Voelker Research - Mac Repair — Local services in Colorado Springs

A hidden gem! I’ve been coming here for the past 23+ years. This place has the hardcore Mac enthusiasts that have been there since the beginning. Going to any generic ‘Apple Store’ won’t give you the same service from the kid that has been working there for a few weeks. Voelker Research (VRI) is one of the last enthusiast owned service, sales and support stores you will ever see. The owner, Rich, works with his people in the shop every day and is a genuinely nice guy. He has the dedication and love for the product you will not see at any other place. If you’re looking for a Mac, and are a Mac enthusiast, you need to check this place out. . I know what you’re thinking. You can save $50 ordering online. I get it, but ordering through VRI has saved me a lot more than that initial cost up front. An example is we wanted to buy a Mac Studio. We did our online research and wanted the nano-texture glass due to the large windows in our office. Rich told us that the loss of picture quality via the nano was not worth it and the glossy standard glass will not glare like we think it would. He was speaking out of honesty and experience. He could have made more money on the nano-glass, but told us his personal experience and what was best for us. He was right! Little to no glare with the standard glass and we are happy we didn’t spend the extra money on the nano. If I would have ordered online I would have spent $100’s more for the nano-glass, would have been disappointed in the performance and have been stuck with it as it was. He also had us wait a little bit on our order to get the latest and greatest version of the Mac and Display that we didn’t know was going to be available. So another bonus there. . Another example is we broke our iPad Pro. We thought we were hosed and had to buy a new one but Rich took the time to research our records and found our iPad was still covered under AppleCare! We had no idea and assumed it wasn’t, so this was a pleasant surprise. I ran down with the iPad to VRI and they immediately verified the issue, got it warrantied through Apple, and back to us quickly. We saved over $1000 in not needing to buy a new one! . OK one more example! They have a consignment program that you should check out. I had an Apple Watch that didn’t work correctly and had odd issues with my account. I never used it because of this and the Apple Watch just wasn’t for me anyway. I couldn’t fix it and tried everything I could find online to repair it (software glitch). Rich told me to bring it down for consignment to sell and he would fix it and sell it for me. They spent 2 weeks trying to figure out why it wasn’t working. They repaired my account, got the watch to work as it should and sold it the next day! Again, I thought it was no good, but they fixed it and sold it where I recouped my money and the new owner has a pristine ‘like new’ watch. I know they lost money in that deal, but they didn’t care. It’s that hardcore stubborn enthusiast in them. They wanted to figure it out and did everything it took to do it. . Waaay back around 2000 (don’t remember the exact year) I remember Rich Voelker at the Macworld Expo being invited on stage and congratulated for his accomplishment to have the fewest complaints and reworks out of any Apple Authorized Service Center of that time. I was thinking ‘What?? That little shop in C/S??’ Their service for the customer was flawless and Apple noticed. It was incredible! Rich never talks about it as he is just too modest, but I remember that day and it was pretty surreal. That’s how good these techs are and another reason you should meet these incredible people. This place goes above and beyond and I will never buy another Mac/Apple product without checking to be sure they sell it first. . Pic attached of me picking up my repaired iPad Pro thanks to the great people at VRI! Thanks for all the help over the years and the...

Originally I was off to a great start with this company. They guided me on how to recover some files from a broken hard drive which I will be forever grateful for but when I brought the computer back to them to have the hard drive replaced I was told it was going to be at 24 hour turnaround on getting my computer back. Great, no issues there. I dropped it off in the middle of the day on a Thursday with the expectation of picking it up by close of business on Friday. When I called Friday at 3:20 I was told at my computer hadn’t even been looked at yet but should be up next on the bench. Ok, there was still 2 1/2 hours left in the business day and from what I am tracking from the Apple store, swapping out the hard drive should not take very long. (I had originally intended on the Apple Store doing this replacement because they do it same day hard drive replacements, should’ve trusted my instincts and just paid the extra $30). So I was still optimistic that it would be done by COB. With 30 minutes left in the business day I had to once again call to find out the status and to my disappointment I found out that it would not be fixed today and on top of that they do not work on weekends so I cannot get my computer until Monday now. The reason given was because they were having some difficulty loading the operating system onto the new hard drive because the software loader broke?? I understand things happen but why was it not until the end of the day that this was discovered? We’re talking a very simple job they could’ve been done relatively quickly but because they didn’t find the issue until it was too late in the day now a 30 minute bench job turns into me being without my computer for four days. Extremely frustrated at the lack of communication and effort on their part. It pains me to write such a negative review after reading all of the other reviews. I guess Friday the 13th really...

I recently purchased a new MacBook at Voelker Research. It began with a visit for service and the technicians were friendly and knowledgable. I left with a fix to my situation. A few weeks later I decided I needed to replace my computer - it had done well by me for years and I simply needed an upgrade. My husband and I went to Voelker Research and were helped for quite a while (didn't time it) to look at the ALL the options for my current needs in a device. Things were explained in detail and without making me feel stupid - I greatly appreciate this ability in tech oriented people! We went home to consider our options. The next day I called with some questions and again, was given quite a bit of time to explore the intricacies of what I needed with regard to storage, and this helped guide my decision immensely. I ordered a computer feeling confident in the decision. Then it was waiting for its arrival to the store and the integration was scheduled. Again, the communication around this process was smooth and friendly. Everyone who supported me in this series of visits was patient, warm, professional and knows their stuff. I would highly recommend Voelker Research. It gives me great peace of mind to have a local place to go with my...