The Computer Guy's Space

Some of our customers may want to see our billing policy.   So, we've decided to publish here to make it easy for customers, and prospects, to access it.

The Computer Guys LLC Billing Policy 2010

Billing: A necessary evil in our profession. The fact is, we enjoy our work and interaction with our clients, and, if we could, might be quite content doing our work for free. We can’t, so we send you bills for the work we perform. We bill for the time we devote to serving your needs. Like your doctor, we don’t bill for the results of our work; we bill for our work. Sometimes we have to expend time finding out what is wrong, what might work, what won’t work, or trying things that don’t work in order to find out what will work. We necessarily bill for that kind of time.

Research: Sometimes we have to consult with our associates internally, or with support staff in companies that have supplied products you are using. Sometimes we have to spend time researching details that relate to your system. For most problems we should know how to find the resolution to the problem in a reasonable period of time. We don’t, and you should not, expect our staff to answer every question or resolve every problem immediately or without any research. If the best method for finding that resolution is for one of our technicians to review the problem with another of our technicians, or to review it with the maker of the product, we make no apologies and we necessarily bill for the time required. The old story about the washing machine repairman comes to mind. The customer complained about the repairman’s $100 bill. After all, the customer complained, all he did was tighten one screw. The repairman then rewrote the bill: Tightening screw to resolve problem - $1.00; knowing which screw to tighten - $99.00.

Experiments: Sometimes the best method of resolving a problem is to implement what, based on our experience and research, we think will resolve the problem, let you test the result in your real-life work for several hours or days, and then return if needed to refine the solution. Returning to refine a solution does not constitute failure or reduce the value of previous work we have done.

Malicious Software Resolution: This can be particularly complex. By design, viruses & other malicious software hide, replicate, transport, and recur. Virus resolution almost always requires at least two sessions for success, and even then can easily recur in the near or distant future.

Hourly Rates: Our rates are set to reflect our costs in providing service to you, and in the hope, of course, of earning a reasonable profit. The rates we charge vary depending on the type of service we are performing for you, since that most directly affects our cost. Database & Engineering services are charged at higher rates than PC Technician services. Phone support will be billed at regular rates.

Travel time: For short distances from our office or current location to yours is simply included in the time we bill for our work. Also, mileage will be charged if when traveling outside the Wendell Ford Expressway or anytime we are traveling on your behalf, to purchase stuff for your specific location.

Discounts: We sometimes discount our rates. If we are doing a particularly large project for you or if you are located in certain geographic regions, we may apply a small discount to our rates. These discounts are subject to receiving payment within the terms we specify on our bills. If you fail to adhere to these payment terms we will reapply to your account any discounts we may have applied.

“Out-of-Pocket” costs: These are costs that we incur on your behalf. In many cases, these costs are for software or hardware that we provide. Because there are additional costs associated with providing these items, we normally apply billing time but no markup on the items themselves. We work hard to find suppliers that can provide us with the highest quality hardware and software, not necessarily the lowest cost, so you may be able to find comparable items (or at least what appear to be comparable items) at a lower cost elsewhere. We do not provide warranty service for any hardware or software problems since we do not manufacture or produce hardware or software. Most of the items that we provide include a manufacturer’s warranty. These warranties cover repair or replacement of a failed item, but do not usually cover our time in diagnosing, shipping, replacing or otherwise affecting the warranty. Like warranties of other products, these warranties cover the item’s failure, not associated costs or inconvenience. We will be happy to assist you in contacting the manufacturer yourself in order to reduce our charges in working on warranty issues.

Billing Frequency: Our bills are generated weekly as a project progresses. We expect you to pay out of pocket costs (including travel costs) and costs for proposed projects in advance. If we don’t collect out-of-pocket costs or proposed project costs in advance, they are due immediately upon billing and become past due 5 days after the billing date. Unless specific credit terms have been requested and approved in writing, charges for routine services are due when billed, and become past due 15 days after the billing date. We will usually perform routine and occasional service for established clients and bill for the service after it is complete. New clients, those for whom we do little or irregular service, or clients with whom we have experienced past credit problems will be required to make a deposit payment before work begins. We will estimate the cost for work to be performed and will base the deposit payment on that estimate. We may need to revise our estimate and receive additional deposit payments during the course of a project. Deposit payments will be applied as a payment to your account, and will be reconciled in our regular billing process. We will process a refund of excess deposit payments if needed.

Past-due Amounts: Like any business, past due accounts are a concern for us, and we apply strict procedures in dealing with them. We would prefer to never apply finance charges, and we think you will find our finance charge procedures quite liberal. But if we do apply a finance charge, we are not easily persuaded to reverse it. If your account is past due, you will find that we rarely apply any write-down at all, and if you question a charge on your bill, we will not write it off until the account is brought to “current” status. If we do choose to reverse charges that have been applied to an account that was past due and has since been brought to “current” status, we will only do so in the form of a credit on the account that can be applied to future services.

Questions: We welcome the opportunity of discussing billing and any other questions with you. Communicating with clients is always a pleasure for us, and we encourage it. Client communication sometimes reminds us of little Jimmy who, at three years of age had not spoken a word. His concerned parents sought diagnoses from the best doctors, who could find no problem. At age five, Jimmy still had not spoken, and extensive medical tests sought out by his anxious parents could still not identify a reason. At age nine, during the family dinner one evening, Jimmy suddenly said, “These peas are cold!”  His shocked parents sprang to their feet and excitedly asked, “Jimmy, you’re nine years old; you have never spoken until now. Why!?”  “Well,” Jimmy replied, “everything’s been OK up to now.”  We are always anxious to hear from you. Please feel free to call us anytime.

