What you'll be signing
Before I do any paid work, there's a short agreement to sign, and you keep a copy. Here it is in plain English, so you can read it at your leisure rather than at your kitchen table with someone waiting.
This page is a summary, written to be readable. The document you sign is the one that counts legally, and I'll go through it with you line by line before you sign anything. If this page and that document ever disagree, the signed document wins — and I want to know about it, because it means I've explained something badly.
There are three pieces of paper, at most
Most people only ever sign the first.
1. The visit agreement
Signed before the first visit. It says what I'm going to do, what it costs, when you pay, and how you cancel. One page.
2. The Family Plan agreement
Only if you decide you want the monthly plan — and never on a first visit. I'll leave it with you, you talk to your family, and you phone me if you want it. There's no minimum term.
3. The remote access consent
Only if we set up remote help. It's separate on purpose — I don't want it buried inside something else. It names the software, explains exactly what it lets me do, and tells you how to switch it off.
What I agree to do
- Turn up when I said I would, or phone you before I'm late
- Tell you the price before I start, and stick to it
- Stop and ask before doing anything that would cost more than we agreed
- Work on the devices we agreed on, and nothing else
- Explain what I did in words that make sense
- Tell you honestly if a job is beyond me, and who to call instead
- Send the monthly note to you and to whoever you've named in your family
What I will not do
- Phone you and ask to connect to your computer. Not ever.
- Connect to your computer without you being able to see it
- Log into your bank as you, or move your money for you
- Keep your passwords, files or photos after the work is done
- Take a card number over the phone, or write your card details down — if you pay by card, you tap it yourself
- Ask you to sign the monthly plan on a first visit
- Repair hardware, recover data from a failed drive, or run cabling through your walls — I'll refer you to someone who does
- Access an account that isn't yours, whatever the reason given
What I ask of you
Short list, and none of it is a trap.
- The devices are yours to hand over. If the computer belongs to someone else, or to a workplace, tell me and we'll sort out permission first.
- Tell me what's already gone wrong. Especially if someone else has already worked on it, or if you think you may have let someone connect. It changes what I do first, and I won't be annoyed.
- Let me check the backup before I change anything important. If there's no backup, sorting that out is usually the first job — and if you'd rather I didn't touch something until you've copied it elsewhere, just say.
- Close anything private if you'd like to. You don't owe me an explanation.
The price, and when you pay
The price is written on the agreement before I start. The first visit is $79 an hour at the founding rate ($110 after the first twenty-five households), with a one-hour minimum and then by the half hour. The Family Plan is $39 a month at the founding rate ($59 after).
You pay at the end, once you've seen what was done — by cash, debit or credit card, or Interac e-transfer. You'll get an invoice either way. If you pay by card you tap it yourself on my phone and the receipt is sent to you straight away; I never type your number in or keep it. The monthly plan is taken by pre-authorised debit from your bank account, arranged through a secure page run by the payment provider, never by me writing your details down.
If I can't solve the problem, you don't pay for that visit. I'd rather lose the afternoon.
Your right to change your mind
This is the most important part of the page, and it's a right Ontario law gives you — not a favour I'm doing you.
You have ten days to cancel. Because the agreement is signed in your own home rather than at a shop, you may cancel it for any reason at all within ten days of the day you receive your copy. You don't have to give a reason. “I've changed my mind” is a complete answer, and “my daughter thinks I should wait” is a good one.
You get your money back. If you cancel within those ten days, I refund what you've paid, within fifteen days of you telling me.
How to cancel: tell me — a phone call, a text, an email, or a note through my door all count. Put it in writing if you can, so we both have a record, but I won't stand on ceremony if you phone.
The monthly plan, separately, can be stopped whenever you like. No minimum term, no cancellation fee, no retention conversation. Phone me or write to me and it stops.
The exact wording of this right, as the law requires it to be set out, appears on the first page of the document you'll sign. If you'd like to read it before I visit, phone me and I'll drop a copy in.
Remote access, in detail
This is the part that deserves the most scrutiny, because it is the same mechanism criminals use. Here is exactly what the consent covers.
- It's signed in person, on paper, during a visit — never agreed to over the phone and never a tick-box in an email.
- It names the software being installed, so you can look it up, and so you know what should and shouldn't be on your machine.
- You can always see when I'm connected. There's a visible marker on screen. It never happens silently, and if you don't want me connected right now, say so and I'll disconnect.
- Every connection is recorded — date, time and reason — and every one appears in the monthly note to you and your family. You never have to ask.
- You can revoke it at any time, without giving a reason and without ending anything else. One phone call: I'll either talk you through removing it in two minutes, or come and take it off myself at no charge.
- I will never phone you and ask to connect. If a call like that ever comes, it is not me — hang up and phone the number on my card.
Your information
I keep a short record for each household: the devices you have, what we've worked on, when I've visited or connected, and the family contact you've asked me to write to. That's what lets me help you quickly next time instead of starting from nothing.
I don't keep copies of your files, photos, email or passwords. I don't sell or share anything with anyone. If you ask me to delete your record, I will, and I'll confirm when it's done.
One exception, stated honestly: I keep a record of how and when you first got in touch, and the signed agreements, for a few years. Ontario's consumer protection rules require it, and it exists to protect you as much as me.
If something goes wrong
Sometimes a computer that was limping gives up entirely while someone is working on it. If something I did makes matters worse, tell me and I'll put it right at no charge, or refund what you paid for that work.
Beyond that, the agreement limits what I can be held financially responsible for to the amount you paid for the work in question. That's a normal term for a one-person service business, and it's precisely why the backup conversation happens before I touch anything important. Nothing in that limit takes away any right Ontario's consumer protection law gives you — those rights can't be signed away, and I wouldn't want them to be.
If you're unhappy with me, tell me first — I'd much rather fix it. If that doesn't resolve it, Consumer Protection Ontario takes complaints about businesses like mine on 1-800-889-9768.
A word about capacity, and about families
Some of the people I work with are eighty-five and sharper than I am. Some are having a harder time. Both are entirely normal, and I'd rather say out loud how I handle it than leave families guessing.
If I'm not confident that someone fully understands what they're agreeing to, I don't take a signature or a payment. I stop, and I ask to speak with a family member or someone they trust. That occasionally costs me work, and it should.
I'll never use a family member's presence to pressure someone. The person whose computer it is decides. If a son or daughter wants something done that their parent doesn't want, the parent wins.
If someone holds power of attorney, tell me at the start and show me the document, and I'll work within it. I won't take instructions about someone's accounts from a relative on the strength of a phone call.
Questions about any of this?
Ask before you book, not after. I'd far rather spend twenty minutes on the phone than have someone sign something they weren't sure about.