24 hour Free IT support line !
02 June 2006, 06:10 PM
#31
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I am an analyst programmer and i used to work for BT, how many times did i get people asking if i could fix their phone, used to do my head in.
JUST COS I WORK FOR BT DOESNT MEAN I KNOW ABOUT PHONES!
Rant over..
JUST COS I WORK FOR BT DOESNT MEAN I KNOW ABOUT PHONES!
Rant over..
02 June 2006, 06:30 PM
#33
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Originally Posted by 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.
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.
Phil
02 June 2006, 06:51 PM
#34
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I dont profess to be an expert, but i can build and install most stuff, routers were a first for me, and i posted for help, next time round, i should be ok (ha)
i sorted a pc for a neighbour, removed the virus's, **** diallers, and other crap, removed A*L and its embedded crap!! and got it running, set up a new online account using my phone!! and got rid off all the craP (cept the ****), and advised him not to use a*l again, as it gave more trouble than it was worth in imho
2 days later he,s on the door step... its gone **** up....... i asked him what did he do... not much he replied, apparantly he couldnt remember his new password for the new account i,d set up, so he,d reinstalled A*L and his old account, and been surfin, now it was slow and kept crashing. he wanted to know what i could do. i told him reformat the hard drive and sell the fcker....
and that i had told him not to reinstall the software that gave him the problems in the first place!!
suffice to say he formatted the hard drive and sold the machine, the next one came out of a box allready set up and running, he hasnt been back since
mart
i sorted a pc for a neighbour, removed the virus's, **** diallers, and other crap, removed A*L and its embedded crap!! and got it running, set up a new online account using my phone!! and got rid off all the craP (cept the ****
), and advised him not to use a*l again, as it gave more trouble than it was worth in imho 2 days later he,s on the door step... its gone **** up....... i asked him what did he do... not much he replied, apparantly he couldnt remember his new password for the new account i,d set up, so he,d reinstalled A*L and his old account, and been surfin, now it was slow and kept crashing. he wanted to know what i could do. i told him reformat the hard drive and sell the fcker....
and that i had told him not to reinstall the software that gave him the problems in the first place!!
suffice to say he formatted the hard drive and sold the machine, the next one came out of a box allready set up and running, he hasnt been back since
mart
02 June 2006, 08:10 PM
#35
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Unless it's immediate family or there is money involved i tell them to take it elsewhere.
I spent the first 2 years of my working life looking after home and small office users who fill their machines full of trojans, etc and want everything doing for a dime.
Not anymore, i work with up to date kit, if something is passed its best and needs replacing ill tell them to replace it! Otherwise go find someone gullable chump to sit at home going crazy for hours to be paid 30 quid.
I spent the first 2 years of my working life looking after home and small office users who fill their machines full of trojans, etc and want everything doing for a dime.
Not anymore, i work with up to date kit, if something is passed its best and needs replacing ill tell them to replace it! Otherwise go find someone gullable chump to sit at home going crazy for hours to be paid 30 quid.
03 June 2006, 12:07 AM
#38
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I also work in IT and have exactly the same problem. My bloody uncle is a good one, on one occasion (out of several) he called me asking if I could look at his friends laptop, I said yea can do (thinking he would say I will drop it round at some point) but oh no it was "ok I will be round in ten mins" 
Like never mind me im not doing anything else FFS!!
Anyway he & his friend came round and I looked at his friend’s laptop/sorted the problem, so he comes out with "thanks what do I owe you" so I said "oh sort me out with a drink or summat". Thinking he would bung me a few quid but oh no he said oh I will sort you out with a few cans!!! Like great cheers!!
That was about 3 years ago and to this day I have never seen anything for it. Also built my cousin a PC a few years back, he was always phoning me up/wanting me to go round to look into why the latest game he got didn't work on his PC
And also another mate who only calls when he got a question/problem with his PC.
I have learnt just to tell people from the start what I will charge them. I think what makes it difficult is most of the time its family or friends so its hard not to feel a bit guilty by charging them but hey what the hell, I mean why do they come to you in the first place?............. because they think they will save them self some £’s. But I look at it like this, I tell them what I will charge and if they don’t like it then they will have to go somewhere else and pay over the odds and then realise that I was actually doing them a favour in the first place
Like never mind me im not doing anything else FFS!!Anyway he & his friend came round and I looked at his friend’s laptop/sorted the problem, so he comes out with "thanks what do I owe you" so I said "oh sort me out with a drink or summat". Thinking he would bung me a few quid but oh no he said oh I will sort you out with a few cans!!! Like great cheers!!
That was about 3 years ago and to this day I have never seen anything for it. Also built my cousin a PC a few years back, he was always phoning me up/wanting me to go round to look into why the latest game he got didn't work on his PC
And also another mate who only calls when he got a question/problem with his PC.
