I am totally in your favor, services were rendered and they should have to pay. however when you were downloading the software the bill shouldnt have been adding up even tho you wewre still at the job site. me personally i would have called the cops
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I am totally in your favor, services were rendered and they should have to pay. however when you were downloading the software the bill shouldnt have been adding up even tho you wewre still at the job site. me personally i would have called the cops
I sold a system once to a guy with our normal cod terms. I always set up the system first, don't know why, I just do. So I set the system up and then he gives me some kind of weird check that he says I can't cash until I get some kind of authorization # which of course he doesn't have. Weeks go by and we can't get any money for his huge system (people that can't pay always want the best). He starts saying he's not satisified, but we can't have the system back because it has important information on it. I know I could have taken care of that really easy, but I'm a nice guy (stupid) and finally he paid. Only 80 days past due.
Barring any gross inaccuracies, this guy definitely should get paid. From what he said, these guys deserve to get sued.
For customer service in general, I believe that establishing a repoire is very important. Be vocal with the client, try to make them feel as though you're on their side. If you work for a company, make them feel like you advocate for them before your superiors; clients feel more comfortable thinking that they can get results without going to your manager. Make them understand that you are not superman, but will do your best to finish the job. Also try to reward stewardship and professionalism in turn.
I know this all can be hard. I know it is for me anyway, with my limited "people skills". But it can go a long way to avoiding communication problems in the future.
On the other side of the coin, make sure to COVER YOUR ***! Back up service terms in writing. Recommend clients have backups and offer to make them if they don't have them (for a charge), establish that you are not responsible for lost time and/or data. Be confident in your work, but be willing to write off mistakes. In situations where a customer got good service but refuses to pay, have professionals on your side -- use a collection agency, a lawyer, small claims, whatever.
P.S. Tools I use on site:
Notebook computer,
OS CD's,
Diagnostics: Microscope 2k, PCCheck by Eurosoft, SiSoft Sandra, Norton DD, Partition Magic.
Drivers/Patches: I keep a couple CD's with all the latest (and not so latest) browsers, media players, Windows service packs, updates, MS Office filters/service packs, FTP, zip, Zonealarm, and DirectX drivers.
I also keep most of my boot disks/diags in image files on the CD's and just reimage them on site as needed to save from lugging them all around in my toolkit (save for copy protected ones ;-P ).
Regards, Reid
I wish you guys would stop this useless flaming.
1) The dude was onsite. If you have been a tech very long then you know how things can go when you are onsite.
2) He was locked out of the room he was working in, before he finished the job.
Quit it with the bull, we are all techs and we come here to learn and help each other figure out b/s problems, not call each other idiots and have a "better than you" attitude. Those with that attitude can leave right now - and don't let the door hit you in the a$$
/rant
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Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted
Paint your old laptop!
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Originally posted by TheCelt:
This happened to me once as well lesson learned was now i load a trojan horse on all systems i am called out on. That little gem stays in place until invoices are paid then a quick fix with the disk for the trojan horse and the land mine is gone. If the invoices aren't paid the trojan horse goes off wiping out the hard drive and all info. Underhanded maybe, effective You Bet since that time i have not had 1 customer refuse to pay an invoice.
I don't even think this post needs any comments really made about it....you're playing with fire dude, and someday you'll get burned. You are the doctor, you are supposed to fix things, not infect them!! That's just wrong.
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[email protected]
Wouldnt it have been simpler to patch the old software to the newer version then install the new version on the new drive. Way it reads he installed this old version on the new drive also? Patches are available by doing a simple web search. After both drives are seen you can do the xcopy command and then reinstall the os over the top if there are problems or delete the enum key and reinstall drivers. Customer loses no data and the os is fresh. One othe tip for onsites just in case you run into AOL or slow isps. We have a good local ISP that is fast. We go onsite and if we need to set up our own internet connection which is always faster if we need somethng. I use winimage for disk images I need. Carry a windows hard drive and an extra modem ISA jumpered to comm 2 irq 3 just in case the one on their machine is bad.
