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PC Home Help
Earlier on today my boss showed me this site http://www.pchomehelp.org/ and I thought I would pass the word on, it seems like a great idea and I have signed up as a "Helper". Basically it is a portal for finding help with your computer problems, for example... customer has computer problem, they post their problem to this site which is forwarded to all "helpers" in their area, the helpers can accept the job on a first come first serve basis and visit the customers home to solve the problem. One attraction is that it is pretty cheap, the customer pays £20 for the first half-hour and £5 for every subsequent half hour, the "helper" gets all the money -£5 which PC Home Help take for giving you the job. While this is a great idea I can see a few minor flaws, for example when I signed up to be a helper all they wanted was basic details, name, address etc. so I can imagine alot of "cowboys" joining up, and also there could be a problem with non-paying customers, but they say they will chase them up for you if this happens. If the customer needs anymore hardware then you can order it for them from dabs and get a 1% commission too. I hope you don't see this post as advertising,f so I will withdraw it, but I thought some people here may be interested.
Cheers
James
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How would a customer be able to verify you know what the hell your actually doing? Not meaning "you" of course... I say that in a general sense.
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Quote:
Originally posted here by The Texan
How would a customer be able to verify you know what the hell your actually doing? Not meaning "you" of course... I say that in a general sense.
Exactly. I wouldn't trust some joe blow to come out and help me fix some random problem. Who knows what kind of rootkit or backdoor/keylogger they could install while "helping". Not to mention... you'd be paying them to "fix" it when they could be screwing you. A skiddie's dream come true...
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I personally wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!
I am not worried about skiddies..........you take that risk when you let anyone have access to your machine.
I am looking at it from an engineer's viewpoint. Home visits are a pain in the butt, period. You have the time and cost of travel, you have to carry all your stuff with you, and you will only get paid if you actually fix it.
Unless it is a commercial client I am strictly RTB ;) .............. takes ten seconds to tell someone that their monitor is knackered or their MoBo, HDD or whatever is shot. Then they can decide if they want to proceed, once you have given them an estimate of the cost. You will get far too many wasted visits.
Also, you have to deal with nosy kids, vicious dogs, rabid goldfish, and randy housewives............. excuse me a moment, I must just go and sign up............. :D Seriously, you are working on one machine at a time. In your workshop you can deal with several at once, so your time is divided between several customers.
:)
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Yes that is what I meant by cowboys, but from a technicians POV I can't see too many problems.I do call outs in the job I am in, but when they are in work time I only get paid for the petrol, and for the repairs I do at the shop, as you can imagine I just get paid the normal (apprentices) wage, which isn't a great deal. So I thought this would be a good little side job. I always explain to people that they are paying for my time, and I am yet to leave a problem unresolved anyway. So I wouldn't mind not charging if I can't solve the problem since it won't happen too often. I have never had problems before with the exception of one college, people or kids watching over me doesn't bother me, nor do pets (with the exclusion of the goldfish of course)... although the occassional customer that asks me to explain what i do can be irritating, i just tell them using the most jargon i can until they get bored. As for the college they kept saying they would post a cheque and they didn't for nearly 2 months, but that could have been lack of communication within the college and I got the money in the end.
