per hour charges

Grissle · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:03

i want to get someone to come and look at my laptop and theres a guy who does it in my area it just says £30 an hour no call out chages.

mite sound like a silly question but does that mean if he is only here half an hour he can only charge £15?

Gavin · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:04

probably charges a min of 1hour, £15 wouldnt be worth it for anyone.

GravyMonster · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:05

Whats wrong with the laptop?

There's enough people on here who can more than likely help. You can give us £30 each though if you want.

Bennie-Mac · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:07

As soon as he arrives get a stopwatch out and start timing, do this to his face so he knows you're watching him. Offer him a cup of tea and if he accepts shout "you'd like that wouldnt you! back to work monkey boy, time is money!"

Antar Bolaeisk · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:07

Post a thread on it in the general hardware or software (Depending on problem) section first and see if anyone here can help you out.

meghatronic · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:08

My plumber was here for 2 x 1hr timeslots. Bar the fact the first call was 8 mins, and the second call was 2 minutes.

I'm so in the wrong job.

Grissle · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:10

i need the bios wiped (which i presume you can just do by taking the bios battery out and putting it back in) as i cant remember the password but the last time i took a laptop apart i broke it, and i hate looking at manuals.

im assuming its a quick case of taking the case off and playing with the battery so im not expecting it to take long

so i wont have a leg to stand on if i say "well that only took half an hour so i aint paying you an hours work"? or will he prob just say minimum 1 hour when i speak to him

arknor · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:12

Gavin said:
probably charges a min of 1hour, £15 wouldnt be worth it for anyone.

apart from the massive amount of the population who dont earn anywhere near 15 quid an hour :rolleyes:

rsatd · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:12

Battery should clear it, with laptops I got no real idea where it may be buried in though.

Antar Bolaeisk · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:12

Well, from taking my Dell apart Laptops are a bugger so if you're not too sure taking it to someone is probably your best bet. Shouldn't take too long though, I can disassmeble and reassemble mine (a 5 year old 5160) in less than an hour.

benjo · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:12

Taking a laptop apart can be like an accordion, I'm not sure it would be as simple as just opening the case.

toosepin · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:14

Grissle said:
so i wont have a leg to stand on if i say "well that only took half an hour so i aint paying you an hours work"? or will he prob just say minimum 1 hour when i speak to him

No, because he came out to you and actually did something, regardless of whether it only took half an hour.

If you don't like his hourly rate then get someone cheaper.

Tomsk · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:17

Grissle said:
i need the bios wiped (which i presume you can just do by taking the bios battery out and putting it back in) as i cant remember the password but the last time i took a laptop apart i broke it, and i hate looking at manuals.

im assuming its a quick case of taking the case off and playing with the battery so im not expecting it to take long

so i wont have a leg to stand on if i say "well that only took half an hour so i aint paying you an hours work"? or will he prob just say minimum 1 hour when i speak to him

rsatd said:
Battery should clear it, with laptops I got no real idea where it may be buried in though.

On some laptops, removing the battery WON'T clear the BIOS. Manufacturers did this for extra security.

There are some utilities that will read the password from the laptop.

Grissle · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:18

toosepin said:
No, because he came out to you and actually did something, regardless of whether it only took half an hour.

If you don't like his hourly rate then get someone cheaper, you can't hope that you wont have pay someone for work done.

its principal. no hope involved.

rsatd · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:21

Tomsk said:
On some laptops, removing the battery WON'T clear the BIOS. Manufacturers did this for extra security.

There are some utilities that will read the password from the laptop.

Oh my bad, never had to try that with a laptop. You learn something new every day

Grissle · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:24

so im guessing all you guys would expect to pay 1 hour minimum then?

peige · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:25

Tomsk said:
On some laptops, removing the battery WON'T clear the BIOS. Manufacturers did this for extra security.

There are some utilities that will read the password from the laptop.

Seconded, taking the battery out isn't necessarily going to do the job !

J.B · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:25

Id do some research on the laptop first to see if removing the battery will clear the password. I know for certain IBM laptops will not reset the password this way.

Antar Bolaeisk · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:28

Grissle said:
so im guessing all you guys would expect to pay 1 hour minimum then?

Yes, I charge 1 hour minimum when doing work like this but obviously if it only takes a few minutes I knock a couple of euro off the fee.

Could you possibly try re-installing the bios?

Deleted member 651465 · 15 Jan 2009 at 14:29

Grissle said:
so im guessing all you guys would expect to pay 1 hour minimum then?

He's charging you 1hr minimum, that much is guaranteed.

It just depends if he breaches the 2hr mark whilst sorting the problem

per hour charges

Deleted member 651465

Deleted member 651465