I’ve stumbled upon a lot of articles recently about computer techs using their powers for evil. Here are some of my favorites:
Why San Fransisco’s Network Admin Went Rouge -You all may have heard about the disgruntled Network Administrator in San Fransisco, Terry Childs, who recently locked out all administrators from the city’s network and then held the password hostage, even after being jailed. This article takes a good unbiased look at how this situation occurred and the circumstances surrounding it. One of the biggest problems was that Childs was the ONLY person who really understood how the network worked and therefore had the power to cripple it.
High Tech Peeping Tom Rigged Laptop Webcam To Snap Nude Pics– When this computer repair tech would receive a laptop to fix, he’d secretly install some software the would use the built-in webcam to snap photos of the user and upload them to his personal collection. Very creepy.
Geek Squad Cuts The Cables Inside Your Computer Instead Of Backing Up Your Data– Ah, the Geek Squad. In this blatant attempt at computer sabotage, a user receives his computer back only to find the internal cables have been cut, some memory is missing, and his HD casing is broken. It appears this employee was so disenfranchised he didn’t bother to be subtle with his mischief.
Aside from being eye openers (and sometimes funny), each of these stories provide a valuable lesson for me. As a result of events like those listed above, or because of some previous bad experiences, some people may have a nasty pre-disposition toward computer repair techs. Although I plan NOT to do anything malicious with my business, there’s always the potential that I could be accused of ruining someones computer or spying on their data or uploading a virus etc. I’ve thought a bit about this and here are some things I’m going to do to protect myself if such events occur with my business.
- Document Everything – The fact that Terry Childs never documented anything, and therefore no one knew how his network was configured, got me thinking about this. I will have a plan to thoroughly document every service call I go on. This is a good practice for a number of reasons, mainly to have a record of which solutions I’ve used to resolve certain problems. This will help me get things done faster in the future so I’m not always trying to reinvent the wheel with every new service call. Aslo, if I ever hire any employees in the future, they will also be required to document everything, so I can avoid a Terry Child’s-like hijacking situation.
- Do All Work In Full View Of The Customer – I have a policy that all work is to be done at the customer’s home. I will not be taking equipment back to my “office” (apartment). This way, the customer has full view of all work I am doing on their system. This will mean I’ll have to carry all equipment and tools with me when I travel to service calls. If a part is needed, I will order the part (or the customer can order it) and then schedule a follow-up with the customer to install it. I may have to change this eventually, but I’d like to stay on-site as much as possible.
- Have A Service Agreement – This is the most important part I think. A good service agreement will allow me to set the customers expectations by having a document they must sign before I begin my work. The docuemt will verify the work to be done, the fact that I am not responsible for lost data (the customer is responsible for having it backed up), that certain computer issues can reoccur and I cannot guarantee that my fix will last forver, that I may need to dig into their files in order to diagnose a problem, so on and so forth. I will probably offer some kind of warranty on my repairs, 30 days or something. Also, once the customer pays me, they will sign another form stating that they are satisfied with the work completed. I’ll definitely have to do some research on this to make sure I cover all my bases.
What other suggestions do you have that will help me avoid the stigma of the evil computer tech and protect myself against the inevitable disgruntled customer?
Andy @ bloginyourface.com says
Ask some of your first customers if you can use them as references for a little while.
Maybe mail your customers a comment card to fill out and mail back to you. Once you get enough of these you can start compiling the data and present you potential customers with a brocheure containing some of the better satisfaction statistics. You know what I mean? Like E-Bay feedback. I mean face it, your customers really want to feel like you have been doing this for awhile and that you haven’t ripped people off in the past.
And with you service contract, you should probably give that to them in advance so that they can’t come back and say that they didn’t have time to read over it.
Matt R. says
Great advice Andy! It might take a while before I have enough customers under my belt to make that strategy pay off, but I think it’s smart to get satisfaction surveys from customers, via postal mail and/or via email. And I’ll be sure to walk through the service contract before I begin my work.
bosborne says
Another thing I am sure you have thought of is how you will be dressed when you go on a repair visit. I know that I have less confidence in someone who is dressed in torn jeans and flipflops. You might even want to think about getting shirts with your business’s name printed on them. Also, I think finding a good service agreement, like you mentioned above is a must.
Matt R. says
Ah yes, I didn’t mention it here, but I do plan on (when I can afford it) having a polo shirt-type thing with the business logo on it. Until then, I’ll definitely be sure to dress decently….being in the military I’ve learned that your appearance really does influence how well received you are and a uniform goes a long way in presenting a professional appearance.
Compu Doctor (@ElCompuDoctor) says
I know this is old BUT I try to do work at the customer’s site as little as possible. It is too time consuming and when you are running scans and the like you could be doing more productive things like working on the next computer.
I do offer on site work for residentials but I charge per hour. I let them know that if I work on it at the shop it’s a flat fee. Oddly enough, they always go with “Ok take it!” 😉
geex says
as a bew tech you will soon realise that customers are often difficult looking for any way to get something for nothing. for example, a woman called for onsite to fix itunes unable to be installed. this was fixed in around 30mins. a week or so later she rang to say the DVD player no longer worked after my itunes fix. this was a 6 year old PC!