Why can't IT support companies make commitments

I got a call recently from a friend who had just purchased a new PC from someone that I had recommended. The IT support person seemed to have a great attitude and approach to service and the experience to date from my friend had been very positive.

When she purchased the PC, a number of small problems had been encountered and had to be resolved. This was not what my friend was reacting to. My friend was concerned that with each new issue or problem, she was being charged. This was so contrary to the way that she runs her own business that she called me to ask whether this was something that she should expect.

When she installs equipment for her clients, she gives them a price then sticks to it. She is the one with the skills to do the job and is in control of the results. Her clients have no experience with the equipment and cannot control the outcome. If something goes wrong she looks at it as a learning experience and something to be prevented the next time.

In my experience, few IT support companies operate this way, especially the ones that support small business. When a problem is encountered, they react to it and fix it. They may say that this always happens, but there is no ownership. They don't look at how they can prevent this in the future. Since they don't want to do work that they aren't paid for (and this happens all the time), they charge the client.

This is one of the reasons why people get frustrated with computers and computer support. They have no idea what is happenning and they regularly get hosed. It always costs more than they expect and they never know why. And their supplier takes no ownership.

Isn't it time that IT support companies take ownership of this issue? If there are glitches all the time, why don't they find out why and do something to prevent them? I worked in large businesses for many years and that was what we did. We recognized that every incident, every problem caused productivity problems and should be prevented. We diagnosed the reason why this happenned and made changes that prevented these problems. That increased stability and eventually required less support and greater satisfaction.

Why can't small support companies operate the same way?

Maybe the problem is not the IT support companies are not the problem. Maybe the problem is their customers who accept this type of service and feel that they can't do anything about it. Maybe they need to take action and say this response is unacceptable. That's what I suggested to my friend. I'm looking forward to what happens.