A bit of a long shot as I'm not sure who's from where on these boards. Can anyone recommend someone in Dunedin that can fix things on a laptop, not so much "broken" but problems that arise that the average PC illiterate owner like me can't do.
Would prefer someone I can take a laptop to rather than a house call.
I have Googled and one has five stars, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask on here. TIA

Edited by hound31 at 11:01 am, Sat 28 Nov

hound31 - 2020-11-28 11:00:00

You may find, if you detail the problems, that some of our 'TM In House' techs can assist you without charge.

nice_lady - 2020-11-28 11:58:00

Just a tip, if you get a 'housecall', sure it 'may' be a bit more expensive, but you will have the full undivided attention of the tech, and in your normal environment, with your Internet connection, your peripherals (printer, scanner etc) etc. This would be particularly helpful if for example one of your issues was Wifi or Internet stability

And you have the added advantage that the issues are discussed and resolved in real-time, in front of you.

If you take it to someone, you may find it harder to get them to sit down with you (for however long it takes) and work through each of the issues you may be having. More likely they will ask you to list the issues, leave it with them and collect later. That's fine, but will you then feel comfortable testing each issue before leaving to be satisfied everything is resolved? - I suspect like most you'll take their word for it, go home and then have to see if it's all sorted.

Personally, I much prefer (doing) onsite calls, you get to speak directly to the user, and so much can be gleaned from a simple chat than from a jobsheet.

One drawback of housecalls is if the unit is plagued with malware, viruses etc, or there are a significant number of updates overdue. In this case, you're paying for your tech to sit around basically watching paint dry whereas if you take it to someone, knowing those are the issues, they will kick off the scan, updates etc, then leave it to do its thing and go on to other tasks. And any $ charging 'should' only be for actual time spent on the unit. We used to have small start-stop timers in a previous workshop and when the unit was left doing something unattended, the timer was stopped, and restarted on return. It was very accurate and helpful to be sure there was no over or under-costing. Some repairers will have a fixed-price model, so regardless of how long it takes, the price is agreed in advance, this might be appealing and you should check.

But as NiceLady says, maybe outline your issues here, perhaps starting with the most aggravating ones and see how we can help.

Edited by cookee_nz at 2:01 pm, Sat 28 Nov

cookee_nz - 2020-11-28 13:52:00

Yeah Hubby did house calls for quite a lot of years and it works MUCH better than someone taking a computer into the shop. Usually the owner of the computer isn't that 'savvy' and has trouble explaining the issue(s). The the tech has to figure out the fixes, which isn't easy if you don't have the 'full story'. Then the owner takes it home and crosses their fingers that it's all done correctly. It's not ideal.

House calls are far superior. YOU the owner get to tell the tech, and demonstrate if necessary, what the issues are. Then the tech will tell you what they suggest the fix is and/or simply do what they need to and demonstrate to you the end result. MUCH better.

nice_lady - 2020-11-28 14:00:00

Thanks for the replies:) Fair point about the house calls. I just got put off as I had one guy out plucked from the yellow pages, and although he seemingly fixed the problem he was very odd (not in a horrible creepy way).
Did whatever he did and said to ring if it still wasn't right as he had to dash off to another appointment halfway through the time. Spotted a stranded baby bird in my garage on my way out and turned into David Attenborough trying to save it.....I love animals, but he wasn't quite right....
Bonus was he never sent an account I suppose!
I've had some great help off this thread, but as you've said, sometimes it's hard for a non techy person like me to explain the problem. I do find it hard, and wonder if I'm doing whatever I'm told to do, especially if a wee box or extra instruction pos up that I'm not sure about! Maybe I'll just have to try the one with five star reviews on his website and hope his Auntie and cousins didn't write them lol.
Thanks for the advice all, much appreciated.

Edited by hound31 at 9:39 am, Sun 29 Nov

hound31 - 2020-11-29 09:37:00

It is normal for computer type people to be a bit "odd".

tygertung - 2020-11-29 13:05:00