I have learnt just to tell people from the start what I will charge them. I think what makes it difficult is most of the time its family or friends so its hard not to feel a bit guilty by charging them but hey what the hell, I mean why do they come to you in the first place?............. because they think they will save them self some £’s. But I look at it like this, I tell them what I will charge and if they don’t like it then they will have to go somewhere else and pay over the odds and then realise that I was actually doing them a favour in the first place
03 June 2006, 12:18 AM
#39
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Bastids and jinxed..... posted earlier,,, and 2 hrs into a session of guildwars..
ping.. of goes the pc & monitor... and a whiff of burning.... oh pooo
i had noticed somthing has been smelling hot for a few days now, so it was just a matter of tracking down the guilty item..... prime candidate ...................power supply, so i whips open one of the back up machines i have around,,, good intention to build a networked pc for my nipper... but never got round to it... yet,,,
good its got a atx supply, but only 200w as opposed to 300w,,,, itll do as a temp measure....
so goes to whip the old deceased power supply out of my machine...
bugger it wont come out some rf coils are just fouling the angle needed to drop it out, do its an all cards out, and a remove the mb operation.... all done... then repalce new temp psu.. and its a bit smaller, luckily the holes line up, but the cooling fan is on the underneath, and is almost touching the cpu fan.... but it has clearance... reassembles it and inserts power lead...
turns on and .....dead. big pooo moment, mb is sha**ed so feeling a bit sad and elated (new pc time) then i thought the monitor has power so lets swap leads.... hooks it up with new lead and up it sparks,,,, great, the fuse has blown,, was it just that,,,,, so i hooked the old (blown) psu into the backup machine and connects it in...... turns on....... and the blue spark that shot accross the back of the psu innards was spectacular as was the loud pop... tata psu...
one quick fuse change later in the original lead and away we go..
new psu tommorow
Mart
ping.. of goes the pc & monitor... and a whiff of burning.... oh pooo
i had noticed somthing has been smelling hot for a few days now, so it was just a matter of tracking down the guilty item..... prime candidate ...................power supply, so i whips open one of the back up machines i have around,,, good intention to build a networked pc for my nipper... but never got round to it... yet,,,
good its got a atx supply, but only 200w as opposed to 300w,,,, itll do as a temp measure....
so goes to whip the old deceased power supply out of my machine...
bugger it wont come out some rf coils are just fouling the angle needed to drop it out, do its an all cards out, and a remove the mb operation.... all done... then repalce new temp psu.. and its a bit smaller, luckily the holes line up, but the cooling fan is on the underneath, and is almost touching the cpu fan.... but it has clearance... reassembles it and inserts power lead...
turns on and .....dead. big pooo moment, mb is sha**ed so feeling a bit sad and elated (new pc time
) then i thought the monitor has power so lets swap leads.... hooks it up with new lead and up it sparks,,,, great, the fuse has blown,, was it just that,,,,, so i hooked the old (blown) psu into the backup machine and connects it in...... turns on....... and the blue spark that shot accross the back of the psu innards was spectacular as was the loud pop... tata psu...one quick fuse change later in the original lead and away we go..
new psu tommorow
Mart
03 June 2006, 12:28 AM
#40
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Originally Posted by J4CKO
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,
What about the thick idiots who manage to get through life refusing to learn anything about IT?
"Whats that (pointing at the monitor)"
"Don't Know"
"OK it's a monitor......what is it?"
"Don't kow"
"one more time its a m o n i t o r, .....what is it?"
"Don't know"
"look you fecking idjit...."
"you're in a bad mood aren't you.."
03 June 2006, 12:31 AM
#41
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Originally Posted by 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.
fantastic
03 June 2006, 09:41 AM
#42
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I have a slight problem with my laptop it works fine and everything but keeps coming up with "low disc space" i delete everything i can but its still there grrr
also im on a wireless network off my mums computer but her computer runs slow she only got it 6 months before i got my laptop but my laptop runs fast do you think i need the bigger router???
Thanks Steph
also im on a wireless network off my mums computer but her computer runs slow she only got it 6 months before i got my laptop but my laptop runs fast do you think i need the bigger router???
Thanks Steph
03 June 2006, 10:18 AM
#43
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Nice timely thread. My wife's friends have asked me to take a look at their PC as it keeps crashing.The problem I find with this kind of job is that the PC rarely looks better afterwards no matter how many viruses and dialers you remove because they are old ****e machines with 128Mb memory.
