Jimmerz28 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Sitting in my dorm, many people come by and ask me to come take a look at their computer because something is 'wrong' with it. So I get to walk down to their room, hear their story, and then they ask me to fix their computer. "Hey my taskbar doesn't show up." or "Why doesn't this work?" So because my major is CS they expect me to know whats wrong with their computer, when they tell me such crap like...it doesn't work. Just wondering if anyone else gets this? I just tell them to call tech support, cause one I don't get paid to do this and two it could be a million different things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jymi Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 charge them for your time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoMasamune Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 charge them for your time Yea, that's what I'd do. Make a little extra dough for your efforts. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoMayhem Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Haha, I sure do, I get people calling me almost everyday. Most people pay me, I made $200 this week actually :p It is great, wintel crap supports my mac and girlfriend fund :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Player Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Get it all the freaking time...I did it so much this summer I thought about charging ppl but I never have...Once I get a stack of certifications I will though :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoCahill Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 when i'm helping my family or friends i try to guide them through fixing the problem, but they are so slow with the mouse. I feel like that SNL skit, Nick Burns the company computer guy, i'm just like MOVE!!!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fusion Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Sitting in my dorm, many people come by and ask me to come take a look at their computer because something is 'wrong' with it. So I get to walk down to their room, hear their story, and then they ask me to fix their computer. "Hey my taskbar doesn't show up." or "Why doesn't this work?" So because my major is CS they expect me to know whats wrong with their computer, when they tell me such crap like...it doesn't work. Just wondering if anyone else gets this? I just tell them to call tech support, cause one I don't get paid to do this and two it could be a million different things... Oh man, if you only knew the half of it. Except I have a hard time telling them no, because I know tech support will take forever and it is probably something I can tell them how to do in like 5 minutes. It does get very old after awhile. I am very sick of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomUsher Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Yeah all the damn time... often from teachers (they're all dumb round here anyway), other pupils, and from other people who happen to hear i'll probably fix they're computer for free. I can't charge... i feel guilty... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanman Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 yeah people ask me as well.. i don't find it annoying when friends ask... but i only find it annoying when people you hardly even talk to or don't even talk to at all (like, you just say hi and stuff) just come to you outta the blue and wants you to help them with their comp prob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snippet1 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Yeah, all the time - people often expect me to know everything. It's especially annoying when the school floppy drives corrupt another disk (I've made the switch to USB Flash :)). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwBen Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I get this all the time... one month, from all the PCs i fixed for free, I think would of topped $1000 AUD if it was done by a qulified bloke. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManXcalibur Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I get a lot of that! Everybody figures since I'm in the computer science area I'm some kind of computer deity that knows what's wrong with a PC just by looking at it. But I found a great thing about this, some easy money. Just start charging a little bit for repairing people's computers. They may ***** at first but once they figure out everybody else is going to cost them more they will come back to you, and you make a nice little profit for five minutes of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enigma-penguin Veteran Posted December 9, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 9, 2003 lets put it this way..... i get this for: computers av equipment cars make me wanna explode sometimes.. but i do get paid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Veteran Posted December 9, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 9, 2003 Anyone who wants me to fix their PC....im onto it like a shot. Easy money..... ....99% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanman Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 hahaha EnIgMa-PenGuIn, happens to me too... especially for comps and cars... and i don't get paid... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinsc Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 get this all the time... started charging money for my time and by now i have decided open my own business in computer service :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizkit Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I get that alot. I just deal with it, if I like the person. If I don't, I tell them it'll be $20 to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkee Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 when i lived in the dorms (first two years of college) i got that all the damn time. usually i could fix it and when i couldn't, i'd tell them how to prevent it from happening again and then show them how to format. most cases it was either massive (MASSIVE) spyware, lack of computer maintenance (defragging, updating windows), or just ****ing up their system by deleting critical system files. i'm so glad to be rid of those people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmerz28 Posted December 9, 2003 Author Share Posted December 9, 2003 when i'm helping my family or friends i try to guide them through fixing the problem, but they are so slow with the mouse. I feel like that SNL skit, Nick Burns the company computer guy, i'm just like MOVE!!!. lmao! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnsonBox Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 No, I've never encountered such problem in my comp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanekiwi Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 i know this feeling. im one of the few in my area who knows alot about soft- and hardware. so everybody calls me or visits me and buggs me about any info. like why does this program not work? how doesit work? can you assemble a new pc for me? etc. of course i feel flattered when people say "youre the one cuz you know alot", o nthe other hand i dont hafto waste my personal free time to help other people wit their pcs. one time it went so far tha ta guy kept calling my 5x a day, so i yelled at hi mthat im no friggin pc compliants department. luckily he never called me again or i would prolly have smacked him (after smashing his pc of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanekiwi Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 another story is: im good friends with my gf's boss. i fixed one of their pcs at work once (upgrading software and other small tasks). he was very nice and said " a professional pc repair guy would prolly charge $50/hour. here are $20. thansk for the help". that was kinda cool because i didnt expect anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstokeley Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Yeah, happens to me too, but I don't mind. It's nice to be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmerz28 Posted December 9, 2003 Author Share Posted December 9, 2003 Yea I'll start thinking about charging, its just that most of the time I can't really tell whats wrong, cause their computer is so messed up that formatting is usually the only way, and I know how much I dislike formatting, it takes so long to get things back to the way you want. That and college kids don't have much money, but they will keep messing up their computers, which would mean steady stream of money...hmmm... PS Thanks for everyone's input, I'm glad I'm not the only one lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfalcon Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 when i lived in the dorms (first two years of college) i got that all the damn time. usually i could fix it and when i couldn't, i'd tell them how to prevent it from happening again and then show them how to format. most cases it was either massive (MASSIVE) spyware, lack of computer maintenance (defragging, updating windows), or just ****ing up their system by deleting critical system files.i'm so glad to be rid of those people. Haha, i'm in college now, and it's getting rediculous. The things people download... I've made a disc with autopatcher, sp1, adaware, etc. on it so i just go around popping that in. I swear the worst thing is those toolbars people download for IE. I mean, you can barely view a page they've got so much junk on that toolbar... And the pop-ups drive me crazy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts