Gave a computer away to friend, he sold it to someone else, it broke down.

[MagnusTheBrewer]

So you think I'm being un-realistic and paranoid about the straw thing? And no, AFAIK, I don't have any "diseases".

And as far as the computer thing goes, as of my Skype chat with my friend last night, after I gave him the Windows key, we're good about it, I guess.

And yet, here you are complaining about it. You need to be clear about what you expect up front. Failing that, you need to be clear why you're put out or, your friends will continue to take advantage.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I will say this, I had them both over to my place a week ago, and I had a couple of $2 scratch ticket winners that I was planning on cashing in that day, when I got a chance. I put them into one of my pockets of my inner jacket.

It had snowed, so I had to clean off my vehicle to go and pick them up. I then picked them up, hung out at my place for a while (we stopped for fast food then too), and I had my jackets off and hanging on a chair. Well, when we went to leave, I had to use the restroom, and when I got back to the living room, they were both vaguely hanging around my chair.

So, we stopped at a convenience store on the way back, to pick up some drinks. I was going to cash in my tickets, so I reached into my jacket pocket, and they were gone!

I asked my friend when we got back into the car, if he had seen them, and that they had gone missing, he said "Hmm, sounds like a Twilight Zone thing". I was like, "yeah, hmm".

Now, I've known this person for years and years now, and he's never taken anything from me, so I didn't want to believe that he or his GF had possibly taken them, but the thought did at least cross my mind.

Well, fast-forward a few days, I was in my vehicle warming it up, and one of my neighbors comes up to me, and asks, "Did you lose a $2 scratch ticket in the snow the other day"?

I'm like, "YES, I did. I hope that you cashed it in, LOL."

So, it seems that they did fall out of my pocket when cleaning off my car, and my good buddy and his GF didn't take them, which was a real relief.

I called my friend right away, and explained all of that, and apologized profusely for even letting the thought cross my mind.

So, I do have the tendency to be paranoid at times, about my friends.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The cool part is that you get to choose what you get worked up about, vs. what you let slide. So the unimportant stuff, you can ignore if you want.

If you can't, there's a pill for that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

And yet, here you are complaining about it. You need to be clear about what you expect up front. Failing that, you need to be clear why you're put out or, your friends will continue to take advantage.

Well, I've been doing tech-support for this friend, for a number of years now. I don't mind hugely, but if/when I put in a "real effort", I would like "real compensation". (Eg. some money would be nice.)

I remember last time I reformatted his computer. I think that he bought me food. I accepted that, thankfully, at the time, but told him next time, "I'm going to have to charge you". (A Windows 7 reformat, including updates and driver installation, can take a number of hours. Win10 is a bit speedier.)

Some people don't believe in mixing business with friendship, and think that even if you are skilled in a trade, and make money off of it, that for a friend, you should just perform that skill gratis.

I don't quite subscribe to that theory, I think that leads to people taking advantage of you.

I suppose that way of thinking makes more sense, if they have a skill to barter with you.

I have another friend that I haven't seen in a while, that used to fix cars. He knew what he was doing, he was pretty good. But it was a "Backyard mechanic" situation, he didn't have a shop. I had no problems paying him a decent amount to fix a few things on my vehicle, though, and I would have considered it cheating him, if I expected him as a friend to just fix things for me, for free labor, for the cost of parts. (That's just the way I am.)

Anyways, back to the first friend, he was bugging me about fixing his Windows 7, because it wasn't updating properly. I got some help from members here (thanks guys!), on a guide to fixing that issue. As I was fixing things, using remote-control software, he says "I'll buy you food". I told him after it was done, I'd rather have some money, and asked him for $25. (I had spent an hour and a half, total, and fixed all of his outstanding issues that he had with his PC.) He did agree to that.

I haven't gotten paid yet, but now that I'm thinking about it, I probably could / should paypal some of that to the people that helped me, if I was getting paid for the help. (Maybe I could send them each a scratch ticket? How does that work across state lines? Can out-of-staters cash scratch tickets?)

(That reminds me, he did say he would take me out to eat for giving him that PC that he sold.)

But, he's kind of arrogant. It's not like, he asks me to do work for him, and then asks me (either before, or after) what it's going to cost, like a normal person would. He instead, tells me what he's going to pay me for the job. (Usually, just food, which he gets at a discount because of where he works.) He doesn't ask, "is this enough", or attempts to negotiate, so neither of us feel ripped off.

I really do want to send him to Geek Squad, so he gets a taste of "normal" prices for computer tech-support.

I figure, since I'm doing the work anyways, and would like to get paid, I'll draft a "limited time tech-support agreement" for him to sign up to. I came up with $10/mo, limit 15 hours remote support a month.
$30/incident for on-site support, for up to two hours labor, $30/hr after that.
That way, I'm at least assured a baseline of getting something for my tech-support troubles.

