How would you charge for this?

[ell]

Well this is annoying. I get in a pavilion g7 with a white screen issue, I see it has various infections, no antivirus, etc. I advise the customer it will probably be $80-95 for software/virus clean up and if there is any hardware issues I would call him. Well in the screen goes white with a boot cd, so I assume lcd/mobo failure. I update bios, remove viruses, reboot again to boot cd, it goes white again, I plug in external, it will not toggle on unless its connected on boot.

I try again with ext plugged in, run it for 3 hours offline with same diagnostics cd, both screens live, laptop will not go white. I boot to normal mode, I leave the laptop on over night with ext not plugged in to it running a dvd, virus scans, ie open, defrag, its still fine this morning?!

I still suspect the lcd or mobo but now I'm not sure how to charge for this, I know they want the laptop back today.

Should I charge $85 for what I've done and take that off a lcd if he calls back when it goes white again, or should I eat my labor and tell them they either need a lcd or mobo is failing and just charge for diagnostics? even though I may have somehow inadvertently fixed it (I don't see how unless the bios update took a couple boots to fix things)

 

[Lefty]

I would charge for diagnostics only because it's not clear if the problem is solved 100%... If they didn't need it so urgently I would keep it, do more tests and find out for sure.

 

[ell]

I would charge for diagnostics only because it's not clear if the problem is solved 100%... If they didn't need it so urgently I would keep it, do more tests and find out for sure.

yeah, thats kinda what I'm thinking, I am just wondering how long I should give it before I think its fixed, its been over 12 hrs. thanks!

 

[SpaceSquad]

I would charge diag fee to recoup at least SOME of your costs.

Had a lady bring in a 2007 Macbook Pro with display issues - the screen was just kinda messed up and OS loading wasn't happening. Booted to Lion with disc, and everything seemed fine. I did a disk diagnostic, let it do a repair...and when I rebooted everything was fine. Rebooted it a few more times and called customer to pick up free of charge - something may still be up...I doubt a disk repair fixed that.

She was in a rush, it works now, and she can't complain I charged her XX dollars if it happens again.

 

[ell]

ok now I have a cause, but I don't know how to fix it. The screen finally went white again in normal mode, I plugged in the external and instantly BOTH screens come on, and when I unplug it from the laptop screen stays on, at least temporarily. So what is this? when it does it from the boot cd I am unable to get the external to come on because the f4 doesn't work offline, and if I boot with it plugged in it doesn't go white as long as the vga is in, would it be something with the video chip or mobo?

 

[Markverhyden]

Uhmm..... Have you opened it up to see if there is evidence of a liquid spill? Also does this model have a separate video card? A number of models with NVidia chipsets seem to have problems. Have you reseated all connectors?

Personally I would charge them a diag fee but not spend too much time on it. If it starts working and they come back with the same issue just deduct the diag from the repair fee.

To be honest it sounds like a problem with the logic board, including the video chipset.

 

[ell]

Uhmm..... Have you opened it up to see if there is evidence of a liquid spill? Also does this model have a separate video card? A number of models with NVidia chipsets seem to have problems. Have you reseated all connectors?

Personally I would charge them a diag fee but not spend too much time on it. If it starts working and they come back with the same issue just deduct the diag from the repair fee.

To be honest it sounds like a problem with the logic board, including the video chipset.

yeah, I guess I'll just charge them the $30 diag fee, and waive the virus removal charges cuz even though he suspected a virus. He specifically referred to the white screen issue. There is only one video chip and I'm not putting any more time into tearing it apart, its appears to be a board issue and they are only expecting a virus removal.

 

[MikeLierman]

I would be upfront with him and tell him that given the peculiarity of the problem, you require more time test the machine to assure the issue is resolved.

Now as far as the virus removal, I think you should charge for that. If he insists to getting his laptop back today, then I'd warn him that you haven't had it for the length of time required, then take 40% off your rate for virus removal and don't charge for the white LCD problem. I think that would be fair. Inform him that he will need to come back if the LCD is still giving him issues. If he comes back with the LCD problem, look at it for free and assess if it's fixable.

