I'm so aggravated!

[chusteczka]

Originally posted by: TedKord
My coworker was complaining that his computer was really slow, with mondo popups.
(A Dell Dimension 4550, 2+ years old)

So I told him to bring the tower in, I'd take it home and cleanup the spyware, uninstall the 500 game demos from all over the internet his kids had downloaded, and clean it up. He said he couldn't do wihout it overnight (and he lives quite a but away from me)

So, I offered to do the work there at work. ...

I think the problem is that you allowed your coworker to influence how you perform your repairs. Most likely, you are used to the resources you have at home and rarely think about until you need something and it is not available, such as internet access and being able to work on the system without somebody over your shoulder distracting you.

I always help family and friends for free whenever it is needed. They respect my time and I go out of my way to make sure their systems work properly. In return, I am free to ask them for help when I am in need of something. Each computer with a problem is a new lesson for me to learn. Each time something does not work for the user the way they think it should is also a new lesson for me to either fix next time or teach the user better.

Basically, I freely use my skills to improve the live's of those people I care about and I make sure to learn something new each time my skills are needed.

 

[Iron Addict]

i feel ya man.. i built a computer for my friend before.. when the computer was built it was in perfect condition. As time passed there were computer issues and he "demanded" that i fix them because i built the computer... I'm never building computer for anybody now...

 

[randym431]

I think I'm done helping anyone but family.

Been there...done that...

Lesson learned, the hard way.

I kept a win98 disc and my family always got these lame pc's from the oddest places. They bring it to me saying "please please load win98 + games so little (insert name) can have their own pc.

So i did this, over and over and over and over........

And these lame pc's needed so much... i.e. better video cards, more memory, etc etc. But my family was NEVER willing to spend a dime. And I often pointed out, for the cost to upgrade this "lame" pc to just a so so pc, would be more $$$ than just going over to walmart and getting a cheap system.

Sooooooooo, finally I had had it!!! And actually threw out my Win98 disc. All I have is winXP now, and you can not install that on everyone in the family's pc, like with Win98.

Now when they get these lame pc's, I say "ok... first you'll need to buy winXP for about $100." That seems to kill the subject...THANK GOD...... (whew!!!)

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: KLin
Consider it a lesson learned.

:thumbsup:

 

[VTrider]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
In your situation, I would immediately call or e-mail him and let him know that he could have bought a brand new Dell Athlon X2 desktop for $399 shipped (nicely loaded). Then tell him only retards spend $300 to fix a 2 year old computer worth less than $100.

OMG, harsh, harsh but so true - I cracked up when I read that line! Lots of great advice here, I think many of us have been in this same situation (and learned the hard way like you). Case in point, brother was waving around $1,800 for a new gaming system, even offered to pay me for time - been building him systems since 1998, had to decline and [sigh] tell him to go Dell (atleast I got to configure it for him).

That little move just saved me countless hours of long distance tech support - I'll sleep good now knowing I won't get a frantic "was does missing ntdlr mean" calls at 10:30 at night Ooooh, $1,800 - I could've had fun with that though.

 

[shoRunner]

that was an easy $300, thanks!

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: RapidSnail
I know exactly how you feel. I've helped close friends, family members, and the like; and almost all of the blame me if something goes wrong after I've fixed their problems. Other times I'll give them advice on software/etc. to help improve the computing experience, but they just ignore what I say until a "professional" tells the what I said in different words.

For instance, I recommended to my good friend that he use Firefox for webrowsing because it was more secure and had much better features than IE. He says he'll try it but never installs it. Later when his PC is bogged down from all the crap on it, he takes it to a BestBuy employee and has them fix it for one-hundred dollars or so. After it has been fixed and cleaned he tells me how great Firefox is that the employee told him to get :rolleyes;. So frustrating dealing with people close to you.

It's only when some one has to spend THEIR money that one will USUALLY learn from their mistakes..

