Renting PCs, or PC rental rates (desktops)?

[VirtualLarry]

I was perusing, to see what some places get. One place was charging $41/wk for a $2000-ish gaming PC rental.

Another said that monthly rental rates are 2-5% of the purchase price.

I "sold" a $400 PC to a friend, that now isn't returning my calls, he's had the PC for a month and a half. If he ends up returning it, I want to be compensated appropriately for its use.

 

[lxskllr]

No returns. Your compensation is $400. He can keep the pc or not.

 

[highland145]

You need better friends.

 

[VirtualLarry]

No returns. Your compensation is $400. He can keep the pc or not.

That actually makes some sense, holding my friend to what he said. I need to stop being so wishy-washy, and letting them change their mind and get their way.

I did give him over a week before as a "trial period" to test the PC out to see if it was appropriate for his needs, he did say that he wanted it, and the budget and agreed-upon price was $400.

Edit: This is what you get for $400 from BestBuy (which isn't actually bad).

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-desktop-intel-pentium-gold-g6400-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-jet-black/6420306.p?skuId=6420306

What I was selling my friend, was a customized version of the next model down, the 10th-Gen Celeron G5900
"HP Slim Desktop" that sells for $299 @ Walmart (or refurb of same @ Walmart for $205).

Upgraded with a 500GB WD Black NVMe SSD, and an additional 16GB stick of DDR4, and with the promise of a free upgrade to the Pentium G6400 (he already has the chip NIB in-hand) when it's paid for.

 

[SKORPI0]

All sales are final, as-is, not returns/no tech support.

 

[Torn Mind]

I see VL still hasn't weaned himself from trying to hustle desktops. He's better off consulting than selling desktops direct.

Although with all that practice, he'd have one part of being a real estate agent down. The next part is losing all sense of morality and treating all connections as a $ sign.

 

[andy2000]

My experience selling or repairing PCs for friends/family is that they often come with an assumed lifetime warranty plus 24/7 free on site technical support and unlimited free upgrades as needed. I've learned that it best to either say no, or to not charge a penny so that they don't feel like I owe them anything more.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I see VL still hasn't weaned himself from trying to hustle desktops. He's better off consulting than selling desktops direct.

Although with all that practice, he'd have one part of being a real estate agent down. The next part is losing all sense of morality and treating all connections as a $ sign.

LOL. I bought a few of those HP Slim Desktops off of ebay, to "soup up" and mess around with and try to re-sell, and my buddy calls me up, "hey, my so-and-so's PC died, I don't know if it will even boot up again". No problem buddy, got just the PC for you. Oh, budget is $400 you say? Well, I'll take a haircut of $50, but you can have this PC, I'll drive it right over. You can have a week to check it out, before you start making payments. He said that sounded good, he's used the PC now for a month and a half, he said he'd take it after the first week, now I'm just waiting for payment. I said that I'd throw in a free Pentium G6400 upgrade into the mix, once he paid for it.

I've been trying to call him all week, to find out what's up, and how he plans to get this paid for (was originally $100/mo, which I'm still cool with. Just let me know, OK?).

Not sure why you feel *I* have some sort of morality problem. I was giving a buddy a fair deal and helping him out. Obviously, next time I won't be so "kind".

 

[Torn Mind]

LOL. I bought a few of those HP Slim Desktops off of ebay, to "soup up" and mess around with and try to re-sell, and my buddy calls me up, "hey, my so-and-so's PC died, I don't know if it will even boot up again". No problem buddy, got just the PC for you. Oh, budget is $400 you say? Well, I'll take a haircut of $50, but you can have this PC, I'll drive it right over. You can have a week to check it out, before you start making payments. He said that sounded good, he's used the PC now for a month and a half, he said he'd take it after the first week, now I'm just waiting for payment. I said that I'd throw in a free Pentium G6400 upgrade into the mix, once he paid for it.

I would facebook and craigs for desktops rather than Ebay them. Most pricing is "at par" but sometimes a guy wants to liquidate below par.

IF you guys have had a genuinely good long-term relationship, he probably won't swindle you...but let's just say sometimes being given a "loan" is still psycho-biologically treated as a "grant" without the proper prodding.

But if he doesn't pay up, then it is the tedious process of getting a court order and then garnishment if the person does not voluntarily pay.

 

[VirtualLarry]

IF you guys have had a genuinely good long-term relationship, he probably won't swindle you...but let's just say sometimes being given a "loan" is still psycho-biologically treated as a "grant" without the proper prodding.

But if he doesn't pay up, then it is the tedious process of getting a court order and then garnishment if the person does not voluntarily pay.

I'm not actually so worried about him, as far as "swindle", because he's always paid me in the past for things, so that's why I didn't mind doing payments. It's his GF (the PC is for her). I've done PC work in the past for her that I've never gotten paid for, and she seems to try to use her feminine wiles to get out of paying for things whenever she can. He wanted her to pay for half of it, and I told him in no uncertain terms, that I'm not going to have to track down both of them to make payments (she never answers her phone when I call), I only wanted to deal with him.

If he's truly not happy with the PC, though, rather than ruin our friendship, I'd rather just take it back, ask for a few bucks for the two months so far that they've had it, and go on my way. If he wants to pick out a desktop from BestBuy, for example, I'll point him at a few that I think are decent.

I usually don't do "branded boxes", I usually stick with custom PCs, but I made an exception this time.

Edit: I did also tell him, that if he wanted, I'd throw in a free new PSU, to try to get her old box working again.

 

[BoomerD]

You should stop being such a nice helpful guy...and move to a "cash upfront" business model.

 

[Torn Mind]

I'm not actually so worried about him, as far as "swindle", because he's always paid me in the past for things, so that's why I didn't mind doing payments. It's his GF (the PC is for her). I've done PC work in the past for her that I've never gotten paid for, and she seems to try to use her feminine wiles to get out of paying for things whenever she can. He wanted her to pay for half of it, and I told him in no uncertain terms, that I'm not going to have to track down both of them to make payments (she never answers her phone when I call), I only wanted to deal with him.

If he's truly not happy with the PC, though, rather than ruin our friendship, I'd rather just take it back, ask for a few bucks for the two months so far that they've had it, and go on my way. If he wants to pick out a desktop from BestBuy, for example, I'll point him at a few that I think are decent.

I usually don't do "branded boxes", I usually stick with custom PCs, but I made an exception this time.

Edit: I did also tell him, that if he wanted, I'd throw in a free new PSU, to try to get her old box working again.

Ah, an average looking horseface GF that's a little thicc....no doubt.

I think he's been satisfied by her so much that he's completely under her spell.

I think you need to tap into your inner Michael and blow her brains out like what was done to Fredo.


I kid, I kid.

 

[ultimatebob]

Funny... I thought that VL had gotten not of the PC refurbishing and reselling business, and got into the more profitable business of crypto mining.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Funny... I thought that VL had gotten not of the PC refurbishing and reselling business, and got into the more profitable business of crypto mining.

Why not both? Sell a PC that has a cryptominer already on it.

Customer: "But I don't need quad GTX 3090 I only play Minecraft"
VL: "Trust me you'll thank me when you decide to try the texture packs or when the next flagship game comes out, and yeah it runs a little hot, that's normal"

 

[VirtualLarry]

Oh yeah, a follow-up. Apparently I was wrong, or at least partially. My friend had part of the money for me. Hopefully the rest soon.

I may have to replace the PC though, it's black screening over VGA using the Intel iGPU.