Could the white LCD be a heat problem? I've seen a lot of laptops get really hot for no reason. Have you tried blowing out all the air vents and fans with an air compressor?

 

[ell]

I would be upfront with him and tell him that given the peculiarity of the problem, you require more time test the machine to assure the issue is resolved.

Now as far as the virus removal, I think you should charge for that. Now, if he insists to getting his laptop back today, then I'd warn him that you haven't had it for the length of time required, then take 40% off your rate for virus removal and don't charge for the white LCD problem. I think that would be fair. Inform him that he will need to come back if the LCD is still giving him issues. If he comes back with the LCD problem, look at it for free and assess if it's fixable.

Could the white LCD be a heat problem? I've seen a lot of laptops get really hot for no reason. Have you tried blowing out all the air vents and fans with an air compressor?

I did read about this sometimes being caused by overheating, but its appears very clean and the fan isn't running hard when it happens. Guess I'll clean it out anyways. Its so hard to pin point, its happened like 3 times immediately when I got it, then after the bios update and cleanup its only happened once, since then, 2 days and I have been running it pretty much constant. it appears.

 

[MikeLierman]

I did read about this sometimes being caused by overheating, but its appears very clean and the fan isn't running hard when it happens. Guess I'll clean it out anyways. Its so hard to pin point, its happened like 3 times immediately when I got it, then after the bios update and cleanup its only happened once, since then, 2 days and I have been running it pretty much constant. it appears.

I blow out the vents regardless of the age of the laptop or desktop, unless it's literally brand new. You never know what's on the other side of the vent. Most people will set their laptop on pillows, blankets, carpet, anything but hard surfaces. The fan will suck up any lint, dust, and dirt inside, creating a wall against the vents. Just take a small paperclip or toothpick and stick it part way in the vent to stop the fan from spinning while you blow out the dust, otherwise the oil may fly out and leave the fan with a grinding sound.

 

[ell]

I blow out the vents regardless of the age of the laptop or desktop, unless it's literally brand new. You never know what's on the other side of the vent. Most people will set their laptop on pillows, blankets, carpet, anything but hard surfaces. The fan will suck up any lint, dust, and dirt inside, creating a wall against the vents. Just take a small paperclip or toothpick and stick it part way in the vent to stop the fan from spinning while you blow out the dust, otherwise the oil may fly out and leave the fan with a grinding sound.

yup thats what I do too, I blew it out, but this one is spotless, unfortunately

 

[FremontPC]

Ell -

I'd try reseating both ends of the lcd cable. The only thing that bugs me is the part where you plugged in the external and both screens came on.

Maybe try Furmark on it?

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

 

[ell]

Ell -

I'd try reseating both ends of the lcd cable. The only thing that bugs me is the part where you plugged in the external and both screens came on.

Maybe try Furmark on it?

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Yes, and it did it twice! I ran complete system stress tests multiple times and ofcourse it passed every one.

 

[brandonkick]

Charge for the work that you've done, and let them know what you feel the problem is. If they want to move forward with having the necessary hardware repaired, then perhaps offer a "discount" if they do decide to go ahead with it. It sounds like you have a few hours of your time into this thing. So charge accordingly.

 

[ell]

Charge for the work that you've done, and let them know what you feel the problem is. If they want to move forward with having the necessary hardware repaired, then perhaps offer a "discount" if they do decide to go ahead with it. It sounds like you have a few hours of your time into this thing. So charge accordingly.

I just charged them $30 for the diagnosis, I put 2 days into troubleshooting this, I learned a bit, it means more to me not to lose them as customers than the additional $60 I should have received for the virus removal. I don't do mobo replacement and didn't recommend it for this one, hes ok with everything, I still would like to know what was causing it though....

 

[Blues]

First I would charge for the fixes you have done which would be virus removal. The next would be that you inform the customer that after some testing the problems has gone away and you are unable to replicate the problem again. Inform them that they are welcome to pick it up but you can make no guarantees about the screen issue as it has stopped before a source of the issue was pin pointed and thus it may return. I would offer that should it happen again you will look at it again and give it priority and that the only charge will be labor and parts should they bring it back in.

