client contracts

[justme]

hi all

Just wondering what others are doing to safeguard themselves when repairing a computer.

For example, a fix for one thing might bring out the faulty bits elsewhere and I'm
sure there are unscrupulous or unfair clients out there.

I'm thinking about drafting a standard agreement and wonder if anyone else uses such precautions.

[buksida]

Its funny you should mention this. Had clients bring in 5 year old Pentium 2's with 32 Megs of RAM wanting their floppy drive cleaned and XP installed.

Open the case, clean the volcanic ash out of the floppy drive, replace the case and bam! No graphics card detected, power supply wont fire up, primary master fail ......

You can guarantee it will happen on these old boxes so what I usually do is warn the client before hand that opening up their 5 year sealed unit could cause more problems than they have already (and explain why), give them the choice so when it does happen its no surprise.

Newer systems that are still under warranty I always recommend they return it to the supplier.

[GreenGrime]

The last older system I looked into needed to have its PSU cleaned out.

Right after I did that and rebooted, it blew up.

That suggestion of a notice is just smart.

[Nakedboy]

Are these warnings verbal or do you give it to them in writting? For instance, if you just tell them verbally, what stops them from denying they were ever warned if something goes wrong? Things like this have happened to me in the past and I usually end up fixing it for free (free labor and parts a cost). While I do this to make the customer happy, it can be a pain in the butt. I coulld be making money working on another computer or could have sold the parts for a profit.

[arch0nmyc0n]

Its funny you should mention this. Had clients bring in 5 year old Pentium 2's with 32 Megs of RAM wanting their floppy drive cleaned and XP installed.

Open the case, clean the volcanic ash out of the floppy drive, replace the case and bam! No graphics card detected, power supply wont fire up, primary master fail ......

You can guarantee it will happen on these old boxes so what I usually do is warn the client before hand that opening up their 5 year sealed unit could cause more problems than they have already (and explain why), give them the choice so when it does happen its no surprise.

Newer systems that are still under warranty I always recommend they return it to the supplier.

That is precisely why I have a "Test Boot Pass or Fail?" question box on my tech sheet. I ALWAYS plug it in without touching anything first to see if it boots. Stops the little peons trying to get free service because "it worked before I brought it to you"... often my response is "Well then why did you bring it in if everything was working?"

[+Daemon+]

ghost it first then do what I please

[arch0nmyc0n]

Ghost doesn't help much when the power suopply blows up after you clean it

I was wondering the other day tho... could you set up ghost to boot from a cd and ghost the current system across a network into a folder and make an image file based on the filename you type in?

[justme]

well, ok here's what I had in mind.

First, an order form to be signed by the client when the computer is handed over or work is requested. On the form is wording like this::

Describe the problem: (eg) Outlook Express crashes randomly

Diagnosis: a virus or too may emails with photos using too much mem!

The disclaimer: (generic made by a lawyer) All due care will be taken but the firm takes no responsibility for damage caused by age or system instability (including applications unsuitable or misconfigured)...you know, along these lines.