 

[chusteczka]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango

Originally posted by: RapidSnail
I know exactly how you feel. I've helped close friends, family members, and the like; and almost all of the blame me if something goes wrong after I've fixed their problems. Other times I'll give them advice on software/etc. to help improve the computing experience, but they just ignore what I say until a "professional" tells the what I said in different words.

For instance, I recommended to my good friend that he use Firefox for webrowsing because it was more secure and had much better features than IE. He says he'll try it but never installs it. Later when his PC is bogged down from all the crap on it, he takes it to a BestBuy employee and has them fix it for one-hundred dollars or so. After it has been fixed and cleaned he tells me how great Firefox is that the employee told him to get :rolleyes;. So frustrating dealing with people close to you.

It's only when some one has to spend THEIR money that one will USUALLY learn from their mistakes..

Education is expensive.

 

[kmrivers]

Some people don't learn. My advice, switch to Mac you lose all credibility!

I did this and it worked!

Just a note, I do love my Mac and wanted to switch. It also inadvertently solved my computer fixing dillema!

 

[hellokeith]

Originally posted by: MichaelD<--has built way too many systems for friends and family and wound up being Lifetime Tech Support

and have actually paid out of pocket for *their* upgrades/replacements

 

[IGBT]

..no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[MustangSVT]

Originally posted by: MX2times
Family is worse

amen.

 

[TedKord]

Originally posted by: shoRunner
that was an easy $300, thanks!

Oooooh, that's low!

 

[AAjax]

Originally posted by: MX2times
Family is worse

hehehe aint it the truth, me>5hrs on my parents pc today, thought it was hosed but got it up (allmost said "in the end" )


Ah well, my peeps are good people, and I was quite the terror in my younger years so what the heck.

 

[Squisher]

Text

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
No good deed goes unpunished.

QFT!!

 

[MisterJackson]

This is why I'm the guy charging $300. Your first mistake was doing it free of charge. It makes you look unprofessional, though, considering the circumstances you made the right choice in not charging......but the wrong choice in even offering to work on it.

Another thing to remember, always show confidence in your work and have clear set boundaries. I have customers like that who drop off machines and say "OMG! I can't live without it! Can you fix it by midnight and deliver it to me?!"....to which I calmly reply "Even if the machine were at your house as is right now you couldn't use it, so a few more days without it won't kill you....if you want it fixed the right way. I am available to work late in the evening at our priority rate of $115 per hour if it's that dire though.".

They usually leave it with me for a few days after that.

Your second problem was trying to clean a machine that sounds like it should have just been formatted and reloaded.

As many have said consider it a lesson learned. If his bad mouthing gets out of hand just go to him and calmly state that you helped him out of a jam and would appreciate some courtesy and respect by not bad mouthing him over a problematic computer that he wasn't willing to invest in to fix properly in the first place. Your service was free, and you get what you pay for

And no, you are not, IN ANY WAY, responsible for the $300 this guy paid. He chose to pay that, and should have paid that to begin with. Would he expect his mechanic to fix his car free of charge, or his doctor to treat him or his family free of charge....no, hell no.

 

[lokiju]

Don't ever again offer to work on someones PC without charging for it.

It almost always ends badly.

 

[Sphexi]

Don't feel responsible at all. Someone else offered him a loaner, he turned it down. He couldn't go 12 hours without it, that's just stupid. You did him a favor, his own damn fault he overpaid to get something so simple fixed.

 

[sinucus]

Originally posted by: TedKord
My coworker was complaining that his computer was really slow, with mondo popups.
(A Dell Dimension 4550, 2+ years old)

So I told him to bring the tower in, I'd take it home and cleanup the spyware, uninstall the 500 game demos from all over the internet his kids had downloaded, and clean it up. He said he couldn't do wihout it overnight (and he lives quite a but away from me)

So, I offered to do the work there at work. He bought the tower in, I hooked up a monitor, keyboard and mouse from an unused work computer, uninstalled all the games, ran sypbot and adaware, then cleaned up the registry with JV16 (only deleted the safe keys). Mind you, I didn't charge or trade anything for doing this.

