Lately, I've been considering building custom system for people to make some cash. However, I'm wondering about after-purchase support for custom builders. Does anyone here build systems for people, and if so, what kind of support or warranty do you provide?

Any help is appreciated.

You can try what I used to do (when I was selling assembled system during my high-school days). I had this fixed shop I always bought my parts from. I didn't have enough time to give out extensive after sales support - so I struck up a deal with them. I included AMC (Annual Maintainance Contract) fees along with the price of the system - and this I handed over to the shop after deducting a certain comission percetange from it for myself. Thenceforth, the shop took care of all maintainance needs for that person - and since all the parts came from them, they didn't have any problem replacing them, if it came to be. This is the easy way out However others who are actively into this business might be able to provide you with better solutions.

Regards.
m^e

I don't think that business will get you anywhere these days. Prices on some websites are so outrageous you won't be able to compete. I think it's a bad idea unless you have something up your sleeve.

Just look at this custom computer site.

www.cyberpowerinc.com

Also there are people on eBay selling things for unheard of prices. I figure they are selling stolen stuff because there is no way they could sell that stuff for that cheap without losing money.

But I’m not trying to discourage you. Just think things through. I don’t want you to go out there and waste your time and money.

You can try your luck, i say its worth the risk!
i guess the problem you have is after service support?

1. you could try email support, which is not bad an idea. the user will explain you the probs he's having and you can debug it!
2. you could try IRC live chat support, instantly help the user
3. about waranty, i dont know what you gonna have as, you need to give more details of what you are developping, then we can comment.

does that help you a bit?

I think you guys go about business the wrong way, especially in how you think.

"I don't think that business will get you anywhere these days"... throw that out of your vocabulary. I didn't get where I am now because I felt I couldn't compete, that's the whole point of business is competing. I may have not been able to get them the best prices, but I made up for it with the best service, that was my strongest selling point. Just be positive about it, don't ever feel negative about it. Anything is possible, and it all starts with how you make it possible.

You would have to refer to your local countries law on fair trading and consumer guarantee. You must abide by the fair trading and consumer guarantee. So that's the level of support you'll have to live up to. Faulty goods etc, would most likely be solved with a return to base/manufacture/supplier warranty.

There's quite a lot involved. Since I feel you're only doing this as to make money under the table and not for a business, avoiding tax etc... Your support should be in terms of what your supplier offers as to which parts you used etc and how long they are covered for. You must abide by your warranty, or as M^E pointed out, you can strike up deals with other companies who can handle your support, you'll just be required to pay them a fee, etc.

Software issues do not need to be solved by you, and can be referred onto the support of that software vendor unless however, the computer never worked in the first place with the software.

As for hardware, they should return the machine to you, and you can either fix it yourself, or send the faulty parts back to the supplier/base/manufacturer for fixing, in which they can fix it or replace it with the same or equivalent. You can't however send the whole machine to them, unless you bought everything from them, so you will need to take part of the responsibility in fixing the machine yourself, at your own costs. Support is where a lot of money goes too and it's not a good thing for the company, so try to make sure you won't have to go down that line of giving support (impossible I know) but you're better off making sure everything is done to 120% or more when you've built those computers. It's a good thing that software is taken off your burden though, since just having that would get you tied down.


Cheers,


MC

I used to do it for people at my dad's work.
About warranty, give them the same as the shop where you buy the stuff does, so you can't get in to money problems.
About support, it depends, you can give them 3months, 6 months, ... of support, any type you prefer.
The best thing is to give them a few months of support at their home. After that period, the could bring the pc at home and you fix it as fast as possible. After some time, repairs might take longer.

I've only had one problem so far. Windows kept giving bad_boot_device, the HDD was replaced 2 times, it appeared the VIA KT600 chip gave troubles (wich one didn't ).

Ow, and make a contract, price, warranty, ... AND STATE THEY SHOULD KEEP EVERY BOX TO GET WARRANTY !!!

I'll pay more for something from a seller who offers good service - and I'm definitely not the only one who does things this way. Most people will, when we can afford it, pay a little more if we can be assured that the customer service, tech support, guarantees, warranties etc. are as hassle-free and clear-cut as possible.

This idea with the repairs from computer shops looks nice...I dunno if the place I got my PC would do this (it's a chain), but there is at least one smaller place in town that's much closer that could possibly go for it.