What do you tell them?

[glennd]

"You have to trust me, simple as that. If you don't trust me you need to take your computer right now.

... oh and when you take your car to the garage for servicing you should probably take the body out of the trunk first."

 

[Your PCMD]

I have had only 1 client ask me that question, to which I look her right in the eye and told her this:

"See this bench with 9 other computers that require servicing? I dont have time to go through your files, nor would I if I did. Trust me, or by all means travel 35 miles to the nearest BestBuy."

I got paid that day for removing her viruses and have worked on several of her family's computers since.

 

[NichollsMS]

Thank you all for the great advice and insight. I thought maybe I was a little thin in the skin department, while trying to smile and be reassuring
I'm thinking...why would you do business with some one you don't trust?

 

[glricht]

... I'm thinking...why would you do business with some one you don't trust?

None of us would. Which is why I won't do work for somebody that doesn't trust me.

Had this exact thing happen about a month ago on an onsite call -- my first visit to this customer. When I sat down in front of the PC, the customer grabbed a chair and sat real close to me saying "I'm going to watch what you do since I know all you people pad your time so you can make more money." I promptly closed up my bag, gathered my stuff and told him "I've never worked for you before, but you're already calling my integrity into question. I'm a professional and won't work for people under these circumstances." Then walked out the door.

 

[Dair]

That's a great real scenario example on support!
I think that the customer got a bad experience previously, or hear a bad experienced from other.
And maybe that's why the security mode active.

I actually would recommend, if it is a windows enviroment, to use: Problem Steps Recorder

Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/22878/windows-10-record-steps

Explain what the tool is for, and let the client do the process.
Is a good tool, after you press record button is like a screencast with every mouse click
very detailed with date, hour and screenshot.

Thank your for sharing that real example!

 

[sctechsystems]

Well its part of your job, if you take your car to a garage, can you trust the motor technician not to rummage through your glovebox or look in your coin tray? Same as any other industry, you need to deal with that client's files/folders as part of your job.

We have had more need to monitor file/folder access by a clients employees than what we access ourselves, employees leaving companies to go work for other companies etc.