COMPU Computers — Local services in Ferndale

This is the absolute WORST place to go for a computer repair! NEVER support this establishment. They are rude thieves who break computers and then refuse to compensate you for their faulty actions. I only needed a simple fan replacement and this place completely destroyed my $1500 laptop! I paid $175 initially to have the repair performed. After holding it in the shop for almost a month without even calling me for an update, I realized that I had to start being persistent and keep calling them to make any sort of progress or get any information on the current status. Initially, they tried to pass it off to me as fixed, but I noticed that my perfect laptop that had never had any prior issues was now not charging or holding a charge. I politely requested that they reinspect it because it never had any prior problems prior to me dropping it off. It took a while to convince them, but they finally agreed after saying that there may be additional charges involved. Poor customer service from day one. Both times I dropped it off, I stressed how important it was to me. I said that I was a college student, so that laptop was my life and to please take good care of it. I also have documentation showing that my data should have been backed up. Yet again they held onto my computer for weeks without a single phone call even though the contract said I would get phone updates regularly. I continued to inquire until they said that the computer was broken and that all of my data was gone. That meant homework assignments and several years worth of photos of myself and several relatives who have since passed away. I was devastated. The worst part was that this was a nice 1 TB laptop that I was very careful with and never even had a scratch on, yet they handed me my computer all scratched up and in pieces. I was way nicer than I should have been throughout the entire encounter with Compu in Glen Burnie, and yet I was constantly lied to and bullied. I asked to speak to the owner and they said that there was no way to contact him, which I know was a lie because I used to be a supervisor and knew that you always have to be able to contact the employees above you. I was so frustrated and upset over the ordeal that I just cried and actually made myself physically ill from the stress. My brother-in-law who works in the computer business was kind enough to advise me to request a refund and repair because based on his years of experience in the field, there was no way for a fan repair to result in data loss and the extent of damage that my computer suffered. Every time I showed up, they looked annoyed and would lie to my face and say that I broke the computer when they had the computer in their possession when it broke. They fried the hard drive, killed the motherboard, broke the web cam, scratched the exterior, and it no longer could charge. Then they refused to pay for it or help me in any way. The owner eventually was contacted by staff and refused service when this computer never had any prior issues or repairs, yet supposedly multiple components just died at the same time while in their shop. I don’t appreciate being blatantly lied to and I had to pay for an expensive fan repair on a computer that I now can’t even turn on. It is completely useless since they worked on it. Do NOT EVER trust this establishment. They are crooked scammers who steal your money and break your property, then blame you for the poor outcome. Cliff, Mike, and Jason need to review their morals because that is not how you should ever treat a fellow human being. Please DO NOT support this business. Thank you for reading this review and I hope you...

Edit: so it turns out it wasnt even my motherboard. I just bought a brand new direct replacement mobo and the exact same problem. I paid $50 for them to do nothing and ended up costing me an additional $200 that I hopefully will be able to get back. I just got off the phone with the tech who basically told me I have to wait to contact the owner who doesn't have any set schedule of when I can reach him and that "we've also seen brand new motherboards that don't work". I'll give it till monday for the owner to get back to me before I write this place off as a total scam, but I don't have high hopes. Avoid this place.

Really not sure how to feel about my experience with this store. Over the weekend I dried something in my computer, the computer I built 5 years ago. I was pretty confident my motherboard had failed, how ever I wasn't sure if the mobo had damaged any other components in the system. This being a gaming rig has some fairly pricey parts in it, but like I said it's 5 years old so I'm torn between cutting my losses and upgrading to a newer mobo/ cpu or if it was just a single part I might just replace that.

Being short on time, I decided to have a 3rd party figure out exactly what was failed on the system, but most importantly verify that all my other components were OK. They simply plugged a new power supply in to rule out my PS, plugged in a new video card to rule out my GPU and the same with the RAM. Great, so you verified my suspicion. Now what about my other parts? I get that the mobo isn't giving them any signal, but that doesn't mean that they still work either... I kind of need to know now before i start ordering parts where I stand in this, and now I'm taking a gamble assuming that all my components are OK. I realize individually testing the mobo and CPU require another mobo and CPU with the same socket which they might not have, not a huge problem. How ever I stressed to them that the video card specifically was only a few months old and it's very important for me to know now that it's OK or damaged. They did not test it at all.

Basically I hired them to check all my parts and tell me what is damaged. They figured out the root of the problem, so they didn't do nothing... but I just paid $50 for someone to do 15 minutes of plugging in different parts to basically told me what I already knew. Now I'm spending the time I really don't have to take apart another computer of mine so I can swap in parts from my broken PC just to verify 100% that they indeed still work, which is what I was supposed to be paying them to do for me.

For me personally, huge waste of time and money dealing with compu. Would have been better off just...

I used to work here and I can tell you the most accurate description about this business.

Pros. It's affordable and their repair service is second to none imo. They don't charge you by the hour like most places, they charge a flat rate of 89 dollars, and if necessary charge for replacement parts. Now if I'm correct it's been a while since I have worked there. But diagnostics is free for your computer, make sure you call before going in assuming this btw. The staff is honest and professional and will do their best to help you. For almost any computer breakdown or need. They have the tools on hand to fix it. The only exception might be parts, but I will get to that in a second. They usually get back to you relatively quickly. And you have options for rush service I believe if you are in a pinch.

Cons. Keep in mind this is a small mom and pop like computer store. So that means they won't always have the parts you need on hand or the best quality for that matter. Many laptops and computers they sell are refurbished machines, so it's risky buying them. Sometimes you might get lucky and come across a new machine. But that is seldom, and most of the time the owner wants to sell refurbished laptops or desktops. Sometimes as I said the store doesn't have the parts, and I have personally witnessed while I worked there. Them ordering parts off of eBay. But in their defense again it's a small store, not much room or money to get the best newest parts. So give them a pass on that.

Overall I recommend this store to basically anyone who needs a good computer repair service, it's good fair prices. And fairly reasonable repair times with rush service options. Just remember to keep you eyes peeled and your wits about you when buying computers or parts from them. They aren't trying to screw you, or trying to be dishonest. They just usually don't have the new parts on hand. Definitely a good store overall though, I got a blue custom built gaming desktop from them and have had it since. Great store and great...