Can't really compete with this.. :(

[Admiral Huddy]

http://www.pc-junction.co.uk/

£10 ph.. free diagnosis??? wtf.. I can see home users being attracted to this.. despite the bugs on his website.

Leaflet came through door yesterday.. :(

[Wellington]

You can't be serious, one look at that webby and I'm going to have to run a virus scan and ad -scan on my PC now.

Wouldn't use them ever, website looks like it was designed by a kid, text on the home page makes me think English isn't their first language either. The only button that works is the Telephone support..... which says coming soon.

[Mark]

Site works OK for me in Firefox, though it does manage to screw up IE (instant crash).

Sadly, Huddy's right. You or I may not touch that sort of thing with a bargepole, but we're discerning customers. For the average home user, they'll just see the price and not hesitate.

I see they operate a 'membership' scheme. Maybe that's their business model. :huh:

[Justsomebloke]

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the realistic feedback you will get from such competition.
Low pricing does Not instal confidence in your customers, quite the reverse in fact. In matters such as Tech they know the problems are not simple & expect to pay for someones Skill.
Trust in your own skill & price fairly & you can't go wrong mate ;)

[Stan_Lite]

I agree with the above. Even Joe Bloggs would be wary of using a service with such a shoddy website - the spelling is atrocious - if they can't be bothered to check the spelling on their own website, what would they do to your PC?

I think the combination of poor website and suspiciously low prices would have even the least savvy punter smelling something decidedly "de poisson". After all, we all know, if you spend a tenner an hour on a plumber you'll get a dodgy looking bloke with a hammer and a roll of duct tape - same thing with pooters.

[semi-pro waster]

I'm no expert on website design but that sucks major donkey balls. I've got to double click on the buttons for them to do anything which surely isn't right and the spelling errors are atrocious.

I'd like to believe the average customer is smarter than to think that is offering a worthwhile service but sometimes I'm not so sure. Anyway, here is hoping that it doesn't impact negatively on your business at all. :)

[Matblack]

Dime to a Dollar that Mr 'high quality affordable priced services' lives with his mum.

At those prices hes screwed unless he has 0 overheads, it won't take him long to realise that at that price it just isn't worth it and if that doesn't happen he'll provide shoddy service and have no repeat custom. I wouldn't worry mate :)

MB

[Zirax]

Its a college kid after some extra money. I did the same during my college years. Mine was less formal (cash in hand) but you have to hand his ingenuity for coming up with phone support. 0870 number? I went round peoples houses near to where I lived and there wasn't a problem that I was only 17/18.

People will look at the price and consider it. However unless he has marketed a very large section then the yellow pages should see you fine. Actually have you considered putting some ads in the local newspaper shops? Rather than a hand written scrawl, something professional looking?

edit: Having just seen the membership details, again a nice idea but this kid is gonna go under. So I can call him out 8 times to the other side of Chelmsford to plug in a mouse? So that'll be £10

[Admiral Huddy]

Problem is with membership, you have to be there to take the call.. I would be put off by ot's cheapness but i'm not everyone.

I have ads in local shops and town and I have another leaflet drop in the area in November.

Most of my work has come from YP or word of mouth..

[Feek]

Your average Joe won't give a flying hoot about the quality of the website, they'll see the cost and think it's a bargain.

[Davey_Pitch]

I think the average Joe would be more likely to see the horrible spelling and then go looking for someone else to do the work. If they can't master basic English for something as important as the business website can you trust them to fix your computer?

[MtE]

Huddy,

I would have to agree with all of the above posts, the look and wording of the web-site, just screams of a young kid trying to earn a bit of cash. I wouldn't worry about anything, plus its for 'Home Users' only, I would say the small business is where the money is to be made :)

MtE

[Fayshun]

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8465/jerrycan5lhp6.jpg
+
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8536/800pxczechoslovakmatchefx7.jpg

Problem solved

[Mark]

Problem is, most people are looking at this from a tech savvy point of view. If he's leaflet-dropping, are the leaflets as bad? If not, I'll wager any parent who just wants their son Johnny's computer fixed won't give two hoots about any spelling mistakes on the website (they probably won't even look at it).

As Matt says though, it's probably someone living with their parents and looking for a bit of cash on the side. If not, the likelihood of them being around for any length of time is doubtful.

