Discussion on:

Poll: Is it OK for people to expect free IT advice from you?

And a privilege that can be revoked if they continually ask the same questions, but don't take your advice because they don't like the answers.

One of my relatives kept coming back with the same problem, and always after "someone at work/in the pub/who is a mate (delete as necessary)" had had another go at it. After the third time round I just gave him the number of a local PC shop and told him to pay someone else to deal with it - he never came back! Other than that I don't mind spending a few minutes helping someone in the family or a close friend - they will often reciprocate in their speciality.

When someone other than family tells me about their computer problems, I start with "I'm sorry to hear that", and then try to change the subject. If they say they've lost all of their data, then it's "I'm sorry for your loss." and I change the subject. If they continue, then I tell them that I normally charg $100 per hour plus mileage, with a 2 hour minimum, plus they are responsible for any parts that need to be purchased, but since they are a co-worker, friend, friend-of-a-friend, or whatever, I'll only charge them $75 per hour plus mileage and parts with a 2 hour minimum. They should just email the problem to me with a note at the bottom that they agree to my fee schedule.

They usually decide to change the subject themselves at that point.

"Hey, can you look at my computer?"

"As soon as you finish doing my yardwork."

One of my brothers-in-law came & did the yardwork ... so I looked at his computer. CCleaner & MSSE from the thumbdrive did the trick. It's been a year & I haven't had to look at it again!

The yard work must have done its job, then

I tell them I like computer work so well, that I do it free for everyone! Oddly enough, they never okay the job; I guess they figure my work can't be worth anything if I don't charge for it!!

Talk about reverse psychology!

Pity it was made outdated by the invention of cash and, albeit later, credit...

I always have a hard time with this one. As time goes by, I am more inclined to take the role of the appliance guy, the electrician or the plumber who will charge X amount of dollars up front just to come out to diagnose the problem. That might quell a few requests right away. Then, as Gena states above, cost for all parts plus time (with a minumum) might give them cause to look elsewhere for a less expensive solution (at least they think it will be cheaper). Certainly family is an exception and in some caes CLOSE friends, particularly if they have reciprocated in some fashion.

Perhaps another approach would be bartering. If they are in a profession which could benefit you somehow, a tradeoff of services could be arranged.

I have come to the conclusion because in many cases, we IT professionals make it look so easy to fix some probems, then they assume it should be cheap because it didn't take much time. They don't realize they are paying for the expertise, which oftens comes as a result of years of training and experience. How many times have we heard about the cousin who is "good with computers" who can fix the problem, but then it is us that has to undo the damage and really get it resolved.

I find I am expected to simply take a computer and rebuild it. In the last two weeks I have been badly imposed on and am utterly fed up with it! One occasion I had to undo the mess made by someone else who claims great experience!

Never touch anything that someone else has tampered with before.

I don't mind at all chatting with someone about their problem: a "Have you tried this setting or that setting?" sort of conversation.

If, however, they want me to DO something, then it's a business transaction (other than friends and family.) For instance, my neighbors get free IT support. I, on the other hand, have gotten free pet-sitting, free "the babysitter just cancelled!" child care, free lawn care while I was away, etc.

In response to the idea that "if you are in that line of work you should expect that sort of thing" it would be nice if people would stop trying to get that kind of thing for free, I think it comes across as rude but that being said I don't mind donating my time to people who truly need help with their pc's. It is satisfying in a way to be needed and when you fix it for them they will usually take you out to dinner or something.

I do not mind giving a quick idea of what may be wrong and tell them there may be some other things causing it and it should be looked at in person. If not a family/friend situation I then ask them to set up a consiltation time and explaine that the fee for that will come off the repair should they have me do the work.

I hate it when people ask me questions about things they have know reason to think I know more than they do about. For example which smart phone (that just came out) X or Y? How the heck should I know I'm not in the market for a new phone. You can do the same thing I do and look up the two phones and see how their features and cost compare.

Similarly, "oh your such a good programmer so you know tech. I'm trying to setup my kids keyboard into my TV's surround sound and I'm having some trouble." Really because I know computers I automatically am an A/V guy (especially with a musical bent)?

Otherwise though if the question is something that is reasonable to assume I'd know something about I'm okay about it. But I do get snarky when people ask questions about things that is their hobby not mine.

I work for a 150-person division in the Florida Department of Agriculture. I'm the first- and second-tier tech support for computers (I say again, COMPUTERS). The general attitude, however, seems to be, "If there's electricity in it, give it to IT." Oh, well, it keeps life interesting.

