Do you take on clients that say their computer is slow but isnt and won't go into detail?

[ComputerRepairTech]

Every now and then i'll get a potential customer that will come in saying their computer is running slow. I do online support so I quote my standard computer optimization service of 50 dollars and I connect and access the situation. On rare occasion there will be a potential customer who has a computer thats powerful and flying at full speed but when I try to dig deeper as to what slowness they are experiencing I get generic responses like "its all around slow." If you can't get any additional information do you accept the request?

The way I look at it is sure theres almost always something I can clean up, processes I can eliminate, etc etc but if I can't see the problem then how will I know the customer will be satisfied at the end? It seems like accepting the work would dramatically increase the chances of ending up with a negative review.

What do you do?

 

[HFultzjr]

Most of my customers that complain of a slow computer really mean their internet connection is slow.
Hard to convince some people their computer does more than just connect to the "Web".
LOL.

 

[calldrdave]

We see this issue all the time and no, we don't take on a client that complains about overall slowness. If we can't set an objective criteria to measure our success, then we'll always fail.

I'll start out with a random off the wall question like "Is it slow printing?" or "When it plays video is every talking slowly?" Hopefully they respond with "No, that is fine. It is slow when I..." That's the answer I want. If they can't answer or they say "Yes, everyone is talking slow on YouTube videos" I explain that I might optimize the wrong things without more information.

This leads to more probing questions like the Internet speeds and age of the system. Of course this doesn't always work. I had one this week that we eventually determined it was Facebook that was slow because it is the ONLY thing he uses. Then we had the client that said his brand new computer was still slow. He's afraid we transferred the slowness from the old one.

With speed or any other issue a client presents, if we can't measure our success we won't do that job. I'd rather a client say "they refused to help me" than "they took my money and didn't fix it."

 

[Krynn72]

I'd still take a look at it, and see what potential issues there are. If theres still no specific complaints after a series of probing questions, then I'd basically look at their hardware specs for upgrade options, and test their internet speed. Should only take 10 mins, and you've possibly got on a decent margin upgrade service. Offer upgrade to SSD, increase RAM, and N&P with data migration. Ain't no way its going to run slow by anyones standard after that, assuming its a modern pc. If its a slow internet connection, tell them thats their problem and that they need to call their ISP to upgrade. If their PC looks like it should be roaring spec-wise, has no glaring virus/adware symptoms, and internet speed is good, then at that point I'd decline.

We do work in-store only, and when we get people like this (probably once or twice a month) with non-specific complaints of slowness, we do this. I can only remember one time where someone came back and we then had to assume it was network related, and they agreed.

 

[Larry Sabo]

It's worth at least one remote session to assess the problem and try to get them to demo the problem. As others have said, doesn't take long to run speedtest, set for best performance, check the hard drive health, see what junk/unneeded processes are running, see what specs the machine has and whether memory is totally inadequate. You can usually narrow down the problem but if they can't demo it and the system is running fine for its specs, it's difficult to satisfy the customer. Often, it just takes resetting IE or installing an alternate browser.

Edit ... to add, if it only happens every third Wednesday during a full moon, I explain that if I can't see the problem being demoed, I can't tell whether I've fixed it or not and would prefer to wait until the problem can be demoed consistently before spending time with random potential fixes.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Apologies when I said I connect and assess the situation (oops i typed access) I do look over the system and I do ask for a demonstration of the slowness but if they are stubbon and stick to "all around slow" "everythings slow" etc then I refuse the work or if they try to show me and I see absolutely no slowness then I also refuse the work.

note to self: I should add a freak of nature refresh rate check to my assessment procedures because im pretty sure I would not be able to see that remotely.

 

[coffee]

I have a client in a small to medium size city. They constantly complained about 2 things. The computers were slow and that Outlook Calendar does not update with new appointments from the secretaries. They have 13 workstations and a exchange server on site. Then they have their cell phones that connect via wireless.

Their internet speed is 15/Mbs. I have asked them repeatedly to upgrade their speed but they do not want to pay the extra money. So, I told them they have to learn to live with it.

The Calendar problem was an employee that insisted on having a HP laptop (4mg ram) instead of the workstations I provided (8 gigs ram and i5 processor, Dell). He will open up (not kidding) about 35 or more windows. Some of them are double instances of programs running. As soon as I could close off a bunch of windows then Outlook finally updated. So much for his laptop he just had to have. I am a firm believer in a beefy desktop/tower when in an office environment.

As far as the service call of 'Things running slow' I often see they have bought some low end speed from AT&T or whoever and they do not understand the difference between computers running slow and their connection being slow. I have even heard them say that they bought a new computer to try and speed things up but its just as slow as their 'old' one. lol... I will work with someone on speed issues via remote but they will pay either way. Sometimes they just have so much running in the background or on start up that its just insane. To me service calls because of speed issues are the easiest to fix and pay well.

 

[sapphirescales]

The FIRST thing to check is their internet connection speed. If that's fine then it's the computer. If it's not then have them call their ISP.

 

[mraikes]

...snipped.... but if I can't see the problem then how will I know the customer will be satisfied at the end? It seems like accepting the work would dramatically increase the chances of ending up with a negative review.

What do you do?

Shoot, 70% of my customers can't articulate problems any better than "it's slow" (for any reason), "email doesn't work" (the home page got changed), "I got viruses" (everything else). Almost no such customer can withstand any serious questioning or being asked to actually troubleshoot to narrow down a problem before I accept it.

