Frequently Asked Questions
Do you offer same hour call-outs in emergencies?
Yes we do, but with a difference. Our catchment is a 15 mile radius around Aylesbury, meaning that in an emergency we can get to you in as little as 15 minutes. The difference is that we don't charge extra for this service.
Do you charge different rates depending on how quickly you get to us?
No - We do not charge anything more than a flat rate for all types of work. We don't agree with many other companies' policies that your problem being urgent is an excuse to charge more.
How do you account for travel time?
Our aim is to serve our local area. This means we don't charge for time taken to travel to you, or charge for the cost of fuel. We only provide support to customers who are within our catchment, which means we can provide a better service with lower costs to the customer.
Do you work on the weekends?
Our standard working hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm. However if a particular activity requires out of hours work, we are happy to accommodate as long as reasonable notice is given.
Why the name F8 IT Solutions?
F8 is the keyboard key used for starting a disaster recovery on older Windows servers, still used for accessing Safe Mode. We wanted something short and snappy as a company name, that inferred something of an IT nature. The F8 name persists with our associated businesses F8 Desktop Solutions and F8 Web Solutions.
How do you charge for work done?
We like to keep things simple. All phone and remote support is charged in blocks of 15 minutes, with 15 minutes support the minimum charge per job. Onsite work carries a minimum charge of one hour, and after that is billed in increments of 15 minutes.
What happens if the onsite work doesn't take as long as 1 hour to complete?
This is one of the unique things about F8 IT Solutions. We have a "when you are next in" option on our helpdesk software which allows clients to log non-urgent jobs or problems for a later date. If your 'urgent' problem takes less than an hour to complete, our engineer can log onto the helpdesk and start working through the less urgent problems, meaning all time is used efficiently and effectively. You pay for the hour, so we believe we should work for the hour.
Can you offer competitive pricing on hardware and software?
Another key difference about F8 IT Solutions is that we don't sell anything except knowledge, advice and support. Procurement advice is part of all of our support contracts, and additional support is charged at the usual flat-rate. This provides value for money for the customer, as you pay a fraction of the cost for asking our advice versus paying a mark-up on a product we would keep in stock. It also means we're not pushing a particular product to try and get a kick-back from a supplier, or trying to get rid of old stock. We'll offer you advice to get the best product for your business, at the best price, and put you in touch with the suppliers, which means the price you see is the price you pay.
Do you offer extended warranty on hardware?
As we don't sell hardware or software, we also don't provide extended warranties. We believe that repairing hardware components is best left to those who make them, but again we can help you source an extended warranty direct from a supplier, and make sure you don't get ripped off.
Do your contracts come in a pro-rata form for schools and seasonal businesses?
We are happy to accommodate any business, as long as it primarily operates between 9:00am and 5:30pm. While all contracts are paid monthly for a 12 month period, we can allocate the time within the year to suit your needs.
What happens if you can't fix the problem?
F8 IT Solutions are not aiming to provide a no-fix, no fee-service. We believe that these can be misleading, as often until our engineer has had the opportunity to visit your site and accurately diagnose the problem we won't know if it is something which can be fixed or something that will provide value for money to repair. Instead, we offer our expertise and advice, and work with you every step of the way to provide you with the technical and financial information and recommendations to allow you to make the decision on what to do about the problem.
I don't really want a monthly contract, what else can you offer?
We can provide an IT consultancy service or an independent IT audit of your current systems or supplier. This can coincide with problem solving, expansion or site moves, or whenever you need a little extra help or advice for a set period of time. This also fits in with our policy of not selling software or hardware if you have received a quote from your current supplier and want to check you're getting the best deal, run the situation past us for a second opinion. We only charge you for the time it takes us to research your best options, and will also provide you with all the details of where we get our prices from, putting the power back into your hands.