 

[Martyn]

I just charged them $30 for the diagnosis, I put 2 days into troubleshooting this, I learned a bit, it means more to me not to lose them as customers than the additional $60 I should have received for the virus removal. I don't do mobo replacement and didn't recommend it for this one, hes ok with everything, I still would like to know what was causing it though....

You did the right thing. They pay for your experience, that's why you charge the rate you do. If I don't know something I will discount accordingly.

 

[brandonkick]

I just charged them $30 for the diagnosis, I put 2 days into troubleshooting this, I learned a bit, it means more to me not to lose them as customers than the additional $60 I should have received for the virus removal. I don't do mobo replacement and didn't recommend it for this one, hes ok with everything, I still would like to know what was causing it though....

The thing to remember is to be fair to yourself. If you call the cable man out, or plumber out, or an electrician out, your going to pay the hourly rate until they find/fix the problem or until you don't want too / can't pay anymore. If you have two days into fixing the problem, charge two days. If you honestly feel it was only X amount of hours worth of work to someone who knows the exact subject a little better, then charge X amount of hours.

For example, if it's $50 an hour shop time to have my car fixed and they spend 8 hours... I'm paying 8 hours. Issues like yours can be hard to track down, and can wind up being major time sinks. Your time is worth money, because your running a business. I understand not wanting to rip off a customer, but be fair to yourself as well.

Of course, I give all this advice and I still find myself performing work cheaper then I should because I need the money so badly.

 

[ell]

The thing to remember is to be fair to yourself. If you call the cable man out, or plumber out, or an electrician out, your going to pay the hourly rate until they find/fix the problem or until you don't want too / can't pay anymore. If you have two days into fixing the problem, charge two days. If you honestly feel it was only X amount of hours worth of work to someone who knows the exact subject a little better, then charge X amount of hours.

For example, if it's $50 an hour shop time to have my car fixed and they spend 8 hours... I'm paying 8 hours. Issues like yours can be hard to track down, and can wind up being major time sinks. Your time is worth money, because your running a business. I understand not wanting to rip off a customer, but be fair to yourself as well.

Of course, I give all this advice and I still find myself performing work cheaper then I should because I need the money so badly.

I know the issue was with something on/with the mobo, which is beyond my expertise to repair so charging him for the virus removal and cleanup didn't resolve the main issue he brought it to me for. We both suspected a virus in the beginning I just told him I would call if it was something else and he oked the $80-95 for virus removal IF that was it. If I brought my car in for an oil leak and they gave it a tuneup but didn't fix the leak I wouldn't want to pay for a service that was irrelevant, granted the pc runs much better, but I didn't have to clean it up, I knew it was hardware related, but I couldn't let it go out that way, its my own fault, I know.

 

[brandonkick]

I know the issue was with something on/with the mobo, which is beyond my expertise to repair so charging him for the virus removal and cleanup didn't resolve the main issue he brought it to me for. We both suspected a virus in the beginning I just told him I would call if it was something else and he oked the $80-95 for virus removal IF that was it. If I brought my car in for an oil leak and they gave it a tuneup but didn't fix the leak I wouldn't want to pay for a service that was irrelevant, granted the pc runs much better, but I didn't have to clean it up, I knew it was hardware related, but I couldn't let it go out that way, its my own fault, I know.

But your not saying that the work you did was a proper fix. You attempted a repair and performed work. We can use the car analogy.

My car is sputtering and acting up, so I take it to the shop and have them look at it. They do some work, and while it seems to have gotten better for a while it starts to act up again. I take it back, and they find more problems with the car. They fix the problems and charge me again. They may offer a slight discount (especially if I raise a stink) because the first repair didn't fully solve my problems.

So he brings in a laptop that you do a virus clean up on, and a tune up. That may or may not fix his issue, but if it doesn't... you've still got time invested into that cleanup in an attempt to fix the problem. Because you honestly felt that the cleanup/tuneup would solve the issue. There is no reason not to get paid for that service. You can (and I would) offer them a discount but as I've said you need to be reasonable to yourself as well.

Now if he came in with the problems you describe, and you install a new CMOS battery and keyboard and send him on his way..... then yes you've now charged for parts and labor that you should not have and you knew they wouldn't solve his problem.