Why I sigh...

**slgrieb** · August 4th, 2011, 05:57 PM

Hey, Niclo, since you are supporting lots of attorneys, have you gotten some experience with ProDocs? Do you love it?

**Niclo Iste** · August 4th, 2011, 05:59 PM

Can't say that I have. If it's a document management system we use DM which is the most fantastic piece of crap when integrated with a 7 year old version of citrix.

**Guts3d** · August 6th, 2011, 05:07 AM

...You don't see anyone walk into their doctors office and punch their doc in the groin because they have cancer. So why do people want to yell at the technician who's there to fix their pc?

I'd do a lot worse than a groin punch if my doctor gave me cancer!

**Guts3d** · September 7th, 2011, 05:09 AM

Latest gem:

Customer: Hello, the computer you built for me won't stay on. I turn it on, and after a minute or three it dies, monitor, everything.

Me: Hmmm... Are the lights in the room going out when this occurs?

Customer: No, in fact, the computer dies when I try to turn the lights on.

Me: ...Are you trying to turn the lights on with a wall switch? And that is exactly when the computer and monitor die?

Customer: Uh oh... ( Realizing she has the computer plugged into a switched outlet that is meant for lamp lights ).

Me: Sigh...

**BundakUwan** · September 18th, 2011, 04:11 AM

sometimes that people getting "sigh" when they're not expecting that there's still solution of any matters.

**Niclo Iste** · September 18th, 2011, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by BundakUwan

sometimes that people getting "sigh" when they're not expecting that there's still solution of any matters.

Welcome to windrivers. Maybe it's because I just woke up but what do you mean?

**Ferrit** · September 18th, 2011, 10:30 AM

I been up for awhile and I dont know what he/she means

**Guts3d** · December 7th, 2011, 06:02 AM

The latest gem:

Reloaded a desktop 5+ years old (caps still good, as she only uses it to type E-mail and look up sewing web sites, so 1 gig of ram is fine for her needs.) Explained to her that I saved all of her old stuff, asked her what the printer was that she has, so I could pre-load it and save her some grief when she got it home. She glared at me as if I had just inquired when her last bowel movement was, and haughtily informed me that “I have no printer”. I apologize for this egregious faux pas, as I sense this might be a sore subject. She then grudgingly pays me, takes the computer home, and the fun begins. Ring-ring! “Hello, I can’t get this $#@! To start! What did YOU do to it?” I grit my teeth; ask her if the green power light on her monitor is on. “No, it never was before… Wait, ok, now it’s working, I fixed that”. I sigh, plainly and loudly, and thank her yet again. Two minutes pass, and the inevitable occurs. Ring Ring! “Now I keep getting a box coming up asking me for a cd! I don’t use cd’s! Why is it asking me for a cd?” She panics. I calmly ask her what exactly is the informational box saying, and she tells me. I realize that contrary to popular belief, she does indeed have a printer. After ensuring that she no longer has the errant driver cdrom, I walk her through getting the drivers through the manufacturer’s website, an grueling task in itself, best forgotten. I finally ask her if there is anything else she needs, and she slowly demurs, I can almost hear the gears in her mind grinding away at each other. As a parting shot, she then quips ”I knew I should have just left it the way it was”, insinuating that I had somehow controlled her mind and ordered her to bring it to me for repair. I innocently reply “But even you admitted that you couldn’t get online or do anything with it the way it was with the viruses and malware it had.” A pregnant pause at the other end of the line, then a quiet burst of mumbled curses. “%$#&^%#@!!” and she hangs up. Sigh.

**slgrieb** · December 7th, 2011, 01:03 PM

Yep, that't pretty high on the annoyance scale alright! I have one customer (a tax attorney), who is a little absent minded, and also tends to panic at the drop of a hat. Anyway, she called me yesterday while I was eating lunch and said her computer wouldn't come on and she had a client coming in 15 minute. The machine is one I built, and only 2 months old, so I'm about as panicked as she is. Put lunch in "to go" box and drove over to her office. Where I found the monitor turned off. Pressed power button, and all was well. I assume that she had hit the bottom mounted switch pciking up a pencil, or whatever. She was grateful, I didn't charge her, and I even managed not to start laughing until I was back in my car.

**Guts3d** · December 7th, 2011, 02:04 PM

...and I even managed not to start laughing until I was back in my car.

Kudos! I don't think I could have done it. When I had my episode, I chuckled and covered the phone mic.

