This post is more of a rant than anything else, so if you don’t have time to read a bit about the frustrations of PC Technician, you can skip this.

We get calls everyday from customers with a variety of concerns and preconceived notions. To begin with, we always have the customer’s best interest in mind. Yes, we are a business, so we are here to exchange our talents for a fee, but we also want a good reputation so we can stay in business. But for a select few customers, we aren’t exactly sure what they want. They call with a problem, but don’t seem like they want to have their computer fixed.

Handling First Time Callers

The first words are almost always “How much to fix my computer?” This gets asked before we are told what has happened. Now we know that some customers are very knowledgeable at using their computers, but just not fixing them, and can probably describe their problem very well. While others just say “It’s broke, I don’t know what is wrong”. If this is you, that is OK, but please be patient with our questions while we try to guide you into providing us with a better description. Of course you can always just bring your computer down to our shop for a FREE PC Checkup and we will hook it up and find out for ourselves. But if you are calling around for the cheapest price, we are NOT who you are looking for. There are quite a few Mobile PC Techs out there with rock-bottom prices. I won’t speak for them and say why, but you are free to call them to find out and compare what is different about their service. I will say that it is true that part of the reason is about overhead costs, but many of these costs are what make it possible to provide efficient, thorough repairs.

Now when we start asking the customer what works or doesn’t work, or how far did you get with what you know how to do, we can usually put some words to the symptoms so we can give you a better estimate of what it will cost to repair your computer.

The Other Extreme

Now and then we also get a customer that seems to know too much for their own good, although not enough to repair the computer themselves. These ones try and tell us just what is wrong and want to direct our troubleshooting efforts, as if they know just what to do but don’t want to get their hands dirty doing it themselves. With an aristocratic tone, some even say “I’m sure it is an easy problem”. As for me, I have repaired enough electronics in my life to never be so bold as to say that it must be an easy problem. While I admit I am confident enough to repair just about any problem, when a customer says that it must be an easy problem, I want to run away. These customers are a class unto themselves and almost always have the most difficult problems. While I don’t want to pattern myself after “Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi”, I will probably say words to the effect “No Computer Repair For You!”

Insane Questions

I know that customers don’t like shelling out money for repairs, neither do I. Some have to save up for a hundred dollar repair and can’t afford another cent for cost overruns. They want to be sure they get a solid estimate for repairs. The problem is some want a solid estimate over the phone, and they can’t describe their problem very well. They are so anxious over the price and don’t want to answer too many of our questions in fear that the more they reveal the more it will cost. Some customers want to ask all the questions, mostly about how much and how long. Again, what can we say without getting a fair description of the problem.

It gets insane when they paraphrase the same questions over and over again expecting a different result. For these, all I can say is that for most repairs, the labor costs between $105-130 (flat rate). Then they ask if that includes parts. As with any shop, parts always cost extra. Then we start all over with the insane questions about whether any parts will be required and how much they will cost.

It is just plain annoying when a customer obviously doesn’t have a clue, and yet they want to back us into a corner with questions that are getting them nowhere, because they refuse to accept our response. For these ones, please call around, you will eventually get the computer shop you deserve. Try Best Buy.

Deja Vu

Again, what can we say without getting a fair description of the problem. Of course you can always just bring your computer down to our shop for a FREE PC Checkup and we will hook it up and find out for ourselves.

Some of these customers who don’t want to play ball have probably watched too much TV where they see computer whizzes and hackers pound away at their keyboards for a minute and everything is fixed. I can assure you that for 99% of the problems, this is far from true. Who in their right mind would want to watch an entire hour of a their favorite prime-time TV show dominated by scenes of some PC Technician removing malware. I can tell you that even the worst insurance commercial is more entertaining. On TV, they have to fix it in a minute to leave time for all the more exciting scenes. In reality, just one customer’s computer repair could fill 4 or 5 shows. I’m not sure if the people are ready for computer repair reality TV. But some customers still think repairing a computer takes 5 minutes and costs 20 bucks. The best advice I can give them is to ask someone they know for a referral and all about what to really expect.

In the end, some of these inexperienced computer customers lose patience with us, and vice-versa. I would say that we get a few calls like this everyday. Fortunately, most people are very cooperative and sense our willingness to help them with their problem. But these sour few taint it for the rest, and I don’t even think they realize it. Computers are so much a part of our lives these days that having a PC Technician you trust is as personal as choosing your Dentist. Some things we own rarely break and when they do, it can be a challenge to choose who to repair it, and then you might not ever need them again. But with computers, there are so many things that can go wrong, from neglect, ignorance, environment, viruses, incompatibility, to just buying a lemon.

Some people find themselves needing to consult with a PC Technician several times a year. Whether it is a brief phone call, a housecall, or having to lug your computer into a nearby shop, we need to get past the initial question at the outset “How much to fix my computer?” Your computer consists of several major parts, and software. It also takes time and labor and experience to repair. While you might say you can buy another computer for $300, go do that. As for your data, you have to make-up your own price what that is worth.

The bottom line is that we are here to exchange our talents to help you with your problems for a fair fee. That is what we are in business for. But the fee can be variable depending on your problem, and we can’t with 100% certainty, always tell what this will be “over the phone” for many reasons mentioned above. But know that we value repeat and referral business, so we do our best to look out for your computer needs.

Anyway, this was my toned-down version of my latest Tech Rant. It was inspired today by a customer on the phone that had unrealistic expectations and didn’t want to accept our advice. Some customers only want you to tell them what “they” want to hear. The facts are that I haven’t ever seen a computer problem “wished away”. Whatever it is, is was it is. Spinning a wheel or wishing it to be something else does not change the problem. But it is our job to find out what the problem actually is, so we can fix it and be done.

I would add one more thing though, most computer problems these days are malware infections, for which we have a flat rate for (so you got your number, but you wanted to dance and take the lead). You don’t have to understand the mechanics of how you got infected or how we will disinfect it. We can fix it whether you understand the process or not, so even though some of you talk yourself out of a quality computer repair because we could never confirm your problem over the phone or how exactly we will fix it, we are usually right anyway that it was a malware infection (which we specialize in), maybe even one that you put off repairing which got worse and caused a hard drive problem. So if you want us to dance with you over the phone, please let us lead. We will do a good job as always, and put all your concerns to rest.

’nuff said…

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