Push for the money?

noah

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I have a customer who asked for my services for a virus issue for the second time. It has been several months since the first time I did work for them. This time their machine was infected from every orifice. Really bad.

I always try to do what's best for me and the client when I do work. So I cleaned up the machine and charged $87.50 for my time. I explained to the wife that it was a really bad infection but all scans are coming up clean. However, if it came back within a week I would do a reformat and apply what they paid toward the cost of that service ($140.00). At this time they set up and appt for me to do work on their home network as well.

A day before the appt they canceled and said that something came up. I said OK and asked if the notebook was OK. She said yes. I got a call today from the husband saying that it hasn't worked right since they got it back. He claims it's slow, that pictures are not showing up in IE. I explained that I would fix the IE issue but cannot explain the slowness unless it was reinfected and told him about the reformat and cost difference. He says they "paid for virus removal last year and this time. For $400 I can get a new laptop"

Of course the total paid to me is nowhere near $400 but I told him if he can find his system disks/software i would to the reformat. The issue of cost difference I did not bring up again.

Should I push for the cost difference?
 
I got a question. When you did the original job for them.. the one in the past.. did you offer them a ram upgrade or anything to improve performance on their pc? I mean how much ram does this machine have?

One thing I have noticed.. when doing malware removals is often I also upsell an av solution. Now if the machine is light on ram.. I strongly offer a ram upgrade solution because I know with added software even with tweaking there will be a performance difference. And how bad an infection are we talking.. over 2000 areas infected on the machine? A few ? I mean if its really really a bad infection and after you cleaned it out it doesn't boot 50% faster compared to when you arrived... then you might have better served them and yourself a system restore with updates.

Since I don't know how you did the repair I am not sure where to begin. Just going by my own experience.
 
It is running 512MB memory and their AV was expired. I offered the upgrades but she claimed it was OK and that she can get AV from her daughters school.

How bad of an infection? This was the new crown champion in my experience. Easily over 2000 infected files. It was showing clean and booted fine when I delivered it to them. My thoughts at the time were, as I stated to her, if it is truly not clean I would just charge the difference. If it is clean, then the repair cost and resolution was the more inexpensive option. Both parties come out either way.
 
did you hit it with the quadruple threat remover of combofix,malwarebytes,spybot,avira

also about the images not showing up i ran into one infection that unchecked that in internet options, just gotta go back in there and recheck it , if its firefox choose "load images automatically" in options/content
 
cookies don't count

Hard to say then. It was still more than i have ever seen. I know how to fix the IE picture problem. Yes, i ran the quadruple threat.

The point being that It was showing clean when I gave it back and I explained that, knowing their habits and number of kids on the computer, that i would do the reformat if it happened again and only charge the difference.

I was trying to save them from spending more than they have to. It turns out I have to do the reformat. I just don't know if it's worth pushing for the cost difference. The way I see it is that we tried the lesser cost fix. Instead of charging full price for a different fix, I am just charging the difference. Should I push for it based on the circumstances and conversations?
 
I would drop them

I'v had similar responses after working to solve problems for hours ..." For $400 I can get a new laptop"

I would drop them,they will find more reasons not to pay you

I don't tolerate rudeness & sarcasm from ingrates, they don't talk like that to dentists,MDs or accountants do they?
 
I am going to say this. I never do a malware remove without a ram upgrade especially On a machine with so little ram. I always have ram with me. I carry a decent mix of 512,1gig ddr1 and ddr2 ram. and I carry laptop memory. IT helps tremendously because I know after I clean up a pc.. I make sure to do updates and I never leave a client without having a valid av solution on their machine.

I state even before I begin that as part of my system maintenance I will also verify if their machine is running the correct amount of ram for the usage that Its going through.

I would hazard about only 2% of my clients don't go for the upgrade.
Heck I even offer to install ram as part of speeding up my cleanup.. and then I show them how much faster its running then I let them know if they want to keep it that way they can purchase the ram.

That saves so many hassles. Especially when your working on dog slow machines .. like retail based celeron units. Oh I love those.
 
I'v had similar responses after working to solve problems for hours ..." For $400 I can get a new laptop"

I would drop them,they will find more reasons not to pay you

I don't tolerate rudeness & sarcasm from ingrates, they don't talk like that to dentists,MDs or accountants do they?

Why would I want to pay $200 to get a cavity filled? I can have it and 15 other teeth removed and get dentures for $2500... :rolleyes:
 
They may be able to buy a new computer for $400 but you can always point out that the new $400 computer is just as vulnerable to infection as the one you just fixed. The new computer would also require your services if infected. That is unless they just buy a new computer every time they have a virus.
 
Yeah sounds like they don't know much about computers and some how believe that its "your fault" they have gotten a virus. Since the first one should protect them. This is a very common belief with the non computer people. I think you just need to break it down to them very basically. I would say something like this


"Computer viruses are very complicated, sometimes if the infection is really bad its better to start over with a refresh windows, this would involve setting the computer back to when you first got it. I was hoping you had a simple virus but if you are complainning about slowness it doesnt seem the case. My advice is to do a reinstall of windows. I normally charge $140, but since you are good customers ill only charge you Xxx. "
 
i wouldnt push it, if there fighting you this much then in the long run, they will be more trouble then there worth. also as far as a ram upgrade, asuming that the system uses ddr.
most clients will not want to upgrade the ram. not when 2 gigs of ram could cost them $100.

well thats what i ran into.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161010

2 sticks of that =66+ shipping.
..easy way to sell it. pull up best buy 1gig ddr laptop ram.
And then offer em your price. I guarantee you will sell it.

HERE IT IS http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7322328&type=product&id=1118844598377

SO ONE 1GIG STICK= 2 OF THOSE WINTECS. Seriously anyone who can't sell ram to clients is either A: not trying really hard.
B:) NOT TRYING REALLY HARD.

Seriously ram is one of the easiest most affordable upgrades you can offer anyone.
 
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They are not the only affordable ram I found online.
Still proves my point...if you are not selling ram as a computer service tech.. you are not trying and you are missing out on an extra revenue stream for yourself plus you are undervaluing your client.
 
They may be able to buy a new computer for $400 but you can always point out that the new $400 computer is just as vulnerable to infection as the one you just fixed. The new computer would also require your services if infected. That is unless they just buy a new computer every time they have a virus.

Bingo.


EP
 
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