Those prices seem a bit low, but he doesn't have a large income, and of course, he's a friend.

 

[mxnerd]

How can one drink shake without a straw? If you don't want a straw in the shake, you should let your friend know that in advance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

How can one drink shake without a straw? If you don't want a straw in the shake, you should let your friend know that in advance.

This wasn't a corner ice-cream shop where they sometimes do that. This was McD's, where they give you the shake, and you have to grab the covered straws yourself.

I don't mind that she got me the straw, I do mind if it was already IN the shake.

 

[Geekbabe]

Two rules

1. I give you something for free there is no warranty

2. If I sell you something & you break the seal I put on the case in order to Mickey Mouse the system yourself, all warranty is voided.

Your friend had zero rights to give your name or contact info to the third party. You owe him zero warranty or support

After opening the case the third party voided any expectation of warranty support from your friend. The third parry can either pay someone to help hm or buy a new computer.

Never, ever give anybody anything again without telling them directly you will not support the device, it comes to them" as is" as a gift, no warranty.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Never, ever give anybody anything again without telling them directly you will not support the device, it comes to them" as is" as a gift, no warranty.

That's the thing, I DID tell him, "No warranty".

He arrogantly decided, that since I built it, and he was in hot water with his friend, that I would have to fix it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that my friend's friend had unrealistic expectations, too. He saw "gaming rig" for $200, and thought he was getting a steal, rather than budget junk. When he heard it "included Windows 10", and that it was a $100 value, if you had to buy it, it appears that he assumed that you could separate out the Windows install, and put it on another rig.

As far as I'm concerned, my hands are clean, I gave it away for free, with NO WARRANTY, because it was essentially un-saleable. My friend had expressed an interest in PC gaming, and I thought that it might work for him, for suitably older games.

I figured, if it broke down, I'd either fix it for my friend, or he could just trash it (and transfer the GT740 into his main PC).

 

[WelshBloke]

Windows activation issue you say?
Tell him to phone Microsoft I say.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You're tied to that computer for life dude.

 

[Murloc]

Take out the straw and drink without it if you think his GF drank from it.

It somewhat looks like you've let your friend boss you around by not setting rules at the beginning when providing IT support. Now that you're already in the situation it's harder to get out of it without creating tensions.
You could ignore it if it's just once every 6 months, but if you're spending multiple hours a month then this is not good.

Still, I would be more careful in the future.

Some people don't believe in mixing business with friendship, and think that even if you are skilled in a trade, and make money off of it, that for a friend, you should just perform that skill gratis.

I don't quite subscribe to that theory, I think that leads to people taking advantage of you.

nobody except freeloaders expects that.
And for me, not mixing business with friendship does not mean that you perform the skill gratis: it means you don't perform it at all, or if you do, it's treated as a business relationship and you don't let friendship come into it and change the terms and end up arguing over money or feeling resentment, of course in the latter case it can regardless mean destroying the relationship if you end up selling them a lemon even if you didn't want to rip them off.

 

[dud]

I call shens. This story is too far-fetched to be real.

Good one OP ...

 

[VirtualLarry]

nobody except freeloaders expects that.

I guess my friend is a freeloader then. He thinks, that because I do tech support, and when he needs tech support, that because I'm his friend, that I have to provide it (for free).

And for me, not mixing business with friendship does not mean that you perform the skill gratis: it means you don't perform it at all, or if you do, it's treated as a business relationship and you don't let friendship come into it and change the terms and end up arguing over money or feeling resentment, of course in the latter case it can regardless mean destroying the relationship if you end up selling them a lemon even if you didn't want to rip them off.

I never thought about it that way. That makes a lot more sense.

So my friend really is just a freeloader. Hmm.

Edit: That would explain a lot, though. Like one time, when I spent a few hours on the phone, helping his Mom connect to the internet, and then spent a few hours at his place on his computer, and then he wanted to stop by his GFs (get dropped off there), and I had an appt., and he was still like, "hey, want to come upstairs? Really quick? She needs help with her computer. You'll have it fixed in five minutes.". As if, like 4-5 hours of free tech support wasn't enough for the guy. I said no, of course, because I had an appt.

He knows that I charge a minimum of $90 for a house call too.

Not to mention, when his GF first got that apt., and set up her PC with FIOS, and she started downloading and installing everything under the sun, and soon had her PC crawling with malware.

He kept asking me to "just look at it, don't fix it". So, one time he wanted to stop by there, so I did, and then I took a look at it, and I loaded up FreeFixer, and there was some crap on there, so I just nuked it. He wanted to go, after like 30mins or an hour, however long I was working on it. I got it to the point that no malware was executing on the PC any more, but it had remnants on the HDD. I was planning on using Revo Uninstaller to remove the crapware from the HDD.

