Comp Guy charged me too much?

As you all know I am a newly divorcing woman that is getting ripped off by everyone that I hire it seems. How do you keep from being taken advantage of or am I just being unreasonable about the cost of services?
The computer guy comes over last night and spends the majority of time yapping his lips at me as I am trying to keep things moving along without seeming too pushy. I neeed a comp guy you know, yet for him to tell me I had not loaded acrobat adobe reader properly and showed me where add and remove programs is on my new vista, he charged me 90$. Darn it, now I have only less than a hundred dollars to last until the first...
I could cry and scream! It is crazy. He frickin sat here telling me all about his life his son his divorce, how he was the VP of the local bank for 15 years and all this bs about himself. It was a busy night around here as my son Jeff and his buddy were doing the final touches on his Science fair experiment and needed the comp to type it all out, the man did not leave until 10pm!!!. He arrived late, 7ish. Was expecting him at 4-5. My ex was here putting the stickem tile down in my bathroom, my older son Ryan was trying to leave to go 90 miles round trip to party... NO way! I told him firmly and calmly, no not this late at night, then back to the comp, the comp guy says "Did you win?" because Ryan walked out w/ the keys, I said yes and tried to get him back on track. Then he became this Science know it all and started entertaining us with his magic tricks both live with my silver and online... After he left the kids all said I needed to send HIM a bill for the dishes to be washed from his tricks and the time I spent listening to him. They were saying the guy was flirting with me, again what is with these service guys? I could do a lot better than hire someone to flirt with. AaaHHHH It is Soo much eaiser being married, at least then they can ignore you!Now I am sorry comp guy if you happen to read this, but man I am on a limited budget and that was out of line! (Comp guy does not 'play' online... Sorry if I am crazy this morning but it is too much! I need a comp friend...
:w:

Nope.....works out to 'bout 30 bucks US an hour. Apparently the only way he could get work is to be the cheapest around. My bill is $75/hour and I get the first hour no matter how long I'm there.

i typically get $60/hr and i try to either get the 1st hour by default, or get some compensation for the drive if it only took me a few mins for the work - usually $25 and i'm happy. i only do it on the side though when i'm in the mood, so i don't worry about making a living off of it. $75 for a housecall doesn't sound outlandish. hell, i called a tv repairman last night and they're asking $90 to come take a look at it. gets applied to the bill, but that's the minimum even if i don't decide to have them fix it.

i usually charge for the amount of work i do, not how long i sat there. sometimes you get chatty with someone and actually enjoy the conversation. that doesn't mean they should get billed for it. considering that, i may not have charged $75, but i would have tried to get out of there with $50 to be honest.

[edit on 20-2-2008 by an0maly33]

Sadly compu-world is full of high-priced know-nothings... and predatory know-just-enough-to-screw-you-ups... oh, and Dell/Satan, had to grow our own in house... CBC did a series on "geeks" who rip-off the unsuspecting... total racket.

"Getting Gouged by Geeks or What you should know before you call a geek in to fix your computer", a link that should open in Windows Media Player here.

Cheers,

Vic

i would just like to point out that we're not all evil. =) this is no different than any other stereotype.

there are quite a few that did some certification courses and took a test so they consider themselves experts - these are the people that heard there was money to be made in the computer business. there are also those that have been involved with computers for a VERY long time and just enjoy working with them. those are the people you want helping you. most of the time they'll do it cheap, or if you're nice to them, free. i happen to be the latter.

[edit on 20-2-2008 by an0maly33]

Originally posted by MrPenny
Nope.....works out to 'bout 30 bucks US an hour. Apparently the only way he could get work is to be the cheapest around. My bill is $75/hour and I get the first hour no matter how long I'm there.

Well where were you? Sounds like I could have saved a few and bought some wine to boot!

Does it work now?
Seriously, I come pretty cheap, as it is not my main source of income, and am the last resort for most people in this remote area----after they pay a few hundred to someone else and it still is fubar, thats when I get the call.
$35 an hour for house calls is what I charge, $20 is what I get for the first 1/2.
The faster your computer is, the less time it takes to fix it, and some don't realise that when I am running a stream of conversation, the computer is working on something I told it to do, and you really can't do much until it has finished it's last task.

If somenoe brings me a box to fix at my "office" for something like data recovery or a wipe/reinstall/updates, I will usually charge a flat $100, even though in the case of data recovery, the process can take days, and a wipe/reinstall,updates using my bandwidth can take a minimum of 4 hrs, and sometimes many more, depending on how much software needs to be installed and updated.

he only charged you what you were willing to pay. if you think about it, they make money off people that don't know what they are doing.

it may even be in your best interest to set some time and money aside for classes, or at least a book/dvd on how to use windows vista, acrobat, microsoft office, etc. especially if you are paying $90 a pop on fixing stuff. thats a reasonable rate, since i would charge much more - but it's also a LOT of money to pay someone something you could have done yourself in 15 minutes, had you known what to do.

