In this video available from Google Video, makes me wonder what some companies are thinking when it comes to computer support and the way they treat their customers.

The video shows "Chief Inspector" and Geek Squad founder, Robert Stephens telling a story of a computer that was "eating CDs". Anyone in the tech field probably understands immediately that the user was inserting the CDs into a slot in the case and not into the CD drive. It doesn't happen a lot, but some poorly designed cases make it easier than others.

Stephens closes the video with the line, "That will be $100, ma'am."

Ouch!

Did he actually charge the woman for the "service" call? Experience has shown me that many people would.

I can tell you what I would have done, though. I wouldn't have charged the client a cent.

Money lost? For now, perhaps, but I can guarantee you that the next time this person, or anyone they knew, needed computer help, they would call me. Over the lifetime of the customer I would end up making much more than the initial $100. Over my years as an independent consultant, it had been proven to me again and again. If Geek Squad did charge the woman, they took in $100 that day and yet lost thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the client.

You don't build your business by charging an hour for providing a 10 second answer. All you do is tick people off and drive them to your competitors -- people like me.

Oh, and by the way, if you are telling "stupid user" stories about your clients, your "stupid" clients will eventually find out. Especially if the video is posted on Google.

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