PC repair clients that make you feel frustrated, and don't seem to ever be pleased.

[nakedfrog]

As far as selling "obsolete stuff for a premium", I've been trying to sell off my Z97 PC Mate (BNIB) mobo for a while now for $80. No takers. BNIB Z97 boards on ebay go for $200. I don't generally (mostly never, unless it's someone I have a beef with) price-gouge. Perhaps your definition and my definition of "depreciate" differ slightly, I try to get out of things what I paid for them originally. Maybe you think that's not "fair" somehow, but that's the market. Most obsolete stuff is price-gouged horribly.

I see one that sold for $150 and one that sold for $130 (I mean, obviously $80 is less than that, but they're not going for $200). Just looked that up because I was curious, I don't know what that mobo is or why someone would want one
I think you have bad expectations from this customer because you've given them stuff for free in the past, why would they not expect this trend to continue?

 

[squirrel dog]

give em a box of moon pies .

 

[KeithP]

I dunno. My "Professional Recommendation" included an SSD, if they said "No", then I guess, they get what they get.

The problem with that is a dissatisfied client could tell a lot of people they were unhappy with your service and those people will hear your client's version of events, not yours.

One of the hardest things any business owner has to learn is when it is better to refuse business rather then to accept a job per clients' instructions when you know, or should know, the end result will not meet their expectations.

I don't do computer support full time, but I have told clients that I wouldn't perform an OS upgrade on older hardware because of the time required and that the end results would be, IMHO, unsatisfactory. I have yet to have anyone be upset by this and in fact, I have had people thank me because the new PC they bought was a far better system.

-KeithP

 

[Fritzo]

Yup. repair alone is feast or famine. You want your hand in their pocket every month, or whatever your payment cycle is.

Well, not only that, but if you can control the environment, your clients will always be happy. People believe one you touch a piece of hardware, you own it for the rest of its life. If you control the antivirus, software, hardware specs, and have remote access to it, you can keep things maintained and actually MAKE everything your responsibility. You'll also get paid for doing that too.

 

[whm1974]

The problem with that is a dissatisfied client could tell a lot of people they were unhappy with your service and those people will hear your client's version of events, not yours.

One of the hardest things any business owner has to learn is when it is better to refuse business rather then to accept a job per clients' instructions when you know, or should know, the end result will not meet their expectations.

I don't do computer support full time, but I have told clients that I wouldn't perform an OS upgrade on older hardware because of the time required and that the end results would be, IMHO, unsatisfactory. I have yet to have anyone be upset by this and in fact, I have had people thank me because the new PC they bought was a far better system.

-KeithP

This. For some reason many people keep insisting that it is possible a make a decent purse out of torn rags instead of buying a new bag.