Di-No Computers Inc — Attraction in Sierra Madre

I was driving around looking for someone to help me during this COVID-19 situation. I went to Best Buy, the Apple Store, all these different places and they would always play the same card on me "sorry but because of the virus we basically can't do anything and we have become a crippled mass of flesh."

The virus is basically an easy and simple "out" for everyone to be like "sorry, but we're useless during this time and you just need to deal with it."

But not Di-No Computers...

I called over there and they ACTUALLY PICKED UP THE PHONE WITH NO RECORDED MESSAGE. Right away I was shocked. Who does that?

Then they helped me over the phone and invited me to drive over. WHAT?!

Then I got there and the guy was like "I looked for the phone and I couldn't find it, I'm so sorry." - then he went back and looked again and came out and said "oh hey, look I found a phone."

I had a pin on and he was curious about what it was and asked me about it. They are genuinely super nice and interested in you as a person.

Honestly, I'm not so sure I have ever been to a place with such lively staff. One of the guys started talking to me about a computer he was fixing that was a fossil and I asked why someone would fix something like that. He mentioned it was because people run super expensive computer programs and it's tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade the software. It was incredible.

The staff were friendly and laughing and joking and you could tell they get A LOT of repeat business. WELL I KNOW WHY.

The place was hot and their product supply was in disarray but this place was ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED.

COVID is not an excuse to be worthless and you can still help people and do your job during this time. A situation like COVID is where the children are separated from the adults, the amateurs separate from the professionals.

But you can tell it was just another day in the office. They weren't doing something "special."

Honestly, if an office is looking to find a local place to take their staff to show them a live demonstration of how customer-service should be, this might be a great place to take them.

We got our new phone with one signature and a smile.

I'm still shocked. Can't recommend this...

I had a horrible experience with Di-No in the early 2000s. I had a G4 Tower with a faulty power button. I did my research and saw that a few others had had this problem, and that it was a circuit board that was part of the button mechanism. I even found the part #. I took it in to Domino Computing in Pasadena, CA, explained the problem, gave them the part #, and they said they'd have a look at it. A few days later, they reported it was the motherboard, which they'd be happy to replace for me for $800 parts and labor. I asked if they had tried to troubleshoot the power button or its circuit board. No, they hadn't, but they were sure because they were Apple Certified Technicians and I wasn't.

Now the kicker. Since I turned down their repair, I had to pay a $50 diagnostic charge to get my computer back. After an hour of getting nowhere, i.e., waiting for different people to deign to come down to the floor and tell me "no", I finally paid up. Driving home, I happened to notice a computer repair place with a small Apple sticker in the window. I stopped there, and they were able to order the part, which was around $100. Installing it for me would be $20, or I could save the money if I wanted to do it myself. The process was described as trivial, and it was.

I'm glad I stuck to my guns, but I was still ripped off for $50, and I doubt they even opened the case. It's because of retailers like Di-No that Apple opened their own retail stores. If there was a lower rating then one star, Di-No would get it.

Frankly, I am surprised Di-No is still in business. Maybe having an Apple Store down the street has forced them to up their game, but I'll...

Poor, bad, awful.

My iMac started having issues after losing power. They replaced the hard-drive without incident but didn't mention anything else. The fan control started going crazy, running at 100% and when calling them they told me it's because they didn't have sensors to put in with the drive the Apple uses. They didn't tell me this the first time in. I had to bring it back they charged me again for a full visit and put it in. They also explained how having an Apple drive is an option but didn't give me that choice or tell me how much it would be. Since getting it back the unit is very unresponsive timing out and goes from very slow to unusable at times. So, they never even checked to see if it was working properly the second time after I told them it was running slow along with the fan problem. They don't seem to have any regard for doing quality work or caring about their customers. Totally frustrating and I would never go back or recommend to anyone else. While standing at the counter the second time a girl came in with a laptop and the sales person who clearly knows nothing about computers couldn't figure out why she thought the drive was bad because it booted up. The tech was called and he was snotty and arrogant that of course it was bad and she could lose all her data and why were they bothering him with this. This is like dealing with some audio repair shop from the 80's where the sales people are totally clueless and you never want the geek techs to talk to a customer - not what you would call a good place to go to be taken care of. Pass on this place - lots of others to go get your Mac fixed...