Home Visit Computer Cleaning

[Jingthing]

I know some of you can do this yourselves, but there is a service I'd like to see in Pattaya that I think would have a fair demand, but I haven't seen it offered. (Perhaps a biz opportunity for some technical Thais you might know?)

The desired service is for a qualified person to come to my house and thoroughly CLEAN the inside of my PC (periodically when needed). The tech shops I have dealt with at Tukcom won't even do this for me when my machines have been in their shops!

I think a lot of expats would be willing to pay rather well for this service, especially those who have towers and don't want to schlep the thing into a shop.

Perhaps someone can refer a tech shop that does this service well (in shop). In that case they could probably be persuaded to do house calls for extra money.

Beyond that, I think there might be a niche for a dedicated house call cleaning service without even the need to rent a shop! It's tedious boring work for a techie, but it's a need.

Cheers.

Edited July 17, 2011 by Jingthing

[Phil Conners]

In my experience nobody wants to pay anything for these kind of services. Sorry. Everybody thinks anything related to PC service ought to be free or at least no more than 300 baht. Thais with skills wouldn't go out of their way for that kind of money, and farangs - well with required work permit, company, taxation and other overhead, there would just be no way something like this could be profitable.

2-3 years ago I sometimes saw a farang driving around Pattaya on a motorbike with a huge box on the back and some signs indicating he was offering mobile computer services. It looked a little "home made" and I haven't seen him since then so I suspect he probably tried doing in without the required paperwork and got nabbed.

Anyway, cleaning a PC really isn't rocket science. The biggest problem is cleaning CPU coolers and fans. You might be able to find a can with compressed air somewhere but I find the best way to clean them is using an industrial compressor. My neighbor happens to have one that he let me use when the occasional need arises but I guess if you removed the fan assembly and brought it to a bike shop they'd let you use their compressor for a small tip. For the rest it's just a matter of attaching the brush mouthpiece on your vacuum cleaner and carefully clean out the dust.

Also, since this is more a computer issue than a Pattaya issue, let's move it to the computer forum.

[bino]

I find the best way to clean them is using an industrial compressor.

This is a really bad idea unless the compressor has an excellent filter / water separator, which most service stations and bike shops don't have. An airbrush artist would have this setup, especially if they work with watercolor paints.

Using an industrial compressor with massive pressure can blow microscopic impurities, lubricant from the compressor, and even water from humidity in the air into the sensitive contact areas of your CPU, motherboard, RAM slots, etc.

Same same with trying to clean it yourself with lung power by blowing through a straw. You will be blowing microscopic flecks of spit all over the inside of your PC.

You might be able to find a can with compressed air somewhere

This is the right thing to do. Photography / camera shops and computer accessory stores sell the compressed air cans, which are moisture and impurity free.

[Phil Conners]

I didn't suggest blowing the whole MB or any other sensitive parts, just to clean out the dirt between the cooling fins on the heatsink. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[Jingthing]

I appreciate the technical info but I actually really was looking for a competent person to do this service for me IN PATTAYA! I totally reject there is no market for this. I have never seen anyone try to promote it, so you really DON'T KNOW there is no market for the service. I could mop my own floors, too, but I don't.

Edited July 17, 2011 by Jingthing

[Somtamnication]

Would love to help the OP, but I am in Phuket. I charge 2000b for the service. It includes:

Disassembling the plugged components such as the cpu, video cards and memory and cleaning all contact points with alcohol.

Reapplying thermal compound to the cpu

Vacuuming the interior and exterior

Running a variety of programs on the pc to clean any malware and other sh¿tware

I carry spare fans in case they need replaced and spare power supplies. Almost the most calls I get are for these two.

I am also A+ certified. (google it).

Twice a year I service the same pc. If the owner does not want to service it twice a year, my fee goes up!!! You gotta keep those buggers clean. Dust is the biggest heat culprit on a pc, second only to a voluptuous woman sitting on a pc case!

All in all, takes about an hour to do a thorough job.

[bino]

I didn't suggest blowing the whole MB or any other sensitive parts, just to clean out the dirt between the cooling fins on the heatsink. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I wouldn't recommend removing the heatsink either, unless the person is savvy enough to clean and replace the thermal heatsink compound. So- if a person is going to go shopping for heatsink compound, they might as well pick up a can of air instead and clean the heatsink "in situ".

