Second Source Computers & Electronics — Local services in Newark

Below was my original 5 star review, which I am retracting. I wrote that review as part of a deal I made with Frank, the owner. Long story short, he tricked me twice, once to take my money and now again to write this 5 star review. Details below.

I walked into this store with a game controller (a flight sim throttle), hoping to get it repaired. They said they would give it a try, and told me the cost would be $60 to diagnose and repair the issue. I got a call that it was repaired and ready for pickup. When I went to the store, they tried to charge me extra for the repair. Fair enough... maybe it required a lot of labor and valuable materials? But when I asked what he did to repair it, he admitted all he did was clean it out, but he assured me it was fixed. When I went home, I discovered it was still broken. So I had essentially spent $60 for him to dust my throttle. I went back to him and explained the situation and my dissatisfaction, and tried to make a mutually beneficial deal with him. The deal was I would write him a 5-star review and in return I would get $60 in store credit, which I planned on using to buy a hard drive (which he has laying around everywhere of his trashed-out store). He said he was unable to sell me any of those hard drives but he would have a new one for me soon. He said one would still cost me extra when I came to get it, despite the fact that $60 could easily get you a 1TB HDD on amazon. Still, I hoped to at least recover some of my loss. A month went by before I finally returned to get the hard drive. To my disbelief, he said he hadn't gotten one yet and when I asked, he refused to give my money back. I didn't believe him, but decided it wasn't worth an argument, and I just nodded and left my number. Now another month has gone by with no phone call. I don't think he ever intended to honor our deal. I think he thinks he's gotten my money and my helpful review and has made it away scot free. Well, you haven't. I'm changing my review here and will take a few hours one day to report this business to the BBB and anywhere else I can.

Original 5-star Review: --Professional and fair. I brought in an unusual item for them to repair and they did their best to repair it, but made an honest mistake in the process. I expressed my dissatisfaction and the owner listened to me, understood where I was coming from, and made it right. These are good people to do...

Took a new touchscreen Dell laptop to replace a cracked screen. Told me that part would be in and fixed in a week to 10 days when I was there at drop off. They pulled up part # when I was there. Over a week passed by and never got a call. I had to call them and they told me part didn’t come in yet for some reason. Waited another week, called again. This time they said part sent to them was wrong but give them a chance to hear back from other places for part. Waited another week, I called again and they said they can’t find the right part but are waiting to hear back from other places and they would call me back with options. They never did. The laptop is too new and parts are hard to find. That’s a first. I finally had enough and picked laptop up after they had it a month. Not fixed. When I picked up, laptop had scratches on case that weren’t there before and screen smudges and dust on it. Laptop didn’t look anything like it did when I dropped off. Looked liked it was through the ringer some. They could have at least cleaned it up a little. They knew I was coming to pick it up. In the month they had it, not once did they call me. I had to always call them. They said they will continue to look for part and call me if they find it. The next time they call me will be the first time. Like I’m going to do business with them again. Whatever. Had to pay them $59 as a diagnostic fee and to get part number and search online for one. A diagnostic fee for a crack screen and to type up serial number/service tag on their computer to find part number. LOL. What a terrible experience. Don’t use them unless you want to wait a month for something not...

I came here because it was highly recommended but won’t be returning. I had an issue with my computer screen in October which turns out I should’ve just turned the touchscreen off instead of paying $50 for them to look at it. After I received my computer back it was extremely slow and would freeze on me forcing me to turn it off and back on, and shutting down on me for various reasons showing a blue screen. Took it back for them to look at and explained all my issues. I got it back yesterday and $70 more spent to “repair” it. Well tonight during my final exam, it froze on me yet again, forcing me to turn it off and back on, locking me out of it. I don’t have money to keep dropping to “fix” this computer and cannot afford to have a bad grade for my final. Extremely disappointed in a loss of $120 for it to still be slow and have the same issues and cause me to fail my final. Also told them this is my livelihood for school and it needs to be fixed. They seemed to understand, but I guess not with this issues...