ignorant consumers

[Pants]

How often are you told by consumers or (or anybody) that you do not know what you are doing (with respect to computers)?

For instance, you might be on a repair job, whatever it may be, and are following a procedure which you have lined up based on your initial evaluation, and somebody comes along and says, "You shouldn't be doing it like that."...Or "Why are you doing it that way...aren't computers suppose to bla bla bla bla bla...?' I'm noticing more and more that people assume to know exactly what you are doing based on some per-conceived idea about computers.

I fixed one of my niece's friend's computers a couple years ago. Had a bad hard drive and I reinstalled windows. I forgot to activate it before I gave it to them and you know, sometimes Windows doesn't activate properly through online registration and you have to do it by phone....Well, she calls me and says, "Hey uncle, did you install pirated software onto my friends computer? Windows was spitting out the "not genuine" message so she assumed I was pirating software. That's just one example, but what really irritates and makes me wonder is, what do these people tell their friends and co-workers about your work based on THEIR observation? Your rep could really get ruined by these kinds of people.

 

[drjones]

Don't.....even.....get. me. started...........oh boy.....

Yeah, I totally hear ya. It's really wearing on me....these people who ask all these questions, if they're so computer-savvy, why are they paying me?

I *LOVE* to educate and inform my clients, but the people who pepper you with questions as if they're questioning your knowledge/ability/etc.....drives me absolutely nuts....they also tend to be lower end/cheaper businesses and/or home users, which is why I'm steering away from those clients anyhow.

I recently went into an office and may have been a little overly aggressive in pointing out what's wrong with their network setup (everything) and the owner kept replying to my solutions with "you have to be more creative" which I interpreted to mean "I want a cheaper solution."

They didn't end up going with me and I don't think it would have worked out anyway.....

Stay away from people who hire you, then question the heck out of you and/or try to tell you how to do your job....the worst types of clients.

 

[nlinecomputers]

That is one reason I don't do very much residential. I've walked out on one or two people that questioned what I was doing to much.

 

[aweston]

All three of you are in the wrong business. At the very least you're holding yourselves back because your attitude towards these clients shows through in everything you do. Anticipate mediocrity or failure unless you turn your attitudes around 180 degrees.

They didn't end up going with me

Based upon what very little you said, I wouldn't have either. I would have had you ejected from the premise.

 

[BillMoney]

Yup, I loath them, but put a smile on & when they are gone I just shake my head.


A few customers that come in, who I know are just time wasters I jack the price up on them as an ***hole tax which leads them to leave. It just isn't worth the $ to deal with some people. Also when it is repeat customers who only want me to do work for free or tell them how to do it, I politely refuse. The few who keep badgering me I ask them if they go to their mechanic & ask them how to do something for free. They usually understand & leave, the few that don't get it & continue I tell them I have computers I need to work on. If they keep going I tell them they can pay for my time if they would like. They usually leave at this point. A few ask for the manager. Well you know what I run this tech bench so you can speak to me. They then leave. I then walk about back & contemplate running head first into a concrete wall.

 

[angry_geek]

First: you guys really need to watch what forum you're posting these rants in. This is the third or fourth customer rant I've seen posted in publicly viewable forums recently.

Secondly: @aweston. Is your purpose here at technibble just to insult and antagonize? How long til you create yet another account for the singular purpose of poking at people? I have yet to see a single post of yours (from either account) that adds any value to this forum. I would call you a troll, but that's not entirely accurate. Trolls are funny; you're just . . . a waste.

 

[Pants]

Secondly: @aweston. Is your purpose here at technibble just to insult and antagonize? How long til you create yet another account for the singular purpose of poking at people? I have yet to see a single post of yours (from either account) that adds any value to this forum. I would call you a troll, but that's not entirely accurate. Trolls are funny; you're just . . . a waste.

Thank you.. I couldn't think of how to respond to that post


Furthermore, I wouldn't classify the original post as a "rant", so to speak. There are techs out there who's reputations get ruined because some consumers think they know computers, and they draw a conclusion based on what they THINK they know. Techs have a right to fight for their reputations.

