moncho
Tue Apr 15 05:13:39 PDT 2008
nick wrote:
> On Apr 14, 3:07 pm, moncho <mon...@NOspmanywhere.com> wrote:
>> nick wrote:
>>> On Apr 11, 1:58 pm, "Phillip Windell" <philwind...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> "nick" <cipher7...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:92e8f864-b702-40a2-9a17-b644a30f0850@e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>>>> On Apr 11, 10:03 am, "Danny Sanders" <DSand...@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote:
>>>>> Let's say one place pays 500 a month. Three more pay the same. I don't
>>>>> want to work 40 hours a week for 2000 bucks a month!
>>>> I am!...ok,..maybe it might be about $2500.
>>>> I'm not a consultant though,..just an hourly lowly IT Guy that is a
>>>> "one-man-IT-Dept".
>>>> You sound better organized than I am.
>>>> --
>>>> Phillip Windellwww.wandtv.com
>>>> The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
>>>> or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
>>>> -----------------------------------------------------
>>> That was me over at a yacht supply company I used to work for. I was
>>> the network administrator, desktop support, help desk, cellphone/radio
>>> guy, PBX phone system guy, and security camera setup guy. All that for
>>> 14/hour!!! When I started to complain after a few months I was told I
>>> didn't appreciate the opportunity given to me! AMAZING!!
>> Knowing this, I would at least charge a minimum of $75 per hour if not
>> more. After taxes and all your other expenses, $75 per hour will
>> become $14 per hour; albeit net instead of gross pay.
>>
>> moncho- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> The most difficult part of all this was trying to get the client to
> understand what was done, and what was or wasn't my responsibility.
> Reinstalling SBS 2003 was the easiest part. The proprietary software
> (GE) was very difficult, and the client assumed that I was responsible
> for it. Since I had to restore it with the help of GE the client
> assumed that I just "hung" around while they WebEx'ed in and did the
> work.
>
> But what was at the root of it was what the previous tech had done. He
> had worked for the company where I worked for years. He liked being
> able to help the customer out with the GE software. Even though
> technically our boss told us it wasn't our responsibility. (To put it
> in perspective the software has four parts taken care of by four
> different departments. The techs there state that it takes a year on
> each part to get proficient enough to support it. So they technically
> stick to one part, and transfer you for any other part).
>
> Well, this tech from where I worked used to do a lot of
> troubleshooting on his own for the product. So the client stopped
> paying support to GE four years ago. I worked with this tech on this
> issue, and he said that the client would have no choice but to pay GE
> for support, and pay me for reinstall. I wish that after rebuilding
> the server I could've just had them WebEx and take care of the rest,
> but there was no way.
>
> In order to restore the data they had to know what the setup was like.
> Which meant I had to spend hours explaining it to them, and sitting on
> the phone with them to get the thing resolved. I didn't bill for a lot
> of those hours, but the client told me they weren't responsible for my
> lack of knowledge of a product! I told them that as an IT person I am
> not required to know GE. I am required to know Microsoft, or Linux,
> depending on the environment. Well, they didn't understand that. Since
> it was a pediatrician I told them that they are not responsible for
> knowing about cardiology. Yet, to use the analogy, I am making them my
> cardiologist and then refusing to pay because they had to get educated
> on cardiological principles!
I have used similar analogies in the past. I like to compare
a family practice with a brain surgeon.
>
> This medical practice charges 125/visit for the first visit, and 75
> for every visit after that. They see about 30 or more patients a day.
> They demand payment before they start their services. Why? Because
> they are physicians worth every penny. But as for me? I don't deserve
> what I charge because anyone could do what I do. And that's the
> attitude that is hard to overcome.
>
I know this tale of whoa too. I am in the medical community also.
We sell software and services, and once we put our software on their
machines, if they do not have a hardware guy, they automatically
assume we are responsible to support their hardware for free.
I understand your entire situation, believe me.
If they have not paid you yet, I would try to get as much
as you believe you are entitled to. It may be less, but
you can write off the rest as "lessons learned."
The SOW will help in future situations because you can state
in the SOW that you are not responsible for X, Y, or Z. If
the client wants to add further services, you can make
the necessary adjustments.
moncho