To Charge Or Not To Charge

[baker7]

Ok: This is the situation:

I routinely get called out to assist people with computer problems, and most times will NOT charge anyone for service, but if someone asks me how much, I may respond with nominal amounts of money, just so that I can get back home, or make a little pocket money. I serve a few elderly clients, which I normally won't charge anyway......but if they ask me, I will ask them "how much do you think my service is worth to you......" and let them judge how much my service is worth, and that works out well. Other people will pay me what they think is fair, if they choose

OK: so I get a call this week, and the lady HAS DSL now. She is a lady that will change her mind like I change my socks - 2 months ago, she said she wanted me to put IN Verizon DSL, because she could NOT deal with Juno Dialup service. Now, when I have to go down and run scans or maintain her machine for her when dialup is on there, it takes me HOURS and consumes most of my day - I roll out of here at like 8:00 AM EDT, and sometimes don't get back here til 4PM - a whole day. I have gone down to her house because she CAN'T GET ONLINE or because there is a problem with the modem not dialing or whatever, or because the AV doesn't update or because of virus scans and what ever else.

This week, she told me that she could NOT afford DSL, even at $30/month - but she says she could afford a $9.00/month charge from Juno - so here we go back and forth with dialup crap - Her bill would run $50/month with the DSL, and the service is solid and reliable - as opposed to JUNO, which charges by the minute for support - so her bill would be $9.00+ the charge for support, and I would have to call and have her card charged, to fix thier proprietary junky software GRRRR.

OK, so I told her that I would come down and DO as she asked, but felt that because I have put in DSL before, only for her to CANCEL the service 2-3 months in to the contract, because she wants Junos CRAPPY service, and then to ask me to come back and change it AGAIN, is Rediculous. I told her that Verizon charges $79.00 to TERMINATE DSL service, and because I felt like an IDIOT for wasting my time fixing her up RIGHT (I don't do my jobs half-way, I do it RIGHT) that I would CHARGE a $25.00 fee for MY services, MY time, and MY expertise, becauee I would have to pull it out, cancel it, rewire her setup and run wire to the modem, set up the software again, and all that (and I am not even sure that Juno would be consistant, thats why I recommended DSL, and she wanted it changed to DSL - because she wants to GET ONLINE) I have had to come down to her house 6-7 times in a 6 moth period to do as she requests, and I found out her phone was dialing LD numbers she called intermittently, causing a $200+ Bill - I told her to change the phone, and the phone company reduced the bill - I changed the phone, and told her that it was on me, becuase if the only reason she wants to eliminate DSL is because of a rogue phone dialing, I can deal with this easier then cancelling and rewiring - I told her to KEEP DSL, and told her that it has everything she wants - and she can GET ON and STAY ON when she wants to.

I told her that I REFUSE to remove the service without the charge, and when she found out that it would cost $79 to terminate and $25 for my service, she agreed to run the full term of the contract, when she found out that it takes me lots of time messing round with updates and maintainence - Further, that I don't want to mess with dialup with Juno - It COST more for the support then it does for the service - that is where they get you - on the techsupport side ;(

OK - How do you tech guys (shanenin for example) deal with people like this - I feel a $25.00 fee is JUSTIFIED in this case, because I feel like I give of my time, experience, expertise, and I don't charge a LOT - but I felt like I was inconvenienced, and I would have been, had I gone down there and not been paid........

Opinions?

Brian

[Bubba Bob]

Im confused Brian, do you do this as a side job or something? Or just to help out friends or what?

Helping out the elderly is great, however, this sounds like she is yanking your chain a bit. You cant get crap done for $25, so It sounds more than fair to me.

EDIT:

On the other hand. Thinking back on helping my grandfolks set up their internet, they got fairly confused at the whole idea. And still to this day really dont grasp it much. Be patient with her. I cant understanding wanting to dump the DSL after a high phone bill. Well, sorta...

Edited August 17, 2007 by Bubba Bob

[hitest]

You are being more than fair! $25 is a steal imho:-) If you want to hire a technician in my neck of the woods they charge $50-100 per hour. The hardest thing is saying no to people who want free technology help. Your time is valuable:-)

[shanenin]

$25 is barely worth your time. If I worked all day for $25 would feel used and stressed out. My thought is if you are doing purely to help them out, just because you like them, then don't charge anything. If you are doing it as a part time income, I would tell here $20/hour. That is low, but at least worth your time. Any shop in town will charge 50-100/hour(I only charge $50 myself, I am on the low end)

[Dan72]

time is money brian, i would charge but keep it under the table

[Honda_Boy]

I think that that's perfectly fair. Normally I fix people's computers and do crap like this for free and refuse payment (even though I refuse 90% of the time I end up getting the money anyway cause they refuse to let me do it for free like Bob whom I reinstalled Windows for, gave me $75 when I said I'd do it for free) but for something that's that much of a PITA, I think it's fair.

