$20 flat rate for all repairs and including Virus Removals

[Varela]

Hi all I have a shop close by that does all repairs for a flat fee of $20. I had a new customer come in ask me to match his rate. I had to turn him away because I told him I do quality work not quanity.

 

[NYJimbo]

If the guy was telling you the truth, and I'm sure he wasn't, why did he try to find a lower price ? I can't imagine even the worst shops charging $20 for repairing anything.

 

[DataMedics]

A customer trying to beat/match a $20 price is a customer you don't want. Send him packing, he's a cheap-skate.

And, if you really have a competitor doing all repairs for $20, don't worry you just have to wait for the fallout to happen.

1st - he must suck to sell himself so cheap
2nd - he'll be quickly overwhelmed with more repairs than he can do in a week and people will get tired of waiting.
3rd - his rent will be due in a month and he won't be able to afford it

He'll be a passing annoyance at best. Stick to your guns.

 

[GTP]

I'll just add that he/she will end up with more complaining customers than they can handle.
He/She is obviously a Pizza Tech and is [probably] using dodgy [unlicensed] software.

These worms usually disappear after a short time, but unfortunately they cause damage to our industry by doing setting prices that clients expect you to give them.

I've seen them come and go here...

 

[HFultzjr]

Hi all I have a shop close by that does all repairs for a flat fee of $20. I had a new customer come in ask me to match his rate. I had to turn him away because I told him I do quality work not quanity.

There has to be some "fine print" involved.
I can't believe even the cheapest "Pizza Tech", would do "all repairs" for $20.00!
There must be more.

 

[Varela]

Found out he has two locations and sells/buys games and laptops. He’ the buzz in my area right now. One thing I will not do is lower my prices.

using Tapatalk

 

[GTP]

If he is legit then he would have to be loading up the prices of hardware!
In your own business, could you do this? No! You would fall flat in no time!
We didn't just "fall out of the sky yesterday" and we all now this model is not sustainable.

 

[Alexey]

I wonder, what is your reasonable time cost where you live? I mean, if I have $20, how much of the billable time can I buy at your location assuming you are selling your time by the minute (I know you don't, but let's pretend).

 

[Varela]

The average repair in my area is about $80 and I'm about $20 more. I charge 5 time more then this guy.


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[Briggsy]

It might cost customers $20 to begin with - but it'll cost them a further $100 more when they have to go elsewhere to have their computer repaired again to reverse the bodge job that the $20 guy did.

 

[Porthos]

Found out he has two locations and sells/buys games and laptops.

Bet he loads every laptop with bootleg software including the OS.

 

[sapphirescales]

Found out he has two locations and sells/buys games and laptops. He’ the buzz in my area right now. One thing I will not do is lower my prices.

using Tapatalk

If he has two locations then I can only assume that he's moderately successful. In order to be successful charging only $20 in labor, he must be selling the parts himself at a considerable markup. Though I can't imagine the type of client he gets through his door. I would NEVER hire anyone that promised to fix something for $20. If I saw a plumber charging $20/hour, I would never hire them. I mean, hell. I was hesitant to hire my current mechanic at $50/hour because the going rate here is about $80/hour, but he's an old guy that just hasn't kept up with the times when it comes to pricing.

 

[NviGate Systems]

We used to have a place here selling laptops and a $10 flat fee virus cleanup. In six months they went under.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

looking at the store name and prices i picture 3+ employees working frantically for min wage, a manager making .50cent more and a bunch of retro console/game displays. perhaps hes counting on customers to feel like spending more on retro video game stuff when they visit for repairs. I doubt you'll find the owner at the locations.

Edit: screen repair for 20 dollars? *cringe*

 

[Larry Sabo]

Edit: screen repair for 20 dollars? *cringe*

... plus parts. As we know, screen replacements (usually) take very little time. Do it in 20 minutes and he''s charging $60/hr for labour and mark-up on the screen. He has obviously found a way to make it profitable.

 

[NETWizz]

If this guy is any good, I wouldn't even bother fixing my own stuff even at my own labor discount ($0/hour), but we would have a trust issue, and I wouldn't want to spend even more time and money to properly re-fix the original problem and whatever else he breaks working on my stuff.

Admittedly it has been about 2 years since I had any personal computing equipment break *knocks on wood* because it is especially annoying to have to fix my own stuff, too. I haven't so much as done a Windows install (intentionally) or a motherboard replacement in a couple years.

 

[NYJimbo]

Found out he has two locations and sells/buys games and laptops. He’ the buzz in my area right now. One thing I will not do is lower my prices.

using Tapatalk

Looks like AV Retro in Lancaster and Palmdale.

 

[Your PCMD]

Found out he has two locations and sells/buys games and laptops. He’ the buzz in my area right now. One thing I will not do is lower my prices.

Anyone can do $20 repair, or hell, even $5 repair (we even have seen $10 diagnostics here ) when you mark up the price of parts astronomically.

Customer: Check my laptop, I think the hard drive is bad
Company: We can do that. We'll call you when we find out the issue.

---- tick tick tick tick tick

Company: Mr Smith, we do need to replace your hard drive. Labor will be $20, your new hard drive will be $150

Now you see how its done. A hard drive wouldn't be $50, or probably cost him $0 if he has a used one laying around.

As @Barcelona said:

He/She is obviously a Pizza Tech and is [probably] using dodgy [unlicensed] software.

 

[Skeetre]

Why not take a junker computer to the shop and let them do their work on it? Might be the best business-related $20 you've ever "spent."

 

[E Bell]

Looks like he has his hand in a number of things. One of them being leasing options or lease to own. Again, may not be your business model. Places like rent-to-own electronics/furniture stores make money and cater to a certain clientele. Another comparison would be subprime lending for housing or even the rental market.

Also appears he is selling (or at least offering) insurance on smart phone repairs. The $20 repair could be his draw and then simply good at up-selling.

As most have said, match or not...simply stay focused on what works for you.

We have people around here selling IPTV (1,400 channels) very cheap. They can ship a device anywhere you want. They are making money hand over fist. Legit? Not for me to ascertain, but not my business model.

I mention all this not to be critical, but to encourage to maintain focus as it can be tough to always have to "justify your business model" to others.