**Guts3d** · January 20th, 2012, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Guts3d

Ring--- Me: Hello, Customer, your laptop needs to be re-imaged with either XP or Vista, I recommend XP for speed with these specs.

Customer : Oh, I don’t care, that’s fine, let me know when it’s done, I need it back as fast as possible. My son uses it to search the internet.

Me: Ok, I can take it home and have it ready Friday or Monday…

Customer : Great. Let me know.

Me: O.K., I charge $30 per hour for labor, and it takes about 3 hours from start to finish, and I’ll save your kids data for free.

Customer : What!!??? What do you do, run in place? Why are you charging me? All you have to do is sit there and click buttons. I don’t understand, this isn’t fair.

Me: Well, it takes more than 3 hours of my time to do this, plus the time saving data and getting rid of all the viruses, and that’s time that I am not doing what I want or need to do. My prices are cheap, some stores charge over $120 for a simple overload, no data saved and no drivers loaded, and you must provide them the cdrom, which you don’t have.

Customer : Well, I still don’t think that’s fair…

Me: Ok, no problem, come and get it, it is right here just as it was, ready to go.

Customer : (Spoken with a nasty attitude) Never mind, you just go ahead and charge me whatever you want.

Me: Ok, I just don’t want you to feel upset.

Customer : My cell number is XXX-XXXX in case you have a problem or need anything. Bye.

Me: ( Thinking) I hope her kid likes gay midgets…

This customer saw me walk by in the hallway at work and stated that her son's computer is still working fine. She insinuated that I should not have charged her for fixing it, as all that I had to do was "sit there and press an occasional button". I replied " Well, just what do you do for a living?' knowing full well that as an accountant, she sat in front of a computer all day... Pressing buttons... It was priceless to see that realization cross her features like an avalanche of irony.

**Niclo Iste** · January 20th, 2012, 10:44 AM

Well if you go on flat service rates such as "windows installs are only X amount"
You could follow the method my one friend practices.

The service costs X.
You and your time doing it are free.

Followed by, "If you feel this is not fair I can easily get a comparison for the cost of my time and add that to the bill."

I like to make them sign a waiver myself. I'm charging you X for this. I will not charge you more than X, however if something else bad comes up you also are signing to agree that I am not responsible to fix it until I get your approval and a second signature with the new costs.

**Ferrit** · January 21st, 2012, 10:14 AM

I had this one the other day.
Customer called and asked me to stop by . I said well what's up?
He says well the computer seems to be stuck in safe mode.
I really screwed it up this time
I said well what exactly happened? He says well i don't know. I think I bumped it
I said ok I will be there tomorrow. I show up and yup its definitely in safe with a black background.
I start looking at it and it is a old Acer Sempron 2200 with 1 gig of ram.
It has windows 7 Ultimate on it. (Anyone getting a clue yet?) So I start looking at it and the event viewer is nothing but red X's. I cant even begin to name the different things that have errored . Anyway I ask them where they got it. Ah my son built it for me. Nice turns out it's the son that gave them his cast off Acer and then put a hacked copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on it. I guess its coincidental that when he thought he messed something up, Microsoft issued a new fix for those activation bypass programs. I explain to them that I could purchase a license for the Ultimate version but its very expensive. So they ask if they will loose everything. I tell them the prices and then told them to maybe ask their son why he put a stolen copy of windows on it. I will hear Monday what will be done about it.
Parents are easily in their 70's and the wife is having a panic attack about having to sort all of the baby pictures again after the mess that was made when (he) upgraded them to windows 7 to start with.
If i ventured a guess, I suspect he charged them and used that to fund a new computer. Pretty dam sad thing to do to your parent's

And that's why I sigh!!!!!!!!!!

**Niclo Iste** · January 21st, 2012, 10:23 AM

That's just wrong in so many ways. Reminds me of my step-dads nephew, I'm always having to fix a problem on their PCs at work and when I get done windows will need activated or something else. Why? Because when I run my anti-virus utilities it removes the hackerware that made the stolen windows/office/photoshop/dreamweaver/acrobat install he put in for them work. Naturally the next question I get is "well why doesn't it work anymore? he put it in for us." For 7 whole years i've been fighting that battle.

**Guts3d** · February 9th, 2012, 01:06 PM

...Naturally the next question I get is "well why doesn't it work anymore? he put it in for us." For 7 whole years i've been fighting that battle.

Sheesh! Ask them if they got the Certificates of Authentication, the boxes that the software came in, etc. and watch the fun that ensues! ( Especially if the blighter charged them for the software! )