03 June 2006, 05:08 PM
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back up and running proppa now
a nice spangly 600W psu with future connection for sata stuff, 20-24 pin atx connector 7 hd / etc connectors 2@4 pin 12v connecters and a floppy connector
should keep me going for a bit
Mart
a nice spangly 600W psu with future connection for sata stuff, 20-24 pin atx connector 7 hd / etc connectors 2@4 pin 12v connecters and a floppy connector
should keep me going for a bit
Mart
03 June 2006, 07:22 PM
#49
Originally Posted by J4CKO
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.
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.
finished wingeing ?phone goes : lpski1 you w**k in IT eh ?
lpski1: yes, i dont w**k for you so that will be £50 p/hour contract rates which i charge!
phone goes: ..........beeeeeeeeeeepppppp
sorted
*rates are correct at the time of printing*
Last edited by lpski1; 03 June 2006 at 07:28 PM.
yeah i had some
03 June 2006, 09:59 PM
#51
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Originally Posted by fatherpierre
Now you know how every car mechanic feels.........
what when you give them a ticket??
my mate was a car mechanic, he got killed doing home stuff to make ends meet..... only 38 as well
Mart
03 June 2006, 10:52 PM
#52
Originally Posted by mart360
bollox... 10 mins in and a bsod!!!
win32ksys apparantly and ideas before i go trawling the pcw forums
Mart
win32ksys apparantly and ideas before i go trawling the pcw forums
Mart
03 June 2006, 11:31 PM
#55
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Originally Posted by J4CKO
'my mate was a car mechanic, he got killed doing home stuff to make ends meet..... only 38 as well'
Thats terrible, how ?
I suppose IT poeple are unlikely to die from a dusty pc or a bad virus ?
Thats terrible, how ?
I suppose IT poeple are unlikely to die from a dusty pc or a bad virus ?
Mart
04 June 2006, 12:38 PM
#56
Mart, thats awful, I must admit to getting very windy around jacked up cars, I saw a neighbour as a kid messing with the rear end on a Princess (oo er) and that fell on him, trapped his head under the rear wheel arch until four guys lifted it up enough to get him out, he suvived but it buggered his spine, has had problems since.
Its awful hearing about stuff like that, my dad always fixed cars at home when I was a kid to make ends meet, was the only way we could have a holiday, we got to play out till all hours cos mum worked late at the library and dad had a string of motors in an out the garage, he got the Cortina cam swap down to two hours.
Its awful hearing about stuff like that, my dad always fixed cars at home when I was a kid to make ends meet, was the only way we could have a holiday, we got to play out till all hours cos mum worked late at the library and dad had a string of motors in an out the garage, he got the Cortina cam swap down to two hours.
04 June 2006, 04:27 PM
#57
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ditto,
he was doing exactly that himself, left a wife and two young sons.
Ironically he was always telling me of the dangers of not supporting a car when workin under it...
ive had a few close calls, but that sort of brings it home.... mind you ive had a few colourfull sparks from switchmode power supplys when theve let go
touchwood the pc is fixed, ish...duf ram chip but it,l keep me going...
ive had my call today from my sister, the lawnmowers stopped, what should i do,... she ran the cable over oh and then i get the video recorder has chewed up some tapes whats hould i do...
wtf... what is it with people, do they have no common sense
Mart
he was doing exactly that himself, left a wife and two young sons.
Ironically he was always telling me of the dangers of not supporting a car when workin under it...ive had a few close calls, but that sort of brings it home.... mind you ive had a few colourfull sparks from switchmode power supplys when theve let go
touchwood the pc is fixed, ish...duf ram chip but it,l keep me going...
ive had my call today from my sister, the lawnmowers stopped, what should i do,... she ran the cable over
oh and then i get the video recorder has chewed up some tapes whats hould i do...wtf... what is it with people, do they have no common sense
Mart
04 June 2006, 10:38 PM
#58
Its like anything, they blanche at easy stuff like changing brake pads on the car and then go and knock a wall out ?
Still, my father in law bestowed his old kit on me today, minus the system unit, 1 rather old but still useful TFT monitor, a HP business inkjet and 2 keyboards, like I complete geek I cant say no.
Real shame about your mate, I had my wheels off today and was keeping well away from going under it, I was careful before, I am even more careful now.
Still, my father in law bestowed his old kit on me today, minus the system unit, 1 rather old but still useful TFT monitor, a HP business inkjet and 2 keyboards, like I complete geek I cant say no.
Real shame about your mate, I had my wheels off today and was keeping well away from going under it, I was careful before, I am even more careful now.
04 June 2006, 11:03 PM
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Know how you feel. I used to build PC's for people back when it was worth doing. They seemed to assume free technical support for life - even though they got a really cheap PC and I charged nothing to build it.
Not worth the hassle.
Not worth the hassle.
