Many of your computer consulting business clients will come from non-technical, business backgrounds. As a result, many will not immediately grasp why a failed hard drive cannot "simply" be replaced by a new or refurbished hard drive.
As part of managing clients expectations, it’s important to educate your clients on the steps that go into formatting a hard drive, loading the OS, configuring device drivers, loading software applications, customizing the OS and applications and restoring data.
Educate Your Client
As a computer consulting business owner, you know replacing a hard drive is not as simple as removing the shrink wrap and installing the device into the PC. But, many times, your clients don’t.
Or they just assume that all the OS files, device drivers and software applications will "magically" appear. This all may sound really basic, but taking a few minutes when discussing PC warranties with your clients to explain these issues.
How does the Vendor Handle Hard Drive Replacement?
You need to know how your preferred PC vendors handle hard drive replacement under warranty service. What kinds of labor are covered if a desktop PC or notebook hard drive needs replacement under the warranty?
Some vendors specify that the hard drive device needs to be just physically replaced and operational, and recognized by the PC hardware setup program. Under this form of warranty coverage, the technician’s job is done the moment the empty (blank) replacement hard drive is installed in your client’s PC.
The Real Cost
Unfortunately, as most PC vendors feel financial pressure to reduce their support and warranty costs, your computer consulting business clients probably will be subjected to a no-frills warranty service approach. Hard drives for desktop PCs are relatively inexpensive, around $100 to $200 at retail.
So it’s important for your clients to understand that warranty service on a hard drive replacement generally doesn’t cover the more substantial labor costs involved with restoring the hard drive and system to the pre-crash condition.
If your clients outsource this work to your computer consulting business, it easily could cost them $200 to $500 (or more) in labor to get that PC hard drive back to its pre-crash condition. Even if your clients’ internal gurus handle the work, this easily could pull these internal gurus away from their "real" jobs for a half-day or more.
The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business
The expense of recovering a crashed desktop PC hard drive tends to be more concentrated on soft costs, which most times aren’t covered by the PC vendor’s warranty, therefore we see more and more reason not to recommend purchasing extended warranty coverage with entry-level desktop PCs.
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Computer Consulting Business: Know about Vendor Hard Drive Replacement
Computer Consulting Business: Nail Down the Vendor Support Options
No computer consulting business can afford to be sitting at a client site, running up a big bill, staring at a blue-screen-of-death, facing an angry mob of irate users and sitting on hold for two hours with tech support.
This scenario is your absolute worst nightmare in running a computer consulting business and can be the kiss of death to your client relationship.
The Need for Good Vendor Technical Support
Good vendor technical support will preserve your credibility as a computer consulting business during times of crisis. No matter how experienced you are at PC hardware troubleshooting, calling on a specialist is a necessity.
Understand What Is Offered
Rather than get an unpleasant surprise when you need help the most, get the lowdown on vendor technical support before you make the purchase recommendation. Although many top PC vendors have similar capabilities and services, ask about included technical support services, and preferably get a description of them in writing.
Ask Questions
As a computer consulting business, you will want to ask questions to determine the reliability of PC vendor technical support. Find out if they are available by phone, if the technical support phone number is toll-free and if the support is free or not.
Also, find out if there are different technical support phone numbers for different products.
In operating your computer consulting business, you will also want to know if vendor technical support has 24/7 support in case you have a need for emergency support. Ask if online tech support resources are available as well.
Deal With a Specialist
As a computer consulting business, you want direct, rapid access to a specialist who deals with nothing but that particular product all day. So test the technical support group’s responsiveness at a time when your heart isn’t racing in the heat of a client server-down emergency.
Also, PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/) regularly evaluates PC vendors’ technical support quality, so this is a good resource to look into.
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