Computer Zone: Apple, PC, iPhone Repair & Sale networking — Local services in Santa Cruz

This place do very unethical business. I lost $200, wasted time and energy for calls back and forth with them for 5 months and my laptop was never repaired. They told me they NEVER give refunds. Instead I was asked to pay more for possibility of data retrieval, they tried to sell refurbished laptop to me and finally, they said they’ll give me back my $200 if I allow them take my laptop for parts. If you have time, please read exactly what happened to me and will probably happen to you as well if you trust them.

I read their review before visiting them. I read 4 reviews where people said they lost money and never get their items repaired. Under each of them, owner replied back saying why it was not possible for Computer Zone to repair it. So I thought I could trust them with my laptop. I have a macbook pro which was water damaged 8 months ago. I was gonna buy new one, but I realized I needed the data from the damaged laptop. So I went to their store, told them it was water damaged 8 months ago and it made pssst noise when I opened it right after and it never started again. I asked if there is any possibility for them to repair it as I was almost certain there is no chance. But they said they fixed beer damage just last week and water damage is not as bad as other drinks. They said it’s worth fixing my laptop since it’s late model and I can get pretty good use out of it. They charge by the hour but offered flat $200 for repair which will save money on my end and I can get my laptop in 3 days.

2 months later, the manager said they couldn’t retrieve data. But he would like to send my laptop to this separate company that specializes in data retrieval and it’ll cost me double. I asked a refund, he said he can’t do that cuz they put in hours of work already, but he can pay $100 for the data retrieval fee. But I don’t have $300 more dollars to pay for the data retrieval and asked instead to give me that $100, so I could buy new laptop. He said he can do that and offered they have range of refurbished laptops I can choose from. I said I’d like to buy my own laptop directly from apple. Then he said he’ll reconsider give me back my $200 if I leave my laptop for parts. I said no thank you in which he replied okay, you can pick your laptop 2 days later and $100 will be refunded back to my credit card. That happened last October. Today is 9th of February. I never got that $100 back.

I called in January about my refund and talked for 15 mins explaining my situation to another technician just to hear WE NEVER GIVE REFUND. So I asked him to leave note for the manager to call me back. The manager called me and he doesn’t remember any of our conversations. He said he’ll check his workbook and call me back. Another back and forth call situation which I know very well at this point, will just waste my time and mental energy.

They knew any liquid damage will lead to corrosion and my laptop can’t be fixed after 8 months of corrosion. Either they lied making me believe it is fixable to make money or they’re very incompetent, unprofessional to know that’s not possible to repair. In both cases, customer will lose money. Thank you for reading my experience and please choose other place to do your business. Computer zone is shady place, not worth your money,...

Fast and expensive. I wanted to give 5 stars reasons, Interns/Workers are nice and helpful definitely here for the love of the game + they're around my age. Though the reason I deduct 3 stars would've given 2.5, is that google doesn't provide ranking in stars by half.

Here's my story/review. Came in to drop off the PC to get it fixed, turns out it was a quick update on BIOS (I was lazy and frustrated so I took it in + thought I was getting a deal since I was a student + students work there). Not complaining minimum 1 hour to fix + Cleaning (if I did it myself), though it took 4 hours but that's including moving parts to a new case + additional 1 hour that's no applied to the total charge for diagnostics minimum $99. Not mad, though the upcharge on parts is quiet insane. For example, Owner said he got me the best hard drive. I asked how much quoted 180$ said he buys them for 140$, though when looking up it's only 40$ (Didn't check until later). Its a "TEAMGROUP T-FORCE VULCAN Z 1TB" from amazon (also checked the storage it has somehow has less than 1tb resulting in 953 GB). The fan is a generic fan that he charged for $40 which looking up was $10. Though in business I believe in not lying to continue business, this is what you call getting swindled.

To top it all off, the pressure of questioning cost, but also the owner trying to make it seem like I am getting a deal saying removing card fee, student discount, $10 off.

I give stars for the workers, but deduct for the owner and business. I can provide receipts and upload in the future if Owner claims I am not in the system. Warning, read reviews, print every receipt & double check costs. All in all, it's my fault I shouldn't have fell for the pressure since I do know my tech stuff though I let anxiety get the better of me being able to let him swindle me. I just wanted to pay and leave ASAP to not have to deal with the business from withholding my PC, etc. P.S. They also kept my old PC case and didn't tell or mention it to me. I would go back to pick it up, but here I am writing this review and warning others specifically students...

The people who run this place are shills. After being overcharged for my the replacement of my cell phone screen, I had problems with it almost immediately. white spots started appearing on the screen and I was told this was normal (even though this never happened in the two years I had the phone prior to them touching it). After their short warranty ended the screen had massive problems and I was told there was nothing they could do and I would have to pay them all over again.

The most alarming thing was that I was told they use cheap parts rather than official parts. Apparently they also do shotty work. What kind of business handles things so improperly and then wont fix things when their work was bad?

They are not honest and have no integrity. I cant believe they have as many 5 Star reviews that they do. It's simply amazing. They're crooked con men and I wouldn't reccomend my worst enemy to go to this place and give these people business.

I own my own business. If any customer of mine ever had a problem with the work I did I immediately fix it or replace their item... because that's good honest business. I don't know why I expect the same from other businesses. Maybe ethics? They have none.

DO NOT GIVE THIS PLACE BUSINESS! There are other places in town which have far...