It’s amazing the difference of opinions two Pc repair professionals can have over what constitutes the best service and advice to a computer repair customer. Personally I feel that we are all becoming far too complacent about what seems to be throwaway technology these days.

Interestingly this technician’s viewpoint was totally opposed to my own as he would happily recommend a client to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a new PC rather than spending hundreds of dollars repairing an older Pc.

Now taken in isolation I also would consider this very good advice as well, as throwing money at old hardware can be a lost cause. But that said there are wide number of variables that should be considered before recommending this course of action.

Sure we can take away the pain of the update by doing the data transfer for them but aren’t we already thinking along the wrong lines already. As a professional should we be taking the consultative approach here?

A majority of clients that I come across have simply never considered the need for ongoing Pc maintenance and some of them have had such slow systems that even when they are less than a year old they are considering getting rid of them.

This is not only bad for their pockets but is also dumping rubbish into the environment far sooner than is really necessary.

So is it really good advice to advise a client to renew as opposed to repair, well in my opinion first of all you need to ask how old the computer is and what it is being used for. This will help you give the client best advice.

Secondly is their really something wrong with the Pc or does the client just need a little help and understanding how to keep it running smoothly.

And thirdly, is there enough computer memory in the Pc to make it run efficiently. Chances are if it has been bought on a budget then the answer is almost certainly a big NO.

A small investment in a computer memory upgrade can really go a long way to increasing a systems performance, and this fact is quite often overlooked.

In a majority of cases a little computer maintenance goes a long way and if the client is interested you can show them a few tips and tricks to keep it running nice and smoothly themselves in the future.

Another good way to help your client save money is to use cheap used computer parts especially if they have an older system but it is still meeting their needs.

Ok, as business people this will not make us rich…..or will it? I would much more prefer to help a client and have a happy client who feels confident to refer friends and relatives on an on going basis than just “grow a job” beyond where it needs to be, which if the press is to be believed happens far too often than it really should.