Page 2 - Starting a home computer repair business.

whadda think about this liability form i jsut drew up cause its 430 am and im bored, should be playing bf2

LIABILITY BEOTCHES

what do i think... i think you shouldnt be using works but thats just me! will take a look if i can load it.

"sign here bitches" nice touch...

Re-did some of the wording for you.

"Liability:
I hearby grant that all of the above information is correct and that all listed items were in/with the computer when received by Jaken for repairs. Anything that is not concurrent with this list and the computer are not the responsibility of jaken. If anything happens to any part after jaken has taken the computer then Jaken is responsible for any damages or problems."

Just sounds a bit more professional.

Also not sure about That bit.

What if his hard drive has been making a really horrible noise, so you put it on your bench and turn it on, it boots then 5 mins later it gives in a dies. Your held responsible for his hard drive, and it's coming out of your pocket.

ah ok i see gotta make sure to word it correctly, this was just a rought draft, sign here bitches.

i have a windows 98 cd and a millenium but what about serial numbers? is there a way to like just buy the serial for the product? if anything like i have to install office for them or if they dont have it and like want it i will go out and buy it and then charge them for it.

thanks for the usb mass storage idea, i didnt think of that at all, ill probably get a HUGE MASSIVE ONE, so i can like idk have a backup of like 4 computers and charge the person like a weekly storage fee just incase their computer craps out afterwards, kinda like the 21 day guarntee with comp usa.


this is probably about 3 months of at the latest. so that give me plenty of time to get a supplies list, start learning how to wear an ESD strap and what not.

where as saving address books and what nots could you tell me how to do that, i have a basic idea but not 100% sure. HEY if all else fails then i could ask you guys, lol (jaken not held liable for any fees from devhardware.com, bitches)

ok so this is a short crap needed list i just came up with in WORKS, but ill type it here for the convience of bob, lol.

tools such as a pc repair kit with drivers, tweezers ESD straps what not.

software such as a windows 92 version 2 disc, windows millenium, and windows xp slipstreamed (have no idea where to get that) spybot, adaware, avg/avast,command.com fdisk.com chkdsk.com and other dos tools incase the comp doesnt post.

hardware like usb external drive, multimeter, digital thermometer, and like cooling paste what not.

waivers and documentation, a business bank account or another bank account with a credit card for online purhcases.

thats all i can think of for it being 533 in the am and i have to be at work in a bit, soo im siging off right now, but before i go if you have anything you could add to this list of needed crap please add to it, thanks.

well instead of getting a credit card id say just have two bank accounts for the business (one for storing the money, and one for expenditures... and just put in the money you'll need to spend... this saves you having the risk of a credit card [they seriously ruin more lives than most drugs...] and the safety of knowing most of the money is safe and untouchable ).

I don't have long, but I will try to fit as much in as I can, possibly follow up later today if possible.

Go to your local city council or what have you and get a business license. It'll cost you a little, but having a license number opens the world of commerce to you like you wouldn't believe-- there are any number of warehouses and vendors that provide a discount to businesses (if they sell to the public at all) and you'll need your license number to get those prices or access to the vendor.

I would go with a simple matter of trust waiver saying that the customer trusts you with their computer and you promise not to steal anything or damage it further if you can help it, though I do like having a template parts list for each computer coming in the door. I recall seeing something along those lines in the Linux Documentation Project somewhere... possibly in the "compile your own" area, whatever that is called.

Have a standaradised work sheet, showing a discrepancy block and corrective action block. An area listing replacement parts, time spent actually working on the machine (you could also differentiate time spent online/downloading files, drivers, etc. for their machine) and therefore you can calculate your hourly rate.

Find out what the hourly rate for the competition is, and undercut them a tad. Don't give away software... you can sell them a CD and install it for them, and you can install any freeware but be sure to use their serial numbers for Windows and such. I think we've had discussions already about machines being turned in for repair and having hacked/cracked programs on it... Windows is going to be the big problem there.

