It’s funny how some people needing their computers repaired will always do what they can to find the cheapest technician possible to get things up and running. Never mind if the person they hire is skilled or not, for some customers clenching on to their money seems more important than getting things fixed properly. We put our entire lives on computers these days, whether you’re running a small business or you’re the average home user who uses them to surf the Internet. Either way, you end up saving valuable data to computer whether it’s precious photos, valuable documents or both. We also save music and videos to them as well.
Computers are pretty much carrying our entire lives on them but when they crash or breakdown they often need a skilled technician to get them back up and running. While most people feel it’s worth spending the money to get a competent professional to come and fix the problem, there are others who become tight fisted when it comes to their pocketbook and feel that paying a professional technician to troubleshoot the problem isn’t worth the money.
Have those pinching pennies and scoffing at the idea of hiring a trained professional ever asked themselves how much their data is really worth to them? As a skilled technician running his own computer repair business, I get to meet many different types of people because I often go to their home or small business location to fix their issues. All if them know what I charge (as I’m hourly) but there always seems to be a select few who call wanting service but want to know how much it’ll cost and how long it will take. While it’s great to know those things up front so you can budget for them, when it comes to computers each scenario will be different.
Recently, I had the chance to service a customer who called with a big concern. Their computer wouldn’t turn on and they needed someone right away to fix the problem, because their entire livelihood depended on having the computer up and running. They asked what I charged hourly and seemed fine paying the rate as they wanted someone to come out right away to fix the issue and rescue their data. After arriving on-site and performing proper diagnostics, it was determined that the computer needed to be replaced. After hearing the bad news the customer was ok with getting a new computer but went from someone who was willing to pay any cost to have their data rescued from their hard drive to someone who felt calling a professional technician was a waste of time and money. Cost suddenly became an issue where it wasn’t before.
It brought me to asking them how much their data was worth? Is it valuable enough to have it rescued and transferred to a new computer because you didn’t have a backup plan or is it only worth the amount of a cup of coffee? If you spill a cup of coffee then you may have to purchase another one. You can’t do that with data.
I often will find myself educating customers that by making a small investment in an external hard drive and backing up your data from time to time that it can indeed be a lifesaver, especially if the computer’s main hard drive needs to be reformatted for some reason or if they need a new computer and want to recover their data from the old drive.
The bottom line is, if you feel your data is worth saving then focusing on how much it’ll cost to retrieve it may not be the best way to approach the situation. The best question to ask yourself , “is my data worth enough to me to be saved at any cost or can I let go of that important document in the name of low prices?” Only you can answer that question.