Posted by: Xaplesin
Free estimates is the reason why I'm making lots and lots of profit. Customers love my service and the fact that I don't charge them for diagnosing. There are 4 other computer shops in my area that have closed down and mainly because no one wants to pay a $20/$30 heck even a $10 diagnosing fee. This is our 10th year coming up by the way.
I'll take apart a laptop to it's bones, describe the problem and price and if they don't like my pricing, I'll put there laptop back together and give it back to the customer.
They appreciate my honesty and always end up taking a business card, sometimes even 3 to 4 to refer friends and lately I've been getting a lot of referrals.
Business is good and I love my job.
Are you the only technician in your shop? If so, then you can justify the cost of your labor because only you can determine how much money your time is worth. With our business, it's much different. We have employees and overhead to account for, and we cannot afford to waste time looking at junk (this may be due to a city location) that people bring in just because they see free.
In order to meet overhead and turn a profit (our line of work also consists of much more complicated electronics(recievers, tv, amps, etc.)), an up front, credited evaluation is necessary.
I love this lone of work as well and hope business gets even better for you as well.