What Do You Charge for Tech Support? 1168
war3rd asks: "Years ago I used to offer tech support for friends and family (for free), and ended up doing it for everyone they and I knew. I cut it out because it was taking too much of my time, but I've been getting more and more requests lately due to everything from viruses, spam, spyware, as well as aging PC with Windows 98 and ME (oog!) on them still. I was thinking of saying OK to requests that are convenient, but I want to make it worth my while. So I ask, I'm sure that some of you out there must do this, what is the general going rate for basic user tech support (i.e. getting someone's home machine cleaned up and back to normal email & web browsing capability)?"
"I assume that there is probably some range in different parts of the country, but I'm curious anyway. And let's just assume that I live in the Tri-State area around New York City (can you say 'overpriced?'). I figure I should be able to pull in enough to feed my ever-present desire for better hardware, but on the other hand, I don't want to be a jerk and gouge people who should be able to trust me with their machines. So what to other Slashdot users charge for their tech support services?"
$90. (Score:5, Interesting)
I barter.... (Score:5, Interesting)
an eye for an eye (Score:2, Interesting)
something creative, something they feel they do with a professional or near professional level of skill. that's what I'm providing.
I've gotten paintings, dinners, serenades, lessons and all sorts of things I value more than the $50 per hour I could have extracted.
plus, you can ask family and friends to give you those sorts of things. most of them will enjoy making them.
Sex (Score:2, Interesting)
You can't believe how easy it is to get a blowjob from a university coed whose paper you've just saved from oblivion.
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:2, Interesting)
As for business, it's part of my job description, so I don't paid extra.
Free (Score:2, Interesting)
Sometimes I'll get something in exchange: money, beer, their old equipment, whatever. I don't ask short of making it clear that I'm always in the market for any equipment they don't want.
If someone becomes a "problem", I don't charge them more, but I make it clear they're a problem. I explain to them what they aren't to do if they want me to help them again.
For instance, I install Firefox on every Windows machine I support and rename the icon "Internet". I explain what it is, it's for and that they should only use IE if their school, bank, whatever doesn't work in Firefox, and then only for that purpose.
If I get a call that their computer is "slow" and I get there and it's full of spyware and I find out they've been using IE exclusively, that's it. I fix their problem and explain why it happened. Usually I don't get another call for that problem. If I do, I tell them I can't help them and they need to take it somewhere.
I prefer this to charging them money. Anyone who can't follow my instructions is likely not to understand problems well enough to understand when I've fixed something and when I've made a mistake. So I go there, fix everything right, a month later, they have the same problem (because of something they did) and expect me to fix it because it's the same problem they already paid me to fix.
I don't see any reason to get into that situation with family or friends. I'm not, after all, concerned with money. I'm concerned with my time.
$75/hr on-site $35/hr on my bench (Score:3, Interesting)
If they bring it in to me I take it home and only charge for the time I actually work on the thing.
IE if I have to run spybot I charge for the time installing it and starting it and then I kick back and watch some tv or flip over to my computer and read slashdot. An hour or 2 later I'll check on their computer and clikc a few clicks and then go back off the clock while it reboots or whatever.
This has worked out well for me and with a KVM switch it's no big deal to work on 2 or 3 computer simultaneously.
G
It depends on what they have (Score:3, Interesting)
However. Unless they have a specific software issue that requires windows I set them on the path to getting a mac next time around. If they cheap out and buy another PC, I simply do not help them, or charge or barter.
My rate is $65 minimum 2 hours. If its a business I charge more. I do not charge for phone calls or email support but when I am called out I always round up and they have allready called me a few times.
I do not fix win95, 98 or ME. I will only install a fresh purchased version of XP if the machine can't take it then I walk them through getting a Mac Mini or a Dell if they must have windows for something. Most people seem to want more power any how, and a lot of my calls start with I just got this digital camera.
Support Linux only (Score:3, Interesting)
Most of the time they get free support since it is fun to teach them how to use Linux and mostly the boxes are in good shape. Regular issues are "This movie won't display / Codecs", "I can't connect to my Windowsmachines / Samba", "My instant messenger won't work / When MSN changed their protocol again *sigh*".
Back when I was fixing Windows machines I didn't charge anything since it made them feel as if they owned my sparetime and called me whenever they wanted. What's more, everytime it breaks again you are the one to blame.
