Worst Service Shops

[Daedrus]

Anyone want to divulge information on the worst places to take a computer for repair. I always get the feeling that only 5-10% of the service technicians out there actually know what they are doing and are worth trusting with your computer. Having worked in a few different shops (including one large nationwide computer store), I have seen technicians do all sorts of things that would make most you have heart attacks.

I'll start off by saying the no one should take their computers to Best Buy for service. Even under warranty, there are better places to take systems. The service is slow and too many times I have had friends get their computers back missing information or still not fixed.

I just what to see what the rest of you have to say.

[hard candy]

Having worked in a few different shops (including one large nationwide computer store), I have seen technicians do all sorts of things that would make most you have heart attacks.



I'll start off by saying the no one should take their computers to Best Buy for service.

Is there a connection? :p
I think most chain stores, if they fix things in-house, are not of the highest quality. Low wages, odd working hours, and lack of benefits make them more of a training ground. Consumer Reports did a survey a couple of years ago and "Mom and Pop' type computer repair shops rated the highest.

[scinerd]

I had a friend send his computer out to hp to get fixed and it came back with the cpu out of the slot and bounceing around inside.

Another person sent the laptop to compaq for repair and it got lost by ups. Well they replaced it will a better laptops he made out good. The other laptop showed up a few weeks later but he was able to keep the old one.

I deal with dell a lot. they are very hit or miss. Some of the tech people are good. If you get sent over to india your lucky if you just get someone who speaks good english.

I did work with a women once who had a gateway. The problem was gateway would not send a tech to install her new motherboard. They told her to do it herself because it's so easy. The poor women could hardly walk I don't know what they where thinking. I think I only charged her a couple bucks not the usual $90/hr

I once worked at a place and found a newbie trying to get a pci modem to work. He was pulling it in and out of the slot try to get the computer to see it. Problem was he didn't feel any need to turn the power off when taking it in and out of the pci slot. I told him that you really shouldn't do that. you would have thought that would be covered in a 4yr college

[EnigmaOne]

Take a computer to ::: cough ::: somebody else :::cough-choke-gasp ::: for service/repair/upgrade? Are you phreeking-insane?

It's tough enough to find somebody qualified to write an invoice on a parts sale, much-less actually sell me parts. Nobody touches my hardware.

With respect to the shops in Long Beach, I've been told by very reputable sources that, Modern Computer and City Typewriter are very good places to never set a foot inside the doorway of.

[Daedrus]

Originally posted by hard candy
Is there a connection? :p


No connection at all :) worked for a competitor of their's, don't like that competitor either :)

[Daedrus]

Originally posted by scinerd
you would have thought that would be covered in a 4yr college

Most 4yr colleges don't teach computer repair or diagnostics. They jsut crank out programmers that don't know 2 things about fixing a computer.

I wouldn't expect seasoned computer users here to have anyone but themselves do anything to their own computers. But the noobs here might.

[Loki3]

My first computer I built I accidently shorted out the motherboard. I didn't know any better. Should've read something about how to build computers first. Oh well. Just standard practice with me.

Regardless I took a computer repair shop. $250 later it worked. Woohoo! Time to install RedHat! It worked fine for about a week. Then one day I heard it make a "clunk"... oh no big deal. Must be a hard drive. 10 minutes later it crashed... what the hell? I rebooted... It lasted 5 minutes. I figured I must of wrecked RedHat somehow. Next time it only lasted 30 seconds. Tried again. Nothing... no post... nothing.

So I just figured I would re-install Red Hat some other time. I came back a day later and it still wouldn't post. I decided that I should open it up and look inside... I guess I couldn't make it any worse, right? I was little afraid of working on computer's myself after the first incideent.

Apparently the heatsink had fallen off the chip... the store had installed it in-correctly and only friction was holding it on. So that's what that clunk was...

:(

[WayStar]

I'd never send my computers anywhere for repair. Of all the people I know personally, I'm the most experienced with PC hardware maintenance, repair, and upgrading. Now that I'm married, I maintain the hardware for myself and my husband.

I have taken a few classes in the last year, which has helped me to gain confidence. Still, I cheerfully repeat this saying whenever I'm about to attempt a repair I've only read about: "Well, it was broke anyway, right?"

-Waylena

[hard candy]

"Well, it was broke anyway, right?"

Funny, I use a similiar saying when I'm pulling out the cash while shopping. :)

[JohnT]

I dont turn mine off long enough to repair it:D