Dug myself a hole with a pc build
Discussion
Last year, 24th of December, I ordered a load of parts to build a pc for a bloke at work. It was a nice machine and I spent that extra bit of time building it because I know the guy. The parts came on the 30th and he picked the pc up on 14th Jan.
It all started when he asked my advice and I told him I could build a much better spec machine for his cash than say for a Dell which he was looking at. It was a favour because he wanted something for his kids to play games on and he was about to waste his money on a machine with a slow graphics card. It's the first PC I have built for someone else.
Just before ( this ) Christmas he said it had started to play up a bit but the kids had been installing loads of games etc. Usual stuff. I told him it probably needed a re-build.
Last week he came to see me and it now will not boot. I’ve no time to sort it because I’ve a new member of the family and other priorities. He says he is going to take it to a local PC shop to get their opinion ! He's been pestering me just about everyday.
I’ve a feeling this guy is going to get arsey and expect :
1)Me to rebuild it for nothing
2)If this PC shop finds a hardware problem then me to pay to sort it out ! The stuff is just over a year old so out of guarantee I expect.
I suppose the moral of this story is if they ask then DON’T ! I only charged him about £15 to build the bloody thing and I was at it for hours.
What should I do ?
It all started when he asked my advice and I told him I could build a much better spec machine for his cash than say for a Dell which he was looking at. It was a favour because he wanted something for his kids to play games on and he was about to waste his money on a machine with a slow graphics card. It's the first PC I have built for someone else.
Just before ( this ) Christmas he said it had started to play up a bit but the kids had been installing loads of games etc. Usual stuff. I told him it probably needed a re-build.
Last week he came to see me and it now will not boot. I’ve no time to sort it because I’ve a new member of the family and other priorities. He says he is going to take it to a local PC shop to get their opinion ! He's been pestering me just about everyday.
I’ve a feeling this guy is going to get arsey and expect :
1)Me to rebuild it for nothing
2)If this PC shop finds a hardware problem then me to pay to sort it out ! The stuff is just over a year old so out of guarantee I expect.
I suppose the moral of this story is if they ask then DON’T ! I only charged him about £15 to build the bloody thing and I was at it for hours.
What should I do ?
Do you know any of the symptoms of the lack of booting?
I'd be tempted to say that you can flatten it and start again if you have ruled out a hardware issue. Then its only 40 minutes of your time...
He's given me sketchy symptoms. Plus theirs data on their he wants saving he says.
>> Edited by nick heppinstall on Tuesday 10th January 12:29
I'd be tempted to say that you can flatten it and start again if you have ruled out a hardware issue. Then its only 40 minutes of your time...
He's given me sketchy symptoms. Plus theirs data on their he wants saving he says.
>> Edited by nick heppinstall on Tuesday 10th January 12:29
nick heppinstall said:
Now he wants copies of the invoices !! I got the stuff from ebuyer so their is a record online but I certaintly have not kept any invoices that came with the items
Did you bill him? If so then that's all he needs or deserves, ie. your bill. Tell him that the individual parts invoices are yours and private (he has no right to expect you to provide everything at cost does he?). If all else fails...
Tell him to p1ss off!
God I hate w
kers like this chap appears to beIf he goes to one of these PC shops (possibly one based on a whole world of PC's) get him to ask how much they charge for services like system restore, data backup, on site service etc. It should make him realise that he is being unreasonable mithering you and expecting it for nowt.
I used to get this problem when I worked at the aforementioned computer store, the only way I got round it was by speccing machines for people but never building them and playing down my knowledge.
I used to get this problem when I worked at the aforementioned computer store, the only way I got round it was by speccing machines for people but never building them and playing down my knowledge.
If you only charged him £15 to build it he's got F all to moan about and should be lucky that he had someone to build it at that price.
If it was me i would point out that when you built it you did not have the time or responsibilitie you have now,and seeing things have changed your time is limited.
If he moans then point out that £15 is peanuts for a PC build,and that if he wanted warranty then he should of gone to a shop and paid the real price.
Ive learnt in the past some people are brilliant and show a real appreciation of your work,yet others are not worth your time and for that reason i am very careful who i do work for now and charge the going rate,but i also expect to pay the going rate
Peoples ideas of "a favour" vary.
If it was me i would point out that when you built it you did not have the time or responsibilitie you have now,and seeing things have changed your time is limited.
If he moans then point out that £15 is peanuts for a PC build,and that if he wanted warranty then he should of gone to a shop and paid the real price.