Re:Mod parent up (Score:2, Interesting)
So far, $0 dollars (Score:3, Interesting)
I did have to call a line where he had a friend who's son wanted a PC. You can guess who he wanted to help them. I drew a line and just gave them the number to Tran Microsystems(where I buy my systems at).
While I have made no money, I did get a free 40 gig hard drive that he unneccessarily purchased.
Re:Reconsider (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, and I charge $35/hr.
Re:Don't involve yourself with home users (Score:5, Interesting)
My fiance is a speech pathologist and told me about an ethical point of her profession that could be applied here. She cannot, within ethical guidelines, take money for services rendered to someone who continuously violates their plan for treatment. For example, people who smoke while receiving voice therapy, people who don't practice their speech as they're told, generally people who make no effort to help themselves.
A boilerplate agreement that customers who don't run antivirus/spyware packages, don't use firewalls, insist on opening strange attachments,etc have support services terminated may get people to take this stuff seriously.
Re:Don't involve yourself with home users (Score:5, Interesting)
Detroit has one of the worst job markets in the country right now; especially in IT. So, I decided rather than compete, I'd start my own business repairing home users' PCs - I charged $65/hour, less than those incompetant know-nothings from the Geek Squad, and provided good service. I had happy customers, and made a good living without wasting an entire day rotting away behind a desk.
For about 3 months, it was great, then I started expanding my customer base. For every good, repeat customer I had, I had to deal with 3 other know-nothings that'd break break their systems the moment I walked out the door, then call me back, demanding I "fix it right." Education? It was worthless. Switching browsers? They'd agree to try Firefox, and be back using IE 5 minutes later.
I had some customers who made it their point to visit every shady poker, porn, and warez site on the web, open every attachment on every strange email, and somehow break any anti-virus solution I implimented. Then, they'd call me up and want me to either come back and fix it (for free), or sit there and walk them through it on the phone.
These days, I have a low-level support job part time and go to the university full time. I make about 1/5th what I did a year ago, but there isn't a regret in my mind about leaving that business behind. It was miserable and frustrating. Now, I just do PC work for friends and family, and am trying to get them all converted over to Macs, since they're largely idiot-proof. And when I do tech support? They understand it's not a permanant fix, especially if they don't follow my advice, and I don't charge. Make me dinner, do me a favor, buy me some beer, just... whatever. I won't take money, because the second it reaches that level, they think you owe them
there are three.... (Score:3, Interesting)
And that's why you won't see windows leave the market anytime soon, because this is the LEAST money being made by IT "professionals" off of windows being on almost everyones computer. The LEAST amount. "They" -any random windows IT professional, may claim publically they want excellent products, reality is that windows being as goobered up as it is is a hundred billion dollar (some large @55 number) make-work phony baloney business now,it is designed to perpetuate a near functional but never quite finished by design and intent highly lucrative perpetual cash cow, with thousands of people (or millions no idea really)now grown dependent and complacent on that easy money income. It's not a legit business anymore, it's a crime racket as far as I am concerned, a silent cartel of cooperating profiteers, large,medium and small sizes. From MS itself to the local computer herdsman, it's moo baby moo gimmee the money. Ha!
There's little to no profit in selling computers that work and don't break. Just like cars to beat that old dead analogy horse one more time. The hardware NEEDS to crap out soon after warranty and the software has to be in a perpetual state of beta ware, although it's all "licensed to use for your economic and sanity inconvenience" as a finished product. And that's why there is NO warranty with consumer software as well.
So, sock it to those folks who absolutely insist on using windows, that's exactly what it's designed for, to make you money. It's secondary reason is to function as software, but primarily, it's a cash cow, milk it. Charge em.
Yes I am cynical, no I don't use windows on the intarweb, never. I use linux or mac. I have a few old boxes and a laptop that have windows on them, but there's a decent airgap between them and the WWW, not that it isn't possible, it's that I simply don't care about trying to make windows function on the web, it's like bolting a wing on your yugo and applying flame stickers. Waste of time, IMO. I have never had any desire to even much "learn" windows because it became obvious as all get out with win95 what the scam was going to be, perpetual beta ware that you will be charged for.
