Why cut out Middlemen?
My last article was about outsourcing and the effects it has on technical “value.” In other words, the fewer middlemen the more bang for your buck! Generally speaking, when it comes to home users having their computer services go through several middlemen it is not the optimal situation to be in.
I can name at least 4 large scale corporations who outsource consumer warranty and installation work. The list includes such giants as ATT, HP, Samsung, and Dell. How do I know this? I have done work for everyone of those companies. You are literally at the mercy of these giants to make good on their promise to repair or install your hardware.
A typical repair for warranty work passes through 3 hands before getting to you. There is the company who sold you the extended warranty, the company they use to find technicians to do the work, and then the contracted technician themselves, sometimes even more hands. Several years ago the big companies had their own technicians, or found the techs themselves, but since that time more and more of them would rather pay someone else to handle consumer needs, because it just does not make sense to them to hire full time IT people to the jobs. While this scenario may make sense dollar sense to the large scale business, the consumer often times ends up forced to deal with inferior service and support.
There are many articles written on the benefits of outsourcing in business, but very few on how it affects the end user. You may receive excellent service, but chances are your service is simply “ok,” or worse, horrible. The middlemen are much like many others in the service industry, they are looking for warm bodies to show up at your door, and to make as much money as possible. They take a gamble on whether or not the technician will be top notch, or even mediocre, since most of the buyers are not technical they are ill equipped to choose good IT people. If the first tech they send fails to fix the issue or blunders in some way, they will chalk it up to a bad experience and send a second body hoping it will be better.
Big business does not have to put up with inadequate, sub par service, and neither do you! Find someone local to do your service and repairs. Someone who has a good reputation and can guide you on what to purchase and offer you a service agreement. The extra that you may pay initially is going to save you in several ways. First of all, you are not at the mercy of the huge conglomerate to do your repairs, secondly you will possibly save yourself many minutes, or hours, of time on the phone with a person from another country who has a language barrier and does not seem to care about your problem, and lastly, but extremely important, you are going to get professional quality service and personalized attention.
Small to medium computer repair shops are thriving all over America, because of the factors mentioned in this article. There are additional reasons to consider local computer sales and repair, but we can save that for another article in the series! Whether you hire Girlyteck, or another local tech, you can do so with confidence, trust and peace of mind.
Many of us prefer local insurance agents, local car salesmen, local bankers, and many others, so it just makes common sense that we would prefer local computer repair business. Do your local economy and yourself a favor and cut out the middlemen by doing business with local reputable computer business’s! You will be surprised at how economical, convenient, and stress-free it really is to have personalized computer services.
« The Future of IT – A Story and Prediction | Home | Outsourcing and the Effects on Technical Value »
Leave a Comment