[h90]

Would love to help the OP, but I am in Phuket. I charge 2000b for the service. It includes:

Disassembling the plugged components such as the cpu, video cards and memory and cleaning all contact points with alcohol.

Reapplying thermal compound to the cpu

Vacuuming the interior and exterior

Running a variety of programs on the pc to clean any malware and other sh¿tware

I carry spare fans in case they need replaced and spare power supplies. Almost the most calls I get are for these two.

I am also A+ certified. (google it).

Twice a year I service the same pc. If the owner does not want to service it twice a year, my fee goes up!!! You gotta keep those buggers clean. Dust is the biggest heat culprit on a pc, second only to a voluptuous woman sitting on a pc case!

All in all, takes about an hour to do a thorough job.

2000 Baht includes traveling to Pattaya, right?

[Phil Conners]

^ See what I mean?

[Darrel]

I used to charge 2000B (50E) for a 1 hour home visit in Europe, including a couple of kms travel. Double for businesses, but that was 24/7 availability.

I dont see how this rate could possibly be applied to Thailand though, no matter what colour the "expert" doing it is.

As for doing it twice a year or charging extra, that's just a rip-off in any country.

[Somtamnication]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

[Crushdepth]

I've taken my PC for maintenance to competent shops in Pantip a couple of times and they cleaned the case without me asking. Maybe just ask another shop?

[mark55]

DCO computer service,NALONG SRIPROMSA ,83/7 moo 4 ,chaiyapruek 2 rd,jomtien,pattaya,086 835 9925, he will do it, and repairs,not dear, hes good ,iv been useing him 4years,u can go his shop or he will come your home

[Darrel]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

So you're saying that Phuket is full of happy pigeons? I think that everyone who lives elsewhere in Thailand already knows that!

[Somtamnication]

Darrel, it must be truly sad to be such an unhappy, lonely and angry person.

Have a nice day.

[Darrel]

Darrel, it must be truly sad to be such an unhappy, lonely and angry person.

I dont know. If ever I become unhappy or lonely or angry I will be sure to tell you.

Have a nice day.

I always do, thanks.

Not least because I can usually spot a scammer at 100 paces.

[rgs2001uk]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

Nice little earner for you, well done, theres one born every minute, never mind welcome to the LOS(cams).

Most Thai places charge 250 baht for the same service.

[Somtamnication]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I can chose to buy a kilo of grapes for 68 baht or 180 b a kilo for others. It is a choice and no one has a gun to anyone´s head.

If I were unlucky enough to not be physically able to fix my own computer (it does not take a nasa scientist brain to do so) and knowing about Thai-style service, I would let my computer die.

´nuff said. Life goes on.

[Crushdepth]

In my experience nobody wants to pay anything for these kind of services. Sorry. Everybody thinks anything related to PC service ought to be free or at least no more than 300 baht. Thais with skills wouldn't go out of their way for that kind of money, and farangs - well with required work permit, company, taxation and other overhead, there would just be no way something like this could be profitable.

Thought you were talking about web development there for a minute

[GM1955]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

Careful mate, you'll make some people here upset and you'll be set up in a sting operation, working without work permit etc.

I for one don't believe you, but if you're making as much as you intimate, best keep it to yourself.

[tropo]

I used to charge 2000B (50E) for a 1 hour home visit in Europe, including a couple of kms travel. Double for businesses, but that was 24/7 availability.

I dont see how this rate could possibly be applied to Thailand though, no matter what colour the "expert" doing it is.

As for doing it twice a year or charging extra, that's just a rip-off in any country.

Obviously there isn't much competition for these type of services, so I don't see the 2000 baht price tag excessive as it is a special service here. If there's no competition, then why not charge top dollar? It would be impossible to find such a qualified person to do such a job in Thailand. The hot humid weather here places a heavy toll on computer components and makes the dust really stick.

Probably Thais don't care about cleaning their computers. I took my HP Desktop in to the service center to get a new hard drive under warranty a few weeks ago and the case came back without any cleaning done inside, despite requesting it.

[tropo]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

So you're saying that Phuket is full of happy pigeons? I think that everyone who lives elsewhere in Thailand already knows that!

IMO you come across as being envious of a guy who's making a good earn doing a specialist job. I could be wrong, but why all the venom toward someone who seems to be doing a good job.

[WarpSpeed]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I can chose to buy a kilo of grapes for 68 baht or 180 b a kilo for others. It is a choice and no one has a gun to anyone´s head.

