor workmanship also one instance telling customers that Vista has been pulled off the shelf and everyone has to go back to XP!! Don't know where they got this advice?? It makes me wild when these so called Professionals misguide people and overcharge and under deliver. I have fixed many computers that they simply couldn't or said could not be fixed. Which makes me wonder how these people survive. While I was away my mother got her computer fixed by a store in town. What a horror story, 3 months later she got it back, O/S loaded but drivers missing, Internet not setup, she lost all her photos documents etc.. and was charged $300 for this Mess! I have a No fix no fee policy and I must say my success rate is extremely high. Probably around 99% of the time. I did have one customer the other day with a Toshiba Laptop Vista Home Premium and some kid at her daughters school had changed her Vista password, So I tried to boot from CD with some tools and the bios had a password also which she didn't know either. According to one website it had to be sent to toshiba to have the bios password reset and another website said 2 jumpers needed to be shorted on similar models - this to just unlock the bios, She didn't want to reinstall vista. Which I could have done from the hidden partition. So with the bios being locked there was no way I could access the cd rom drive to try and reset the password or recover her files. I tried to find the cmos battery to remove it in hope that it would remove the password. But short of striping the laptop any further I gave up. I returned the laptop and wished her best of luck. She was happy I tired and I explained to her that she would have to send it to an authorized Toshiba repairer I don't advertise, just word of mouth which keeps me plenty of busy enough. What the pctek and the others are saying is right, people will moan about anything. So be prepared. I charge $50 per hour, Which is also my minimum charge but I cap it at that for a lot of jobs even if it takes me 3 or 4 hours, because Scans etc can take ages, and I hate charging people. I prefer that people drop them off and pick them up, this is when I make it cheap. Workshop repairs are cheaper. I hate doing call outs and that's when I won't offer flat rates. I don't have the time or the energy. I use too but I have to much too do these days Friends always get a discount, sometimes free, first time always. I use to do them all as freebies but I had to draw the line somewhere. I offer flat rates which helps give peace of mind, and I aways go that extra. I wouldn't say that no qualifications equal cowboy service either, you can ask anyone of my customers they will offer great feedback about my repairs. I always go that extra mile. I'm not a network specialist either, however I don't get any demand for it from my customers, I have setup networks before - just my own and a couple for mates, but I really don't know them well enough. I would direct any customer to a network specialist. Tools I frequently use HJT Active@ Boot Disc Barts PE Trojan Remover Trend Micro housecall CCleaner System Mechanic Spybot Spyware Doctor Avast Killbox Memtest 86 My Advice Keep working at the Supermarket and offer to fix friends computers and their friends then start to charge them something if they are happy with your work. I would recommend that you ask your customers if they have backed up their important files, or back them up yourself before you undertake any work that may cause file loss. Which really could even be just turning it on. Anti-static straps are over rated, I have one, never use it, just be careful, However no harm in wearing one. Make sure you try and get details of what the problem is and try and find out what they were doing last or have installed leading up to this problem. You will find that they mislead you at times at what may be causing the problem. Most times unintentionally. If you are good, word of mouth will attract customers and you will have your self a good little earner, just don't take big steps to fast. Hope I have answered some of your questions. :thumbs:	radium (8645)
706161	2008-09-19 08:31:00	Or, Just get a better job then being at a suck-hole supermarket. I can't think of a more soul destroying place to work.	Metla (12)
706162	2008-09-19 08:45:00	Thanks LL . I have no intention to get any PC certificate, and my (very) small business that I'm thinking is just for some money I could get on top of my student allowance . I I will also be selling complete PCs and parts that I can buy from cheap stores from pricespy when customers request it . Western Leader? There were only 3-4 computer techs listed in yesterday's paper, and the cheapest charges $40 an hour . Customers will know that I have no qualification, and it is obviously up to them if they want to trust me . When I left there were 17 advertising . Gone down a bit, huh . , Gee . . . . . I wonder why . Customers won't know if you have a qual or not and wouldn't know whether that means you are any good or not anyway . Unless you are really interested in it as a career don't . Pissing around playing at making a bit of money is worse . And flogging ****boxes from cheap shops off TM is a ripoff too . You are rapidly going down in my opinion . You want to really do it, then do it properly, not just because you hate the supermarket .	pctek (84)
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