The man is a moron and is trying to get you to take responsibility for
his inactions. Dell won't do it, Abu down the block won't do it, why
should you? You gave good advice, hell you should of blanked the box &
re-installed out of fear that you could not remove everything & be sure
it's gone.
Lament Dork Squad all you want but I think they have the right idea
about what to do, what to charge for, and what to charge. If they can do
the work is another story! ;)
Major infection = 1 of 2 solutions: re-install windows or clean system
best as possible. 2nd option is labor intensive and can not be
considered effective enough given the downside of missing something.
No matter which you do, the rest is the same either way: backup existing
drive, repair/reinstall, sell/install AV/malware & backup programs,
re-image post install. Charge for time beyond this to recover their old
data from 1st backup.
If they wont go for this route, make them sign something to the effect
that they are checking out against doctor's advice or something and how
you refuse to be held liable for their going against sound advice...
Even if they took the reinstall over surgery, I'd make them sign this.
If they didn't do the "therapy & preventative measures" by paying for
software & backup process there certainly can be no liability on your
part. I'd even throw in that if they plug the machine into a broadband
connection with no firewall that any warranty of work is void since it's
about the equivalent of letting someone else do "repairs" ;) to the box
& then blaming you.
Depending on your pricing model you should argue that 10hrs+ of work
comes at a hefty price tag which makes not doing the AV & backup "less
than intelligent". Personally I like the idea of flat pricing, a package
solution and charging for making backups vs. per hour charges.
The "Package" should include:
1. AV software (???whats good???)
2. Drive image software (trueimage 9, $49) + free post repair image on
DVD-R and/or recovery partition
3. Firefox + basic extensions like noscript, flash, java, etc...
4. Thunderbird + basic extensions + setup of their accounts
5. AdAware free
6. SpyBot
7. demote them to normal users
8. setup a "InstallOnly" & "RepairBench" admin users, enable logon
auditing, give InstallOnly PW to an adult, keep RepairBench to yourself.
9. 1hr of free post-repair support within 30 days of repair.
1st you can offer to scan the system for free (I think you do) so they
can see they have a real problem. Then offer initial backup (fee),
Re-install, add Package(fee), & backup again(freebie) = ~$300US for avg.
3-4hrs work + $80 in software. Charge more if they want old data
restored, programs installed, etc... Remind them a New system is $500+
and you'd still need the software & backup anyway plus you won't be
getting the other "tweaks" like Firefox & demoted user.=)
I known you feel this complicates things for the customer, but it is the
best choice and there will be customers that appreciate it in the end,
adapt, & will likely tell their friends of the great work you do after a
few months of no problems. The rest are like this guy and you're better
off without them.
"Off the top of my head" there's more details to a full solution, YMMV...
Thane Sherrington (S) wrote:
At 06:19 PM 30/11/2005, joeuser wrote:
Parts and labor. There's no way one can warranty software or OS and
stay above water. There are just too many variables out there. I
suppose if it was not connected to the Internet and they never
installed *anything* I would assume it's my fault. Since I test my
builds extensively it's never been an issue. However, clients do not
leave my shop with one of my systems without my "security suite". If
they want to run their own anti-virus or something - they can buy a
system from someone else.
I always recommend people buy an AV (and I put NOD32 on all machines I
sell.) But I can't put a gun to their heads, so if they say they have
an AV, I have to let the system go. I cancel my 48 hour warranty in
this case, but I still get whiners who think I should "stand behind my
work" regardless of their actions.
This is more an issue with systems I repair than systems I sell. For
example, I had a guy in two months ago with 175 virus and 683 spyware.
He couldn't get on the net. I removed all the crap, fixed his TCP/IP
stack, and away he goes, refusing to have me install AV, because he has
one. Yesterday he calls - the same problem is back, and why won't we
fix it for free, since it's the same problem? I point out that it
worked for the last two months, and he agrees, and I point out that most
likely he has re-infected himself, so while the same symptoms are back,
it isn't the same problem. He freaks out and tells me he won't pay to
have the same problem fixed twice. I think I was in the right, but I'm
wondering what the general consensus would be on that.
T
