Repairing student home machines

[tomscaper]

Today i had a kid come to me and ask if i would have a look at his home machine and that he would pay me.
Now i said no that i couldnt but i was curious if any of you lot have done this.
i potentially can see problems and personally i would stay far away from this. But i was curious if anyone does or has and what potential problems could arise.

[plexer]

Well in theory if you wanted to do it and I presume it would be his parents paying you and you doing it in your own time then it's up to you if you did it or not.

However this would then mean you would have to set yourself up as self employed and pay taxes etc... applicable to this work.

Ben

[rhyds]

Staff/family: Yes

Pupils: Unless the machine comes under the 1st headding, then it's a no-go.

[mrforgetful]

Unless you took payment in wine or beer like I do when fixing staff PCs at work

[Halfmad]

I'd never do it, never I tells you!

[mattx]

Only staff equipment, and even then I make them bring in their stuff to the office......
Payment in wine and Hamlets suits me fine and also a certain Mr Darling.....
He can shove his tax where the sun don't shine..... :-)

[bossman]

You have to declare your intentions to your LEA as they have a vested interest and you could be treading on their toes.

I know this from experience when our then deputy headteacher asked me if I fixed computers outside of work. Long story short i fixed his new computer for him and charged him £70 to which he did not complain but i then got a call from HR at LEA asking me to declare my interest via a large document which they would send out to me.

This I did after they told me that it was him who had rang them and asked if I was right in fixing his computer. What he thought was that he should not have been charged at all because of his position.

[tomscaper]

i have repaired teacher computers before but i always made clear it was outside of my job and my choice to do this.

The deputy head once did expect me to set up her wireless router, she even asked my boss if it was ok for me to do this, and was i free to go round her house the next day. i was stood right next to her at the time. she kind of caught me off guard and i said it would be fine. in the end she didnt need me to sort it out as all she needed to do was turn it off and back on.

[mrforgetful]

Ah that's 90% of IT Support!

[Geoff]

That, and playing Guitar Hero.

[mattx]

all she needed to do was turn it off and back on.

Sounds like she rang Moss from the IT crowd.....

[tomscaper]

I though it was Roy who always said that line.

[mattx]

I though it was Roy who always said that line.

"Oh! I am a giddy goat"

[tomscaper]

Moss's quotes are funny though although my favorite has to be.

Fire, exclamation mark, fire, exclamation mark, help me, exclamation mark.
123 Cavendon Road.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours truly,
Maurice Moss

[sidewinder]

This I did after they told me that it was him who had rang them and asked if I was right in fixing his computer. What he thought was that he should not have been charged at all because of his position.

lol to be fair the head is the one staff member I wouldnt charge...any favours I can do him would surely do me no harm

As for teachers, I dont ask for payment but 99% of the time I get a bit of cash, wine or chocolate for doing it. Not going to be declaring any of that!