The whole thing here is not clear. In this day and age I would say people are aware that lawsuits fly and to do something like this (lock someone out of a room) they must have been perturbed. I would never stay onsite that long. By the time I reached the max for the time I suggested it would take it would be time to tell them the work could not be completed here and take the machine back to the office for completion. BTW the hard drive I carry is a wd 420 so I dont run into bios limits
this is very interesting 4 pages of comments. it's interesting to see how each tech has his own idea's of how to fix the hardware problem. but, don't think that is the question here or there would have been more detail on the job it self. think this is more of a warning as to what to look out for when dealing with customers. think the question is "what would you do with that type of customer?". i have been in different business's over the years (before computers were invented) and could write a book on bad dealings with customers. we all think we are the best at what we do and we are. but, we have to convince the customer that we are so they will call us first the next time. i see good tech's looking for work because they can not talk. i see bull****s haveing more work then they can handle because they can talk (most of which are lies). as the saying goes, for every happy customer, you may get 1 new customer. for every unhappy customer you will lose 100 new customers.
so my advice would be to sue with out gustion. but also to save court cost, bad mouthing, etc. i think i would try to come to terms with the customer first. get what you can. if they pay anything, then that means they were not totally unhappy. if you get no ware then sue.
for you tech's working for someone else. my advice is that this could happen to you also and even thou you do not have to deal with the final answers to the case. remember it's your job on the line. no customers, no work, no pay.
I also work for a CompUSA call center up North and I also do some work on the side. I pick and choose my clients very carefully and upon getting my clients (which are 98% buisness) I make sure they know all the risks when I fix their machines. I also double the time I think it might take and after guessing wrong alot, I am much better at estimating times. I tell them it will take say 8 hours even if I know I will get it done in 4 so their expectations are not only met, they are exceeded. I don't feel we can judge the situation you encountered without being in your shoes and as a tech I have learned that lesson harshly at times. Only stop learning when you die.
Thirty plus Sixty is only Ninety. What about the other Ten percent? Are they the ones who claim the status of "Elite"? https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gifQuote:
Originally posted by compaddict:
I hate to say it but you took way too long to do the task. I think that even though YOU may be an OK tech if you take too long to do something (while maybe fumbling with this and that) it can give the consumer the feeling that you are not competent. In my experience less than thirty percent of the people that do what we do are competent. If by chance you looked like one of the other sixty percent (at least to the customer) who can blame them.
Vince
I have to agree with you on the fact that not enough information was presented to be able to judge this tech's "abilities". I've personally had days where I've ripped through systems like a tornado and days where I've sat there, scratching my head over one system. There are just too many things to factor in to say whether someone was taking too long or not. Just my two cents. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gifQuote:
Originally posted by Weil:
OK, some problems with some of the responses here.
1) Who are you to judge his competency based upon the little information presented in the forum? He apparently just gave the vanilla facts, didn't address any other problems he might have encountered... yadda yadda. It seems to me these 'clients' were the type sitting behind him asking questions left and right.
2) He never said it took 3 hours to copy files. He said the 'whole process' took about 3 hours. Gathering info (which we know can be a pain in the *** with (l)users, going though AOHell to track down the required files, getting the whole thing setup and finally xfering the files.
Wile
I can attest to on-site being a drag like this. If the guy is running a 386 with a 28.8k modem, needs a new install of Win98, and has no drivers whatsoever....... Things tend to take a long time. In my West Texas experiences, they then to take much longer than they're worth. I didn't charge a hell of a lot (15 an hour) and people took advantage of that AND insisted upon not paying me for the entire time I was there. West Texans piss me off.
Good god man, you suck big time...3 hours to transfer 4G of stuff?
Thats funny...you should cut off of the drugs buddy. Drugs and work dont mix...
Dudes i dont know, but i would have gone MAD!I swear if that happend to me, nothing would have been coming from my mouth after him telling me i wasnt going to get paid. All he would have saw was 5 knuckles barreling towards his face. After he hits the floor from an shocking impact from a pretty big strong young man like me. I would have taken the keys away from him and opened up the door, got my tools, took out the new hard drive, spit in the guys face and laugh, then walk out as if nothing had happend. I dont know everyone has theyre own way of dealing with problems. But you dont **** with me, i will be paid.
Have you ever heard of Norton Ghost?....ya dumdum? I would not pay you either, and I would keep your tools, to prevent you from hurting yourself!
In my opinion 3 hours is a long time, but I'm pretty sure I don't have all the facts either. I also know that in our buisness there are no absolutes. The most important thing that I know is... I don't know everything about computers, and the people that think they do are the ones in trouble.
The only thing that really shocked me were the comments from certain individuals. Apparently they are the people that give good techs bad names... they are the ones that screw up the machines I end up working on.
But getting back to the topic... you deserve to be paid for your work. No matter what. The doctor gets his money, even if he can't figure out what's wrong with you. Why not the same thing for technicians.
Finally the people that put viruses, encryptions, etc. on the machines they work on... you are walking a very, very fine line bordering on the illegal ... you are already in the unethical area. In my opinion, you are the same as spyware authors and distributors.