Most people that read this must be thinking right now, “I build my own computers” If you are one of these people, you are of 20% of computer users that don’t need to read this. As for the 80% of computer users that do need to read this, you’re in good hands.

Picking a Company:

Anyone can get a businesses license and anyone can call themselves a computer whatever, who can you trust? CBC National News investigated and proved that 1 in 10 computer technicians/companies was capable of fixing a simple problem created by the news team’s tech department; so what do you do?

Do they charge by the hour? or a fixed flat fee?

The technician should charge a flat fee for services, any technician that charges by the hour is ripping you off. Fact: Most computer services are unattended, why pay for labor that was never provided.

As a Certified Computer Technician myself I am able to service about 6 computers simultaneously.

How much should they charge?

Lower is better, Virus removal should cost no more than $50, if possible look for a technician that provides Service Packages, this way you get everything included at a low rate.

A fair price for full service is between $80 – $150, anything over this excluding parts is ripping you off.

Certification?

Most technicians are not certificated, ask for their certification. Private Colleges or Career Institutions are not accredited by anyone, unless the government directly says so. Fact: Private Colleges are not schools they’re a business. Companies that say they are certificated does not reflect the employee.

Who is certificated?

People can be certificated by the government through a government funded and accredited school. Certification can be provided by an internationally accredited organization called CompTIA for example.

Experience:

Just because someone is certificated doesn’t mean they’re experienced, most newly graduated students really don’t have any idea what they’re doing, and the college/university has lift employers to train and provided that experience. Problem: A bad company provides bad training.

Who to trust?

Word of mouth is good, home based businesses are often better than large companies, a home business owner is often someone experienced and does it for pocket money. Don’t trust just anyone, ask questions; a good technician can answer anything. A computer technician always interviews the customer and writes the problems down like a doctor, information about services should be easily accessible as well as any service limitations.

Documentation:

Every computer technician knows that documentation is mandatory for everything. Not only do you want to know what they did and what they changed, documentation shows everything in an easy to read document. How often do you bring a computer to a technician and find that they made changes to your system, all your programs are gone or new programs appeared, in this case documentation is important.
Fact: 99% of computer technicians do not provide documentation.

Authorized Dealer / Repair:

The authorized advantage allows technicians to send the computer of brands such as Acer, Dell, Compaq and etc back to the manufacturer for repair on behalf of the owner, or the authorized technician can order parts from the manufacturer exclusively. Often if there is a manufacturer defect the computer has to be sent directly to the manufacturer, for some geological areas this can take about 3 months before you receive your computer. Technicians becoming authorized with the many brands is very expensive and is considered unnecessary.

Responsible:

• Every technician knows to backup the client’s data when needed.
• Every technician knows to document everything they do.
• Every technician notifies the client when additional parts/services are needed.
• Every technician notifies the client when the computer is ready or if a serious problem that is not serviceable has been found.
• Every technician can provide information and alternatives.

What makes a good technician?

• Documentation
• Certification
• Experience
• Accessible Service Details
• Flat Fee Services
• Affordable Service Bundles

Most of the time you can know right away if a technician is qualified by the documentation, ask about documentation, if they don’t provide documentation you can’t trust them, if they don’t have a sample documentation to present and explain to you, don’t trust them.

It pays to be choosy, you paid hundreds or even thousands for your computer, why does sending your computer to a repair shop cost 1/3 rd the amount you paid for the computer; it doesn’t! some people are just trying to rip you off.

By reading this article I hope you now have a better understanding of computer technicians and are ready to make a informed decision when choosing a computer technician.

 

 

 

 

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