Still, one would hope that Word of Mouth will weigh heavily in Huddy's favour, so those who have received good service will hopefully be back for more.

PS - Fayshun - I worry about you. You seem to have a penchant for destruction. ;D

[Fayshun]

PS - Fayshun - I worry about you. You seem to have a penchant for destruction. ;D
Watch it, I have a new mail bag and new roll of gaffer tape!

[Mark]

I have no problem at all with believing that. Fortunately, I know which places to avoid so I should be safe. :)

[iCraig]

His website stinks of a rip. The read more buttons have a different background colour and don't match his site, especially inconsistent to his other navigation buttons. They look like they've been plucked from another site. The rest of the site also seems very "patched" together. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a fusion of a crappy free template and other sites' graphics.

He also seems a bit confused :D :-

Do you want to get connected to the Internet? Do you want to connect to Broadband?

His prices are also just a flash in the pan. You can't run a business on those kinds of prices. Once he gets swamped his costs will go up to normal levels just like everybody else's. :)

[loki]

Hes not a member of the PC Association or NASCAR. When I had my own PC repair business, being members of these meant I had to work to a specific standard even though I had years of experience and qualifications. I got quite a lot more work by being members of those two trade bodies.

Sure he may pick up a lot of customers in the short term. But whats better servicing ten customers at £10.00 an hour or four customers at £25.00 an hour ? and have more time to invest in making the business grow at a pace you are comfortable with. At that price range he will be attracting the kind of people who are prepared to pay the absolute bare minimum whilst expecting a first class service.

[Belmit]

is the internet crewing?

"Quick love, call PC Junction! t'internet's crewing!"

[Mark]

LOL - quality. ;D

Shows how much attention I paid to their website. :o

[BBx]

I wouldn't call a PC clinic who's website not only crashed the browser I was viewing it in, but my other IE window and all my tabs!!!

Does it have a postal address? I will go round and kick him in the balls right now! :angry:

BB x

[Wossi]

It actually reads like a Nigerian Scam Email :shocked:

[Mark]

I wouldn't call a PC clinic who's website not only crashed the browser I was viewing it in, but my other IE window and all my tabs!!!
I'm glad I wasn't the only one that had that happen. Seems they have a dodgy Flash file on there.

Edit - oh god, they're using Flash on the navigation buttons. It's quite obviously a template, and a crap one at that. Also, it's an American template - check out the copyright line. :/

So, I wouldn't worry about their web business then (if most people using IE can't see the site anyway then that's that line of work eliminated). The leaflet drop, however, is a different matter (assuming their spelling isn't as atrocious there as well).

[semi-pro waster]

Does it have a postal address? I will go round and kick him in the balls right now! :angry:

BB x

92 Brownings Avenue
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 4RQ

or telephone calls to 01245 830 260

Help yourself, you'll be doing Huddy a favour too. :)

Strangely aside from the having to double-click on the buttons the site works fine for me in IE, my computer is obviously just nuggets. ;)

[Mark]

Nope, you probably just have a newer version of Flash player. Since I use Firefox most of the time I never bothered updating IE. :)

[Feek]

The site asks to install stuff in IE for me, which I didn't do and in FF it forces Vista into 'basic' theme because there are non-compatible things on the site.

However, it does that on my own web site as well).

[MarcLister]

You can't be serious, one look at that webby and I'm going to have to run a virus scan and ad -scan on my PC now.

Wouldn't use them ever, website looks like it was designed by a kid, text on the home page makes me think English isn't their first language either. The only button that works is the Telephone support..... which says coming soon.QFT. :)

[Desmo]

Website made my FF crash too, piece of **** site ;)

Welcome to the world of running a small business Huddy. There is ALWAYS somebody out there cheaper than you. You just need to make sure you can compete on performance and service. Yes, people might use him once, but if he's no good they'll come looking for you.

And it also proves that leafleting works ;)

:D

[Admiral Huddy]

It does mate.. more than most people know..

it just takes one house.. just one house to lead to other things. The guy I've done some networking for is budgeting for a new server and 5 new workstations and has asked me to quote. This chap has given me so much business and that was from a leaflet :)

[NokkonWud]

I'm somewhat of a grammar whore, this does not fill me with confidence:


Is your computer slow not working? are your emails not sending ? is the internet crewing? or you simply fed-up with error messages you don't understand? whatever your problem we can help!
That's terrible! He wants to spend less time fixing PC's and more time learning our language.

