Got a dinger on craigslist

[Martyn]

Honestly it sounds like communicating with your customers is not your specialty. For you, your method sounds best. For those more adept at building customer relationships probably not.

Most people don't want to know anything technical in my experience. You might as well be talking Chinese to them. Bottom line is a working system with all devices in device manager correct as a bone fide OS install imho.

 

[vdub12]

Honestly it sounds like communicating with your customers is not your specialty. For you, your method sounds best. For those more adept at building customer relationships probably not.

So you are telling me its acceptable to advertise a price for a system reload without drivers all well knowing that you will need to charge more to install them?

By doing this you know you will be able to advertise a far lower price then other computer repair businesses. All while knowing that your final price will be close if not more then other company's.

And you don't find this shifty. All I have to say is it sounds like you where trained at Best Buy.

 

[callthatgirl]

There is no way I would allow a system to leave without drivers installed. Period.

They do in my shop if they ask for just the Windows reinstall and tell me they will install their own drivers and no one yet has (because to be honest, if they can install their own drivers, they don't need me to install Windows LOL), but I can't see charging the same for just a factory reset and a full windows install with drivers.

I have to agree with OP though, it's explaining to the client how the quote will go with the repairs. They are aware of the pricing, it's all on the work order and approved by them before they leave.

NWPhotog, I picked up what you were laying down.

 

[ComputingSolutions]

OK normally I don't post these but this one completely took me by surprise.

Check it out



So he will reinstall windows with no drivers. This guy obviously doubles as a Pizza Hut delivery driver.

http://goldcountry.craigslist.org/cps/1919743161.html

What are these times getting to when even the pizza techs are blatant about doing crappy work. And get a load of his name "MnM microTech"

Maybe the person sucks at communication effectively and meant, "I'll fix your computer and what's in it" for this much and won't deal with 3rd party stuff. Me personally, I have 7 synthesizers/samplers via USB that are not so lovely with Windows assigning them drivers. I think I'd charge someone like me more money to configure all those external devices correctly if I had to.

 

[gazza]

Craigslist is full of shysters, as computer techs on this forum you know what's right and wrong when it comes to doing a clean installation of Windows! Driverless Windows, I don't think so.

 

[ComputingSolutions]

Installing "just Windows" would mean they plan to install their own AV and so on but, to me, it means I am still responsible to make sure their devices are working. If they've got some 10-year-old fax modem or obscure piece of hardware, fine, but I'll sure as hell make some effort even for those and give them every other device as part of "just Windows".

Do you speak German or Norwegian? Have fun searching for all the drivers I need to run all my peripherals. They brought their tower to you because they wouldn't bring all the stuff connected to it. You don't actually know everything they connect to it.

There are techs that cater to the music industry and film industry, and that's a good reason why.

 

[ComputingSolutions]

Windows Vista is 15gb and has plenty of drivers for common ****.

 

[NWPhotog]

Most people don't want to know anything technical in my experience. You might as well be talking Chinese to them. Bottom line is a working system with all devices in device manager correct as a bone fide OS install imho.

Honestly I have run into that at least once. The customer said (yelled?) "I don't want to understand it I just want it fixed!" I am pretty good at explaining tech issues in layman terms and the vast majority of my customers enjoy understanding what I am doing and why I am charging $100, $200, or whatever the price is. Maybe my clientèle is different than others.

 

[NWPhotog]

I have to agree with OP though, it's explaining to the client how the quote will go with the repairs. They are aware of the pricing, it's all on the work order and approved by them before they leave.

NWPhotog, I picked up what you were laying down.

Exactly CTG. The best way to increase customer satisfaction and profits is to communicate effectively with the customer. If they don't understand why you are better than the Pizza Tech why should they chose you? Thanks CTG for understanding.

 

[Xander]

Do you speak German or Norwegian? Have fun searching for all the drivers I need to run all my peripherals. They brought their tower to you because they wouldn't bring all the stuff connected to it. You don't actually know everything they connect to it.

There are techs that cater to the music industry and film industry, and that's a good reason why.

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut aber moj jezyk polskiegi jest bardzo lepiej et ma langue francaise est meme mieux. I don't see what that has to do with anything but thanks for asking.

If they bring me a tower, those are the devices I need to concern myself with. I really don't care if he plugs in a Moog to it and, if he needs help getting that going, he'll bring me that for a custom installation but if he got it going once, he probably doesn't need help in popping in a CD and plugging in a connector.

If a customer says he's got a "____ printer" I don't even mind downloading the drivers to his desktop for him and seeing if the software will let me install it without the printer connected so that when he connects, it's all set. It only takes a few seconds to find a printer driver and another few to run a Setup.
I consider that good customer service and I get a helluva lot of return business.

 

[ATTech]

Do you speak German or Norwegian? Have fun searching for all the drivers I need to run all my peripherals. They brought their tower to you because they wouldn't bring all the stuff connected to it. You don't actually know everything they connect to it.

There are techs that cater to the music industry and film industry, and that's a good reason why.

There is a difference between installing drivers for EVERYTHING that they may possible plug into it, and installing basic network, video and sounds drivers. I'm not going to ask them for a list of devices they use with the computer, but I am going to make sure that everything that is IN the computer is working.

 

[Martyn]

There is a difference between installing drivers for EVERYTHING that they may possible plug into it, and installing basic network, video and sounds drivers. I'm not going to ask them for a list of devices they use with the computer, but I am going to make sure that everything that is IN the computer is working.

That's my standpoint. If you accept a computer as a job to be reloaded you accept what's installed physically what is in it.

 

[vdub12]

Just got a computer in today that a customer got on overstock.com

It came with windows XP with no drivers installed, lol.