Tech Support Cheat Sheet
I have a rule for all of my friends. I will fix their computers for free, twice. :)
It’s a good rule and it has helped my friends and myself on many an occasion. Contrary to the impressions of those unfamiliar with the inner workings of their own computers, diagnosing and fixing a computer problem is not a matter of innate knowledge. It’s basically 50% making common sense interpretations of errors and common sense changes to settings and 50% Googling for the answer.
Given fixing computers can be tremendously time consuming, WHY would I spend my free time fixing them for free? Simple. My rule is, I’ll fix your computer twice. First time, you give me your broke down computer and I get the OS working, repair whatever it is, and give it back to you good as new(ish) and if there’s a problem with it again, you give it to me to fix again. Second time, you give me your broke down computer and I get the OS working, repair whatever it is, and I keep it.
Oh, and if you want to know why you should never help someone with their computer problems unless it is really dire, check out this Dilbert comic.
Dilbert
I just charge them for the computer repairs because my time isn’t free and it makes them think if they really need my help or not. While I work, I prefer to let them watch me as I explain what I’m doing, so there’s less of a chance that they’ll accuse me of making their computer worse. Also, I really only do hardware repairs/upgrades, OS reinstalls/HDD reformatting, demonstrations on how to do things, and performing other computer tasks that the other person doesn’t know how to do because most problems can be fixed this way.
I enjoy that I’m wearing my “No, I will not fix your computer” shirt as I read this
I usually tell people that that’s even though I do computer stuff for a living, their problem is really not the kind of stuff I work on.. Unless it’s my mom.
I’ve thought about charging but that’d give them an excuse to call you again when it breaks again, even if it’s totally unrelated to what you worked on. “hey, you fixed my ‘puter 5 years ago and now it’s busted again!”
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