[Admiral Huddy]

I'm somewhat of a grammar whore, this does not fill me with confidence:


That's terrible! He wants to spend less time fixing PC's and more time learning our language.


Please feel free to examine my website for any grammar or spelling mistakes, as I'm bottom of the class for all that jazz... www.admiralcomputers.co.uk (http://www.admiralcomputers.co.uk)

[MarcLister]

Please feel free to examine my website for any grammar or spelling mistakes, as I'm bottom of the class for all that jazz... www.admiralcomputers.co.uk (http://www.admiralcomputers.co.uk)Don't you mean 'jizz'? :D

I've said it before in an email but I'm really impressed with your site. Not too cluttered or over done in terms of design.

[Mark]

Not a grammar mistake, but on your homepage it says a PC Health Check is £40 but in the price list it says £45. :)

Also on my system the left menu slightly overlaps the main text on the page (on both IE and Firefox).

It's a world apart from the crap that started this thread though.

[MarcLister]

IE is fine for me here, no overlapping. Opera and Firefox do suffer from a bit of overlapping though. Nothing major and nothing I'd worry about if I was looking for a client. Comparing the two sites Huddy's site is steaming ahead (pun related to Admiral/ships/steamers/steaming ahead intended!).

[Admiral Huddy]

:D

you're right about the prices - opps!

Cheers both of you :)

[Stan_Lite]

Overlaps a little in FF and Konqueror for me - maybe it's something to do with resolution? My resolution on the laptop is 1280x768.

[MarcLister]

1680x1050 here.

[Admiral Huddy]

Can you screen print it for me.. I've not seen this.

[MarcLister]

Me Huddy?

[Admiral Huddy]

anyone.. as i can't see a problem here or any of my test PCs

[MarcLister]

http://www.marclister.com/bd/huddy_ie.jpg
http://www.marclister.com/bd/huddy_ff.jpg
http://www.marclister.com/bd/huddy_opera.jpg

[Admiral Huddy]

?? Oh eh Mrs.. Not sure how i'm going to get over that??

[MarcLister]

DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!! ;D

How did you make your site? Hardcoded HTML? You might need to research making your site appear the same in IE/FF/Opera.

[Admiral Huddy]

Cheeky fecker :p

Frontpage.. I know i know.. but more recently with an HTML editor..

[MarcLister]

Cheeky fecker :pYou know me so well.

Frontpage.. I know i know.. but more recently with an HTML editor..AHAHAHAAAHAHAHA! I would never have admitted to that. :o

Give Notepad++ a go. :)

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

[Mark]

Well, the problem is down to the CSS code for the navigation menu and different browsers interpreting sizes in different ways. Fixing it could be, er, interesting. I've had CSS wars before and onpenly admit having a desire to deposit a computer out of a nearby window on several occasions when dealing with browser differences. :/

[MarcLister]

Yea I know I'm going to enjoy re-doing my lecturer's site. It doesn't fully work in Opera, my browser, so I'll have to see to that. IE/FF/Opera don't seem to interpret much in the same way. Bit of a damnation but I'm sure I'll find a way that doesn't include violence.

[Admiral Huddy]

Speaking from high level, there must be code to check the resident browser being used. You can then call a different menu depending on which browser being used.

[Treefrog]

Just a minor grammar point (since you asked):

Our prices are extremely competitive without compromise to the quality of the service ...

would read better as:
Our prices are extremely competitive without compromising the quality of the service ...
IMO.

:)

[MarcLister]

Speaking from high level, there must be code to check the resident browser being used. You can then call a different menu depending on which browser being used.Some sites do check the browser being used, some don't. My lecturer's site doesn't check. What seems to be the problem, we think, is that each browser might intepret the information it receives in a different way.

[Mark]

Yup - in this case it looks like it's interpreting the sizes (e.g. 11em) differently. 'em' is a relative size (I don't recall relative to what but probably a font), so if the browsers interpret 11em differently then that'll be the cause. As long as you use the same units everywhere then things should behave, but mix units and you'll run into trouble.

PS - I'm all for using CSS 'hacks' to get around browser differences (as long as you're aware they're hacks), but using script to control layout seems like a bad thing (to me).

[MarcLister]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_(typography)