Slashdot Mirror
What Do You Charge for Tech Support?
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?"
Nothing less than $300...regardless of the problem.
...to say "Get a Mac."
You couldn't pay me enough!
$60 an hour for regular users.
$90 an hour for large networks.
$300 an hour, if you're family.
Not having to waste all my time on family freebies, priceless.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
It's a fair trade, and you don't have to deal with the dishes...
$499, but that's for a one-time fix. No more spyware, no more viruses.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
given up on getting a girlfriend, eh? :)
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
don't charge anything. Then downgrade..er I mean upgrade their machine.... and sell the extra parts on ebay.
profit!
Ok, spill the beans.
What's "doorknobs" your secret word for?
...I'm not going to get into 'favours in pocket' involving my girlfriend...
/. :)]
[I get away with this 'cause she doesn't read
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
Buy me beer and I am very helpful. No beer, no virus scan.
sulli
RTFJ.
A pound of flesh, no more or less, not even to the twentieth part.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
So have you already serviced both Mac users in your area?
" Gas, grass or ass,
nobody rides for free! "
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
[I get away with this 'cause she doesn't read /. :)]
Home. NOW.
-- Your wife
Exploitation begins at home.
$50/hr
$75/hr if you watch
$100/hr if you help
$150/hr if you tried to do it first and couldnt
I feel bad in some ways
You feel bad because this crap is so easy for you because you're an alpha geek. But consider, others are not alpha geeks because while you were tinkering with computers, they were out getting laid and partying.
Now they're calling you.
You gave up sex, drugs and rock and roll to be this good. Make it pay off. ;)
Free (as in beer)
I doubt it. He already has a lawyer that is prepared to work for him for free.
I usually take payment in food and beer. It's amazing how eager someone is willing to cook you a meal or buy you a pizza just for getting BonziBuddy off their computer.
Same here, and it amazes me how many people offer beer as payment. How many people would offer beer to a mechanic before he fixes their brakes on their car before and while he does the work?
Kender, obviously. The real question is why does he have a pack of Kender running around his house?
"I don't know who's the bigger ninny, you or that doorknob of a kender"~~Flint Fireforge
Study everything, you'll find something you can use - Jason Bourne
Is that you must drink the beer while doing the support. Preferably slam two or three before getting started ("I just need to warm up before I get to work"). Make sure to keep the person you are doing the support for in the room with you by constant conversation.
When you start to work on the computer do so in a distracted manner - keep talking and babbling while glancing back and forth at the screen. Horror stories about computer problems you've fixed (real or imagined) are good, but especially comments about things you've done that have fucked up computers. "Yeah I used to think anti-static wrist wraps were for pansies, then there was the time I blew out an entire system from one little spark. Damn, over $1000 in damages, just from my stupidity. Oh, were did I put that anti-static strap? Must have left it at home, oh well, no biggie."
Also make sure to make comments like "Whoops! Hmmm, well didn't really need that anyway.", "So you do shopping on the Interweb? Man you should change your password, that one is too easy to hack." "What are these pictures of? analdogsex.com? I didn't know you leaned that way." "Jesus! You've got more spyware than the Kremlin in here!"
If you are really mean you can also play some nice practical jokes while you are there. You know the stuff - make hardcore porn auto launch when you log in, switch the sounds out for farts. Whatever floats your boat.
Odds are you can do the tech support blind, deaf and drunk anyway but the nice thing is you get to entertain yourself, terrify your friend and quite possibly next time your friend will take the machine to a shop instead of calling you to fix it.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
$85,000 per year
Plus health and life insurance, 4 weeks vacation, multiple personal laptops, and I only take calls between 8:30 am, and 5:00 PM
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
I have been a unix admin and currently am a network engineer. I don't "do windows" professionally. Still, my dad often calls for help. Once I pointed out that as a professor he has a university IT department he can call for help with their computers. His response?
"Listen, I didn't pay for 4 years of college to get lip outta you. Now shut up and answer the fucking question."
Yeah, Dad, I love you too...
"Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
[I get away with this 'cause she doesn't read /. :)]
As far as you know.
I once got a new clutch put in for a quart of Evan Williams. (Worked great.)
Which, the clutch or the bourbon?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
(markup language nazi) So why did you turn off the appropriate tag before the text is was supposed to refer to? (/markup language nazi)
(/smartass)
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
$35 an hour if you leave me alone.
$50 an hour if you watch.
$100 an hour if you help.
My mechanic actually won't even take cash. He's got a beer-only business.
don't bother me with triffles.
ah, the truffle with triffles.
soupy twist
...and hand them their new Mac Mini.
I told my wife she could either switch to Linux or not have tech support. She's been a happy Linux user ever since.
Engineering and the Ultimate
Next we'll be asking how much you charge when a neighbour asks to borrow your bandwidth.
Well, my neighbour and her flatmate are pretty-ish so a month free.
Then I just charged a fiver as I didn't get any sexual flirtation or favours from either of these minxes. It'll be a fiver next month too, if I don't get lucky.
My mechanic insists on pizza as well as beer. But he's worth it.
I told my wife the same thing.
Now she owns that computer and half of roughly everything else I owned...
Both. Unfortunately the mechanic sampled his payment before performing the road test and now the car's totaled.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Just remember that if you are offered a bottle of Night Train that it should be in a brown paper bag. Clients that offer Night Train without the bag have absolutely no concept on the proper way to serve drinks.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM