J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Caution, Rant to follow......

Has anyone else become one of these ?

Because I work in IT (Databases) I have become the local IT support, firends family and even mates of freinds and family.

This week I have migrated a old pc to a new one and set up a wireless network, so that was Tuesday night gone and Last night as well, these jobs never go 100% to plan or transform into several other jobs, suffice to say I didnt get home last night until 8.30 pm having left that morning at 7 am for proper work, then left at 4.30 for my 'voluntary work'.

Neighbours turn up with printers, scanners, MP3 players etc, I can come home to find a P3 pc, keyboard, monitor and mouse all piled up in the hall and my missus says, of such and such brought that round for you to 'have a look at', so I set the steaming pile of poo up and then spend 4 hours getting rid of dialers, trojans, virus's, spyware, adware etc etc, bung some spare ram in, put the latest drivers on, for NOTHING, four hours that I could be doing revision, exercise, fixing my own pc, Xbox, spending timewith the missus (steady on there) but no, I am farting about with a 10 year old computer worth 5p that has been abused, no firewall, no virus scanner and worst of all Windows 98, then to cap it all when you suggest that they should possibly think about spending 299 quid on a new one they agree and bestow their old kit on you (once you have transferred everything) , whoop de do, a P3 with a CRT monintor (that they were going to sell but its ok, you can have it), so I get to take the bloody thing to the tip as well, I have no been blessed with donations of three Lexmark printers with no ink, I wouldnt want them if they had 10 spare cartridges. Next pc that turns up is going to be skipped without looking at it.

So thats it, I am f*cking sick of spending hours p1ssing about with peoples sh1tty IT kit, its not that I am so clever and a computer expert, its just that they are too lazy to RTFM and then dont take any notice of any advice you give them. I spent two happy hours setting up broadband for someone a couple of months back, grovelling around frigging about with a router amongst fluff, dust toe clippings and suspect tissues and I swear when I got it working I was ushered off the premises so quick my feet didnt touch the floor, only one guess what his first port of call on broadband to be was !!!!!!


Oh and if you dare fail in your alloted task, you are then considered hopeless (possibly a good thing) or even if it works, anything else that fails in the next five years is due to you touching it. Obviously working in IT I know every piece of hardware and software availble, DOS version of some crappy Family Tree software, know it well, all the options, what directories, config files etc
Obscure Paralell port based negative scanner, I have one just like it at home sir, all versions of Microsoft word, yes I can do a mail merge in the dark with my hands tied behine my back, I never look at the help or the manual.

You build a pc (not done that for years) but that gives the customer the right to call you every day for ages so you can teach them 'Internet', 'Word', 'Excel' and how to remove **** Dialers.

So thats it, from now on I am not doing it, they can all f*ck off with their crappy, dusty, infected, creaking machines, or its 30 quid an hour (minumum one hour) as to be honest I cant really base my rates on 1 in 5 jobs providing a bottle of three quid wine or a few cans of Carling,


Why is it IT support is free, if I asked the builder over the road to do three hours building like last time (roof repair, his mate did it) it was 220 quid, why is it the mate for who I did the work charges my missus for the kids music lessons ?

I think I am a bit too soft, well no more, my brother in law has requested that I sell his car (lives in the sticks, cant be arsed), last time I sold his wifes car, I got them 800 quid over the part ex, it turned up with the pc in the boot, virus infested, 3 evenings on and off of installing virus checkers, anti spyware, removing stuff, put extra ram in it (40 quid), I valeted the car (with my own stuff) and advertised it in Autotrader (30 quid) and had the princely sum of 100 quid (some weeks later) dropped off, so 30 quid profit for several hours work, many phone calls (from nobbers of Autotrader and telesales) buyers turning up at 10pm, a valet etc, tight arsed **** !

This time he is going to get back quite a lot less !

Sorry about that, just getting sick of working for nothing for ungrateful people.

mike1210

totally agree with that, becuase people see IT as a hobby getting money for your services is like getting blood from a stone. People always hint where i work that "my is playing up, where is a good place to get it fixed". I give them a map for PC world

speed demoness

poor j4cko... if you start charging them, then maybe they'll leave you alone hun !
and tell your brother that if he can't be ar$ed then neither can you !!!!!! unless he pays you for all the **** you have to deal with !

toughen up a bit babe.... and let em see how much it rags you off!

btw... i have a problem with my hard drive.. could you take a look at it for me sometime

you sound like you've been a star to all the computers you've fixed and looked at so far... and well done you for keeping your cool up til now !

now here.... get out in that sunshine...and you and your missus get some time together and go for a nice pub lunch !