Re:I barter.... (Score:3, Interesting)
It doesn't seem to matter.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm happy to help other Mac users, as their problems tend to be trivial and un-frustrating. Fellow Linux users get help too, depending on how involved it is. But Windows users get zilch. }:)
-Z
Re:I simply stopped.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:5, Interesting)
(/spelling nazi)Maybe when you were in "colledge" you should have focused more on spelling and grammar. =)
The funny thing is, the people i hate to help the most are my parents. I dunno if it's a mental block of soem sort, but i seem to get most irritated when they do stuff to their computers.
It's not that uncommon. We tend to have more emotional baggage with parents than with anyone else, even spouses and children. When I help out my dad on the computer, I just pretend he's retarded, even to the point of talking really slowly. (Basically as far as computers go, he is retarded. I can't tell him to click on an application, I have to tell him to click on the picture of the compass or the postage stamp with the eagle on it.) Oh, I also bought him an eMac, which was one of the better investments I've ever made. Thank god for one button mice!
Precisely (Score:3, Interesting)
If the work includes a lot of sitting around (ie: installing WinXP SP2 on three machines- setting them up and drinking coffee for 45 minutes), I'll sometimes charge less or give a good deal or underestimate time if I'm not in a rush... Usually this is if they are good company or if I kinda know them or can relate to them so we sit and chat while it happens. Good hospitality = good mood = good deal.
Now there is family, friends, and neighbours, and the occasional friends of friends. These are really all free. In the end Karma works for you and you end up even in the end. There are people who will invite you to dinner, give you a few beers for your time, neighbours who will help you lift couches up flights of stairs, and the whole deal. My neighbour sees our 3-car driveway not plowed (our service hadn't come) and decided to clean 3/4 of a foot of snow off our driveway while he was doing his... And for 45 minutes of my time I'm going to charge this guy? Hell no.
Even if they have the impression that you're a genius, it means they'll recommend you to their friends or co-workers or businesses which you can then charge... But you don't want to accept money. If it's a buddy, simple words like 'you get the first round of drinks' works wonders- it undervalues your time at $3-5, but it's the gesture that counts... or have them get dinner.
So the rule? Family, friends, neighbours, family friends are usually free unless you're pretty distanced from them (greater the distance and if it's a lot of work (half day for example) then charge a little bit). Businesses, people you don't know, friends of friends of friends- charge them.
PS: Be careful throwing out prices. I've had some people come to me due to increased separation saying 'but you charged by brother-in-law XXX and us XXX'=- Nobody appreciates that. Set your rates. If you want to bring them down for someone, discount as a courtesy or say 'special price of...' so that they know it's just because you like them. It's easy to bring a price down, but not to bring it up. A prohibitive price will weed out those who are unqualified and a waste of your time anyway.
-M
Easy way. (Score:3, Interesting)
I tell ppl that I do not do Windows (which is basically true). When they ask for support on it, I suggest that they either move to mac or to linux. Otherwise, they can take it into compUSA (which will cost them more than the damn computer).
Of course, this can backfire. I have moved 6 of my neighbors computers to Linux and about every 6 months, I spend time upgrading them. Kind of a pain, but much easier than dealing with daily calls on spyware, virus, etc. I also help one neighbor who has a mac and had a drive crash and a power supply loss. Fortunately, his system requires as little time as do the Linux.
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:3, Interesting)
you're right about that though... come to think of it, i get fustrated with my GF a lot too, when it comes to computer aid.
The worst part about my father though.. is he's NOT computer illiterate. He was writting in basic back in our C-64 days. Even wrote a program that a doctor was using for his research. He's built his own box before, does video editing and everything... i just get fustrated when asked to help him do something as simple as connect his PC to the printer on the home Router... gah.
PS- i like your handle
My Fee - free if you have a Mac, no Win work (Score:5, Interesting)
Now I generally just push people away who have issues unless they have Macs, and I gently point them that way if it seems like it would be good for them.
I have to admit I did help one guy with a Windows laptop track down a memory problem (using a Linux LiveCD of course)... so I guess I draw the line at fixing Windows, but am OK helping a litte with pure hardware issues.
Is asking for money essential? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Do not go under 20 dollars an hour (Score:3, Interesting)
It hurts the client's pocketbook just enough that they recognise they've "bought a breakable", and they're more likely to make some effort to keep it "unbroken". So they're more likely to do as told when it comes to avoiding spyware etc. If they persistently and KNOWINGLY do stupid things, you're not charging them enough (the pain in their wallet isn't yet bad enough to discourage the bad behaviour).