I helped out a non-profit public services center not too long ago with their network. While troubleshooting, just for conversation, I mentioned there are times when a virus can infect every computer in the network and windows has to be reloaded, and the guy comes out and very boldly says,
"I DO NOT THINK that is what is wrong with our system!" Even though I got their system back up, I can't help wonder what he tells people about that conversation... If he believes that is NOT a possibility, then what would he tell other people about it...and the fact that I mentioned it? Probably something along the lines of, "I can't believe that tech is thinking that way....my gosh!"

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I understand where he's coming from. I've worked on things and practically had the user take something away from me. If they don't want me to fix it, why call me? I value my time and want to finish in as little time as possible(while getting things right). There are too many people that think they know more than the tech. People who are tech saavy and have tried to fix things themselves aggravate me because I have to undo what they did to fix things.

I do get satisfaction from these users though. Had one client who was having issues with their usb wifi card, they had someone who was tech saavy look at it who thought they knew their stuff(this was someone I'd built a custom system before and this person is questioning me and creating doubt about the system in front of the client--griping about the fact I only gave the guy a motherboard that took 8gb of ram, even though I maxed out the ram even though he had a 6 core cpu--his whole thing had been price).

Anyway drove out there, tech saavy person had been troubleshooting for about 4 hours with no luck. They walked out of the room, I unplugged the usb wifi stick and plugged back into a different port, it started working after about 10 seconds. Feels good in situations like that where the user can realize their tech saavy friends don't know as much as they think.

 

[Pants]

I understand where he's coming from. I've worked on things and practically had the user take something away from me. If they don't want me to fix it, why call me? I value my time and want to finish in as little time as possible(while getting things right). There are too many people that think they know more than the tech. People who are tech saavy and have tried to fix things themselves aggravate me because I have to undo what they did to fix things.

I do get satisfaction from these users though. Had one client who was having issues with their usb wifi card, they had someone who was tech saavy look at it who thought they knew their stuff(this was someone I'd built a custom system before and this person is questioning me and creating doubt about the system in front of the client--griping about the fact I only gave the guy a motherboard that took 8gb of ram, even though I maxed out the ram even though he had a 6 core cpu--his whole thing had been price).

Anyway drove out there, tech saavy person had been troubleshooting for about 4 hours with no luck. They walked out of the room, I unplugged the usb wifi stick and plugged back into a different port, it started working after about 10 seconds. Feels good in situations like that where the user can realize their tech saavy friends don't know as much as they think.

Nice story +1 for the techs!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

We are in a "service job"...as part of our job, we deal with all different types of people who hire us for our services.

This happens in any similar field....car mechanic, furnace/hvac guy, the crew you hired to paint your house, whatever. We have to learn to deal with this every now and then, clients are always different.

Add to the above, a rather new phenomenon in the past decade..."YouTube". The general public can look up "how to fix" stuff and find a veritable plethora of help videos, many of which they probably tried already before calling you.

 

[kpk1]

Maybe I've been fortunate, but I can honestly say that the majority of customers I've worked for have been willing to accept my work as is... I'm more than happy to field questions and do my best to explain the ins and outs of what I've done or going to do.

I also find speaking in plain English helps a great deal, using techie talk with a client isn't the best way to go in my opinion.
And yes, we deal with all sorts in this business. It's up to us to represent what we do in the best possible way.
Ultimately, you have the choice who you work for.

 

[jdpetrov]

Two words: People Skills. Another word: Communication.

Whether it's a residential appointment, or a business contract call, I always get someone that falls into this category. They ask questions like these out of a combination of ignorance, bad knowledge, superiority, or a desire to test YOUR knowledge.

Depending on how I perceive their attitude, I preface my response with something along the lines of "Well, that MIGHT be the case (or that's probably the case) but in my experience I find that (or like to)..."

In my response I acknowledge their question and if I think I need to I work in a compliment to their desire to figure out the problem on their own I will do that, then I close my response by telling them that my many years of experience I blah blah blah this is why I'm doing X procedure.