If I based my acceptance of jobs on being certain a "customer will be satisfied" before I do the work, I'd spend most of my time watching Netflix and twiddling my thumbs. I must have confidence in my own abilities, rather than a customer's attitude. In the future I may pass on a customer that's proven to be a pain in the ass, but almost everyone gets the benefit of the doubt the first time around.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Nothing I was going to do was going to increase the performance that I was seeing, this wasnt some budget system it was a system with a decent processor plenty of ram and an ssd drive. Sure theres plenty of customers that cant articulate the problem but they can at least demonstrate it or I can at least see it. Perhaps it was something internet related or maybe a particular page or maybe something with an element of facebook who knows. What I do know however is that there was no slowness that was going to be resolved by my computer optimization service.

I have complete confidence in my own abilities...personally i think the customers already proven to be a pita if they refuse to even attempt to demonstrate the issue they are experiencing.

Edit: I'm just clarifying to make sure we are all on the same page here. I fully expect some techs to still take the job.

 

[thecomputerguy]

I tell them that unless they give me specific examples of what, when, and where the computer is running slow then the only thing I can do is a general clean-up which is non-targeted. I tell them them that in a non-targeting cleaning, nothing is guaranteed to actually get fixed, but most clients see a 5%-15% increase in performance. So unless they can be specific with me then I can't be specific with them.

If you want more than that then you need to bring it in for an SSD upgrade in which case you will see upwards of 50% improvement in performance.

General clean-ups are $95

 

[Krynn72]

Nothing I was going to do was going to increase the performance that I was seeing, this wasnt some budget system it was a system with a decent processor plenty of ram and an ssd drive.

In this case then, I'd agree that after the initial assessment I'd have said there's nothing we can do for them unless we have specifics to test for.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I tell them that unless they give me specific examples of what, when, and where the computer is running slow then the only thing I can do is a general clean-up which is non-targeted. I tell them them that in a non-targeting cleaning, nothing is guaranteed to actually get fixed, but most clients see a 5%-15% increase in performance. So unless they can be specific with me then I can't be specific with them.

I like it, i'll have to try that one next time it comes up.

 

[HFultzjr]

On a "my computer is slow" request.
I'll take the job.
Min. diagnostics fee.
Make suggestions depending on issue found.
They either do them or don't.....their decision..

Then I usually hear:
"But I don't have the money to pay for faster internet every month, I'll just buy a new computer (faster)."

At that point I bang my head against the wall.

 

[cypress]

Hands down one of the most commonly used phrases. I ask a battery of questions to make sure I can get down to the root of the issue. Many times they think because their internet is slow then so is their computer, when that is not the case it could be hard drive, low amount of RAM or Malware infestation. Never really had an issue.

But if the client didn't want to be more specific and telling me where the issue occurs and keeps stating it's overall that might be something I would be hesitant about.

 

[Illusion123456]

I agree with most everybody here. Dont take the job unless you can duplicate the error and show the customer once it's fixed. Dont do this and that $50 customer will take up a whole lot of your time, write a negative review and you may even end up just refunding them their money.

 

[heelsfan951]

I try to be as honest up front with the customer as I can. Slow can be a lottttt of things. I know a lot of the people who contact me are just "fishing" for some free advice . If it's an older computer, I'll sometimes tell them that I'd be glad to look at it and give them a free estimate as to whether it's worth the cost of repair (to try to speed it up). I still talk to a lot of people who want to sell me used laptops with XP and Vista lol. Some think that because the laptop looks nice and shiny.....well you know hehe,

 

[sapphirescales]

I still talk to a lot of people who want to sell me used laptops with XP and Vista lol. Some think that because the laptop looks nice and shiny.....well you know hehe,

LOL. I'm glad I'm not the only one. The conversation is like this:

Me: Hi, this is XXXXXX

Caller: Do you buy used laptops?

Me: Depends, what OS are you running and how old is it?

Caller: I don't know what an OS is, but it's like 15 years old or something. I think it still uses XP.

Me: We typically don't buy anything older than 5 years old.

Caller: *Click* (they've obviously gotten this response from other shops and are tired of hearing it)

If it's useless to them and they've driven it into the ground for 15 years, what makes them think that it would be useful to anyone else? Let alone that a business would PAY them for it.

 

[Metanis]

Many customers do not know how the various subsystems work in a computer system. Most times they just don't know how to articulate the problem they perceive. I usually ask questions about what they DO with their systems and WHERE (home, work, beach) do they do it and WHO (isp) do they do it with? By that point I can help them zero in and talk about the app or task which they perceive to be slow and can sell them a diagnostic or tune-up.

The few who don't WANT to answer the questions always pay more than the ones who simply don't know how to answer them.

 

[HFultzjr]

I can usually narrow it down to a couple things
1st, must have decent bandwidth for devices being used.
2nd, hardware on computer must be fairly recent and working.
3rd, General clean-up, tune-up.
4th, Suggest SSD drive and ram upgrade 4gb-8gb
If all else is well, the 4th suggestion brings a biggest speed increase.
I have brought "back to life" many dual-cores and up by:
SSD upgrade
Ram upgrade
Clean install of Win 10, if they are eligible for the free upgrade.
Runs them about 1/2 the cost of a new computer and probably faster than a new one (platter drive).
SSD and Ram...........best bang for the bucks in speed increases.