What would you charge for this service?

[Reviver]

Well, the computer was returned to the customer two days ago (they picked it up from a family members house who I had dropped it off at, as this was convenient).

I had taped the invoice to the PC case, as well as a letter in an envelope explaining everything that had been done along with some advice on how to avoid reinfection (i.e. avoiding Limewire etc).

I came home from work today and there is a message on my answering machine from him.

He is refusing to pay. He says he "could have bought a new computer for the price I charged", and that he could have had the same thing done by someone else for $30 (he says he checked kijiji.ca and found someone with those rates. kijiji is basically like craigslist in case you don't know what it is).

He says he also phoned Future Shop (sort of like best buy here in Canada) and that they could have done it for way less. He says he also told them what I had charged and that they had told him that I am "charging way too much".

I just phoned Future Shop. They charge $100 for Windows re-install, and $80 minimum for data recovery. Right there, that is $180 before taxes.

I charged him $164 after taxes.

He also said he was not happy about the 6% tax charge, and that he was "willing to pay cash". It is worth noting that this is not someone who is in any way poor.

For me the lesson learned is: get payment first, then deliver computer.

It is worth noting that there was no work order signed. This was for an acquaintance of the family, so I felt a degree of trust that I would be paid.

Anyways, an interesting experience to say the least! I am supposed to phone him in an hour.

Got any advice?

Edit: Even though they picked up the computer two days ago, it had been ready 24 hours after I had picked it up. He had been out of town.

 

[TampaBayTech]

He is refusing to pay. He says he "could have bought a new computer for the price I charged", and that he could have had the same thing done by someone else for $30 (he says he checked kijiji.ca and found someone with those rates. kijiji is basically like craigslist in case you don't know what it is).

He says he also phoned Future Shop (sort of like best buy here in Canada) and that they could have done it for way less. He says he also told them what I had charged and that they had told him that I am "charging way too much".

That's tuff man. Just make sure you keep your cool and don't overreact when you speak to the guy. He sounds like the type of cheapskate customer I'd love to just lay into but it does not make for good business to do that.

If I was in that situation I would probably start by explaining that you are in line with the rates that a "professional" charges for that type of service, maybe cite what you found out from Future Shop. If the guy is still hostile and does not want to pay I'd probably swallow my pride and ask him what I could do to make it right. If he feels THAT strongly that you only should have charged $30 then I'd probably try to negotiate by saying something like "I don't think you could have gotten this "quality" of service for that rate but I want to make things right so how about I only charge you $80?" If he still refuses then I'd hold him to his imaginary $30 figure at least.

Sometimes giving in to a customer that you KNOW is wrong is still a better situation than to have them go around bad-mouthing you saying you are a ripoff and don't know what you are doing.

 

[Larry Sabo]

His computer was not booting and he wanted to see if it could be fixed, and if not to try to recover the family photos (5 GB worth) on the HD.

I would tell him he has two choices: 1) pay for the services he requested and you rendered, even exceeding his worst-case expectation, and 2) return the system and DVD and you will return the system to its original unusable condition. If he chooses 2), imaging the system, bugger the MBR and file the DVD for future reference.

 

[SOHO-NZ]

When you speak to him, it might be worth mentioning how many hours you spent on his computer. He might change his tune when he knows what was involved.

For future reference: I always give the customer a rough idea of what he's into. So I say "$80 covers the first hour", then I'll call you to let you know the costs if anything else needs to be done. If they decide not to continue with the repair that's fine - at least no-one has wasted any time.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

Sometimes giving in to a customer that you KNOW is wrong is still a better situation than to have them go around bad-mouthing you saying you are a ripoff and don't know what you are doing.

TBT i dont think the OP has any chance of this particular client not bad mouthing him no matter what he does to remedy the situation. As basically your relative has most likely unintentiionally described you in a pizza tech style rather than reputable company.

But atleast he learned the leason that some customers are never happy no matter how much you bend over backwards to help them.


Unfortunately the OP made 2 rookie mistakes
1) not giving a quote before going ahead with the job.
2) working for family and close friends and not explaining it nothing personal but it is a reputable business your running and all their friends wont get massive reductions like they do.


i would personally use the relative as an intermediate meddleman explain to them and client the amount of time involved in the repair and come to a comprimise figure as a 1 off goodwill gesture. Especially as they are friends and most likely move in the same circles. That way your relative has truthful replies when other friends in their circle mention the incident to them.


