Wouldn't it be great if you, the customer, had a way to influence not only the quality of service you receive when getting your PC repaired, but also could make the process faster resulting in quicker repair times? Well, you absolutely can! As a matter of fact, you are probably the most influential cog in the machine when it comes to influencing your service. Take a look at these 5 ridiculously easy tips for being the best customer you can be!
- Know the basics about your computer
- Document Everything
- Do not rush your tech
- A. Leave the computer with the tech and request a call when the work is completed. If you aren't familiar with this particular tech, you may want to ask something like "Please also call me before any other charges are made." or "Please call me when the labor cost reaches $xx." This will help ensure that your invoice doesn't go out of control while you are not around. If you know your tech will contact you before doing work, then you have a great tech!
- B. Politely tell your tech that you need to leave and that you need your computer. While your tech will probably still charge you for the work done, they may allow the money paid work towards a credit to finish the work. However, do not expect not to be charged for an additional assembly/disassembly if your tech had your computer opened up on the workbench!
- Ask how their day is going
- Realize your tech doesn't know everything
This may seem like a given to some, but there are many people that don't know who makes their computer, let alone what operating system is running on it. At the very least, you need to be able to present your tech with the following information if asked:
Manufacturer:
Model:
Operating System:
These are the bare minimums that you should know about your computer. Other useful info includes:
Installed memory:
Disk space:
32 or 64 bit operating system:
TECH TIP! You can press the Windows Logo Key (between the Ctrl and Alt keys on most standard keyboards) and 'R' at the same time to open the Run dialog box. In here, type msinfo32 and press Enter. A System Information window will show up. Press File>Export and choose a convenient directory. This will take a few minutes to crunch all of the data, but in the end you will receive a .txt file that you can send to your tech with TONS of info that will (probably) be useful to them!
Before you come to your tech make sure that you do your best to document everything about your issue. Some common things to write down are:
-Extremely detailed account of what is happening
-What you are doing when the issue occurs
-Does it happen at a regular time? If so, when?
-When is the last time the error occurred?
-Provide all error messages, error codes, and screenshots you can get that relate to the issue
The most important thing here is to be as thorough and concise as possible. Any information that you can provide will help your tech isolate the issue. However, be careful because generic or vague information can cause the troubleshooting and diagnosis to take longer than they would have without the information. One idea is to create two lists: One that contains issues that are happening that are very obviously related to the issue you are seeing, and another list that contains things that maybe a bit 'quirky' happening on your computer, but you aren't sure whether it's related. For example, on one column, you can have "Cannot get to google.com on my computer, but I can on my friend's... Also cannot access my Google Drive folder on my Desktop..." and in the other column you would have "when my friend sends me YouTube videos, they never load." This information would greatly help the tech be able to see what issues you are having without you giving him the "by the way, XXX is also broken" spiel. This is a guaranteed method to speed up troubleshooting and diagnostic time, saving you money and saving your tech time (which they will be super appreciative of!).
Probably the easiest way to rack up a huge labor bill during your visit with your PC tech is to pressure them with time constraints... not because they bill you out of spite, but because they will constantly need to stop and restart their work to tend to you. More than likely, you already told the tech that the repair was urgent when you brought them your computer. In addition, we know that peoples' livelihood often depends on their computers being in working order. You pestering your tech does not speed up the process nor does it inform them of something they were not previously aware of. You needed your computer done ASAP 5 minutes ago, you still need it done ASAP now.
Computers aren't simple toys like yo-yo's where the knot in the string is immediately apparent. PC repair requires a significant amount of time diagnosing the issue, then repairing the affected software/hardware. Your tech should have given you a relative time frame based on the information they had when they received the machine from you. Sometimes, the repair will be much quicker; Sometimes, it will take much longer... this is not something that the tech can control. Occasionally a problem can penetrate much deeper than was originally expected. Either way, if your tech provided you an estimated time, do not confront them about the time before then. If your tech did not provide an estimated time... shame on them.
In the event that you reach the estimated time of completion discussed by you and your tech and they are still not finished, you have two options:
It works, trust me... okay, so don't go making small-talk while they're working on your machine, but when you come in the store or contact them over the phone, just make a little bit of small talk before you get down to business. If they chat you up, give it back! We PC techs are humans that work with machines more than we do people. When we do work with people, it's typically a very cold, surgical process of extracting the data we need from the human mind. Having a warm, genuine conversation with your tech will not only build report, but will put them in a better mood while they work on your machine!
Say it with me: "My tech is not a superhuman android cyborg machine robot with a mechanical brain that is able to consume, store, and regurgitate all information about all computers ever created since the dawn of time." Yeah, it's a mouthful, but it's true. Your tech is limited by the same human capabilities that you are... even if they do seem super-human at times... Computers are complicated machines that don't always clearly tell us what's wrong with them. If your tech tells you that he's not sure what's wrong, so he's going to need more time, more money, or contact another person, he's not incompetent... he's human. There are hundreds of thousands of things that can go wrong on a computer at any given time. Techs typically know how to fix a few hundred issues off the top of their head that make up the largest percentage of issues they see. Nearly all of the remaining issues can be researched. The few remaining issues may require assistance from someone that may have seen this issue before, or may be a vendor-specific issue. Moral of the story: your tech isn't dumb if they don't know how to fix your issue right away... give them some space and I'm sure you will be pleased!
Now you know how to have a great experience whilst having your computer repaired! If you think of any other tips, toss them in the comments! If you have any stories of how something you did got you better service, let us know!
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