Ive learnt in the past some people are brilliant and show a real appreciation of your work,yet others are not worth your time and for that reason i am very careful who i do work for now and charge the going rate,but i also expect to pay the going rate
Peoples ideas of "a favour" vary.
ZR1cliff said:
If you only charged him £15 to build it he's got F all to moan about and should be lucky that he had someone to build it at that price.
If it was me i would point out that when you built it you did not have the time or responsibilitie you have now,and seeing things have changed your time is limited.
If he moans then point out that £15 is peanuts for a PC build,and that if he wanted warranty then he should of gone to a shop and paid the real price.
Ive learnt in the past some people are brilliant and show a real appreciation of your work,yet others are not worth your time and for that reason i am very careful who i do work for now and charge the going rate,but i also expect to pay the going rate
Peoples ideas of "a favour" vary.
Spot on - I used to instantly tell people that when they were having problems that I would flatten their machine, rebuild it (replacing/upgrading where required) - this would be done for £30.
Most people mumble and say no, but the ones who need it get a quick rebuild done, with updates etc, and handed back WITHOUT support - I am always very dead set on this.
I don't do so many now I've changed jobs, and besides, I've better things to do that earn me more money for less grief.
P.s. we all warned you this would happen when you posted it a last month
'buy Dell we all said!' 
>> Edited by neil_cardiff on Tuesday 10th January 12:50
Plotloss said:
Cliff is on the money, its why I dont do it anymore unless they are very close friends or paying retail and a service charge
I learnt that lesson when i was laying bricks,i would over-see large house extension jobs for some freinds which involved Organising the footings or even digging them by hand,building a double storey structure similar to over half a house or more...that involved me doing ladder work with a hod and then building it.....it was very obvious that i was sweating my bowlocks off and that they werent capable(i used to give them the hod and watch them struggle
). I would return a top job,yet some would still "dily dally" with the £££££££'s, if you watch these people they are the first to moan if someone mucked them about with the £££££££££'s.
One of the drawbacks of building your own PC is that you don't get the tech support you would otherwise get if buying from DELL. Surely he must have realised this? Do Ebuyer have warranties on kit they sell? If it needs new H/W then he's got to pay for replacements, I would have thought.
I'm willing to bet his kids have installed all sorts of shite on it and it's either now plagued with viruses or they're trying to run games that the PC can't cope with.
If you have family priorities, then I'd say he's on his own. If all he wants is something for his kids to play games on, then he should have bought them a PS2 or Xbox.
Harsh...but true!
I'm willing to bet his kids have installed all sorts of shite on it and it's either now plagued with viruses or they're trying to run games that the PC can't cope with.
If you have family priorities, then I'd say he's on his own. If all he wants is something for his kids to play games on, then he should have bought them a PS2 or Xbox.
Harsh...but true!
TeamD said:
Now he wants copies of the invoices !! I got the stuff from ebuyer so their is a record online but I certaintly have not kept any invoices that came with the items
Did you bill him? If so then that's all he needs or deserves, ie. your bill. Tell him that the individual parts invoices are yours and private (he has no right to expect you to provide everything at cost does he?). If all else fails...
Tell him to p1ss off!
God I hate w
No I did not build him. It's not a buissiness.
I take it said GIT knows your situation these days !? Despite you doing him a massive favour, he's being unreasonable about it all... its actually embarrasing! Guaranteed he'd be on your case regardless if he did get the dell as his kids have filled the system with shite !
I'd do what you can do silence him (give printed invoices etc)and stick to building your own systems. Tell him not to come and moan when he gets spanked £150 for a rebuild at the local PC ripoff shop 9if he'd been laid back about it i guess you would have helped him eventually ?) If's he's that keen on saving money he should learn to build the bloody systems himself - Tight bastid !
I'd do what you can do silence him (give printed invoices etc)and stick to building your own systems. Tell him not to come and moan when he gets spanked £150 for a rebuild at the local PC ripoff shop 9if he'd been laid back about it i guess you would have helped him eventually ?) If's he's that keen on saving money he should learn to build the bloody systems himself - Tight bastid !
This is exactly why you should never encourage a numpty to not buy from someone like Dell. Otherwise you are asking to be support bitch.
Every christmas my sister used to bring her laptop on christmas day expecting me to spend my christmas rebuilding the damned thing for her because she let her idiot mates install random crap on it all year. She got the message in the end.
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