99.999999% of the time my response positions me as the expert working WITH the customer to fix the issue (because even computer illiterate customers feel good when they believe they've been a help to fix an issue). The customer, even if they continue questioning, always feels like the experience is a good one.

If you're running away from these experiences/scenarios I would kindly suggest you reconsider your reaction to these customers.

 

[codegreen]

I hear where you're coming from, Pants. I think we've all had clients that feel they might know better than the person they hired to do the work. In our business, the key is to build trust. It takes a bit longer with some people, especially when they have a friend who "knows computers" telling them things.

I would have had you ejected from the premise.

"Police! Police! Remove this man! He was somewhat rude, and said unkind things about my computers!"

Exaggerate, much?

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Most people I deal with are great to deal with. You always have people from time to time who think they know better. Just stating about a couple of people I've dealt with. Most people are pretty cool once you explain though.

 

[Rosco]

this is a tough one. Especially because without customers there is no money. Some customers are great, some are ok and some really grind my gears. You are not alone. We as technician are not alone. It is really any customer service business. I raised my rates a year ago and just did it again last month. This has really weeded out those people. The hardest clients are always the cheapest. I think that it just comes down to they are spending what little money they have and just want to get the biggest bang for there buck. It just comes off as jerky because no one is going to say that sounds great i would love to do it but i dont have the money so find something cheaper because i am broke.

 

[AndyM]

We are in a "service job"...as part of our job, we deal with all different types of people who hire us for our services.

Add to the above, a rather new phenomenon in the past decade..."YouTube". The general public can look up "how to fix" stuff and find a veritable plethora of help videos, many of which they probably tried already before calling you.

I looked up "How to fix computers", and came up with these gems :

http://youtu.be/wyKCOYp1f2w

http://youtu.be/xsUjQGbHkGc

http://youtu.be/0mb4bI-a4qA
(This last one at 2:40 - Thats not what you should say to a customer.... had me LMAO )

Andy

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

The funniest thing I found about the first video is how he keeps unscrewing the screw for about 15 seconds after the threads are already out. I really couldn't tell if the kid was serious, but it seemed like a spoof. Deff good for a laugh.

 

[JustInspired]

Apart from the DIY people and those with 'techy' friends, one of the things to consider before a rush to judgement is the issue of trust.
We are in an industry where a relationship of trust is pretty much essential. I have to earn the customer's trust especially if we did not connect via a referral from someone they already trust like a friend or peer.
There are a lot of 'cowboys' (no offense to proper cowboys!) and crooked people claiming to be experts. Sometimes the customer is justifiably nervous or distrusting. They may have been burned by unscrupulous 'techs' in the past.
I'm easygoing and get along with 99% of people. Sometimes I get the odd one that I do have to get to know better before I conclude that they're not really the ahole that I thought they were at first.

The lady who does my accounts was very suspicious of me when she first called me out after finding our site via Google a few years back. She turned out to be the nicest person. It just so happened that the 'tech' before me had installed a keylogger on her PC and stolen quite a bit of money via her online banking. Explains a lot!

 

[NYJimbo]

The funniest thing I found about the first video is how he keeps unscrewing the screw for about 15 seconds after the threads are already out. I really couldn't tell if the kid was serious, but it seemed like a spoof. Deff good for a laugh.

ThioJoe puts out lots of these fake repair videos. I like to read the comments people post after they watch them. Some people really believe his instructions and try to get follow up help when it doesn't do what he says it will.

Some people even get mad at the guy like they think he is trying to "scam" people instead of realizing his videos are just trolling for noobs.

 

[JustInspired]

A few months ago one of my regular customers calls me up and starts telling me about this video he watched about how to double your Internet speed. He was so excited about it! I could not for the life of me get him to believe me that it wouldn't work. He asked me if I'd tried the method and I said no, never.
So he says he's going to try it anyway and I couldn't just make assumptions if I'd never tried it myself!

So, off I went to YouTube because by now I was interested to see just what had got him so worked up so I discovered ThioJoe. It was funny for a while but a whole YT channel on this stuff... come on.