What to ask your computer technician

Before you decide to drop your computer off at a local computer repair service, or call the company to come for in-home or in-business service, there are some extremely important questions you should ask.

Look at some of these important questions below, along with the answers you should expect to receive. If you don't get acceptable answers to these questions, it might be time to look for a different local computer repair service.

How much will you charge per hour?"

You’d think that asking for the cost of a service would be one of the first questions that a customer asks, but surprisingly many customers forget to ask before hand and then are shocked when the service bill is higher than they expected.

Always find out how much the cost per hour is for your computer repair service before you decide to have the computer repaired. Waiting until you receive the bill is not a wise idea because you already are obligated to pay whatever the hourly rate was for the service.

Expected Answer: "We charge ($90 to $125) per hour."

Rates vary for different services, and so do charging plans (some computer repair services will be billed per service), but $90 to $125USD per hour is average. That rate is an estimate but you need to be sure that you are receiving the highest quality computer repair service.

How Many Hours (@ _$/hr) Will it Take to Fix?"

You don’t want to find out it took over 5 hours at $90/hour to fix a certain computer problem when you could have just bought a new PC for half of that overall service bill. Getting an idea of how much the final bill will be is important because you might just end up wanting to buy a new computer for less. Sometime it would be cheaper just to buy a new computer instead of getting it fixed.

Expected Answer: "I cannot be completely sure, but usually these types of problems take about (x) hours to fix."

No computer repair service will be able to tell you with absolute certainty how many hours that a particular repair or service will take to fix without having already taken a look at the computer. If you only need a basic hardware replacement or software installation, you might be told a specific estimation, but other than that you should expect flexibility on the answer to this question.

Use your best judgment for the exact answer as to how many hours it will take question. Since you’re not an expert, it could be hard for you to be able to tell if the estimation you're given is exaggerated. If you’re in doubt, call around to check and get some other estimates from various computer repair services.

If you denied even a guess estimate on hours from a PC repair service then definitely don't do business with that company. You cannot be expected to make an agreement to have your computer fixed with no idea of the total cost.

"Is there a minimum charge?"

Not all of computer problems take numerous hours to repair. A computer repair service could only take 10 to 15 minutes to solve a particular problem. If your problem happens to be one of those "quick fixes" you should be aware of how you'll be charged for it.
The majority of computer repair services will charge you 1 hour of labor for any time up to one hour spent working on your PC. This is sometimes called a minimum charge and is completely normal.
If you’re lucky, your favorite local computer repair service will have a minimum bench charge of only 1/2 of their regular hour, but this is not seen very often.

"Should I expect any other charges than the hourly rate?"

Many services that we as consumers pay for in life are filled with hidden fees.

Expected Answer: "No."

It is not usual practice for a computer repair service to be charging extra fees for their standard services. Of course, if you will require replacement hardware or a new piece of software, you should expect to pay for that but you should not expect any extra sort of hidden fees or surcharges.
If you're told that there are extra fees by the company, be sure to get a list of them in writing for leaving your PC or requesting service in your home or business.