Kaz xxx

KiwiGTI

I just tell them I work in corporate IT and don't know anything about home PCs

wez_sti

everyone i know in I.T seems to get this, myself included!

Can be pretty frustrating!

Think its just the downside of doing a job the is usefull in the home too sometimes...

I bet plumbers/electricians/builders/carpenters etc.. get the same off their friends and family!

I do it for close friends and family, anyone else i give them the company number! ...unless they are a plumber/electrician/builder/carpenter


you scratch my back i'll scratch yours

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Wez, see what you mean, but why is the tariff so biased to trades, 15 minutes of pretty vague building advice for three hours (prob more) of intense network fiddling , I think part of it is that you have to learn about it as you go, I am not a network bod, I know a bit but not every config setting on a ever bit of hardware, so I have to RTFM and learn it, bit of trial and error with a bit of IT knowledge gets the job done but it isnt like they couldnt do it.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Kaz, unfortunately I am sat huddled in front of a PC in an office near Rochdale, nice thought though !

NotoriousREV

100% agree. The final straw for me was when a mate put me on to one of his mates to fix his PC. I'd had his PC for 1 night and the guy phoned me up threatening that if any money ever went from his bank he'd know it was me because I'd been the only one to look at his computer that he did his online banking on.

He got it back in its component peices.

I also had to set up my sister's boyfriends new laptop and set up the wireless and anti-virus plus firewall, which I did for nothing, yet he now wants £85 to fit 3 sensors to the house alarm.

Grrrr.

wez_sti

Oh definately, 99% of it is pure ignorance, the remaining 1% is an apparent fear of anything remotley computer related.

Some people, mainly middle aged to older women (no offence) tend to refuse to even give it a go. I had to print out a fax set up guide for a customer which in a nut shell said 'click next' for each stage. If i hadnt of done that they'd of asked me to set it up for them!

I think the most frustrating things is that they dont even bother trying!

Noone 'taught' me how to set up a wireless network for my house as we wasnt using them in work when they first came out, BUT I READ THE MANUAL and as if by magic got it to work!

Just be stubborn mate, and anyone your not that close too just say you'd have to charge because of your 'heavy workload'....

ScoobyDoo555

LOL!!

To my family and their friends, that is exactly what I've become!!

Like you, I now, just tell them to buy a new PC - it's easier. Had one a couple of weeks ago, where the wireless connection vanished and wouldn't printer/file share.

OK - where's the router?
the what?
The internet box
oh, up there.
Got the admin name and password?
why would I have that? my daughter and her boyfriend set it up.
Why call me then? Call your daughter.
She's abroad.


eventually get it sorted. Free bottle of VERY nice wine (kinda makes up for the hassle)
got home. Phone call. "It's all gone wrong again" fix it again. Next night, another call "It's gone wrong again" confusing? I thought so too

Bl00dy/******* owner, as soon as I'd left, he and his missus had gone "digging" in the settings, and foobar'd it

To top it all, wireless with no WEP/WPA, no firewall nor anti-virus ("oh, I can't be bothered with all that - it takes too long to load up")

For the upteenth time now, I've had to try to sort out file recovery - NOTHING gets backed up. Both are a teacher and (retired) bank manager - ("oh, I can't be bothered with all that - it takes too long to do")

One of many friends of the family who take advantage. They then wonder why I take the p1ss (and appear disrespectful) when I see them

****** end users are a PITA. Correction, end users aren't the major problem, as these tend to be locked down at work. HOME users are a PITA!!!

So, take it to 'em. Tell them to either pay up or **** orf!!!

Dan

shaunywrx

I think a lot of it is, because people think "He's only sitting at a desk pushing a few buttons (me included) it's not as though there doing any hard work".
What you should do, as soon as anyone asks you a question, just do that builder/mechanic thing of sucking air in through your teeth and rocking your head from side to side routine, it's universally accepted that as soon as someone do's that it's going to cost them a load of money.

Markus

I know the feeling. Thankfully no-one has ever just turned up bearing devices that need fixing, but I do get all manner of phone calls when I'm back in the UK from family asking for me to "have a look" at their machines.

These days I'll only look after the machines of immediate family, and they know I will expect something in return, usually a curry and a few beers, otherwise I'll not do it.

For anyone else, I'll charge them, funnily enough no-one has asked me to look at a thing since I told them it'd cost them.

I think the thing to do is to start charging for your services. If the people don't like it, guess what, they won't come to you.
As for how much to charge, well I have said my hourly rate for doing this stuff is £50 per hour, with a minimum job time of one hour, so even that little printer fix (replacing the printer cartridge) will cost them £50, plus of course parts, so that'd be around £100 for a cartridge replacement then.
I did have someone baulk at the charge, and I pointed out that if I'm sent on-site then my hourly rate is about £500 per hour.

