HomeTown Tech — Local services in Ames

I am giving this business one star because that is about all they deserve. I brought in my laptop to get looked at a few years back they informed me that it would cost more for me to fix my laptop than replace it so that is why I think they deserve at least a star, for their honesty. Now the problem lies with the fact that I have finally got around to pulling my old hard drives out the computer I took to them. I figured with a place that has this high of remarks that I could trust them to do great work, but I found the exact opposite. When I removed my old hard drives from my computer I found a name taped to the outside, I thought that this was the person that worked on my computer but I was wrong. I found that the hard drive they put into my computer belonged to someone else. I then gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought it could possibly be a test drive, but that was also incorrect. They put someone elses hard drive into my computer and now I am worried that the other person has my hard drive in theirs. The most upsetting part about this is the fact that I had very important pictures on that computer that meant a lot to me and the fact that there could be sensitive information still on my hard drive that could include everything including tax information and even my SSN. So moral of this review make sure you look to see if what you receive back from them is the same as what you take them or you might have the same...

To start I should explain I've been building PC's all my life. I'm usually pretty well versed in their operation and sorting out my own issues as well as family and coworkers. So when I say that I ran into a problem that had me and my network of fellow geeks completely stumped you'll understand that it was something serious.

I attempted repairs myself twice and continued to run into the same PC killing problem. Nothing made sense. I visited my local PC repair shop. Explained my problem and was greeted with a deer in the headlights look that inspired little confidence. I called another location and explained the issue. The tech explained to me that he would be of little help as he would just be trying the things I've tried already and did not have the resources to test my high end hardware. Needless to say I was losing hope rapidly.

Finally I brought my rig into Hometown Tech. I called the following Tuesday ( I dropped it off late on a Friday) and was greeted by the owner of the establishment. I explained my problems and he assured me he would be taking care of it personally. Throughout the day I received calls with updates as he systematically tested each individual component eliminating them as the source of the issue. Finally he located two separate but solvable issues with my rig.

I am beyond impressed with HomeTown Tech. These guys are the real deal. Knowledgeable, courteous and thorough. I simply cannot praise...

Very friendly staff, and well communicated. Unfortunately couldn't fix my laptop as it needs a new motherboard that is impossible to source (even other repair places have come to the same conclusion). What I am VERY dissapointed by is the condition of my laptop after the attempted repair. There are scratch marks ALL over the top of it. These were not there before, and you can tell that due to the similar scratch that's on their repair sticker! Hopefully they don't do the same to other products that they can fix, but it's still bad to do this to anyone's items. The scratches are completely avoidable and honestly unprofessional. Please be aware of this. I was going to give more stars for the rest of the service, but if this is what I could expect bringing in a laptop or item that is repairable, and getting this back, is really bad. And I understand that there is a damage waiver, but this is just showing negligence for customer items. Would likely choose another repair shop if I have any other repairs unfortunately. But props to Laura cause she was very nice and friendly! Also, thankfully they didn't charge me for the diagnostic either since they couldn't fix it, that is a very nice way of doing business! I did not confront them as I I do not intend to use this...