PS can ask him where he can buy all his personal one off photos never mind a new pc for what you charged. After all a client lost data shop that already has all the data for £30 sounds brilliant and would save everyone on here many hours of work and frustration every year

 

[TampaBayTech]

TBT i dont think the OP has any chance of this particular client not bad mouthing him no matter what he does to remedy the situation. As basically your relative has most likely unintentiionally described you in a pizza tech style rather than reputable company.

You may be right but it still does not hurt to try. It amazes me sometimes how a ****** off customer will do a complete 180 when you meet them half-way. Of course in this situation I think it all hinges on whether the guy REALLY thinks he can get all that done for $30 or if he is one of those people who makes a stink to get a discount. Neither of those types of people are good customers but at least the one looking for a deal can be pleased.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

You may be right but it still does not hurt to try. It amazes me sometimes how a ****** off customer will do a complete 180 when you meet them half-way. Of course in this situation I think it all hinges on whether the guy REALLY thinks he can get all that done for $30 or if he is one of those people who makes a stink to get a discount. Neither of those types of people are good customers but at least the one looking for a deal can be pleased.

totally agree with every word but even kick up stink to get a discount normally dont try for 80%+ and payment not through the books when they know your a legit company. That the reason i think the OP is in a no win situation with the client and now needs to make steps to keep his reputation intact.

 

[vontreigo]

$110 os install + updates
$60 data recovery

 

[bagellad]

$100 windows reinstall
$40 data backup

The virus hunting time is a write off..

 

[Reviver]

Update:

Spoke to the customer after several days of trying to get ahold of him.

He informed me that the 5 GB of pictures that I had backed up (the entire My Pictures folder) he "already had backed up a few weeks ago" and that they "were not the pictures I wanted backed up".

He told me that the only pictures he had wanted were the ones of his newborn baby, and that they were not in the backups I had made. He said that they had been in the My Pictures folder. When I spoke to him a few weeks ago and asked him what he wanted backed up he had said "the My Pictures folder, there are about 4 or 5 gigs of pictures there" - that is exactly what he had said (I wrote it down right after the phone call). He hadn't mentioned anything about specific pictures to be backed up.

It is also worth mentioning that while I was backing up the photos, I had seen a folder full of newborn baby pictures. I was not snooping through the photos, I had simply glanced at the thumbnails when I opened the directory.

I honestly think he was lying to try to get me to lower my service fees.

Anyways, I told him that I understand that he had been under the impression (for whatever reason) that I was not charging professional rates for my services, so I said "I will take $100 for my services and we can just call it even".

He told me he would "think about it" over the next week. I told him that I was not willing to go any lower, and that if he wasn't willing to pay the $100 I would be happy to return his computer to the state it was in when he gave it to me, and that I would also need my discs back.

He told me that there is no reason for him to pay $100 when he can have "a guy" off of kijiji do it for $39. He said that he would bring the computer back to me in a week.


I honestly cannot believe there are people like this out there...

I am having some second thoughts about starting a business in this field. This experience was incredibly stressful. Please tell me that this is not typical. (Yes I realize it is largely my fault for not getting a work order signed etc. I was not seeking business yet as I still don't have all my forms in order etc.)

 

[SOHO-NZ]

Don't get put off. Most customers aren't like this.

Just remember, this all would have been avoided if beforehand:
1) He knew your rates, and you kept him upto date of the expected costs of the job.
2) HE had written down what he wanted recovered.

Use this as a learning experience and move onwards and u[wards.

 

[dahljh]

We charge $70 depot and $120 onsite for what we call a "PC Renew" (Format/Install OS). This includes full hardware diagnostics, interior cleaning, standard backup (My Docs, email, etc..) and requires they have the original installation disks. On average this takes a tech less then 1 hour of actual time in house (while a format or OS install is in progress they are working on another machine). If they need a custom backup or if they don't have the original disks we would charge more.

You have to be aware of your community and competition when pricing. We could easily charge alot more if we were in Grand Rapids or Lansing or any large city. But since we are in a rural area we have to price accordingly.

 

[QuickFix]

I honestly cannot believe there are people like this out there...

Yes they are out there! Believe me I know.

I am having some second thoughts about starting a business in this field. This experience was incredibly stressful. Please tell me that this is not typical.

No this is not typical. In fact once you get your business rolling, you will see that many clients will be a complete opposite of this guy. You will hear lots of:

"Gee, you just don't know how much time you saved me!"
"Thank you, those videos were priceless!"
"I would've paid more!" - You don't want to hear a lot those.

I was not seeking business yet as I still don't have all my forms in order etc.)

Forms not in order?

 

[nj_computer_repair]

I am having some second thoughts about starting a business in this field. This experience was incredibly stressful. Please tell me that this is not typical. (Yes I realize it is largely my fault for not getting a work order signed etc. I was not seeking business yet as I still don't have all my forms in order etc.)

