CompuPlus — Local services in Austin

When my 10 year old computer developed a problem of intermittently not powering up, I combed through ads and reviews, looking for a repair service that was both capable and reasonably priced. CompuPlus got my attention with their offer of "completely free diagnostics with no obligation". It seemed that it would be hard to lose with an offer like that, so I took them my desktop. Alex and I discussed the machine's problem. He seemed to be an honest and conscientious small businessman who is sincerely interested in fixing things rather than replacing them. In our conversation, he emphasized the value of their "free diagnostics", suggesting that it was a great option for me personally. He wrote up a work order and then asked me to sign the touchscreen and approve the conditions. It was here (in their conditions) that I found out that his claim of "free diagnostics" simply isn't true. CompuPlus treats diagnostics the same way as most other repair shops. They will provide a diagnosis and a cost estimate. If you decide that you do not want to engage their services, then you owe them $30. That certainly doesn't qualify as "free", and it is debatable whether it is "with no obligation." Two days later, I got their estimate which was, IMO, a bit high (parts plus $89 labor to replace the power supply, which is about a 15 minute job), suggesting that their diagnostic time was rolled into the labor bid. Although I was feeling somewhat exploited at this point, I had come this far, so I begrudgingly accepted their bid, and one day later I was notified that the computer was ready for pickup. At pickup, I got my second pricing surprise. When I went to pay, I was informed that there would be an extra charge (3%) if I paid with a credit card. Making customers pay the service fee for credit card use is not that unusual these days, but generally businesses that have this policy post it on the wall in their store so that customers are aware of it. No such sign was evident in CompuPlus. I don't object to the extra charge. I object to this policy being concealed from me. Had I been aware of it, I would have taken my checkbook. For the record, my computer appears to be fixed, so I have to give CompuPlus points for promptness and competence. The unfortunate part of this is that ComuPlus really doesn't need to rely on deception to be successful. Alex is an engaging person with an appealing philosophy about repair. Most people who talk to him would be happy to give him their business. Misleading advertising and hidden pricing policies only serve to alienate people and generally do more harm than good. So c'mon CompuPlus! Your policies are reasonable. Own them and be transparent. In the long run, you will get more repeat customers and more word-of-mouth business with honesty than with...

I brought my MacBook pro for a diagnosis due to liquid damage. It’s said that the diagnosis is free but I was later charged for about $50 because they deep cleaned my laptop even though they couldn’t fix it (I didn’t agree on this service but they did it anyway, so there’s really no such free diagnosis). That’s fine. But then I saw that the back cover of my laptop has many scratches and a small dent. I maintained my laptop very carefully and it was covered with a case all the time. So I was a bit angry about this but thought this was probably simply because whoever examined my laptop handled it very poorly. However, the situation turns out even worse. I eventually took my laptop to Apple store for repair but I was told they couldn’t repair it because of “unauthorized modifications.” Later I was told by another apple authorized store that my laptop was purchased two years ago when in fact I just bought it a year ago. That eventually led me to check the serial number of my laptop shown on the back cover, and I found out it was a DIFFERENT number from the one shown in my AppleID record . Obviously the store replaced the back cover of my laptop with an older Mac Pro. I can’t believe this happened. This is totally unprofessional and unacceptable!! I had my trust for this repair store because it has a very high rating on google, but now I wouldn’t recommend this store to anyone!! Stay away from this store if you don’t want your parts being secretly replaced!!

Update: the store found the bottom case of my Mac Pro and put it back to my laptop. They apologized and explained that the mistake was due to the technician’s negligence (they were examining two...

Brought in a machine with a mysterious sudden shutdown problem triggered by a CPU upgrade. Store took a look and swore up and down that they solved the problem with a new SSD and a new Windows install, but I couldn't replicate their results with three separate older different SSDs and new Windows or Linux installs, and they weren't willing to demonstrate their results without me committing to buying the SSD and Windows install service. I didn't particularly want Windows (I'm a Manjaro man these days), and I wanted a demonstration that the SSD was truly the problem before buying a new one; they weren't willing to work with me. On top of that, they treated my interest in Linux as basically a bad life decision, and I felt rather insulted at their attitude towards how I wanted my system set up - it felt like having your grandma shake her head at you for not just doing things the way they've always been done. It's one thing for a technician to simply say 'I don't know Linux and can't help you in this situation' (though I'm still not convinced OSes have anything to do with the problem); it's another to be patronisingly advised to leave this foolish Linux madness and return to the safety of Windows!

I respect the time they spent on my machine, and for all I know they really did get around my problem the way they said, but I didn't feel like I was treated well or respected, and felt like they were trying to force me to pay them to give me a system setup I don't want.

If you have simple needs and simple wants, they're probably fine! But if you have a complex or unusual setup, I don't recommend this place - they won't work with you to get you the...