Thinking of jacking in my business in

amazingtrade

amazingtrade

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There is currently too many problems which means people are continueing to hassle me. I.e I touch computer, 3 weeks later internet goes down = its automaticaly my fault.

My big question is would the fact I have been self employed for 10 months work against or for me?
 
I will have to see how it goes, but the last few weeks has been nothing but hassle, it it goes then its fair enough, but if the business hassle continues it won't be viable. I could actualy earn more money working in the check outs at Tesco :D
 
Are you working with private individuals or companies?

If it's private individuals, then the hassle may never go away.

But stick with it if you can.
 
amazingtrade said:
There is currently too many problems which means people are continueing to hassle me. I.e I touch computer, 3 weeks later internet goes down = its automaticaly my fault.

My big question is would the fact I have been self employed for 10 months work against or for me?
Click to expand...
Wondered just where you have been for the last month or so, now we know.

It looks like a classic case of punter asks you to fix something.
you and punter agree on what needs fixing.
You and punter agree on a price.
You do the job.
Punter pays.
Punter reinterprits terms and conditions and then expects you to at their beck and call untill the end of time.

Is that the problem?

Have a look at terms and conditions of each job and add in a fix it after it is fixed overhead or get them to pay you for additional work.

top ten geek business myths:)
 
AT,

you should see it as an opportunity, not a problem. You were probably glad to have found your customer in the first place. The customer had a problem, you solved it. Now the customer has another problem, and again he turns to you for a solution. Congratulations, you are getting repeat business! No small feat!

What you have to learn now is how to make the customer pay for the solution for the second problem. Being polite and friendly but firm is going to help you with that.

If you handle this well, the customer will come to you when he has the next problem, and he'll already know that you're expecting to be paid again, so you'll have a lot less hassle on the third contact.

On the other hand, if you give in to unreasonable demands now, you can look forward to a lifetime of underselling yourself. Don't do it.
 
liken it to a car mechanic for them. tell them that if they took their car to a mechanic for a new cam belt they wouldn;t expect him to replace the ht leads or water pump for nothing if they broke down later.
 
manage customer expectation and value your services properly - if you find this hard get someone to teach you how to do it or get out now - if you allow people treat you badly they will continue to do so
 
I have three plans

1) Expand my business to increase turnover but also hassle
2) Get a full time job and through my business phones in the bin :D
3) Get a full time job and just do work for my regular customers.
 
I don't see this as a problem at all.
They are repeat customers.
You charge to fix problems do you not?

Just make it more clear to your customers that there are no freebies.
 
Thats the problem I can't always charge when itsd problems caused by the original job. Wireless networks are the biggest concern here. I am going to have charge a lot more and start training my customers in how to use them I think.
 
If I buy new tyres and they blow out after 2 weeks its KwikFits fault. If I buy new tyres and drive like a twat and have an accident its my fault.
 
That is the problem, its funny how my wireless network never breakes down and the ones I did for mates don't. I think better training is the answer.

I ma hoping its bad patch I will get through but if this continues the business won't be viable.
 
My wireless network is always being a pain in the arse, the laptop hardly ever connects unless I'm in the same room as the router, but then once it has I can go around the house.

Is the problem simply that wireless networks are a bit unreliable and people blame you for it? Maybe you need to insist on nice high quality components, if you don't already?
 
I do some PC troubleshooting for friends, colleagues etc for small sums of money and know exactly how demanding they can be when somthing goes wrong - hate to think what real world customers are like.

Networks can be a right pain in the arse - even the top brands can work perfectly when you set them up and the stop a week later.

I just bought a Zyxel wireless router and usb adapter and spent 3 hours trying to get it to work at home without success. Took it into work yesterday and plugged it into my office Wanadoo broadband line and office PC via an ethernet cable and everything worked perfectly. Also tried with the USB wireless adapter and it went fine (just need the network key from the service provider). I'd also taken my home PC to work as well so then tried that again using the office broadband line using an ethernet cable (thinking perhaps the problem I'd had at home was something to do with my home broadband provider, Plusnet) but still it was no good:confused: It just hangs on 'acquiring network' forever. Spent ages trawling google for info and solutions but couldn't find any.

I built both the PC's (home and work) and they are basically identical so can't work it out how one works but the other dosen't.
I reformated my home hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP and have brought my home PC back into work this morning to see how it goes.
Both motherboards use Nforce4 chipset, home one is by DFI Lanparty, work one by Asus. Perhaps the DFI ethernet ports are crap? All I know is I wish I'd stuck with my PCI adsl modem connected direct to the phone line.
 
If you want an easy life, maybe computer consulting (particularly networks) is not a good choice.

Similar to the other posts above, I wasted 2 days trying to get an ADSL modem and separate router/ATA (for VoIP) to talk to each other. Even the top level of tech help at Vonage (my VoIP provider) couldn't get it going after 2 hours trying. It definately wasn't faulty gear causing it.

Solution was to just buy another set of gear and I had it up and running in 2 mins!
 
amazingtrade said:
There is currently too many problems which means people are continueing to hassle me. I.e I touch computer, 3 weeks later internet goes down = its automaticaly my fault.
Click to expand...
Normal stuff AT. You need to draft a document - a Site Visit Report. It should detail info about the visit (who, where, why), it should detail the things included inthe visit and the things excluded from the visit. It should also include terms and conditions: what defines that the visit is complete, what is expected of the client during the visit, what the limits of liability are both during and after the visit. The idea being they sign the site visit report at the end of the visit agreeing everything was done satisfactorily and they get to keep a copy. When they phone three weeks later they would generally have to pay for you to return.

We get this type of thing a lot with software development largely because it's very difficult for all parties to really be on the same page. So when there are issues after delivery, in some circumstances we are liable, in others the customer isn't entitled to complain and has to pay for more work. These aspects of a commercial relationship are established in the form of an agreement.

Typically onsite work such as server builds and administrative assistance are the least likely to incur issues after the fact because the visit ended at the end of the visit (if you see what I mean). As long as the agreement signed before or during the visit detailed the limitations of what is being done there are no arguments.

If you let people take the piss they will take you for a mug and take full advantage.
 
andyoz said:
Even the top level of tech help at Vonage (my VoIP provider) couldn't get it going after 2 hours trying. It definately wasn't faulty gear causing it.
Click to expand...

I was on the phone to Zyxel technical support with my problem for an hour while I swapped the equipment from my office PC to my home PC and back again and they couldn't explain what was wrong either. We updated firmware, went into the bios etc etc and still they had no idea why one PC worked and the other didn't.
 
Vonage have 4 'levels' of technical support and I just kept getting escalated up the ladder until I hit Level 4 'Advanced technical support'.

I got the impression not many people make it that far (he was in New Jersey). Didn't get it working but I learnt a hell of alot about networking in the 1+ hour I spent talking to the guy. He really was stumped and I could tell he was pissed as they don't often give up on these configurations.
 
Just to show how fickle these networking products are, I have just set up the Zyxel again on my offcie PC using an ehternet cable (exactly like I did yesterday) and it dosen't work. According to network connections the connection is on and connected, the notification icon in the bottom right hand corner of the system tray is flashing away as it should, but if I launch internet explorer or anything else thats need to have a connection to the internet in order to work (eg: Counterstrike) it just says there is not a connection.

I give up.:(
 

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