Kevin's Computer Service — Local services in Dana Point

REVIEW OF KEVIN’S COMPUTERS I brought my computer to Kevin’s in San Clemente, with a detailed description that the computer would crash when I browsed to CNN or other sites that started videos. They had the computer for two days and then told me it had been fixed by updating the drivers.

At home I connected the PC to a monitor and keyboard and tested it. It crashed right after I opened a Google Chrome window with CNN. This problem continued throughout the morning, so I consulted my nephew, who suggested that I uninstall the graphics card, reboot, and run only the basic driver to evaluate. I did that, and the computer ran fine.

I wrote to Kevin detailing what occurred and suggesting that I deserved a refund. I received a prompt response from Kevin, who wrote that he would contact me again on Monday. I did not hear from him on Monday but heard from Anthony on Tuesday. Anthony suggested that I update the software to older version 19.5.2, an earlier version than the current 19.9.2. Anthony said 19.5.2 was the most stable, and I could bring it in or do it myself. Anthony sidestepped the issue of him having failed to fix the computer, and suggested I had a thirty-day warranty during which time I could bring it back as needed. WAIT A MINUTE! The warranty is designed to assure me that it is fixed and will not give me problems for the next thirty days! Anthony misinterpreted the warranty as being to Kevin’s benefit, and giving them thirty more days to fix the computer when they don’t get it right the first time.

Incidentally, I did as he suggested and installed version 19.5.2 of the Radeon software. The crashing resumed immediately. At that point, I ordered a graphics card from Newegg, replaced the graphics card myself, and the computer has been fine since.

Kevin’s should have been able to diagnose a bad graphics card. Kevin’s should not have returned the computer to me before testing it to see if it crashed on CNN or sites that play videos.

This is my second poor experience with Kevin’s. Last time, I brought a new PC I built for my wife to the Dana Point location. I was told the problem was that one cannot switch a hard drive from an Intel motherboard to an AMD and that they had to do a clean installation, which requires reinstalling all the software. That information was wrong, but not knowing it was wrong at the time I had them do the work, which cost over $200. The computer continued to have problems. Kevin’s never solved the problem themselves. I did further research and found that the high speed RAM was not fully compatible (Two sticks OK; not four sticks, IIRC). I switched to slightly slower RAM and the computer has been fine for the past year.

If Kevin’s had just refunded my diagnostic fee for failing to correctly diagnose the video card problem I wouldn’t have written this. I suspect that Kevin’s is fine for routine service, installing parts or software, but I would not give them a problem to...

Unfortunately, most of the interactions I had with Kevin's techs were pretty frustrating. I was in town for a finite period of time and was in a real pinch to get a new battery for my laptop. I was clear about that right from the beginning, and would have really appreciated more communication. I was quoted an initial price, which was later raised and was told the battery replacement would be complete by a specific time and it wasn't. That's understandable, but what was frustrating was that they didn't keep me in the loop of when it would be finished so I had to call them multiple times to follow up. I was also out of commission without my laptop unable to work remotely for multiple days when I could have kept it with me while waiting for the part to arrive.

When I finally picked up my laptop and expressed my frustration I was told that I needed to give the guy who had initially helped me some credit, because they had been short handed. As the customer, I don't see why it's my responsibility to give an employee credit for something like that when I was pretty significantly inconvenienced.

At checkout I was given $50 off my bill as a gesture of apology, but was then told that the $50 was for a service that they hadn't even perform. Had I not spoken up about my dissatisfaction, I wonder if they would have charged me for that $50 service that they never even did. It seems funny to me that my frustrations were placated by the removal of a charge that should never have been on my bill in the first place.

I also asked for information on a warranty for the new battery and was given a vague answer... maybe 60 days... maybe 90 days, and to just call them if something is wrong. I live out of state, so that answer wasn't helpful in the slightest should something go wrong with...

I have a laptop computer and the ssd 500 gig harddrive was 95% full. I had purchased a 2tb replacement ssd, then realized I had better have someone that knows what they are doing clone and change the drive.

John at the Dana Point office took care of that in less than 24 hours, and now I use the old 500 gig ssd as a usb backup dirve.

I also have a big box computer for video work. After the last Windows update the computer started acting crazy. The screen would go black at times and other times, while working it would just reboot itself over and over.

Again, John at the Dana Point office took it in for $50 to check it out. He put it through a stress test over night and determined it was locked in some sort of update loop that never finishes. John corrected the issue and I got the computer back with no extra charge. It has been running great, in fact better than before the issues and I can tell you editing 4k video can stress a computer.

John at Kevin's Computers is the go to guy from now...