Assure your customers that you are not going to be surfing their hard drive for neat stuff... you will perform the repairs as necessary and that's it... their data is their data and you will not be accessing it. If you make backups, then it may be a good idea to back up to a hard medium like a DVD-R and hand the backup disk to the customer with the computer-- that will make them feel better about you not wanting to or actually going through their private stuff.

If the've got kiddie pr0n or some crazy shit like that and you notice it, then by all means call the cops and report them... after they've given you their money.

Gotta go... more later, perhaps.

Good luck. Like everyone has been saying, document everything. Also if you do plan to put it on your network to backup/whatever.. make sure it's isolated in case things decide to try and spread. After you gain a bit of a reputation you should be able to raise your prices. Its not a cheap business. I think we charge something like 85/hr for benchtime.

Main reason i recommended a usb backup, is so you can just copy all their important stuff, format the drive and put it all back on after with no need for temporarily adding a dvd-writer to there system to burn the stuff.

Granted, Dngrsone, that if they would like a backup for themselves that the dvd is a spot on idea. But for while the computer is in the hands of Jaken, it's much more easier, quicker and cost effective to just save it onto a usb harddrive, and hold the data for, say a month incase they come back and have cocked something up, or another format is in need.

This is what we used at my old job.

Be prepared though and get the drivers for the drive off the website for win98 as it wont auto-detect and they dont come with the drive. Just get them and put them on a floppy for those machines.

yes but dngrsone was saying your much less likely to be accused of nicking stuff off the HDD if the only backup made is on the DVD you gave them.

and it's not much more haste to plug in and run an external DVD burner compared to a flash disk. sure it's quicker, but it's not safer for you. and you could incorporate the DVD into your base charge.

and the last time i checked (googled it just now in fact) an external DVD writer costs about £100 (but you can ones cheaper, or buy a £25 DVD-RW and a £20 external caddy ). and a 1gb flash drive (baring in mind you'd probably need multiple ones as you're never going to fit more than one person's HDD contents onto one of them) costs around £50. and 10x 4.7gb DVD's costs you under a tenner.

so i think i can safely say " ".

I'm talking about a 300Gb external drive. Or one of the huge network drives.

Thing is the person who your copying the stuff for is gonna have to wait around while you change the dvd writer and burn his stuff. And it's very annoying working while someone's watching you.

While working for my ex company no one was bothered about their info being stored on a drive for future reference. They knew were could be trusted. And to be honest the people who are going to be his first customers are going to be close enough that they know they can trust him.

Also when the customer comes back they are gonna have to wait again while you import all their docs back, and import their emails address book and accounts.

Edit:

And 90% of people who know their computer is going for repairs will delete all porn etc, and tell you that their important info that they dont want you to see. Thats when you should offer the dvd option. Otehrwise just save it onto an external hard drive.

ah, not a USB flash drive then...

Honestly, I'd definitely consider it as a very viable option for you to make money. I'm kinda where you are except I'm a Junior in College and you wouln't BELIEVE how many of my friends, JUST my friends, need help with their computers. I eventually got a job as a student worker last year working with the computer tech crew. Not only does my school now pay me to help students get their computers registered and online with our network, but I also fix all of Dell computers that are leased to us. Sometimes it's just sitting on the phone for an hour talking to a Dell technician so that they can verify what EXACTLY some of them need hardware wise, but it's not bad at all. And I don't have A+, N+, or ANY other computer classes either. I taught myself everything I know about computers and if I haven't even had any special training and I'm completely able to fix just about anything, you are too.

Good luck!

You have a good point, there, Chilly... though the biggest problem when people worry about their data being swiped is if he makes housecalls and needs to backup and format a computer. In that case, he'd be using either a Linux live disk or a win PE to access the drive if possible and move as much data over to the backup drive as possible.

Either way would work, frankly.

I think the going rate around here is $90/hr with a fixed, look-at-it fee. Unfortunately, there are too many computer businesses in my area as it is, and the few legit guys are having a hell of a time keeping a customer base when there are fly-by-night types selling computers with pirated software... again, I think we had this discussion before.

I think it's a good idea if your local market has a niche for you.