Got handed a 'dead' laptop that just needed one dumb thing fixed

Went to a client's house in Oakville last Tuesday to look at a laptop they said wouldn't turn on. They'd already ordered a new one. I popped the back off, reseated the RAM stick that had come loose during a drop, and it booted right up. Charged them 40 bucks for 5 minutes of work. Anybody else get calls for stuff that simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.amy2mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that's the best kind of call though. People get so worked up when their computer won't start and they just assume the worst. I feel bad for the client shelling out for a whole new laptop over a loose RAM stick, but at least you saved them the headache of data transfer and setup. Forty bucks is totally fair for the peace of mind and the quick fix, especially when you factor in driving out to Oakville. I'd take five of those calls a day over the real nightmares any time.

nancy4752mo ago

Forty bucks for five minutes of work seems a little steep honestly.

grace_allen25d ago

I read somewhere that people who complain about this kind of pricing don't factor in the overhead. The truck, the gas, the insurance, the years of training it took to know that it's just a loose RAM stick and not a dead motherboard. Five minutes of hands-on work might be all you see, but there's a whole hour of driving, diagnostics, and cleanup around it. A shop would have charged them a hundred plus a service fee, easy. Forty bucks is actually cheap for someone showing up at your door and solving the problem in one trip. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather pay forty for a five-minute fix than two hundred for someone to scratch their head for an hour.