I had this happen once and it was only because there was no "quote" given before the work was performed. Never assume anything in this business.

If they know what your price is before you do the work, chances are they will pay what they agreed to.

This is a great field to be in so don't be put off by this one experience, learn from it. If you are just starting this business, be prepared to make some mistakes but make sure you learn from them as not to repeat them.

Your case is NOT typical, most people are not like that but there are d-bags out there so be prepared to weed them out.

 

[Reviver]

I just want to say thanks to everyone for the positive encouragement, I truly appreciate it.

I think that having this experience has been in the end more valuable than the money I would have received had the customer payed me.

I'm going to hold off on doing any more work for people until I have everything fully set up, including paper work and a better idea of rates.

Thanks again to everyone !

 

[Emockler]

I can't help but comment...

When I do a job, no matter how long it takes, I try to consider what my "deliverable" is. It's not the customer responsibility to pay for you spinning your wheels. You delivered: pictures backed up, pc nuked & paved, and pictures put back. I wish I had time to comment before it went sideways on you.

If you have to hunt a little, and get the bookmarks, export email settings, get docs from a couple of users, it still only takes maybe 20 min to start the backup. then you walk away and your off the clock. Your case sounds like pictures in 1 folder, so it's more like 5 min. Clone the whole drive to be safe, and it only takes a few min to start that.

Nuking and paving is another maybe 15 min. You don't sit in front of the thing the whole time, you do other things.

Put back the data. 1 folder of stuff. another 5 min. A more detailed restore may require 20 min of actually sitting in front of the machine.

Checking for virus's is billable. load your tool and start the scan. Maybe you have to kneecap some crap first to get your tool to run. 15-20 min if you need a live cd to do this. 5 otherwise .

This is how the customer sees it, so this is how you have to see it. Your a professional, and even though it took "2 days" you sat at his keyboard for 1 hour, and you could have done 6 systems in that same 2 days. ( if you have them). I think your original guess of 1 hour was right on.

This is a $50 job, $75 tops. If you want to let the customer know that you worked hard on it, make the bill say $150, with a "courtesy discount" at the bottom so the amount owed reflects how long you spent on the true "deliverable".

 

[SOHO-NZ]

You would only charge $50-75 for a initial diagnostic, 5GB backup to DVD, and N&P? You can't be serious? If this is what you do, how do you live off of that? Do you have any overhead? I am not trying to be a jerk, I am just curious is all.

I can't agree more. The times he quoted are FAR too short also.

"Nuking and paving is another maybe 15 min." - Impossible if you are doing this properly, and installing updates and latest drivers etc. You do install an Acrobat reader for them don't you?

 

[Emockler]

I have plenty of overhead, ins, rent, elec, isp, etc. backup to dvd wasn't necessary, the data needed to go back on the pc. I don't install acrobat, if they can handle installing limewire, then they can certainly handle installing acrobat. What about next weeks updates? and the week after that?
Any moron can install acrobat and the updates, why should I charge for doing that? The drivers are usually pretty easy, unless your doing a vista downgrade to xp.

Like I said, you can do 3 or 4 machines in the same time it takes to do 1. obviously they are at different stages, but multitasking is the key to making jobs like this an easy $75.

Let's see if he ever gets paid $100.....

 

[Emockler]

In the US, but not in East Hills Long Island. Median income here is not what it is by you. My rent is not what yours is either. Your taxes are probably the highest in the US. Plus you have a higher population. More and different competition.

I have been open for 2 months, and I realize it takes time to build clientele. I have a storefront in a shopping mall (with big anchors like Sears, Penny's, BonTon). Pricing myself 1/3 higher than the guy across town would make for some lonely days.

My prices are $75 hr bench rate, $50 flat for virus removal. I tend to make $100 on things like MB upgrades. $75 hr for onsite Professional services at business clients. This is actually higher than the local legitimate competition. The CL guys do it for $25, but you never see the same guy twice....

I need to do $200 per day to make my previous salary and stay afloat.

Today I did 1 virus removal $50

New HD $75 (labor)

Fix HDTV M/B $115

Began hd recovery $250

And some stuff in the works like a new server with ESX, migrate MRI (like Yardi) SQL & AD server.

I'd like to type more but it's time to close...

 

[topshelfpc]

I think that the amount depends on the area you live in and your cost of living and how much you think your competitor would charge. It's hard to just say charge them $x.xx because that is what I charge where I do business. These are great for a baseline, but only you can decide what the market in your area can bare.