Should I pull the trigger?

[85Sooner]

i know I have answered questions regarding Audio/Video equipment for people here on the SO. Usually these have been about specific equipment. I hope I have helped.

I have been working on a project for the past 2 years developing a service that is basically online customer service for home theater electronics. everything from custom hook-up diagrams to set up information to trouble-shooting actual problems based on over a decade of experience. Everything is set and ready to go. I have to make the big decision to plop down 11,000.00 to get the website up and going.

Hopefully in the future it will be a service, free to all customers of major retailers who do not have the employee talent or would like to expand their customer service offerings for pennies on the dollar with an added benefit of alot of additional income potential.

Would it be something that you would appreciate having as a customer of one of the big box stores, ie: Best buy, Circuit City, Wal mart, Target etc

Should I do it? What do you think?

Thanks for your input I really do appreciate it.

[LilSooner]

Do it.


Then you won't have to deal with stupid *** customers when you sell the idea to Best Buy for a buhllion dollars.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

Oooh, there's an idea...

[King Crimson]

by analogy, i was hooking up this here computer to the ethernet in my office and there was some weird stuff and i called the helpline and they set me up square. otherwise i would have been beating my head against the wall all afternoon trying to figure out WTF. i would have paid for that info.

and, i'll admit i'm not the most 'puter savvy cat drawing breath....but some clear and simple visual aids (pictures) can really be helpful. rjm45 looks like "this"....etc.

[MamaMia]

Give it a go.

[85Sooner]

Would you as a customer think of it as a good thing or would you rather talk to the customer service people on the phone?

[Mjcpr]

I'd 100x rather get it done online than over the phone but I wouldn't be willing to pay for that.

[yermom]

if i can do it without getting on the phone... i'm all for it (i'm likely to almost never have to call someone for something like that though)

if we are talking diagrams for hooking stuff up or screenshots, etc... for configurations that would be helpful, even if the user is on the phone

$11,000 sounds pretty steep for a website no one knows about yet, what exactly are you talking about here? hosting? design/development?

[yermom]

I'd 100x rather get it done online than over the phone but I wouldn't be willing to pay for that.

i'm with you... but there are other ways of making money off of a website than charging the users

i'd only pay for seeing who spekked me

[85Sooner]

It would be free to customers of participating retailers.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

it sounds like a good idea, well except for the 11k part. your adsense isn't going to pay you back for anything more than about $500 a year...

[85Sooner]

if i can do it without getting on the phone... i'm all for it (i'm likely to almost never have to call someone for something like that though)

if we are talking diagrams for hooking stuff up or screenshots, etc... for configurations that would be helpful, even if the user is on the phone

$11,000 sounds pretty steep for a website no one knows about yet, what exactly are you talking about here? hosting? design/development?

This os for design and development. Diagrams are made for every possible equipment combination imaginable.

[colleyvillesooner]

I'd pay for that info.

[85Sooner]

anybody else? I would appreciate as much feedback as possible.

[BeetDigger]

The customers shouldn't have to pay. Rather you should market it to the big box retailers who don't provide installation support. That is who should pay for it. They can market that they have online help as a way to help them sell the equipment. One of the major dillemas that consumers have about buying the stuff from the big box retailers is installation support. Having your website helps them alleviate that concern.

[85Sooner]

The customers shouldn't have to pay. Rather you should market it to the big box retailers who don't provide installation support. That is who should pay for it. They can market that they have online help as a way to help them sell the equipment. One of the major dillemas that consumers have about buying the stuff from the big box retailers is installation support. Having your website helps them alleviate that concern.

Thats the plan Stan!

[olevetonahill]

What Beet said
My son bought me a dvd recorder for christmas . I still dont have it working