Would you "Pay per play" for commercial support?

[Adamant1988]

Just a question, I know as home users my family feel more comfortable with being able to call someone and get professional, quality support. However the $250 a year price-tag is a bit large for many people (myself, my significant other, and my family included). So my question to you is, if support were available to you as home users on a "Charge per call" basis, would you be more willing to accept that if the rates were fair?

[maniacmusician]

Just a question, I know as home users my family feel more comfortable with being able to call someone and get professional, quality support. However the $250 a year price-tag is a bit large for many people (myself, my significant other, and my family included). So my question to you is, if support were available to you as home users on a "Charge per call" basis, would you be more willing to accept that if the rates were fair?
yeah, it's a little pricey. I think $100 would be a more reasonable price.

If someone is going to be calling often, pay-per-call doesn't seem good....but for occasional, maybe a couple of times per year, it would be fine, I think.

[Adamant1988]

Well my logic on the regular caller is that a subscription like the current ones would SAVE them money. Basically if the going rate was $10 a call and I called 30 times a year, I could save $50 by just subscribing and paying monthly or something. But for the average home user they won't be calling that much.

[mykalreborn]

nope. i wouldn't pay. i can manage my system pretty well, and even if i couldn't there is always the internet: howtos, webforums and others. in my opinion technical support is more suited for companies or something like that and not the desktop user. that's because it doesn't happen that often to need assistance, and when it does happen you're not on a tight schedule. i rather wait a few hours before my problem gets solved than pay for help.
that's just my opinion. others might say otherwise.
cheers!

[Adamant1988]

Anyone else have any input?

[ScotchontheRocks]

$250 is way too expensive. I had to look over the support page three or four times to make sure I wasn't missing something. If they brought it down to like $100, I would consider it.

[frup]

I haven't really been in the position where I have needed support which can't be matched in the forums. But i would be willing to pay certain amount to make a call, say hey this is wrong, wait an hour or five, receive a call back with near to detailed explanations on how to fix the problem, so I don't have to think, especially if I was a new user.

I enjoy messing with my computer, but I know others don't and something like $10 would be a great price to pay to get support, I just don't like the idea of people wasting their money because they are stupid... but then again $10 isn't much for the time which could be involved for support personel

The trouble is most information is freely available. Sometimes fixing something is complicated and I'm sure some people don't have the patience to fix it, even with support. A remote desktop support service type thing would be pretty cool... but only works if the computer starts and is connected to the internet.

[karellen]

no. I don't need it as I'm pretty computer savvy and I can always dig the net or a howto if I get really stuck

[FernandoMilton]

Well, go check the rates from your faithful local (Windows/PC) technician, look how much they charge even to simple tasks like cleaning adware or installing a printer. I've seen minimum prices (here in Europe) ranging from 15 to 30 euros (20 to 40 dollars), those prices varying if the maintenance is on their shop or in loco, depending on the complexity of the task, etc. Taking that in account, I don't think 250/year is that expensive.

The problem that skew the marks is that people using PC/Windows don't call the technician every time they have a problem, they call the relative/friend/geek-next-door/acquittance-on-MSN for help and get it for free, giving the false sensation that they don't need professional help that often. As linux has a significantly smaller userbase, it is harder for grandma to get someone around to help her fixing things and, thus, paying a fixed rate in the long run could be better than paying by visit.

One thing I really wish is that people stopped giving free (and a lot of times, bad) maintenance on Windows machines (even for parents, relatives, ...) , and that people stopped "pirating"* software (Office, Photoshop, Corel Draw and the other market leaders) for that platform. That would reveal the real cost of ownership of a Windows system, and would at least show people that there are cheaper alternatives that are up to the task.

* I know, infringing copyright. But pirate goes better on that context.

[slayerboy]

I don't need it....

but having worked in a store that offered technical services and stuff I can honestly tell you most places will charge you at least $100 for a visit to fix a Windows PC. It really depends on how often you think you would use it.

it's just like paying for snow plowing service up here during the winter. Sometimes if you sign up for a contract, it will only snow a couple of weeks and you just paid a lot of money for nothing really. But then you can say you want to pay per visit and it snows for 3 months straight and you end up paying through the nose for something that you could have contracted for much cheaper. Or you could just go out and buy a heavy duty snowblower for 3x the price of a year plow contract and be able to get more out of the snowblower over time, but you're using your time and energy to do it yourself.

Think about it in another way. In the spring, summer, and fall you can choose to have someone do the lawn service for you or do it yourself. The only difference is you're paying someone to do it, you're really not losing money because it needs to get done, but it saves you time. Otherwise you'd have to buy a rake and a lawnmower and invest the time. It would be much cheaper to buy the lawnmower and rake and do it yourself, but the lawn service does it for you and can sometimes do a better job at caring for your lawn than you can.

It's all relative to your particular situation.:)

[UbLnoy]

Yes.

In a heartbeat.

[Sunflower1970]

Myself and my family don't need commercial support. Between my brother and I we can usually figure out what's going on with our computers.

But there are some people out there who do need it, and don't care how much it costs. My husband's boss is one of them. He owns his own company and wants things to just work. If they don't and he cannot fix them fast he's not someone you want be around. The service would have to be very high quality and something that can be done quickly, and cost wouldn't matter.