Is my local computer shop trying to overcharge me?Please Help!

BloodBath

Of course it could take longer if it's badly infected but would it take more than an hour of your actual time on the laptop? I don't think it would. Assuming a fairly high hourly work rate of €30 I'd say my pricing is spot on.

yoyo

BloodBath wrote: »

No it didn't take 6-7 hours of your time. You clicked update or scan and left it to run. If I was doing the work i'd have the necessary software on a usb stick. Install it, update it and run it. The total of your actual time should not exceed 1 hour for that type of work. I could do a fresh install of windows with updates and driver + software installation in under an hour.

How is €70 for virus removal justifiable? It literally takes 10 minutes max of actual human time to do. The time the scan is running does not count as you are free to do whatever you want. Even if you were to charge for 1 hour of labor where does €70 come from? More than €30 for virus removal is a rip off. Shop or no shop.

OK, I do appreciate where you are coming from, and believe me I do not charge anywhere near €70 even for even the more problematic/slower machines (that vista machine I mentioned above I did actually charge €30 for, that was because the person gave me both it and a netbook to speed up which I charged €60 for both).
I do however, understand for a repair shop to be able to pay employees, light & heat, rent, broadband etc. they would usually need to charge more than the likes of me, who does computer repairs as a hobby and not a main business. I have worked for people in repair shops (the last job unpaid/experience) and it is only when you see doing repairs as a business how few machines do come in/how little work you get out of it (and for the record, this repair shop did not charge near €70 for advanced virus removal either, and were very "cheap"). This shop has gone out of business.. It is also incredible how many people are replacing their laptops/desktops with smartphones/tablets so there just arn't that many machines out there people are getting fixed.
Also you can not install Windows Vista SP1/SP2 and all the hundreds of other updates in an hour, especially not when your dealing with a crappy Celeron D with just 1GB RAM. It takes hours to upgrade Vista, and it's not all one process either. Its check for updates, wait 5 minutes, come back, kick start the updates, repeat this several times. I use the likes of Ninite and PC Decrapifier to assist with removing junk/updating software/plugins but even still it takes ages to do, and certainly if I spend a lot of time working on someones machine, I would not hesitate to charge up to €50 per job (although I would rarely charge that much). Keeping a CD/USB with the latest updates/software is all well and good, but you would want to be updating this every few days, which is not feasible for most.
You also need to run multiple virus/malware scans (not at the same time as conflicts can occur!) which can take a while (running something like ATF before hand will significantly reduce scan times in many cases). Then use your knowledge to check processes/folders for any dodgy stuff. Autoruns is and excellent free tool for checking processes, and tools like DDS are also great for sniffing out anything dodgy. Certainly doing a "proper" job on a machine is not for everybody, and i'm sure there are many repair shops out there who simply do a system restore and hey that will be €40 please (or even €75 ).
Sorry for the long post, but to sum up, computer repairs are not a 10 minute job, and I do think for proper virus removal by a repair shop, depending on location €70 may not be to bad. It is clear the OP was dealing with cowboys but do not expect shops to work at a loss at the same time.
Also, shops should not do additional extras without ringing you first, they can suggest to do virus scans, system cleanups, etc. but if you go in with a specific problem they should be professional enough to sort the issue (this crowd weren't, as they should have removed the wifi card and looked to purchasing a replacement) but the majority out there are not out to rip you off.
Also not to mention when you do a repair for people, they are likely to get back to you with "how do I connect the wifi", iTunes, or whatever, and you can't really charge them for this support either.

Nick

Duggy747

BloodBath wrote: »

Of course it could take longer if it's badly infected but would it take more than an hour of your actual time on the laptop? I don't think it would.

Yes it would, especially with badly infected machines and especially in the case where people want to avoid wiping the machine (as do I).

I could do a job like that quickly but I'd put that down as being irresponsible and cutting corners which is not what a customer or client wants to know or pay for, as much as they want it done fast.

Allyall

smjpl wrote: »

Very very few tools are needed. Screwdriver is about it (can even use a knife if you don't have a screwdriver handy) . Don't be afraid to take stuff apart. Just remember to ground yourself first (touch metal radiator pipe etc) and you will be fine. Just be sensible and hold things by the edges. Hardware is the easy part. :cool:

yoyo wrote: »

A PH 00 screwdriver is all you need to work with most laptops. Internal wireless mini PCI cards are cheap enough on ebay and the likes, and usually replacing them is straightforward enough. Just take the one out of your current model and find a replacement part by product code

Nick

Pffffffftt...

Find the Wireless cover on the base of the laptop.


and then, using the tools as pictured open the cover.



and Finally, Extract the wireless card.



Alternatively, Call us.

Hammer IT - The Best Fix.
082-2832-448
2315 Ballyhauvin Road,
Kinnisarossi,
Ballyhaunis,
Co. Dublin.

"We'll give anything a go"

**************************************

€30 wasn't too bad OP. But did you end up with an external Wireless Dongle or an Internal?

yoyo

Allyall wrote: »

Hammer IT - The Best Fix.
082-2832-448
2315 Ballyhauvin Road,
Kinnisarossi,
Ballyhaunis,
Co. Dublin.

Banned for Shilling :pac: :pac:

bcp

^^lol