4 ms·
OK so I'm confused about this. I live in Southern California, in a pretty populated area. if you search Google or yelp, there are virtually no at home services
by Solvency 3y ago
OK so I'm confused about this. I live in Southern California, in a pretty populated area. if you search Google or yelp, there are virtually no at home services like this besides geek squad. But surely there must be a need? If you look on Nextdoor, people are constantly asking for help with TV, computers, phones, etc.
but even more than hardware: software! the amount of stuff that horse wearing on people's devices with iCloud and other consumer software services is mindboggling.
So what happened to all the independent small businesses? Is there simply not a need? Or is there an opportunity here for a bunch of college kids to put some vinyl graphics on their cars and create their own local equivalent of geek squad? it honestly seems like rape territory, especially in an age where people are less and less connected to the technicalities of their devices, peripherals, etc.
- yardie 3y agoMost of the computer repair shops in my area have transitioned to phone/tablet repair. I spent $110 to repair my trusty iPhone 11 at the local PC store. Which I then traded in for a iPhone 15 since my carrier was offering almost $1000 to trade-in. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone makes money anymore.
- ipaddr 3y agoIs an iPhone the only phone people bother repairing?
- yardie 2y agoThe iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S-series phones are the most popular with repair parts readily available. I was there when someone balked at getting their Samsung A-series repaired. For a few dollars more they could buy another one.
- michaelt 3y agoI tried this briefly while in college. It turns out that if you know enough about computers to be able to successfully fix most call-outs, you can pretty much get a job as a programmer. And as a programmer, you'll never have to explain to someone who's struggling financially that you can't get back their lost family photos, but you're charging them $150 anyway.
- MrZander 3y agoIt can be pretty difficult to make retail computer repair profitable at scale. Our company has largely pivoted to IT consulting for other local companies who can benefit more from not having to hire an internal IT team. Individuals have a much lower ROI from getting IT support. It's expensive to diagnose and fix "why is my computer running slow". And often times the answer is to upgrade your computer. It can be hard to stomach someone charging you an hour of labor for that.