The computer booted up much more quickly there at work, all the popups were gone. But, we have no internet at work, so I couldn't try that. So, when he got it home, some internet sites wouldn't load. Some would. But, the important ones (banking, etc...) he couldn't get.

I tried to troubleshoot over the phone, but I'm no good at that. I need to be sitting there seeing what's going on. He said it was no problem, he was happy it was running better. I told him I'd get him back online, but in the meantime try calling his ISP tech support.

Today, I find out he not only didn't call the tech support, but he paid $300 to some local computer guy to fix it, and is badmouthing me. Now I feel responsible for the $300, because he really can't afford it. I mean, another friend offered to let him borrow his laptop while I took the tower home and got it going again, but he said no.

I think I'm done helping anyone but family.

I'm sure it's been said 100 times so far. That guy is a jackass, you owe him nothing. You tried your best to fix his computer, you don't even know if the internet was working when you picked it up. He was an idiot for paying $300 dollars for a computer when he could have easily asked RossMAN for a Hot Deal. He was being stubborn and childish and by doing so spat in your face. Screw him, he got what he deserved...

 

[TedKord]

Well, I guess I'm a bigger jacka$$ than I thought. Turns out this guy and the fellow who told me about his $300 repair/badmouthing were just yanking my crank. His brother-in-law came over and fixed the internet problem, along with the WGA "not genuine" message he was getting (which I didn't know how to fix). He didn't pay a dime, and didn't badmouth me.

And I bought it hook, line and sinker. :laugh:


Sorry for the unwarranted vent.

 

[TedKord]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson
This is why I'm the guy charging $300. Your first mistake was doing it free of charge. It makes you look unprofessional, though, considering the circumstances you made the right choice in not charging......but the wrong choice in even offering to work on it.

I'm not professional. I'm just a hobbyist who likes to build his own boxes, and troubleshoot his own problems. I've never charged anyone for the help, and only take on work I feel I can do. I have a friend who always calls me for tech support, and I'm happy to help if I can. His most recent problem (all his saved messages on Outlook Express disappearing) was one I had no idea on, so I didn't even try.

Had I had his computer at home, I would have known about the IE problem, and rectified it.

At any rate, as I stated in my last message, it was all a put on. They played on my over developed sense of self-blame, and I walked right into it. I was ready to fork over $300. I'm a fool.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: TedKord
Well, I guess I'm a bigger jacka$$ than I thought. Turns out this guy and the fellow who told me about his $300 repair/badmouthing were just yanking my crank. His brother-in-law came over and fixed the internet problem, along with the WGA "not genuine" message he was getting (which I didn't know how to fix). He didn't pay a dime, and didn't badmouth me.

And I bought it hook, line and sinker. :laugh:


Sorry for the unwarranted vent.

so what was the problem w/his computer after you fixed it?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: tbike06
What an idiot.

 

[Jeff7]

The guy might have wound up paying that other "local computer guy" $500 to fix it had you not cleared out the worst of the crap.

Removing spyware is like tearing out huge weeds from a densely planted garden. You'll wind up wrecking the roots of the good plants in the process.
Some spyware will overwrite or screw up the TCP/IP stack. You need LSPFix to take care of that.


Next, buy this.
Aaaand it looks like Squisher beat me to it.

Originally posted by: TedKord
Well, I guess I'm a bigger jacka$$ than I thought. Turns out this guy and the fellow who told me about his $300 repair/badmouthing were just yanking my crank. His brother-in-law came over and fixed the internet problem, along with the WGA "not genuine" message he was getting (which I didn't know how to fix). He didn't pay a dime, and didn't badmouth me.

And I bought it hook, line and sinker. :laugh:


Sorry for the unwarranted vent.

I find that some people have rather...."interesting" styles of humor.