Also, if you can, offer them a replacement for you, someone else who will charge but do the IT stuff, maybe PC world. ok, ok, that'll cause more problems than it'll solve, but it's them off your back, they can go and moan at PC world all the time.

If they come back to you a few months later, guess what, you've been so busy your charges have gone up to £100 per hour.

It is difficult doing this with family and friends but it does need to be done, as they can and will take the pish, even if they don't think they are. They see you know what you're doing and think it's ok too just drop stuff on you, they need to be politely informed this is not the case.

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

People more or less stopped asking me to help, when I say I'm an IT Manager (so obviously I have no technical skills, only the ability to moan at people) and suggesting that my wife and child would prefer to see me in the evening!

Seriously.... tell them to **** off! Or buy a Dell so they can spend their time hold for an Indian call centre!

mike1210

Just tell him you forgot to invoice him for the work you did and funnily enough........it was £85. Appy days job for a job

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

you're all a bunch of no necked humourless tigh-wads

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I end up getting stressed that I havent done the job I have been asked to do, it preys on my mind (to do list) until its sorted when I should invoke a SEP (Somebody Elses Problem) field !

My mate did suggest a curry last night but it was 8.15 byt the time we had finished and by the time we would have ordered and eaten it and I had driven home it would have been 10 or later, so I went home and ate the left over cold Pizza from the kids tea.

I feel like I am really getting the sh1tty end of the stick at the mo, got home house was a tip, cold pizza for tea, things are going to have to improve !

speed demoness

I know Rochdale.... used to live in Bury

Hanslow

I do IT favours for immediate family and close friends. As soon as anyone else asks me to look at IT equipment, I let them know that I'll be charging them. Stops them soon enough, or pays me for my time if they are happy with that.

Do it for the people that care, not just the people you know.

SD

Good rant. So, so true. The problem is also that just because you're in 'computers' you must know everything about every program EVAR. At a party, or other social occasion never ever say you're in IT. I just tell people I'm in network security and they soon leave me alone... Actually I am, but of course have a Windows background like most.

AER-SCOOBY

So true. I used to do personal jobs all the time until they started to take over my time. I used to get called on xmas morning cause someone had bought the latest most intense 3d game ever and was trying to run it on a 486. The best part of it was I told them it wouldn't work but they still insisted that I called round to try. Yes I replied, that will be £500. To which she replied you what? Its Xmas. I said exactly, its xmas for me too. Funny thing is I never heared from her again.

OllyK

First thing to do on arrival is format the hard drive, no matter what the problem, then ask for their recovery disks and data backups. At this point they usually become rather pale faced and you walk out the door muttering "I can't believe you don't keep back ups". I never been asked to visit a second time.

wez_sti

haha, might give that a go!

Is amazing how they think you'll know the ins and outs of every single little obscure program as people have said.

"I've got this Polish translation software, do you think you could set it up for me?"

er...no!!!!

even asked to look at washing machines etc... when i say i have no clue they're like 'but your in IT arent you?' , yeah IT with f00king computers!

Simon C

Yup, know this well. Esspecially from the rents after they have (well dad) has fubar'd the pc I built them.

Still, they are learning, I drove up on sunday to fix his latest **** up, on sunday and got sunday lunch and a 10 yo bottle of scotch for my troubles

Reality

Just tell them you do software and know nothing about PCs.

Tell them you're like Micheal Schummacher - He doesn't fix the cars he crashes - he just crashes them - Are you sure you want me to have a look at your PC ?

Works for me

SJ_Skyline

Tell them you won't lift a finger to help before they start flashing some notes with the queen's head on them.

Failing that, I can vouch for Tango's approach. Tell them that You're sorry but you have a team that deals with these sorts of problems now and can't help.

Foot_Tapper

pmsl
Am I familiar with these scenarios.

RichB

I feel your pain

I had someone cancel their hosting with me cos it was too expensive, forget the phone calls everyweek, forget the onlgin SEO work, for get the trips to sort the BB out, in fact the email went down and I spent 3 hours talking to wife/customer of tosser over the phone only to discover the ***** had cancelled his BB subscription.

NO MORE - site visits are £50 and every part hour is £30 - **** it.

NotoriousREV

My approach now is to agree to fix the problem then blatantly don't ever go and visit them again. They don't ask a second time.

WRXewl

iTrader: (1)

This thread is so spot, I dont need to say what I do for a job but yup I get calls out of the blue asking can I look at so and so or how do you this certain function as if like above I know every piece of software there is

The random home pc appearing on your desk someone has brought in from home so it gets fixed at work for free