"What do I charge for Tech Support?" - Slashdot

[LoudMusic]

I found this Ask Slashdot article interesting as I've recently helped out about six of my friends in their various computer needs. And in years past the number of people begging for my help is nearly countless.

I guess the same question could be asked of the user from their point of view, "What is tech support worth to you?"

Anyone care to answer?

I understand that a lot of you are of the opinion that you "know a lot about computers" etc, but unless you maintain workstations and servers for a living I don't feel that you have any business charging people for your "computer knowledge". I'm not trying to protect the customer base that professionals work for, because frankly there are more than could ever be helped, but I just feel that your situation is vastly different from ours.

 

[emad]

When i used to work at a computer store, what I did was I offered to set up the equipment for friends and relatives myself - on the condition that they bought a warranty for whatever they were buying. That way if there was a fubar, they go to the store, not me. Plus I was getting a sweet 50% commission on warranties that sometimes cost over $100

For regular stuff, i help the people who I know will return the favour later down the road. Otherwise I just tell them I'm busy or I'll do it in my own time.

 

[toyomatt84]

I have done this so many times, I lost count at 100+. It's very time consuming, and I'm straying away from the pro-help-noob mentality. That is, unless I get something in return. What I find to be the most disturbing and annoying are people whom you've helped before (at no cost), tell you that you need to come back and fix it again. I'm sorry if that sounds odd, but if I took my time, money (via fuel for truck), and effort to fix what they screwed up... how is it that I'm supposed to come back and fix it again, everytime they screw it up? Hence why I'm straying from helping others. Within the past 5 months, about 40% of my technological requests have been repeat attendances. I find it quite upsetting when people don't say atleast a thank you, as well.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Family and VERY close friends get support for nothing. Others are told that I won't support them because I'm too busy with my own things and my family. If they press, they're then told that they would need to "encourage me to re-evaluate my priorities", which they usually understand.

I recently did a complete workup on an XP Home machine that was so riddled with viruses and other malware that it was frankly good for nothing other than the odd game of Hearts. I asked for (and got) £100 for removal of all undesirables, plus updates and patches, and disk check/defragment.

It was 3hrs' work.

My record £/hr is £20 to fit RAM into an Apple desktop. I can't remember the model, but the motherboard had a handle on it, to slide it out. I located the RAM slot, plugged in the DIMM, fired it up, checked that the RAM had been recognised, and shut it down again. 4 minutes' work.