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Charging for OS upgrade installation....

Electric Amish

Elite Member
I just charged a guy $100 (labor) to take his computer, archive the data, upgrade Win98 to WinXP, and restore the data.

He wasn't extremely pleased.

Did I charge too much?

I told him before I accepted the task that I charge $40/hr.

amish
 
You told him upfront how much it costs. If he's gonna b1tch like a little baby tell him he can do it himself next time and save himself the $100. I could understand if you told him afterwards but not upfront
 
If you informed him of the charges and estimated time before hand - and then successfully did it for him without losing his data. Then he owes you $100.

I'm guessing based on my own experience but...Just think of all the fiddly nightmare problems you've had to deal with, which have taken longer to fix than you originally estimated (and put you out of pocket in doing so) and its all wortwhile 😀

Andy
 
You're lucky as I took in a friends computer, diagnosed it, and upgraded his OS as well. How much? FREE! When he charges like $40.00 an hour to do car work for me 🙁
 
I didn't give a time estimate...

I guess I could also think of it as a bribe not to rat on his bogus OS and Office software... 😉

This also constituted the full Windows Update, updates as well.

amish
 
Originally posted by: Nocturnal
You're lucky as I took in a friends computer, diagnosed it, and upgraded his OS as well. How much? FREE! When he charges like $40.00 an hour to do car work for me 🙁
:Q:frown::disgust::|
 
No you did not! It takes time AND expertise to do those things. From an economic point of view, he has a reservation price for your services. If he didn't pay you $100, then that means his data and computer use are worth less to him than $100. Most people who use count on their computers will have a higher reservation price than $100, they need their computers. From your perspective, your reservation price for performing this work was at least $100, meaning you wouldn't perform the work for less. You would instead use your time on the next best alternative, perhaps studying, reading a book, working out.

One thing I have noticed recently is people expect computer service to be cheap because computers are cheap. While improvements in manufacturing have produced sub $500 pcs, no such improvements have been made to drive down the cost of computer servicing. To get where I am now with computers required years of self-study, experience, and application. There is no way in hell I would charge less than $100 to perform this work because of the costs involved to me.

Besides, people get what they pay for. I always laugh at people who tell me they can pay somebody else less to fix their computer. I always reply that I'm not sure they would want to pay less than my rate, because experience tells me they are going to get half-ass service in return and wish they had just paid me my rate in the first place.
 
He wasn't irate or anything, he just said, "Oh, THAT much, huh?"

Funny thing is he's a Director level employee where I work and if he doesn't get paid well into the 6 figures, he's gotta be damn close to 6 figs.

amish
 
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
He wasn't irate or anything, he just said, "Oh, THAT much, huh?"

Funny thing is he's a Director level employee where I work and if he doesn't get paid well into the 6 figures, he's gotta be damn close to 6 figs.

amish

LOL
 
I usually just charge $50 for that, as it does not challenge me too much. i basically just work for a few mins, and then let it install..

but I wouldn't hesitate to charge that much.. Some people's time is more valuable than other peoples'... 😛
 
No you didn't over charge the guy.

I fixes one of my friend computer twice, and he owe me some landscaping work this summer that will be done for free with the use of his Bobcat.

One of my boss relative also owe me some time for electrical work, because I rebuilt his computer. And, I also got a great meal as part of the rebuilt.

I now have to look for a roofer to trade working time, because I need a bit of roofing work on my house.

I just love the barter system, because I don't have to pay tax 🙂
 
Originally posted by: lowtech
No you didn't over charge the guy.

I fixes one of my friend computer twice, and he owe me some landscaping work this summer that will be done for free with the use of his Bobcat.

One of my boss relative also owe some time for electrical work, because I rebuilt his computer. And, I also got a great meal as part of the rebuilt.

I now have to look for a roofer to trade working time, because I need a bit of roofing work on my house.

I just love the barter system, because I don't have to pay tax 🙂


Haha Nice~!

🙂
 
Charging to fix or upgrade a computer is definitely something you should be hard and fast with. The lower you charge, the more "friend" like you'll seem and the more they can pester you for help, information, etc -- even if they paid little at first.

If you charge a decent sum and be strict with that, you can easily filter through the people looking for someone to constantly fix their PC and someone is willing to pay for services. I've found that the less I charge, the more I'm pestered for freebies. When I do charge a decent sum for work, they are still willing to come back, but only when its something that really garners my attention because they are at wits end. If I charged them little at the time, they would constantly come back for the small, pesky items.

vash
 
Originally posted by: azncoffeeboi
Originally posted by: lowtech
No you didn't over charge the guy.

I fixes one of my friend computer twice, and he owe me some landscaping work this summer that will be done for free with the use of his Bobcat.

One of my boss relative also owe some time for electrical work, because I rebuilt his computer. And, I also got a great meal as part of the rebuilt.

I now have to look for a roofer to trade working time, because I need a bit of roofing work on my house.

I just love the barter system, because I don't have to pay tax 🙂


Haha Nice~!

🙂
I think so too 🙂

 
Originally posted by: gtsukada
man atleast you charge i'm so f'in sick of fixing computers for people.

Were you actually working for 2 and a half hours or did you work for 15 minutes with 2 and a half hours being the time it took windows to update?
 
That doesn't matter if I am at the client's site. I can't do other activities with that time, so basically it's till that much of my time being used. And I charge for my time because time is not replaceable wheras money can be earned again.

Now if i was at home, and could do other things while Windows loaded, that might be a different story. I would probably charge less in this case because I could be doing my laundry while Windows installed itself.

Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: gtsukada
man atleast you charge i'm so f'in sick of fixing computers for people.

Were you actually working for 2 and a half hours or did you work for 15 minutes with 2 and a half hours being the time it took windows to update?

 
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
I just charged a guy $100 (labor) to take his computer, archive the data, upgrade Win98 to WinXP, and restore the data.

He wasn't extremely pleased.

Did I charge too much?

hell no, not too much... i think too little..

I charge $50 for an install/upgrade...

you want data archive, and restoration.. that's ALOT more work...



 
$100 is cheap for what you did.

He should be happy not upset. But most people think when it comes to computers it should be free..... Like tech support........ I do provide pc tech support and find alot of people say something like "Well I have a 2 year warranty for my [insert pc maker here] so I shouldn't have to pay anything" I tell them, well maybe you should have gone to [Insert pc maker here] for help not me with installing your [insert new hardware here]. If they get pissed so be it, many more people need help to let one person bother you.....

 
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