Consumer Beware: Don’t be misled by ridiculously low hourly rates and cheap software pricing!

We’ve all seen pop-ups and paid advertisements showing: “$75 Computer Repair Services Any Problem.” We hear about it all the time: A residential client that bawks at our hourly rate but then discloses to us the horror stories about the technician they paid $75 “per job” for. These consumers complain to us about the experiences they had with these types of “Technicians”:   Repeat charges for unresolved issues, unrepaired problems that linger without resolve and how can we forget about the incorrectly diagnosed repairs and wasted time? Orange County Computer’s^® Tech Repair Center picks up the pieces for many of these frustrated consumers.  We have seen misdiagnosed motherboard problems, laptop components, clean room data recovery jobs that didn’t need to go to a clean room, hard drives replaced that had no evidence of being bad, and the list goes on and on….My personal favorite is when we hear about customers that honestly believe they have valid Microsoft licensing which was produced by “Key Generators” provided by BitTorrent websites.

People, you get what you pay for, it’s as simple as that. Typically the one-man-show technicians that are undercharging the market inevitably end up coming back several times to correct a problem and you, the customer, end up paying more money in the long run anyway. Other scenarios can include being sold illegal copies of software applications. The truth about licensing is this:

If as a consumer, you are sold a Microsoft License as an example, you will receive a Valid License key code and an authentication sticker to place on your system or a Certified Product License key code. If you have hacked or illegal product licensing, you, the customer,  will have an array of compatibility issues and bugs, followed by  warnings. That same technician that charged you $75/hour will have to come back several times to correct some completely unnecessary problem that they created themselves by selling you an illegal copy of a software application. Unfortunately, most people find out about their illegal software licensing a few years later when having to purchase LEGAL, valid licensing during a repair, or when as new computer is purchased.

So buyer beware:  Protect your technology, time and money and qualify your technician by asking the following questions BEFORE giving someone access into your home office and your personal confidential information:

1. Ask how long they have been working as an IT Consultant?
2. Do they carry Business Insurance?
3. Do they have any Technical Certifications?
4. Do they have any references you can speak with?
5. Do they provide these services on the side or full-time?

I hope that this honest posting has been useful and hopefully steered you or someone you know away from working with the wrong type of technician. Orange County Computer^® Computer, Inc.  is happy to help. Feel free to stop by our Tech Repair Center or visit us online at www.orangecountycomputer.com for more information about our professional and responsible business practices in the Technology Sector.

Written by Deborah Walck, Operations Director, Orange County Computer^®, Inc.