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

Er, not quite.

[XorNand]

I know for a fact that one of the national big box stores mentioned doesn't have *any* of the thousands of on-site techs in their employment. They subcontract out everything to ComputerRepair.com, which is an interesting business idea in itself. I wrote a tech's perspective review of ComputerRepair.com here.

Re:The front lines

[zerocool^]

As an onsite support tech, I can tell you that in a lot of ways, I'd much rather be going to people's businesses (and maybe homes) than talking to them in the store or on the phone.

When on the phone, there's a certain level of anonymity that customers feel they have, and you're much more likely to get screamed at on the phone than while onsite. When you're onsite, most customers are aware that 1.) they need you more than you need them, as they've called you out to their business, and 2.) you're getting paid hourly, so screaming wastes their time and money. Also, 3.) it's kind of unspoken that the people you talk to on the phone aren't as good as the people in the field, or they'd be in the field.

So your assessment about being nicer in person is completely, 100% correct, in my experience. The worst part about going out on site is dealing with customers who don't have a store account. I hate dealing with money, and I'm bad at it. I fix computers, that's it. My wife pays the bills, and our understanding is that if I need it to sustain life, I purchase it, and if not, I ask first. Asking customers for $85 or $135 for an hour of work almost wierds me out. And having to sit down at the computer you just fixed, break out calc, and add up ((parts*1.05)+labor), and show them the total still feels odd. Especially since I see about $15/hr of that.

Every once-in-a-while, though, you do get an interesting customer. Last week, I had a customer who invited me into his townhouse, made a comment about getting his "fat ass out of this chair" (his words), and then stood up, grabbed his crotch, and exclaimed, "Holy Shit, the bag's full!". Just as I was beginning to work that one over in my mind, and coming to the conclusion that he had, indeed, grown a third testis since he sat down, he explained that he had had a good bit of his colon removed, and excused himself to the bathroom to empty his colostomy bag. I began cleaning his spyware in earnest at this point.

You don't gt experiences like that from working in store.

~Will