It makes them BELIEVE that you really know your stuff. The thought process for services goes thus: If you don't charge the going rate, you must not be very good, because if you WERE any good, you'd cost more!
It gets rid of the whiney deadbeats who are always trying to weasel out of paying for anything, or who promptly break it again and expect you to fix it again for free.
Hence the best way to improve the quality of your client base is... raise your rates. Charge what you are worth in your market.
It also helps if you explain what you're doing as you do it -- it makes the client feel like you really do know your stuff, and helps them get some idea why computers need whatever they need (including protection from spyware etc.) These in turn become loyal clients who do their best to avoid creating problems.
As someone once said, "I have no problem with people who sell for less. They know what their product is worth."
BTW, I charge $50/hr, with a liberal definition of an "hour". An average job is about two hours worth.
Trust and Money. (Score:2, Interesting)
At the Tech Co-op, we charge our members $80CAD an hour, $50 if they are a non-profit/co-operative. We also offer discount rates for bulk hours, and monthly service contracts.
Having touched on that, the real issue is not how much money :
"I don't want to be a jerk and gouge people who should be able to trust me with their machines."Trust is the real issue at stake here. Once there is money changing hands, your customer has to be able to trust you fully. For the most part, our members are non-technical people who, like most people who work in an office, use their computers every day. When we tell a customer that they need a new RAID controller or to re-install XP, they have to believe us. If this trust is broken, our business becomes more diffcult.
We solved this problem by choosing a non-profit, member-owned services co-operative model for our business. This means that the company is owned by its customers and by its workers. Since the primary responsability of a corporate entity is to the shareholders, our customers are secure with the knowlege that legally, our only function is to provide them with superior technical services. And because we are a non-profit (and, an 'open-source' business, in that all our financial data is available to our members), they trust that our prices are as low as we can make them.
While i'm not suggesting you start a co-operative (infact, there is a great one you could join! see sig), i am suggesting you tread carefully. If you charge people money, and they procceed to mess up the system with spyware/viruses.. they are going to blame you. eventually you will have to deal with somebody who feels they were ripped off, or thinks you 'fixed' their computer b/c you were a little short on cash.
just some advice from someone who has been there. I started out about 10 years ago doing tech support for small businesses. I'm a programmer now, but most of our business is still tech support, and trust is the primary issue in our industry today.
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:3, Interesting)
All I need to do now is get in good with a auto repair shop and all my major expenses are taken care of!
Re:Reconsider (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:3, Interesting)
(That, and I don't like wine.)
Re:Business or Personal? (Score:3, Interesting)
There are a number of companies here in town who will repair your PC for $40-$50 an hour, but you have to bring it to them. Then there are the guys who come out to your place. They usually charge $80-$100 an hour. In both cases they are probably using techs who make $12-$15 an hour and are in high school or college. But I've been out of school and in the working world for 10 years. Not only do I have general PC troubleshooting experience, but I am also a network engineer that regularly fixes far more complicated issues than a virus/spyware infestation. Basically, I am far overqualified for what they want.
If they really need help, they can always find an actual business that is set up to handle their kind of work at a much lower rate than what I would charge. And if they really really want me to do it, they're gonna really reallay make it worth my time.
Re:MOD AC UP PLEASE (Score:3, Interesting)
I worked with a gal who was clearly abusing some sort of substance. She was a total psycho. Early in the week she would be pretty zoned out, later on in the week she would turn into a raving nutjob. She would burst into hysterics and abuse entire rooms full of people for no reason.
I figured she was out popping tabs and clubbing all weekend, and as the weekend approached she was probably coming into the DT's until she hit the clubs again on friday.
She ended up leaving after a run in with a "new" employee. I say "new" as he was really an old employee who had returned after an absense of about a year. The guy was a Croatian of the Christian persuasion but she didn't know that. He looked slightly swarthy. Anyway, this crazed bird arrived in the office one day ranting about terrorists and how all muslims are bomb carrying death merchants etc etc. She must have been listening to some right wing talkback program on her way in that morning and whatever she'd heard had really set her off that day. Anyway, this Croatian guy stood up and took mock offense to her "calling me a terrorist" and proceeded to tell her that he was a muslim and he takes offence at being labelled as a "terrorist".
She left the building post haste, and was last seen running down the centre of the street screaming hysterically about how there was a "terrorist on the loose".
I kid you not.
She never returned after that day.