[martymas]

like many of you i fix many freinds compts

for free

tho a couple ive charged

the danger in fixing them for free

is they will keep comming back

at any little glitch as dan has experienced

i feel sorry for you

ive had the same experience

but once i threatened to charge

my name become mud so you cant win

yes $25

is a cheap fix

ime not sure the charges were you people live

but here in nz

it is $85 an hour

and as you know it takes 2-3 hrs to install winxp

alone ,[with out any fixes]

taking into account the sp2 updates ect

so dans price is cheap

the lady must think dan is father xmas

marty

Edited August 18, 2007 by martymas

[garmanma]

Most of my work is for friends. I'm either returning a favor or helping them out. I don't ask.A few have offered, realizing I saved them a lot of money. I feel if it takes a lot of time and you had something else that you had to do, go ahead and charge them. Either way, don't feel guilty, you have enough things on your plate

Mark

[JDoors]

I think the charge is justified, but not for any of the reasons I've read so far.

That should be your standard charge for any service call to her (or even more) -- To discourage her from calling you time after time. Not that you shouldn't help her, but she apparently needs you to remind her that all these calls have a cost she's not yet had to bear.

I do sympathize with her inability to grasp the difference in technologies, services and costs associated with DSL vs Dial-up, but at least she needs to realize your time is one of the costs associated with any changes or repairs.

[mikex]

I also say you are WAY more than fair. I do stuff at my house, their house and the company I work for. If show her the benefits of having the faster speed so you can remote into her machine if she asks. The time to drive out and back PLUS your time on site. Try to relate it to a business she is familiar with.

You can rest your head friend, you are fair. I have been known to charge more if I am getting grief from the customer when I am doing work on the side. Just hoping they will not come back.

Mike

[baker7]

time is money brian, i would charge but keep it under the table

Dan:

That is EXACTLY what I do. If I charge, I have to do it under the table I decided to charge in this case because it does not matter the amount of the charge, but what matters is that my time is valuable to me and probably to others who appreciate what my services are worth. I do this work because I can use my skills to help those who are in need, and this lady knows that I am good, and I know how to do what she wants done - so I figure that my expertse is worth what I charge, althoigh I DARN WELL KNOW that most people would laugh at my $25.00 charge. The reason for this charge is to teach her that I do not have the time to be travelling around every few months to deal with what she asks for at a whim - The charge will then make her question whether she needs me, or if it is something that can wait for a while.

Brian

[baker7]

I think the charge is justified, but not for any of the reasons I've read so far.

That should be your standard charge for any service call to her (or even more) -- To discourage her from calling you time after time. Not that you shouldn't help her, but she apparently needs you to remind her that all these calls have a cost she's not yet had to bear.

I do sympathize with her inability to grasp the difference in technologies, services and costs associated with DSL vs Dial-up, but at least she needs to realize your time is one of the costs associated with any changes or repairs.

I believe that now, I will institute a $25.00 MINIMUM CHARGE when helping her - this is because she apparently contacted my friend that lives in her building and was complaining and moaning about how I had the nerve to charge her the $25.00, which she said she couldn't afford. Well, He gave her both barrels, telling her that my decision stands, and that he (does service calls too) would NOT talk me into changing my mind, and would NOT remove the DSL. He does NOT intrude on my service calls, and I don't intrude on HIS - If our company were to do this as a business call, then the charge would be $65.00/hr just for our guy to travel to a business and say "hello" and even if he doesn't do anything, it still costs money.

I told this to my client as well, so I hope she realizes that her indecisions cost more then just the money she pays her ISP

Brian

[baker7]

Hello Everyone:

I want to thank you all for your opinions on this matter! I really do like doing this, and because of SSI, I charge nominal amounts because I know what it is like to have something need to be looked at, and all that. I charge those who ask and in some cases they TELL me to charge them more - In those cases when they ask me how much they should pay me for my services, I say "How much do you think my services are worth to YOU?" If I ask this question, I rarely get thought of as greedy - I have been paid as much as $100.00 to do things like do windows updates before.

This way, I leave it open to those who wish to pay me for my services

Brian

[sultan_emerr]

I think it's all been pretty well covered, except here it would be $75, not $65.

If the next time she has a problem you are "Not availiable", and she has to deal with someone else. then I'll bet in all future instances after that, she will be more than happy to deal with you.

[JDoors]

... she apparently contacted my friend that lives in her building and was complaining and moaning about how I had the nerve to charge her the $25.00, which she said she couldn't afford. ...

How is that YOUR fault that she can't afford a non-essential service so she expects you to provide it for free?

Wow.

------

I can't afford a new car ... Think I'll go down to the Caddilac dealer and request they provide me with a free one.

(Exaggerating to the point of absurdity to illustrate the absurdity of her expectations.)

Edited August 22, 2007 by JDoors