Tech Support Businesses on the Rise

prostoalex writes "People are relying on more technology that ever before, and tech support geek squads are on the rise, media reports. The USA Today article says Best Buy has hired 1,500 more technicians for its Geek Squad and CompUSA currently keeps its tech support ranks at 12,000. The article from Digital Connect magazine talks about Geeks On Call, a nationwide tech support franchise, which has more than 300 shops in 20 states. The USA Today article states the profit margins for the tech support teams generally run within 30%, while the Digital Connect magazine gives an estimate on prices charged to achieve the margins: "An initial diagnostics call, for example, could run $99. Cleanup jobs usually run one to two hours, and some franchisees say they charge between $149 and $165 for one hour and $265 to $275 for two hours.""

Comments

Good God

[1967mustangman]

So this means they will have antoher 1,500 people whose only function is to tell you they have to send your laptop aways for 2 weeks to do a 15 minute harddrive swap???

Re:Good God

[Rei]

I could tell you the answer to that question, but there is a 50$ up front slashdot-answer tech support fee.

$165 per hour?

[Quiet_Desperation]

You can hire a decent whore for that much. And, yes, I speak from experience.

Re:$165 per hour?

[Tx]

But this is about getting rid of viruses, not catching them!