Lesson learned

[lightning claw]

first let me ex-plane what has happened over the past 2 weeks First and foremost my best friends girl friend had serious computer issues (Her vista systems where acting like it had less than 512 ram ) i open one of the computes up and what do i find 3768 registry errors 3 different version's of Norten 1 install of Macafe and every tool / add bar known to man and i lost track of how many spy-where infections. Her other computer was worse off if that's possible
it failed every update since 4/12/2010 and to top it off it had close to the issues listed above this chick is tool bar happy

anyway my prices are set 100-150 $ per computer that's very cheep compared to best buy or frys electronics she throw a bloody **** fit and got my best friend to get me to give her a 2 for 1 deal fine ... im a nice guy ill do it this once .

ever since then i have gotten calls at 5:45 in the morning checking for a "progress report"

This annoys me ... Then i say fine i know it sucks to be with out a computer i got your desktop done its been waiting hear why don't you come get this and i will collect when the jobs completely finished. The only reason for the hold up was to get the system restore disk for vista. It was denying the Microsoft techs. Annoying but tolerable, Then i hear i am not going to get payed for 1 to 2 weeks after the jobs complete.

This is unacceptable I explained money is very tight, I haven't seen it this tight in a great long wile and i Explained i have burned before by people giving me ptps (pro-mess to pay) so i put my foot down Friday i got the restore disks Flashed the bios reformatted the computer and finished it off with all the updates intact the computer is finished i could not get ahold of my friend all day then i hear this bull **** over the line (his girl friend " I only have 100 $ give him that and it will half to do he will get the other 50 in 1 week

Serious i am saving you 400 $ and your not going to pay me !!!!!!! i also hear over the Phone that they went out to the movies and dinner on my dime not expecting the computer repair to go so fast so they only payed me a part of the money owed what nerve!

Point to this story keep business and friendships and relationship separate

[Dhalin]

Oi.

The nerve of some people, I tell ya.

I normally only work on computers as a side-hobby of mine, and I don't pursue it as an actual means of making money.

That said, I let word-of-mouth spread around that I'm good with such, but I like to keep it to people I know, and I prefer to work on laptops.

Either way, I prefer to let them pay what they think is fair; I guess I'm just charitable in that way. Some pay pretty good (one person gave me $150), others don't give me quite as much, but I just like to help out.

Anyways, you could take them to court, if you had a written promise that they'd pay you upon completion. Or, you could simply hold their computer until they pay up. If they try to take you to court, then explain to the judge that they have yet to pay the agreed upon fees beforehand, I'm sure any decent judge would know that $100 is very generous for that sort of work, especially if you went to court with some sample adverts from computer shops charging much more than that for similar amounts of time spent.

Edit: Oh, and.... Vista? yuck. I would have seriously pushed for them to buy Win7 ASAP. I wouldn't install Vista on a computer, I would have simply turned the job down unless they agreed to buy a Win7 license. I have a similar policy on WinME; if the computer is powerful enough, I'd strongly encourage them to find a WinXP license somewhere so I can put WinXP on it, instead. If not, then I'd simply tell them that it is a waste of time, sadly, that they should just buy a WinXP "typewriter" for $150 or so from a used computer shop.

[velveeta]

peeps try to take advantage of snake's good nature in the exact same way.......
i just refuse to do work for my friends, and i clearly and concisely explain why. if they want to hire me, i give em a price (with a good deal) and ask for a quarter or a third up front.

it's hard not to be 'nice' to your friends, but being nice sometimes loses you your time, money, and friend.

sorry this had to happen to you, and i hope you are all young enough to grow out of any infantile behavior!