Hourly Rates as of January 2010:

Engineering:  $125

Custom Programming:  $100

Business and Networking:  $90

Residential:  $65

Well, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you know I’ve been testing Foursquare (4SQ) the past week or so.

I have now unlinked my FaceBook account from my Foursquare account for security reasons.

Here is my assessment.

It is a social networking site that allows a user to know where all their friends are at any given time.  What do I mean?  Well if all your 4SQ friends are consistently posting their locations as they move about, then everyone knows where the action is.  And, they can “compete” to see who scores the most points around town since points are assigned as you post your locations.

You can also leave “tips” about locations.  Like, I left a tip that Panera Bread has good coffee and really good shortbread cookies.  And I suppose you could tell your friends places to avoid as well.

Another feature is you can earn such things as being “elected” mayor of a given location.  All you have to do is be the most frequent visitor to a location and you automatically are “elected” mayor.  Essentially you elect yourself!  For right now I am the “Mayor” of Panera Bread in Owensboro.  Imagine that!

Overall the program seems like it could be a fun service to use provided:

Parents monitor their kids updates

Parents make sure their kids do NOT connect their Foursquare Account to any other account unless:

They do not have any friends on their other SN accounts that they do not know extremely well.

Are careful to know which of their friends are connected.

Never give out too much info.  For example…if your kid is 13 and he/she posts “the beaches in FL are wonderful right now,” well most anyone would assume the kid was there with parents which means the house is empty!  Great time to burglarize the place.

Explore 4SQ for yourself and let us know what you think.

Dennis “The Mayor” Wilson

We just put together a really good package for anyone wanting a Dell laptop with MS Office 2007 Small Business Edition with Adobe Standard.  (Adobe Standard is full blown Adobe, not just the reader.)  It comes with Windows XP Home and it has a touch screen!  This unit it is only 10.1 inches so it is very portable yet still larger than the standard 8.9” NETbook.  It also does NOT have a CD or DVD player included.

If you were to purchase MS Office 2007 Small Business Edition with Adobe Acrobat Standard separately the suggested retail is around $800!

Your price for the whole package is $823 plus shipping and tax.  If you pay by cash or check there is a $23 discount.  Then we will charge $149 for setup and configuration and will include installing all updates and patches plus anti-virus software and our remote support software.   *** This package is only available to delivery in Kentucky. *** 

Dennis H. Wilson, Head Computer Guy

The Computer Guys LLC

3520 New Hartford Rd. Suite 404

Owensboro, KY  42303

(270) 344-4286 Voice - Office

(270) 570-3611 Voice - Cell

Dennis @ TheComputerGuysLLC.com

All quotes for Dell equipment are subject to change every Thursday as Dell changes pricing on Thursdays.  All hardware/software warranty, if any, is provided by the manufacturer, not The Computer Guys LLC.

Our goal here at The Computer Guys LLC is to exceed your expectations, so please let us know immediately if you feel, at any time, we are not accomplishing our goal. We are continuously striving to be the best and want your experience to be as convenient and enjoyable as possible. We want you to know that we truly appreciate your business.

A big thanks to Kevin Bruner who first showed this to me. 

GIBSON-PIKE-POSEY-VANDERBURGH-WARRICK-SPENCER-UNION KY-WEBSTER-

HOPKINS-CHRISTIAN-HENDERSON-DAVIESS-MCLEAN-MUHLENBERG-TODD-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.FORT BRANCH.PETERSBURG.POSEYVILLE.

EVANSVILLE.BOONVILLE.ROCKPORT.MORGANFIELD.DIXON.

MADISONVILLE.HOPKINSVILLE.HENDERSON.OWENSBORO.CALHOUN.

GREENVILLE.ELKTON

1217 PM CST MON FEB 8 2010

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST TUESDAY.

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN PADUCAH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SW IN & WESTERN KY.WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST TUESDAY. THIS IS AN UPGRADE FROM THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY.

* A POWERFUL WINTER STORM SYSTEM CONTINUES TO TAKE SHAPE IN THE PLAINS STATES.& WILL BE MOVING IN WITH ITS ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL TONIGHT.

* DRY AIR WEDGED ACROSS THE LWR OH.TN.& WABASH RIVER VALLEYS WILL BE STUBBORN TO YIELD TO MOISTURE THAT WILL BE STARTING TO OVERRUN THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. BY THIS EVENING HOWEVER.THE CONTINUED MOISTENING OF THE ATMOSPHERIC COLUMN SHOULD RESULT IN WHAT WILL BE THE BEGINNING OF SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL.

* STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF AROUND 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF SW IN & WESTERN KY TONIGHT.

LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS TO 5 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE S. PENNYRILE REGION OF WESTERN KY.SOUTH TOWARD THE TN BORDER. SLIGHTLY LWR AMOUNTS IN THE 3 TO 4 INCH RANGE MIGHT OCCUR NO. OF THE OH RIVER ACROSS PORTIONS OF SW IN. BUT ON AVERAGE AROUND 4 INCHES IS THE MAIN ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL THREAT FOR THIS WARNING. THE ACCUMULATING SNOW SHOULD BE TAPERING OFF TUES MORNING WITH THE WARNING ENDING BY MIDDAY TUESDAY.

* SNOWS TO 4 INCHES OR MORE WILL CAUSE DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS. IN ADDITION STRONG WINDS WILL COME IN LATER TUESDAY LASTING THROUGH WEDNESDAY.