Diagnostic times and fees

[fixit2020]

Hello everyone, I have a question about how to deal with a certain situation and fees related.

Recently I went to do an on site where i ran into an issue I could not diagnose effectively within an hour. I usually try to spend 30 minutes to an hour diagnosing then apply my regular hourly rate after I find out what the issue is and fix it. Has not been a problem till the other day where an hour later I still could not find an answer as to why the customers laptop would not connect to the Internet. I asked to take his computer back to my office and continue the work and diagnostic, he approved. After I got to my office I came to find out within minutes that the drivers needed to be reinstalled a special way for this laptop and the problem was fixed within 10 minutes of actual work and research.

My question is how to charge for work like this. I did spend an hour in the clients home attempting to fix the issue with zero results. Then after getting home I fixed issue within minutes. I don't charge for pickup and drop off currently (maybe I should?), so I'm wondering if I should just stick to the hourly charge or charge more or less? Has anyone ever had a computer take longer than an hour to diagnose and how do you cover costs for something like that? Especially if all the work is on site, what happens if you are well over an hour with no definitive answer as to what the problem with the system is?

I see often that some people state FREE diagnosis in their flyers. How do you charge and accommodate for the 2 hour diagnosis and 10 minute fix?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys!

 

[phaZed]

Free diagnosis and fix, but a $50 travel fee if they decide they need me on site.

 

[compnet]

So basically you are asking what to charge for a 10 minute job that took you 2 hours??

 

[akoufalis]

I think everyone has gotten burned by something like this at one point...If they have the potential to be a long term client I might wave it completly if they are upset but I would charge for the 10min or whatever your min shop fee is.

 

[FoolishTech]

I see often that some people state FREE diagnosis in their flyers. How do you charge and accommodate for the 2 hour diagnosis and 10 minute fix?

You're thinking about this all wrong IMHO. Often what YOU call a "diagnosis" is 80-95% of the work in repairing a computer. What *I* call a diagnosis is determining the problem - no internet (EDIT: A few simple tests will tell you if it's a hardware or software issue with the right tools, then you've DIAGNOSED the issue..) By my criteria, you probably diagnosed the issue within minutes, it however took you two hours to find a fix for the diagnosed issue.

Personally I would bill two hours then, unless I just felt bad about not knowing what I was doing, if that were the case, then I might bill an hour.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

I bill for all hours onsite -- $40 diag fee inshop (goes towards repair), and I agree with FT -- the moment you popped in a live cd for instance and saw you could get online is the moment you say "Sir it looks like you're problem is a windows software issue, I can fix this onsite now at $75/hr or I can bring it in to the shop and it will run you $75 flat fee, I expect it to take 1-2hrs here onsite or you could pick it up tomorrow when it's done at the shop"
(Insert your rates and/or pickup/delivery etc..)

 

[fixit2020]

You're thinking about this all wrong IMHO. Often what YOU call a "diagnosis" is 80-95% of the work in repairing a computer. What *I* call a diagnosis is determining the problem - no internet (EDIT: A few simple tests will tell you if it's a hardware or software issue with the right tools, then you've DIAGNOSED the issue..) By my criteria, you probably diagnosed the issue within minutes, it however took you two hours to find a fix for the diagnosed issue.

Personally I would bill two hours then, unless I just felt bad about not knowing what I was doing, if that were the case, then I might bill an hour.

Ahh this is what I was battling in my head, because I did determine it was a software problem within the first 10 minutes lol. And everything else was attempting to fix the software problem. Perfect thank you!!! Makes perfect sense to me now. I think I was just confusing myself between the work and this "diagnostic" idea.

 

[carrcomp]

Ahh this is what I was battling in my head, because I did determine it was a software problem within the first 10 minutes lol. And everything else was attempting to fix the software problem. Perfect thank you!!! Makes perfect sense to me now. I think I was just confusing myself between the work and this "diagnostic" idea.

That's the thing to remember right ....

Diagnosing a problem is usually easy (as you said it took 10 minutes to figure out) but researching an odd issue like this laptop takes time, and that time should be billed in my opinion.

I'd bill the 2 hours, and if I felt bad waive the travel fee as a courtesy, making sure to tell them it's a courtesy, before telling them it was a pleasure serving them and here's my card in case you need anything else in the future.

 

[Geek007]

I know this thread is a few months old, but:

I usually try to spend 30 minutes to an hour diagnosing then apply my regular hourly rate after I find out what the issue is and fix it. Has not been a problem till the other day where an hour later I still could not find an answer as to why the customers laptop would not connect to the Internet

Don't know if its just me or not, but the first part of what you've put sounds a bit dodgy. I know you probably don't mean it, but you make it sound like you deliberately try to spend 30mins to hour just diagnosing rather than fixing.

What you describe though, is something that has sort of happened to me before, and sometimes just cannot be avoided. It can be difficult to work out how to deal with it though. I generally try to find out as much detail as possible about the problem before I even consider going out to assist. I also try and find out what they've done (if they have) to try and fix it themselves. I have come across all sorts, the worst ones being problems with wireless cards.
I think I agree pretty much which what FoolishTech has said though.
I also see where carcomp is going, in that there will be issues that will have to be investigated/researched further, which I would defo bill for.

 

[nlinecomputers]

The only reason not to bill is if you missed something obvious. Like the NIC card not plugged in or something. If it took 2 hours to track down the screwed up file or whatever the issue was then that is the bill. The fact that you fixed it minutes after getting to the shop can be attributed to you being able to think without having the client breathing down your neck. About the only thing I would have done differently was how it long it took before you took it back to the shop. I personally would go more then one hour onsite before bringing it back to the shop.