When bad customers strike

[saxman642]

ah i question...why do comp. tech charge by the hour and not per job....i've had the unfortunate experience of comp. techs dicking around and letting the time extend unnecessarily...forcing me to learn a thing or two about repair and maintenance...yes it can sometimes be a stressful job and your rates may be justified, but i just want to know why per hour instead of a solid price for the job?

I can't talk for other techs, but I used to charge by the scenario. After years of doing it I found it quite bothersome to have to juggle in my head whether to charge $250 $300, or $350 for redoing windows. Then have to haggle with the customer over the charge.

Charging by the hour for me is a lot easier. I have a listing that I am to give to my customers describing various scenarios and how long they can expect me to do the job. if I say the job will take 3 hours and end up taking 4 to do it, most likely I will still charge for 3 hours unless something really happen that makes a solid case for charging for 4 hours. I want to make a profit, but why kill the customer for a dollar? That kind of thing would never last long. It'd definitely put me out of business.

You can also say is a reflection of your supposed skill level. after a number of years my customers seem to think I am that good. And there is the increased cost of living factor.

I am sorry to hear that techs have abused the hourly rate and you had to pay unnecessarily. I never like to hear those things. I will also quickly state [on the flip side] that it is just as hard when you dong a good job with a clean conscience and to be told to offer better a price than $150/hr, or even $150 flat. Over and over again, when your transport money coming out of that $150 and even VAT. You will get fed up when you've reiterated to the customer that your rates are very competitive, yet they still want 'discount'. You will get fed up eventually.

This thread came to exist when I got fed up.

But again I can only speak for myself. The trolling "Noobie" person sounds like he/she will make a 1 hour job take 4 hours.

saxman642, dude you should crash their whole system.....and lets see what will happen.....

every time she mentions your rate......... increase your fee by $50........

Nah, I not of the sabotaging people system. At worst I revert it to the state it was before I fixed it. But increasing the rate to $175/hr at least will certainly happen.

I hope they don't croak when MBM tells them TT$330 for an on-site diagnosis and TT$225 to diagnose a printer.

[RASC]

Ask the entire business community in the western United States what they think about Indian's...The worst rep of any foreign nationality!

[Maserati]

Ask the entire business community in the western United States what they think about Indian's...The worst rep of any foreign nationality!

not only in American yes..

[redmanjp]

OK i want to know what PC techs charge these days for fixing computers/OS instalation,etc.
I'm looking for a IT job but in the mean time I'm considering fixing machines at home for a fee

[shaq090]

lol i always hope to run across a indian cs rep on the phone when my stuff needs to rma or troubleshoot but i always end up with spanish speaking reps... :/ and they does sound more vex than u when all them kno about the device is what their reading on the troubleshoot document

[skylinechild]

saxman i find your price is extremely competitive and VERY affordable..$150 TT is good. ( provided that you take 2-3 hours max to fix )

some techs charge a low price then take FOREVER to fix something - letting the service charge accumulate in order to make a killing on the customer.

i charge by the level of service.
i have a 2 tier service level

level one is to fix software issues once no OS wipe and reload is required customer pays $350 - whatever cost of the parts if needed is added on after NO VAT on service / parts

level two is to fix software wipe and reload the OS back up and restore data - customer pays $550, whatever cost of the parts if needed is added on after NO VAT on service / parts

reason why my prices are a bit high is that i dont charge VAT - not VAT registered so i dont charge it.....
it's kinda unfair when you go to buy parts like power supplies etc and they charge you VAT and you do a repair using said part and you cant charge VAT on the part / service.

if a customer only trying to talk down price, then by all mean youre free to go somewhere else and 80-90% of the time they come back within 6-8 months for me to service the machine.

if you have to argue price the the embassy then show them a break down of your costing
on paper, then they will understand.

one last question though....in one of yor posts you said your job is simple issues-

Typical computer repairs, and troubleshooting software like word, excel, outlook. Some network troubleshooting. Nothing fancy at all.

which begs the question - WTH they doing to the pc that it constantly needs your services???

[wagonrunner]

post dates............ sometimes they should be read.

[RBphoto]

You all clearly have not dealt with Germans. First off, they have the oppinion that work done by any contractor in Trinidad will be crap, so they eveluate bids by chosing the lowest bid first, no technical consideration. Then, they call in the lowest bidder, and because they believe that his low bid= he is scrunting/ inexperienced/ lacking confidence, they litterraly yell at him for overpricing and cry blood at how he is so unfair till they beat down the price. Any resistance is given the "go nah" treatment, so he starts to beg and reduce price. If they can't beat down the second lowest bidder, they call back the lowest at his lowest price, and so it goes. Let the contractor try to do a change order to cover anything that he did not cover in his proposal but was in the original scope from the client.... more pressure. Indians kinda farse and outaplace with their beatdown, but Germans are BRUTAL!!

[Ignorant Ignis]

post dates............ sometimes they should be read.

i thought it was only me that notice this

[07baracuda]

I thought you doh pay vat on compu items.

[ismithx]

I remember when Ispatt had just started, a padner was working there and one of the managers came in and said "Who's cars are those?" Ans: "the workers" Mgr; "WHAT???!!!!!! They don't ride bicycles???!!!!!"

I sheit you not.

And then there was a well educated Indian consultant, living in the US for a long time looks at me and says "So, all the indians in Trinidad are educated and all the blacks are responsible for all the crime?"


I nearly cuss that fcker yes. Would have probably gotten fired if I did.

i take it you are indian.... and yes i woulda cuss him too...

[ismithx]

and go ahead an charge man... money haffi change hands if they want quality work...