Question to some of the techs

[Mike2287]

All the work I do is in house and haven't delt with the public for about 8 years. I was wondering what shops are charging for services. ie virus/spyware removal, repairs and upgrades. The reason I'm asking a friend of mine just got charged 125 to clean his system(he could have saved 125 with a phone call)but thats besides the point.I'm just looking to see if it was a fair price.

Mike

 

[carrr]

$50 bucks at CompUSA here locally (Florida panhandle) and $70 bucks at some of the local indy shops.
Not sure where you are located, or how thorough the cleanup was (not that this really matters as most users will have the system gummed up again in a matter of days/weeks), but $125 sounds a bit steep.
Then again, depends on how hosed your friend's system was.
I support about sixty users across fourteen counties, and the worst cleanup I've had to undertake took about and hour and a half. At what your friend was charged, that's a pretty robust hourly wage.



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[Mike2287]

I'm here in New York. I kinda thought it was a little high also. But the guy came to his house so that may have added to it.

 

[erikhertzel]

Mike,

I live in Kansas (out in the sticks) and I change $20 an hour for spyware/virus removal. I suppose that's pretty cheap, I don't know. It usually takes 1-2 hours depending on the severity of the infection.

I am swamped and can work as much as I want out of my house in the evening at this price.

What do you guys all think, is that too cheap? Too expensive? Thoughts...? I'd be interested.

Erik

 

[Mike2287]

20 an hour seems a little cheap. But I started this thread just to see whats the rates were around the contry.

 

[BFOJ]

Mike,

If you're swamped, then perhaps you should raise your price. I'm about to retire and will be looking to do this kind of home-based support myself. So I'm finding this thread useful.

 

[Mike2287]

I'm not swamped thats Erik. I have my hands full where I am now. I use to do side work years ago but it just got to be to much.

 

[BFOJ]

Sorry Mike, guess that's my old tired eyes failing me.

 

[eyec]

i think it all depends on what the customer wants

i have had some that wanted me to completely re-do their system; disinfect, reload OS, programs and settings for everything - while others just wanted the bugs gone.

so the cost is all over the board and sometimes a flat rate is better than an hourly rate.

in the endif the customer is happy then he will refer others to you, if not then kiss him and others goodbye.

 

[diogenes10]

Don't know how much time was involved in this but
Salesman noted virus on computer
Exp Rpt invoice from Indiana shop "Re-Run OS" $150.00

-------------------------------------
It's 10 O'Clock ( somewhere! ).
Are your registry and data backed up?

 

[MasterRacker]

I was at a shop in SE Minnesota earlier last year. $45.00/hr for any in-shop work, $65.00/hr for a houesecall.

Most cleanups ended up being 2-3 hours. The thing that realy kills is the underpowered machines that take forever to perform scans and reboots.


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[Mike2287]

I think eyec hit it on the head with flat rate. When it comes to home owners they want to know how much it's gonna cost before anything is done. I checked a few places around town and that seems like what there doing. But if your a Business be prepared to shell out 80-110 an hour.

 

[UCAtech]

Best Buy Charges $40 for all spyware removal, $40 for all virus removal, but you have to pay a $60 diagnostic fee unless you have purchased the extended service contract in which case the diagnostic fee is waived

Ben Boyd
Technical Writer/Programer/Student
opspeedydude@hotmail.com
Linuxbox Server Stats: 700mhz, 1024 MB RAM, 120 GB HD, Fedora 3
Laptop Stats: 2.0 Ghz, 1024MB RAM, 40GB HD, Windows XP Professional
Desktop Stats: 2.6 Ghz, 2048MB RAM, 3 x 120 GB HD, ATI Radeon x800 Pro, Windows XP Media Center Edition

 

[retiring]

I recently retired as manager of a client support unit in a large organization and I am doing this type of work to keep the brain from rusting. I charge $30 except for seniors and nonprofit. I was wondering if any of you have ever been stiffed and have a strategy to deal with the check is in the mail thing. It's more principle with me than the money.

Regards
bob

 

[eyec]

i had a person that i completely re-installed the OS and all programs, cleaned virus' and modified the system the way he wanted it - on two machines!

i told him once i got into it that he could do most of the installs instead of me to save himself some money but he said that i should go ahead and do it all.

well, yep, i told him how many hours i had in it and he said a local comp store could have done it for less and that he thought i should lower my price to match the store's.

this was all after i let him pick up the machines and make sure they worked the way he wanted - which they did.

i agreed to charge him what he said the local comp store would have charged him and i have never done anything for him since them, not even give advice after he asked for it.

moral to the story get their approval in writing and get payment before you release the machines!

 

[Mike2287]

retiring...Get payment before you leave.