Then it doesn't make sense. I sent them to geek squad. After a few of these they stop coming back. Recession baby. Love is free, not IT support.

You send people you LIKE to Geek Squad???

I don't mind answering general questions (how do I get started with a website?) or very specific questions (why won't this format correctly in Word?). It's the in between stuff that I don't like. Why is my computer slow? How do I integrate my website with PayPal? I spend all day (and a lot of nights) coding and tinkering, so I don't really want to do that for free (unless I really like you, and I don't like a lot of people .

I don't tell people what I do for a living. Other than close friends and family, nobody knows what I do, not even my neighbors. I find it makes life a lot easier.

but I usually inform the asker that I'm not familiar with his system and likely not with his apps. I also don't know zip about multimedia, social networking, Apple products, applications for education or children, smart phones, game consoles, or a wide range of applications of interest to many consumers but not to me. With that out of the way, the person is free to continue.

I won't lay hands on someone's system for any amount of money less than what it would take to completely replace it.

If we're good friends or immediate family (Dad, Mom, Daughter or Son), I'm always happy to help with the advice and or labor. In the past I've even procured some of the parts when it wasn't a LARGE purchase. As far as the dingbats that you've only just met, I do like most and offer up the quick and obvious advice.
If they keep picking at it for more and more freebies, then I tell them "I have a card if you would like one"? They generally get the point that their picking has crossed over into pay up or shut up territory.
The WORST type is the all important dullard who comes by when you're in the middle of a computer job and THEY start in the the 20 questions! Again, I'm quick with a business card and if they're still not getting a clue I tell them "I'd like to help you but right now your friend/family member is paying by the hour and it's up to me to be as thorough and cost effective as possible and I need to stay focused on what I'm doing (Forced, pained smile by me)
Here's one more I haven't seen anyone here mention yet; How about when your on a job for a specific computer when the same client wants you to ALSO have a look at this "other computer/laptop/printer/digital camera or cellphone!!!". When I started out, I would try to fix everything under the sun because I was new, hungry and worried they wouldn't recommend me. Now I let them know it's a completely new and separate charge to work on "Other computers/Devices" before I even show up.

I'll usually do what I can. I'm no longer in "IT Support", but family and friends
still ask for help. I'm also a pharmacist, and I get all sorts of questions that
are health related. I don't really mind, if I know the person a bit and maybe
some of their history, but in a "social" setting, I'll tell them to drop by the
drugstore and I'll see what I can do.
Be honest, all of you that get peeved when someone asks for "free help"...
how many times have you asked someone for advice?
It happens, regardless of profession...look upon it as an opportunity, not
a thankless endeavor.

I once had someone come up to me while I was standing in line at a restaurant with several friends, wanting help debugging his program. Maybe if I'd been sitting in the commons or at a coffee shop and he had a specific error message he wanted interpreted.

OTOH, I do cut people quite a bit of slack on billed hours.

Work I get paid for, unless your my parents or spouse.

I try to be honest and up front about it. If you want me to do something, I charge an hourly fee. It get's annoying when it's the same person that comes back time and time again with the same problem because s/he doesn't want to pay me to fix it correctly.

Here's how one of my favorite conversations went:
Him: "I'm having problems with X app on my iPhone...do you know anything about it?"
Me: "I have an Android and I've never heard of that app."
Him: "Hear, take a look." *tries to hand me phone*
Me: "I really don't know anything about it."
Him: "It's this app right here. Oh...no error message this time."
Me: "Do you know what the error message was."
Him: "Something about data...I have a meeting to get to. Just hold on to this and let me know what you find out."
-2 hours later-
Him: "You fix the problem?"
Me: "Never even looked at it."
Him: "Do you want me to leave it here?"
Me: "Up to you."
2 hours later I leave for the day with his phone still sitting on my desk.

A little passive aggressive...but he was truly one of the annoying ones.

I don't mind but unless you are my grandma or my mother, do not do it all the time.

...but it doesn't change anything. I do still freelance projects...and whether I login for 5 seconds, or work six hours, they still have to pay for 6 hours....up front....in my PayPal account.

That takes care of freeloaders before the gate is even opened. Obviously, I don't offer PC repair, but if they insist....same price and terms.

People can ask my opinion and get advice all they want. But, if I have to touch something, all bets are off.

