One of the most vexing challenges of being a small office or home office entrepreneur is access to smart, time- and cost-effective tech support when something isn’t working.
When I have a tech problem, I want:
- To speak to a human…and the right human to help me.
- Not to spend time guessing which department in the phone system is the best one to help me.
- Not to wait in a very long phone queue.
- Not to be the person on whom the new tech support trainee is learning.
- Not to be told by the hardware manufacturer that it’s the software’s fault, and the software manufacturer that it’s the hardware’s fault. I have little patience for being their pingpong ball. Give me tech support with an interest in helping, not blaming someone else.
- An answer. A cure. A resolution. Fast. Because every 30 minutes I’m on the phone in the middle of the business day is 30 minutes of lost work in my business.
These seem to me like simple wants, yet it’s the rare technical support that consistently delivers them to me.
So when I first read about MinuteFix, I sat up straighter in my chair. I see hope on the horizon.
MinuteFix is a new tech support service that promises to connect you immediately with a live technician “who will help you with any computer problem or question you might have and fix it right now for only $0.99 per minute, no matter how big or small.” And if they can’t fix it, the call is free. It’s the first of its kind because there’s no base fee you pay whether or not the problem’s resolved.
I know two of the guys behind MinuteFix, Founder and CEO Diego Orjuela and Customer Experience Officer Phil Gerbyshak. I met Diego and Phil at the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers conference in 2007 and was impressed both by their know-how and their decency. I saw Phil again a few weeks ago and consider him a dear friend now. MinuteFix rises to the very top of my list simply because I know what good humans Phil and Diego are…they want to do right by people.
They call MinuteFix “Tech support for everyone,” and it’s available 24/7. Their blog’s rich with tech tips and you can find it at Minute Thoughts (be sure to read the post, 10 Ways to Safeguard Your Privacy).
Making Mediation Your Day Job by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at MediatorTech.com.
You mention that one of your needs is to talk to a human. When creating our community of Technicians we didn't even know there WAS another way. No one has time to hang out on hold or to go through a ridiculous enclave of telephone options. We want to solve your problems…not create new ones.
Thank you for your recognition and I invite everyone to check us out.
Thanks for stopping by, Drew. I love your statement, "We want to solve your problems…not create new ones." Hallelujah!