I am so bad at taking direction from instructions, I freeze up it seems. Once I get something it is just natural from there on out. I love learning , yet I did install Acrobat, it just did not take for some reason and really thats all he actually showed me. 90 was too much for the time spent listening to his story. Nice guy, but wow too much I still say. I considered remote work with someone here on BTS... Maybe I should have?

I usually fix my own stuff at home, but I've had occasion to use those mobile guys at work.

The standard fees are at least $70 an hour, miniumum one hour billing. The guy does spend a lot of time chatting, but he's running diagnostic programs at the same time.

I've heard more outlandish prices from local Computer stores ranging up to $275 for a house call. And that doesn't include the price for the part if needed. People have also gotten computer techs from the paper or off craigslist and paid even more. Sometimes customers end up having to pay someone else to fix what the first tech did or couldn't do. Even for simple issues like having to download the latest plug-in or update for their software.

My husband doesn't allow me to be alone when someone needs to do work for us. Most importantly because you don't have a clue of what's going on in a persons head. Although you can get an idea with what a person says and their body gestures. And seeing you are female and now single, yes, men will try taking advantage of you. I hear it happens a lot when women (even married) take their cars to the shop to get fixed. And what's even worse is it happening in their own homes when service is needed on various issues.

I know a senior citizen, whenever she needs service, she asks to see their ID. She also leaves the front door wide open and she explained she does so just in case she needs to run out the house if someone tries to attack her. At first I thought it was silly, but in fact, it made sense because I've heard of women being at home alone and being attacked or even killed.

I lived in a city where a woman was home alone, and a man perpetrating as the phone company came (legit looking truck and outfit) and she got attacked. And he came to the door saying he was there to do work. You just gotta be careful in times like these.

Make sure whoever it is you get to work for you is licensed and traceable. It sounds to me like the guy who came to fix your computer hasn't had a solid foundation in computer maintenance. A good technician does enjoy what they do and will get the job done right the first time. And in some cases will educate their customers of what they did to get the problem fixed.

The best bet with your puter, like a previous poster wrote, is to try and take some computer classes. Or, what you can do too is, check out some computer forums and resources at DSL Reports also tips and tricks at CNET. Post your issues and someone is bound to come along with the answer or will at least give you an idea of what's going on with your computer.

Come to the internet for ALL your computer support needs!

Trust me.

EDIT: Sh**, if computer techs get paid THAT much, then maybe I should become one/ Would make a nice, easy weekend earning a heck of allotta money!

[edit on 24/2/2008 by C0bzz]

I think the guy was paying way to much attention to your personal business and not the computer problems. He sure wanted to know you and it looks like he was sizing you up by telling you about him. Professionally, I would not ask a customer personal questions or inquiries to anything other than what I am there for when performing a home service call.

I, and my now ex wife, had high school friends who divorced when still young. the divorcing wife went to her doctor and she must have been talking about her divorce to the doctor. On another visit, the doctor kissed her during examination and she was freaked and wanted to know what she should do.

A banker of 15 years now in computers. Sounds a bit (computer geek talk) phishy.

Sounds like you need two things Antar:

1: get married again so guys stop flirting with you
2: find a local wizkid in the neighborhood who can fix computers

My neighbor just feeds me and gives me beer and I help her with her computer in return.

Geeze thanks for all your replies, everyone has great advice. I just wanted to say if your interested, that I asked him to hold the check until the first but he put it in 2 times before that and it cost me 50 on top of the 90... Oh I wonder if he checked out ATS as he saw the site and I told him I wanted to be able to read PDFs and such with no problem. So, oh well in the end I fell like a fool, but I guess Ill learn. Now I have a printer (except the kids keep the ink low to none) so I can ask questions online and then follow instructions. I guess I could have written instructions too.. Get remarried ok. He would HAVE to be good with comps and be a member of my favorite conspiracy site...

can you make a stuffed artichoke? kidding...

but seriously, next time you have a computer issue, just post it up here, and I bet there are people (myself included) that would be happy to walk you through the process.

I swear when I was born, I was just given the gift to understand computers right off the bat. They always listen to me, and communication is 100% clear. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out I'm some type of Cylon-esque android.

Originally posted by antar
Get remarried ok. He would HAVE to be good with comps and be a member of my favorite conspiracy site...

I'm sure there's a few here...

Or you could just put a fake ring on. I knew a girl that did that. I'm not sure how well it worked though. Honestly if I was a chick I'd probably be a real bitch. I can't stand flirtatious guys... but maybe that's just cuz I'm a guy.