Cline Computers — Local services in Richland

I have a very mixed opinion about my recent experience with Cline. Years ago I used the company was was extremely satisfied (5 Star on price, quality and service). I needed a simple repair on my laptop. Desiring to use a local company I went back to Cline. I had a very different experience this time.

19 days ago I took a laptop for repair. I was told it was a simple repair and that when they identified the part, ordered, and received the part.... it would take an hour to repair. When I called back 3 business days later I was informed the part was due in the next day. 3 business days later I called again and was told the part would be in the following day (delays do to "weather"). Not hearing from them the following day (a Saturday), I stopped into the store on the following Monday only to be told the part had yet to be delivered!!! 2 more business days passed before they called to tell me the part was in, the repair complete, and I could pick up my laptop. I stopped in, paid the invoice and took my laptop home.

When I arrived home I found the screen was defective. I took it back the same day (Wednesday, 14 days after I first dropped the laptop off for repair). I was told that the laptop screen had been damaged during repair, that it would be fixed at no cost, and that they would order the part for "overnight" delivery. The next day I received a text message that gave me a tracking number and informed me that the order would not arrive until Friday because it was placed too late in the day to arrive overnight. As I tracked the package I discovered it did not ship until Friday pm and did not arrive until MONDAY at 9:22 AM. I waited until 2:30 to call to find out the status of the repair. I was informed that the laptop had "just arrived" but that the technician was ill and unlikely to be able to get to it until Tuesday or Wednesday (based on whenever he returned to work from sick leave).

I express my frustration and so they assigned a different technician who was able to repair the laptop within an hour of my call.

Needless to say... this was a very frustrating experience made even worse by the poor communication from Cline. It is best summed up by the saying that they "over promised and underperformed" in the area of customer communication. The price was reasonable, the cost as satisfactory and fair. However, 19 Days and repeated commitments unfulfilled left me doubtful about using them...

I only wished I had wrote this sooner, I regret wasting time. (Albeit I spent all that time on the computer they set up for me.)

TL;DR Did a fantastic job, easy to work with, affordable hourly rate. They don't waste time to bump it up. They do work, and do it good. I could not be happier with the outcome.

I am a disabled gamer and have for now about 6 years. Games are my life, without them I would not be here. It was really time to update the computer as modern games were catching up to it, causing more than one issue. RAM, Graphics, ect. So after doing a little look, we went with Cline Computers. I will admit, at first I was a bit nervous. We had used Cline before when its hard drive failed, as well as upgrading from a Redeon HD 5570, to a GTX 970. We had a list, and a budget, set up and set sails.

Over a period of just about 3 weeks, we set up a list, they ordered the parts, and put it together. Originally, we had not chosen to have any of the see-through walls, or any cosmetic properties. However when we arrived we were surprised when we found they had added a window. Not only that, but they went through the pain and effort to put most of the cords they could on the right side of the computer, hiding along the wall and out of sight. So when you looked through the left you saw the internal parts. It looked amazing. They had finished it on my birthday itself, quite the amazing birthday present. (See the attached picture)

To finish up, when something came up with the computer they were still there to help. One of the new drives was not activated. However, even after the upgrade I was able to send off an email to the guy who helped me, and he was still there to assist me.

In the end, I say this. If I need any more computer work of any kind, I am going to...

Follow up: Joel Cline contacted me to resolve this. I am now confident that this was a case of miscommunication. The work that was done, was done well. I found Joel to have a lot of integrity. I appreciate his contact. While I will be very sure that my expectations are clear, I'd use Cline Computers again. Because my previous experience was excellent, I'm bumping to 3 stars, and adding this information. I have previously been a real fan of Cline's. I have recommended several people to Cline over years. Of course I contacted them to do some work on my dad's computer. He is 83 and nearly blind and nearly deaf. But I work full time, and reached a point where I couldn't get any further. The previous visit was great, so I counted on them to help me out here. I asked for a specific thing to be looked at. I made sure they had my number to discuss any problem. They claimed he had hard drive failure, which may or may not be the case. I didn't see that behavior - but perhaps they caught it early. They offered to take it and replace the hard drive - estimating about $250. Since he trusted them, because I had recommended them, he agreed. He got it back today, new hard drive - $360 and no software reinstalled. Particularly, his accessibility software, no email, no nothing. So I will be leaving work to go spend hours trying to finish this job. He could have bought a new refurbished computer for that. I am so disappointed! And incredibly angry, and feel that he has been greatly taken advantage of. I will not use Cline again, I will not recommend Cline again. And I encourage others to use caution in dealing...