So I told them, that I would be back in a few days to a week, and finish the job, and that they could pay me then.

Of course, he never had me come back to finish the job.

Whatever he can wheedle out of me, especially to help his GF, I guess he does.

 

[TeeJay1952]

I just realized, when I ran my business I used to always just load pirated copies of Windows... I don't think I would do that now days. Thing is, a license would cost more than what the computer is even worth lol. I'd probably find a Linux distro I can become super familiar with and just make that the standard. If they don't like it they can then pay for a Windows license. Out of all the computers I ever fixed I don't think a single person ever had the installation CDs that came with it. That shit used to piss me off. I religiously keep those for every build I've ever made. It all goes in the motherboard box and everything for that particular PC is in that box.

I used to stick (in towers) CD, Motherboard manual inside box so the next guy had access to the goodies. (Hopefully not me.)

 

[poofyhairguy]

The key question Larry is: what do you get back from him for all the free technical support?

I had a friend like that, so instead of asking for money I roped him in every time I had to move something heavy or do some two people dirty work. Eventually that person started dodging my requests for that sort of physical labor help, and in return I stopped providing the technical support he had taken for granted at that point. Eventually that relationship ended when he was forced to take his machine to another computer guy to do paid-for work and that guy badmouthed the work I had done (or more specifically the free parts I had given him). But I am better off for it.

And for the love of the computer gods look into upgrading your diet. Pull a Kaido like I did and focus your nerdy drive to buy and configure stuff towards some modern kitchen super appliances that can help you get the kind of nutrition that makes these sort of life problems much more manageable.

 

[PottedMeat]

break contact with this motherfucker
---

You're tied to that computer for life dude.

Touching this computer, externally or internally, or making any software changes constitutes an agreement to a perpetual services contract. You are obligated to repair, at your own expense, this computer regardless of owner in perpetuity. Failure to do so will result in the owner being shitty to you.

 

[purbeast0]

No chance this story is real. The milkshake story put it over the edge. And nobody can be this stupid. It's just not possible.

 

[jpjeffery]

...

Thanks to you I now know who Natalia Poklonskaya is.

 

[ctbaars]

My milkshake brings all the friends to my house,
And I'm like, Its better than yours,
Damn right its better than yours,
I can share it, But I have to charge

 

[Sonikku]

Thanks to you I now know who Natalia Poklonskaya is.

You're welcome!

 

[AznAnarchy99]

2017 thread of the year already?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, said friend called me twice this morning. He can't start his "poker client". Said he double left-clicked it, used right-click and Run As Admin, no dice. So, I'm thinking he has ransomware, or his SSD is dying. Then, after a whole bunch of "I dunno" responses from myself, when queried about tech-support, since I'm no longer providing it for free every hour of every day to him, he mentions something about the client saying something about "not able to connect". (Friend is leeching wifi (Edit: Ok, maybe not "leeching", he is paying the neighbor.) from neighbor, after not paying his own internet bill a few months in a row, and they cut him off.)

He said, "Well, you seem to be in an 'I dunno' mood right now, so I'm going to let you go, when you wake up, call me."

Yeah, I'll get right on that...

Edit: I thought about it, and I tried calling him, because I was going to be straight-up with him, and tell him that I am no longer providing a font of free tech-support for him, and that he should think about a new PC, or at least a re-format, and to call Geek Squad. (I also saw an ad for a Geek Squad-like service, from Trend Micro, apparently remote support, for $99.99. I don't know if that is per incident, or a subscription fee for tech support service for a period of time. Their web site was pretty barren of the actual details of the contract, if there was one.)

 

[poofyhairguy]

Well, said friend called me twice this morning. He can't start his "poker client". Said he double left-clicked it, used right-click and Run As Admin, no dice. So, I'm thinking he has ransomware, or his SSD is dying. Then, after a whole bunch of "I dunno" responses from myself, when queried about tech-support, since I'm no longer providing it for free every hour of every day to him, he mentions something about the client saying something about "not able to connect". (Friend is leeching wifi from neighbor, after not paying his own internet bill a few months in a row, and they cut him off.)

He said, "Well, you seem to be in an 'I dunno' mood right now, so I'm going to let you go, when you wake up, call me."

Yeah, I'll get right on that...

So he expects free technical support from you and free internet from the neighbors?

He honestly sounds like someone you would be better off not being friends with.

 

[VirtualLarry]

He honestly sounds like someone you would be better off not being friends with.

Well, I've considered it a few times. I feel somewhat bad for the guy, he's got issues, he's in poverty, although working, but he has his addictions too. (Not that I don't, I'm slowly getting hooked on scratch tickets, and I'm already hooked on Mt. Dew.) But he's kind of a "welfare queen" type too. He thinks, that if he needs something, and you have it, that he "deserves" to get some of it.