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Am I making the right choice not building computers when asked?

AgaBoogaBoo

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
In the past week or so, 3 people have come up to me and asked me if I can build their computer. I have denied each one, but told them that I will tell them what all they should get in their price range and what not to get so that either they can build it on their own or buy one from a company knowing exactly what to get and ignoring all that warranty bs.

When they ask why, I tell them that unless they pay me double the cost of all the parts I won't do it because I will become tech support, maybe not for them but it will happen, and they could blame me for any problems that occur. Thats my reasoning for not accepting their offers, each was about in the $1k range some with monitors others without monitors.

I could have easily made about $200 off of each and charged $100 for a warranty by talking them into it easily, but because of the reasons I listed, tech support and blame put on me, I decided not to. Not to mention, if they need help, I'll probably end up going to their house and fixing problems which isn't fun...

Oh yeah, the thing I hate most is when people haven't ever used XP and can't find Word or Excel, then they call me up and ask where it is, or when they don't know how to uninstall a program, *sigh*
 
Before very long, that $200 you could have made will be long gone and forgotten, but the tech support goes on and on and on and on and on.
 
If you build one for anybody, make sure you get a big, fat ring with it, b/c you will be married to it for life. LIFE!!
 
No way! You'll will become tech support!!
LOL...
Hmmm? Helpin a friend is a good advice,but regarding others?? WTF? Hit straight in the head!!
 
I've built one for a friend and helped another do a major upgrade (motherboard, processor, RAM), and neither have caused me problems. Of course, the work was free, so I suppose that may be why. I like helping friends anyway. Actually, I've gotten paid more for solving minor software problems in AOL ("How do I do this?" kind of stuff) than from actually building anything.
 
Originally posted by: CaseTragedy
i only build for family members
and even then...very reluctant.

i'd much rather point them to a dell hotdeal
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Yeah, I tend to tell my friends/people I know about deals going on or what they should keep an eye out for. It gives them a good alternative and their tech support comes with a 1-800 number!
 
Originally posted by: esun
I've built one for a friend and helped another do a major upgrade (motherboard, processor, RAM), and neither have caused me problems. Of course, the work was free, so I suppose that may be why. I like helping friends anyway. Actually, I've gotten paid more for solving minor software problems in AOL ("How do I do this?" kind of stuff) than from actually building anything.
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I've thought about offering software support before, but the problem is there will always be calls asking how to open up word, how to change users, how to add a user, how to adjust volume, stupid little things like that because they're too scared to click around... I don't mean to offend those users because they probably haven't ever used a computer, but it can be a PITA, literally, teaching stuff like that, especially when they don't understand the concept of the start menu...
 
If they're friends, I'd build it for them for free, but make it clear that I'm not tech support and I'm not responsible for any failures as long as it works initially.
 
I build them only for family members and my closest friends. I'm already their tech support whether I build the computer or not, so there's nothing to lose.
 
Friends get discounts and free support. Unless they're computer morons. Everyone else pays OUT THE ASS, and then pays for support later on.
 
Originally posted by: clicknext
If they're friends, I'd build it for them for free, but make it clear that I'm not tech support and I'm not responsible for any failures as long as it works initially.
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Hehe, I've thought about that too, but thinking about past experiences, not in specific, I'm guessing that wouldn't work so well. They could say some things like I set it to not work after a certain amount of time or something. People can really make up reasons when they want to and won't stop till they get it their way...
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Friends get discounts and free support. Unless they're computer morons. Everyone else pays OUT THE ASS, and then pays for support later on.
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All three I denied were friend, I wouldn't want to risk a friendship over a computer problem that may come up. I mean, if you spent $1000 tomorrow, and something went wrong maybe 2 months later, and I denied giving any help, and lets assume you don't understand anything beyond Windows, then in your mind the whole computer is bad and worth nothing more than a door stop now. In my books, this would affect a friendship.
 
I've built a couple computers for friends and everything has gone well. I guess the main reason they've been so happy is that they've had gateways before I built them a real computer.
 
As I have learned over time, do it only for people who are not going to run into viruses and stuff like that because they aimlessly download crap off the net. I have built people computers and it makes you look bad when their computer doesn't work all the tiime even though you had nothing to do with it.
 
Originally posted by: Staples
As I have learned over time, do it only for people who are not going to run into viruses and stuff like that because they aimlessly download crap off the net. I have built people computers and it makes you look bad when their computer doesn't work all the tiime even though you had nothing to do with it.
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Yeah, there are always those people who will download a program everytime they see one and have a bunch of viruses floating around. Thats another reason, then they complain that its slowing down and its not as fast as it used to be.
 
Originally posted by: CaseTragedy
actually...scratch that--i'd also build for hot girls.
tech support isn't as much of a bother then.
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:beer:
 
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