If I were unlucky enough to not be physically able to fix my own computer (it does not take a nasa scientist brain to do so) and knowing about Thai-style service, I would let my computer die.

´nuff said. Life goes on.

Good for you, get the price you deserve for your services and forget these penny pinching, cheap skate, whiners who'd be the first to complain here in a thread about getting ripped off by the local computer/phone repair shop that removed their 3K memory and replaced it with 1K or something to that effect..

If your customers are satisfied, it's no scam, it's good service and concerns none of the trolls here, only you and your customers.. They are the types that have never provided quality services so think anyone worthy of such rates must be a scammer because they themselves would be if they charged such rates due to their lack of skills, it's termed as "projecting" their own shortcomings onto someone else and is highlighted by a massive insecurity complex..

[WarpSpeed]

Thank you. My happy customers will disagree with you. The 5 for today will be sad to hear that. lol

So you're saying that Phuket is full of happy pigeons? I think that everyone who lives elsewhere in Thailand already knows that!

IMO you come across as being envious of a guy who's making a good earn doing a specialist job. I could be wrong, but why all the venom toward someone who seems to be doing a good job.

Completely agree, I state it accordingly in my post as well... It comes down a strong case of envy by someone who's best skills seem to be trolling the Internet ..

[WarpSpeed]

I used to charge 2000B (50E) for a 1 hour home visit in Europe, including a couple of kms travel. Double for businesses, but that was 24/7 availability.

I dont see how this rate could possibly be applied to Thailand though, no matter what colour the "expert" doing it is.

As for doing it twice a year or charging extra, that's just a rip-off in any country.

Probably Thais don't care about cleaning their computers. I took my HP Desktop in to the service center to get a new hard drive under warranty a few weeks ago and the case came back without any cleaning done inside, despite requesting it.

Thai's care about cleaning very little, just look around, "no need".....

[Somtamnication]

Thank you, Tropo and Warpspeed. I wish I could do 5 a day, but sometimes I have zero. It is a 24/7 service, gas is high and I use only good components if parts need replacing.

But, I do not wish to hijack the OP´s original request of home service in Pattaya. So if there is one, please let the OP know.

[Darrel]

IMO you come across as being envious of a guy who's making a good earn doing a specialist job. I could be wrong, but why all the venom toward someone who seems to be doing a good job.

You couldn't be more wrong. I am retired. I have nothing to be envious of in respect of anyone who is still working as I have more money in the bank than I could ever spend.

Anyone looking at my posts would know that the same venom is regularly directed at all rip-offs, both inside and outside Thailand. I dont like rip-off merchants and crooks. That's all.

Oh, and I did the same job for umpteen years and I know that it requires no particular skill, just some experience and knowledge that anyone could acquire should they wish to.

To charge European rates for a job done in Thailand is simply a rip-off, as costs are so much lower here. As mentioned by others, PC shops here will do the task for a for hundred Baht, which would be correct. As in Europe, some of them work well, some dont, but the good ones are there for anyone who cares to look.

The comment about doing it twice a year or charging extra indicate clearly to anyone with a minimum of relevant knowledge that the chap is milking it.

But, as I said, if the Phuket pigeons are happy being plucked then that's not my problem. I have cast a little light on a murky practice and that is enough.

[tropo]

IMO you come across as being envious of a guy who's making a good earn doing a specialist job. I could be wrong, but why all the venom toward someone who seems to be doing a good job.

You couldn't be more wrong. I am retired. I have nothing to be envious of in respect of anyone who is still working as I have more money in the bank than I could ever spend.

Anyone looking at my posts would know that the same venom is regularly directed at all rip-offs, both inside and outside Thailand. I dont like rip-off merchants and crooks. That's all.

Oh, and I did the same job for umpteen years and I know that it requires no particular skill, just some experience and knowledge that anyone could acquire should they wish to.

To charge European rates for a job done in Thailand is simply a rip-off, as costs are so much lower here. As mentioned by others, PC shops here will do the task for a for hundred Baht, which would be correct. As in Europe, some of them work well, some dont, but the good ones are there for anyone who cares to look.

The comment about doing it twice a year or charging extra indicate clearly to anyone with a minimum of relevant knowledge that the chap is milking it.

But, as I said, if the Phuket pigeons are happy being plucked then that's not my problem. I have cast a little light on a murky practice and that is enough.

Well... it was only my opinion that you come across that way. You certainly seem hell bent on discrediting the service Somtamnication operates in Phuket.

