It makes sense to me why would I spent 2 hours on a process I can do in 10 minutes? I am giving the customer a clean system, which will run faster and better.
I take care of the customers no matter what!
I could not have said it better myself ITTech. Sounds like a you have a really great system in place.
I have a similar database setup in my shop, but mine are images that are more on an individual basis. The majority of my customers have been with me for over 5+ years now and they all have me purchase their machines for them. I have all the machines shipped to my shop where I set them up before delivery. I download all the updates, install software, printers, etc. I keep detailed information and inventory on all my customers so I usually know what software, printer, etc they need.
Once the machine is setup, I take a full inventory & save a full image under that customer directory on my NAS.
I also learned years ago that it is impossible for most customers not to lose their software. Therefore, I copy all their software CD's to an external hard drive and create text files with the key codes. This is also added to my NAS. Depending on the amount of disk space the customer has I will also put a copy of all their software on their drive.
And for everyone that looks down on a re-format or thinks it is the easy way out. You seem to forget that spending 3 days proving your king of the virus removal hill does absolutely nothing for the customer; it just strokes your own ego.
However, returning the machine in 24-48 hours, running better than it had in years, with all their data & settings intact, programs installed, all for a fair price helps everyone.
And if your customers are never happy after a re-format, sadly that means you are not doing your job correctly.
If you take the proper steps before, during and after a full re-format, your customer will have very little, if anything to complain about.
I have been doing this professionally since 1999 and I have seen many, many techs come and go. So when you come across someone like ITTech that is obviously running a very successful business, it would probably be a good idea to thank him for sharing his process and try to learn from his experience.
Last time I checked the major reason for this site was to help other techs that are trying to run a successful small business. Sounds like ITTech has found a pretty great formula to do just that. And he proves once again that you still make a profit without sacrificing quality.
You can argue all day long about how good you may be at manual cleanups, windows teaks, virus removal, etc. But I have yet to come across one tech who can take a 3 yr old machine, riddled with viruses and have it back to the customer within 1 day running anywhere close to as good as a machine with a fresh Windows install.
I have no doubt everyone here runs across hundreds of unhappy customers because their last tech formatted their machine and lost their data, settings, programs, etc. Those issues stem from either an inexperienced or lazy technician, not because of the re-format.
What cracks me up is I see so many posts on here from techs saying you are so good at your job that you do not need to do a re-format. But then in the next breath you say that a re-format causes too many unhappy customers because things never look the same, or file, settings or programs are missing. The first question I always ask is if all this extra manual work has made you a better technician, than why can’t you do a proper backup and re-format so the customer gets the machine back almost exactly how they dropped it off?
I have no doubt manually removing every virus makes you a better technician overall, but it does not mean it makes you a better business owner. In business it’s not about who knows more or who is a better tech, it’s about who can provide the top quality service at a fair price, in a timely manner.
If ITTech misses a program or setting, he can easily log on remotely and fix that within a few minutes. Plus he always has the ghost image to fall back on.
You miss a little trace of a nasty virus and in a week your doing the entire job over again. Which process really makes the most business sense and has the client’s best interest at heart?
For all you young techs out there, I would listen very carefully to the knowledge and experience ITTech is sharing. Many techs out there like to hoard their knowledge and experience, esp. when they have become very successful. I have been doing this for a long time now and I am very happy with how successful my business has become. Yet as soon as post this message I will be contacting ITTech to see if I can pick his brain some more and hopefully learn some new ways to make my business more efficient.
Remember, there is always going to be somebody smarter than you and that has a better way of doing things. Successful techs never stop learning and are always looking for ways to improve their business process.
