Suggestions Please

[bsil]

Hi All,

I am looking to open up a small mobile/remote business. I know I am going to buy TV for the purposes of remote support. I am trying to figure out the best way to go about accepting a payment prior to fixing the unit. I need to build a website, but I was wondering if I should consider an ecommerce type site, that would allow me to put some services on the page and perform a checkout which I could verify prior to beginning service. I am also a bit torn about asking a customer to enter personal info and cc info into an infected computer. Does anyone have a system that works for this situation? I am also hesitant to have someone read me their cc, and punch it into a machine because then I lose any recourse if they decide to call their cc company immediately after service and dispute the charge.

In addition to this, how do you all go about getting customers to "sign" or accept your legal disclaimer prior to repair? I know I would want to warn them that anything could happen in the process, and I have no way of knowing how bad something is until I look at it.

I guess I just really want to provide very high quality service, and protect myself and my customers from any potential issues. I know remote support is very popular, so I'm sure some of you must have some ways of dealing with these things. Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I recently moved to using an iPad with PDF Expert to have my clients sign an agreement on the spot with my pen/stylus. I email them a copy of the document.

For payments, many here have used something called SquareUp or simply "square" that is a free piece of hardware that attaches to your smartphone and is used for swiping credit-cards. The cost per transaction is very low (I think 2.5%). Check with the bank you use for your business account to make sure it works for them.

Since you will be seeing the client before actually fixing the problem for them, you could take the time them to set them up to work on their unit remotely.

I suggest you look at some of the threads from fellow mobile techs like Martyn, Mobile Techie and others. Threads from CallThatGirl and others can speak to working remotely.

I've been a mobile tech for over 3 1/2 years now and really enjoy it. Even though working remotely is another kettle of fish, I am enjoying that as well. Good luck!

 

[bsil]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tips. I think my post was a bit unclear. When onsite I will absolutely take your suggestions about a tablet to sign (since I have one, and won't need to make paper copies), and Square to process. I hadn't even considered the tablet to collect signatures. Great idea.

I think I am most concerned about the remote side, and the times I don't see the customer first. I'm certainly going to do some more searching, but it seemed like there were a number of folks doing remote, and I was hoping to gain some do's and don'ts and pro's and con's from them. I think the remote market will be good in my area, I just want to make sure I go about it correctly, and avoid as many bumps as possible. I guess I'm concerned because my in-laws have an apparel retail store, and a website that can process charges, and there are always issues with chargebacks when you haven't swiped the card. I'm probably just over thinking it, but had to ask to satisfy my curiosity about the process of remote repair.

 

[callthatgirl]

Here is what we do.

We book the appt
Get clients remoted in with LMIR
Have them fill out our agreement form
Gake payment via paypal, we can count it as a sale or preauthorize

Here is a link to my new remote support site, once clients fill it out, the next page takes them to the log in, so they have to do the form before the session starts. Nice feature.

http://dev.callthatgirl.biz/services/remote-support

 

[Encrypted Existence]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tips. I think my post was a bit unclear. When onsite I will absolutely take your suggestions about a tablet to sign (since I have one, and won't need to make paper copies), and Square to process. I hadn't even considered the tablet to collect signatures. Great idea.

I think I am most concerned about the remote side, and the times I don't see the customer first. I'm certainly going to do some more searching, but it seemed like there were a number of folks doing remote, and I was hoping to gain some do's and don'ts and pro's and con's from them. I think the remote market will be good in my area, I just want to make sure I go about it correctly, and avoid as many bumps as possible. I guess I'm concerned because my in-laws have an apparel retail store, and a website that can process charges, and there are always issues with chargebacks when you haven't swiped the card. I'm probably just over thinking it, but had to ask to satisfy my curiosity about the process of remote repair.

No need to worry about chargebacks because you didn't swipe the card with Square up because you will be swiping the customer's card. Then you can have them sign on your phone or tablet and there can be no argument.

 

[bsil]

Thanks for the replies all. CallThatGirl, your solution seems to look like a great way to go about it. You get the disclaimer out of the way with a short form, and get payment easily too. I like the way you set up your site.

If I could ask another question: When you get the email disclaimer, do you email back the remote applet for them to click, or do you send them to a site to grab it? Also I noticed you use LMI. What made you decide on that over one of the other higher priced solutions? Was there some type of feature set, or a specific feature that made it worth the substantial price difference for you? Just wondering if TeamViewer might not be my best bet, since you seem to do a lot of the remote business.

 

[callthatgirl]

If I could ask another question: When you get the email disclaimer, do you email back the remote applet for them to click, or do you send them to a site to grab it? Also I noticed you use LMI. What made you decide on that over one of the other higher priced solutions? Was there some type of feature set, or a specific feature that made it worth the substantial price difference for you? Just wondering if TeamViewer might not be my best bet, since you seem to do a lot of the remote business.

The form filled out goes to our email inbox, then we add it to the ticket. The submitted form pages goes to our remote connect page. Kinda neat.

I chose LMIR because it's just what I would consider, "high class tools", it rarely lets me down and I can get in fast, have up to 10 sessions going, flip a session to another tech in another seat if need be , it's nice. So many good features I guess. Worth a trial for sure! I tested TeamViewer and didn't like it. I also worked in the corporate helpdesk world for 7 years before starting up my own biz, so I had years of remote experience under the belt and have used professional tools in the past. I had only those to compare with and TeamViewer just fell short. I also couldn't afford the good tools, so LMIR was all I could afford and get what I wanted done.

Hope that helps!

 

[AlaDes]

I have used just about all of the remote tools out there and by far prefer using Teamviewer. However, I do own a license for SimpleHelp (should have purchased ScreenConnect because they are almost identical but SC is cheaper) as well. I like Teamviewer because it has a one time fee (unless you opt to upgrade a year later), loads quick on both my PC and iPhone, and you can have multiple connections at one time (I think up to 15) per user (PC). Also, TV gives you a 10% discount if you are an ACRBO member (free to join). I only use SimpleHelp when I run into one of those rare cases that a client cannot follow simple instructions of downloading and running a file.