You should be more selective about using the adjective "rip-off". If a person offers a particular service at a certain price and is totally upfront about the cost, then it cannot be a rip-off. You may consider that the price is too high, but a rip-off it is not.

If you ran around Pattaya calling various businesses rip-offs with the same ferver you discredit Somtamnication you could soon land in a lot of trouble, especially if the businesses were Thai owned, but because the business is Farang and a long way from here in Phuket you show more courage.

Some farang obviously prefer a farang whom they can easily communicate with to open and clean their machines. Have you ever tried to communicate a complicated computer problem to a Thai technician - well I have and it's near impossible. I'm nervous about Thai technicians opening up my machines as I don't trust them. I find them overconfident and sloppy. Recently I had a Thai shop clean my machine and insert a new hard drive. A few weeks later I had some trouble with the hard drive connectivity as they hadn't seated the connectors properly. This is not the first problem I've had with Thai technicians.

If I have a difficult problem I take it to a farang owned shop where I pay a minimum of 700 baht for them to look at it. It will cost that even if they don't do anything. It's more than double the cost of looking at a problem in a Thai shop, but I don't mind and it is not a rip-off,.

[Darrel]

You should be more selective about using the adjective "rip-off". If a person offers a particular service at a certain price and is totally upfront about the cost, then it cannot be a rip-off. You may consider that the price is too high, but a rip-off it is not.

If you ran around Pattaya calling various businesses rip-offs with the same ferver you discredit Somtamnication you could soon land in a lot of trouble, especially if the businesses were Thai owned, but because the business is Farang and a long way from here in Phuket you show more courage.

So builders charging little old ladies GBP2,000 to fix two roof tiles aren't ripping them off as long as they make the price clear in advance? Or a taxi-driver charging tourirsts GBP100 to go half a mile in London? Or a market trader selling fake items for the price of real ones? Or a dentist who removes healthy teeth unnecessarily in order to fit a bridge at the advertised price? Tell that to Trading Standards and see if they agree with you.

In this instance the rip-off was in relation to the need to do this twice a year or charge extra for doing it once. I think that I made this clear.

Anyone who has given even a cursory glance at my posts will realise that I speak my mind. I have said plenty of bad (and good) things about businesses and people in Pattaya and elsewhere when I think they deserve it. People are welcome to read it or not, and agree with it or not.

[WarpSpeed]

IMO you come across as being envious of a guy who's making a good earn doing a specialist job. I could be wrong, but why all the venom toward someone who seems to be doing a good job.

You couldn't be more wrong. I am retired. I have nothing to be envious of in respect of anyone who is still working as I have more money in the bank than I could ever spend.

Anyone looking at my posts would know that the same venom is regularly directed at all rip-offs, both inside and outside Thailand. I dont like rip-off merchants and crooks. That's all.

Oh, and I did the same job for umpteen years and I know that it requires no particular skill, just some experience and knowledge that anyone could acquire should they wish to.

To charge European rates for a job done in Thailand is simply a rip-off, as costs are so much lower here. As mentioned by others, PC shops here will do the task for a for hundred Baht, which would be correct. As in Europe, some of them work well, some dont, but the good ones are there for anyone who cares to look.

The comment about doing it twice a year or charging extra indicate clearly to anyone with a minimum of relevant knowledge that the chap is milking it.

But, as I said, if the Phuket pigeons are happy being plucked then that's not my problem. I have cast a little light on a murky practice and that is enough.

:cheesy: Had you all wrong I guess, you see him more as competition!!

Someone who pretentiously claims to have more money in the bank then he can spend hypocritically begrudges a person selling his good services because HE claims the service and cost for said service to be a scam??? That's rich!!! (No pun intended).. Sure you didn't over-charge anyone in your lifetime, you're all completely above board to have had made so much money legimately.. Not likely.....

Tell us WHY it's a rip off just because he's here, I hear this a lot and it's pure, unadulterated, <deleted>. The quality of the service, the value of his work to his customers and the rate they're willing to pay for his services is agreeable to them and is strictly between him and his customers and has nothing to do with where he's located on this globe, it's simply relative to supply and demand and to his services value to HIS customers..

If he isn't supplying the services worthy of his rates he'll fade off in the sunset but it boggles the mind to think you feel you somehow have the right to judge as "scam" or "rip off" what you have no experience of regardless of what you did for a living back in Europe you don't know what he provides...End of....

Edited July 23, 2011 by WarpSpeed