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

The front lines

[Leroy_Brown242]

I feel bad for the roaming geeks like Best Buy's Geek Squad.

having to deal with people on the phone is tough. but when you have to go into their homes, that's scary. You lose the safe seperation from people's weirdness.

Although, I always told the joke that people would be a whole lot nicer if they saw me in person. it's easy to be an asshoel to a voice on the phone. But in person, it's a little harder.

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

Re:3 hours of tech support = new computer

[login:]

The new computer isn`t generally the issue.

DATA stored on the computer is generally far more precious then the PC itself, and buying a new PC isn`t going to get you back that thesis/invoice/email.

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:3 hours of tech support = new computer

[lawpoop]

The people who would buy three hours of on-site tech support are those who would not be able to set up a new computer.

It's not the computer, its the DATA

[tivoKlr]

Isn't what's really of value here the data stored on the computer rather than the box itself? Having just bought a new computer and spent 2 nights transferring all of my data from the old one to the new one, the thing that came to mind is that this new fancy 500.00 machine I just picked up is an empty shell without MY data on it, and is pretty much valueless.

So before we jump on the "just buy a new computer" bandwagon, think about the time and hassle of moving that which makes your computer your computer, your DATA, to that new computer and transferring all of your settings, preferences, bookmarks, etc. Incorporate that time into the overall expense and you'll see that it's not such a great deal to just buy up that new emachines or dell or whatever...

Then factor in the SPOUSE HASSLE FACTOR...God forbid you move some file of your spouses from the old computer to the new one and she can't find it, or things look different on the new computer, etc...

How much does that cost vs. just fixing the problems with your current computer, let alone the environmental cost of recycling or disposing of the old computer. I know that nobody has ever thrown one of those into the dumpster...

$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!