This is Not a Repair Shop

People need to understand that your organization, as a business, is in business to make money and that time spent doing "non-billable" work takes away from the activities that make you money.

So put up a big sign that says Computer Repairs - $75 per hour, 48 hour turnaround for diagnosis. I doubt you will get many takers, and thats the point.

James

fine leave it with us for the next 6 months, and remember you will be charged at the rate of $300/hr with a 4 hour minumum when we finally get around to looking at it.

anyone crazy enough to agree to that deserves to get billed that much.

Is this something management has pointed out as a problem or something that you and your co-workers decided?

If the first, just state you are no longer able to do that. If they proceed to hound you about it just ask them point blank "would you really want me to get in trouble?" If they say no, your off the hook. If they say yes they don't give a rats a$$ about you and are just looking for something for nothing and tell them to hit the bricks.

If it is the later, blame it on management anyways. Everyone knows that management is a bunch of jerks and would expect that out of them.

The other option is to start taking more and more time to get the system back stating that you were too busy doing your job to fix their system, but you will get right on it during the next lull.

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Where are you in the management mix. One way or another it needs to be put in writing. Get your manager, etc up to whomever you can to agree on a written policy. Communicate it with the user base with mass email, and put it in whatever corp manual you have. Then when asked, if you are the manager of this group, stand your ground and say "we can't do this anymore."

This seems like simple advice, and you may say, "but they will keep asking", well, you will keep saying no. Its not mean to say no when the policy has been posted, its they who should be sorry for the position they are putting you and the other tech in.

In some cases no matter how well you craft this, there will be exceptions. How about the CEOs wifes LT? Or the remote office salesmans home WKS that he sometimes uses for email etc. This can get tricky, I know! You may never get out of all the side work, but most. The user base will catch on very quickley, and will not feel slighted for your refusal.

TBR

is under you tent. Short of shooting the camel, or moving to a new tent, a multi-pronged assault is required.

1) Advise all existing clients, as well as new ones as they come on board, via e-mail, that you are not equipped to do repairs & will not undertake to do such.
2) Prepare suitable signage, approved by upper management, with a professional appearance, to be posted at applicable entry points; and,
3) Have those personel who have fostered the undesired behavior personally explain to their friend, relative, etc. why they can no longer rely on your firm to provide the services that they have come to expect.

We are an IT department in school. Lots of teachers, principals, etc, bring their problem machines in. In the beginning we did try to help them out, then burn out began.

We offer teachers a list of people who will come to their homes and fix rigs on an hourly basis. These are the people we know who are also listed in the phone book. This stragegy seems to work with most people.

Your best bet is to discuss with your manager. My guess is that PC repair is not where you provide the most value to your employer, but that decision should come from management. Assuming the verdict from managment is that repair is not supported within your company, perhaps you could find a reputable repair technician who makes on-site visits. That way, you get to do your job and the other people who work there can have their PCs fixed so they can do thier jobs.

Good luck!

Craig Herberg
p.s. The people outside your group are not your adversaries.

I made it fun and haggled for payment in wine. I was swamped with requests and quickly stocked up my wine rack when I asked for a bottle of wine for every hour I spend on the repair minimum 2 bottles. I also stated that I didn't accept cheap and nasty plonk.
I did all of my foreign orders after hours in my own time (although the company seemed to think that I didn't have any "own time")
Most of the people supplied good wine (from their vendors/suppliers no doubt) and we were both happy. I also stated that it would cost an extra bottle if they hung around and waited and an extra bottle for any "help" they provided. These "gifts" were less risky than accepting money for work. People were also more willing to give wine than money for some reason.

I would put in dollars. These folks are hoping to get something for free or barter, but it comes at the expense of either your company or your own time. If your situation is that users come to you to fix their personal PC's during business hours, you are losing your company's money. Plain and simple. Explain the revision in policy as a cost restructuring and these "favors" are disrupting your productivity and efficiency. Tell them that they need to contact the vendor or the hardware/software they purchased for support. They have already paid for support service when they purchased the product. They bought a Dell? Dell made amusing commercials about support on call 24/7/365. Can't set up internet mail? Call the company tech support. That company is paying those guys to fix problems, not you.

This problem was a large problem for us when we provided VPN. Everyone started calling us to help them connect to their ISP. We simply told them, "Once you get on the internet with your provider, follow our installation guide to set up your VPN. We are not responsible for how your ISP sets up your connection. Our support only begins when you start using our company VPN over a stable internet connection."

Being nice got you into trouble, skip it. If you need tact, get management buy-in and HR.

If I?m reading this right, you?re a small business with the public knocking on your door, not corporate employees asking for help with their home PC?s. If that?s the case, ?Partnering? can help both you and your customers.

Is there a local shop that you trust? (One that is NOT also an ISP?) Give them a call and explain that you would like to make referrals to them. The only thing you ask is that when their shop?s customers are looking for an ISP, they refer to you.

Make sure that both of you have pamphlets for the other?s services. And if you also give a special offer (something small like % off first month) you will be sure to know who if being referred.

This helps your customers as well. When you explain that you had to shut down your repair services, you can give them recommendation to a reputable shop that can help. Most of your customers probably don?t know anywhere else to whom they can turn.