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?"

Comments

$90.

[JaffaKREE]

If they balk, then they can go somewhere else. It's just too time-consuming.

I barter....

[FalconZero]

When I end up fixing computers for people I know, I usually don't charge, but end up having a favour(s) in pocket, I've ended up with :

• A free accountant
• A builder who rebuilt part of my roof
• A mechanic who services my car for free
• A company director who throws consultancy my way
• and a lawyer (who I thankfull havn't had to use yet)

...all I *need* now is a stockbroker :D

Re:Don't involve yourself with home users

[dr_dank]

The gist of your post is that people think they're owed free support everytime they hose their machines with spyware since they paid for it and think that "obviously the problem wasn't fixed the first time around".

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.