What 'extra' IT work I do outside of family and friends is only if I can barter. So if my car mechanic needs help, I help him. In turn he works on my car. Service for service. Expertise for expertise.
Anybody else, I just say no.

I don't mind giving advice - but most of the time they don't really listen and want me to just look at their computer. I use to do it for free and it would come back and bite me everytime. They would say their printer stopped working after I worked on it and so-and-so said I did not fix it the right way.

So now I charge to work on their computer (especially co-workers) unless it is close family and a couple of friends. Amazing the respect I get for charging people for work instead of doing it for free. The more I charge the happier they are. Okay by me.

If someone is willing to listen and take the advice offered then I don't mind talking shop, unless it's been a really long day.

If the advice is conversational, as in they want ot get a quick opinion or something like that i have no problem, but when the questions continue and solutions become expected then there should be discussion of a rate. Just because I work on computers all day (and many nights) doesnt mean I am going to do it all the time. Many times I will provide a diagnosis for no charge and if repairs or further information are needed, then billing is discussed...

Hands-on? Not immediate family?

$60/hour after 40% family/friends discount. Driveway to driveway, 2-hour minimum. "Ka-ching!" is not a sound I often hear after specifying the terms...

... and all of a sudden you are responsible for all of their inherent windows issues. You remove a useless start up item, for instance, and then they blame you for an unrelated .DLL issue 8 months later. Lol.
I believe the key is to manage expectations. If you expect me to fix your pc when it crashes, and you are a dentist, you should be prepared to give me a filling if I get a cavity. Barter.
If you happen to be an IT Professional and have a rate for customers, you should charge your family at least twice that rate. In addition, if you are always unreliable when it comes to helping friends/family with their computer issues, eventually they will stop asking for your help :-P
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I get so peeved with people that want IT support for free, but can boos it up on the weekend. I recon if they can buy alcohol they can afford my services.

I don't mind giving advice to people I don't know if I have the time, what really burns my canoles is when a friend/family commits me to helping someone else (eg "Oh come on, it'll take a few minutes and they're such nice people").

True story, a lady dentist friend of the wife asked for help once, I helped no problem. After a couple hours to clean up her husbands pron dialers and malware from said pron sites (I don't judge), I gave a rundown on what to watch out for, hooked her up with free versions of antivirus and antimalware, the usual stuff. No biggie.
Then a few months later, my daughter got her braces caught and caused some damage. Wife takes her to the lady dentist friend to look at it, ok sounds great. The dentist took less than 20 minutes to fix the problem (just needed to reseat the wire, not as bad as it looked). This was a slow day - no business lost fitting us in. No materials needed. Get a bill for 100 - for a few minutes work that cost nothing in materials.

Lady dentist on the phone the other night, "oh noes I can't open word, can you come over and fix? urgent, ahh". Yeah, that's gonna happen. Seriously?!?

Now that's just WRONG. If I were you, I'd mention the $100 dentist bill. Have her make it disappear and then maybe you can get her Word to open. I'd be THRILLED if I could get a barter deal going with the orthodontist!!

Guys, you aren't going to want to hear this, but people don't value computer work. They think it's something less valuable people do, and should be willing to do for free. People also don't respect anything that's free. If you work for free, they will expect it. If you work for free, and fix it, but it's not exactly like they imagine they want it, they will STILL be angry with you.

You can do what you want; however, I learned to simply stop the freebies. I learned to be very direct about the fact that this was a business transaction, and they would have to pay me a great deal of money UP FRONT in my PP account, and sign a work agreement. (Actually it's on the PP invoice, by paying, they acknowledge the terms.)

I learned the people who had a problem with it were the people who were going to waste gobs of my time. They also would have had no sense of appreciation, so they would have done what your dentist friend did.

It's up to you, but if you keep giving it away after you've seen this dynamic in action, there's no point crying about how people treat you.

I say that because they DO value it. What they don't value is the people who know the answers or will end up having to spend hours or days tracking down the answers, and although they like the reward of getting their issue resolved, they don't feel any need or responsibility for equivalent reciprocation.

In other words, it's not that they don't value the information or assistance they receive, they just consider us to be second class citizens who are better suited to scurrying about in the back halls 24/7 attending to their needs while they have rich lives in which everyone around them deals with issues they would have to use their brains and maybe more importantly, THEIR uber-valuable time to solve..

The question that keeps popping up in my head is this: Would you give free technical advise to your economic competition?