Hardware Junky — Local services in Waco

I took my brand new HP laptop to Aldo at Hardware Junky after a crash that was initially misdiagnosed by an IT tech at my place of employment as a hard drive failure. My initial hope was simply that Aldo would be able to retrieve all my data from what I believed to be a bad drive. Due to the volume of jobs he was working on, Aldo got to my machine right at the end of his shop's normal hours of operation for the day, and called me after a quick diagnostic to tell me that in fact the problem was not with the hard drive at all, but that the computer was simply failing to detect the hard drive for some reason. His initial opinion at that point was that I would likely need to file a warranty claim to attempt to get the machine replaced. Despite the fact that he should have been closing up shop for the day, he invited me to go ahead and come to the store with an external drive so that he could copy over my files for me, as he was leaving town the next morning. After I arrived and he had backed up my data, he asked whether I would mind him experimenting a bit further to see whether he could resolve the issue for me. He stayed and worked on my laptop for almost two more hours into the late evening, and was ultimately able to identify the problem as merely an error stemming from an aborted BIOS update that had prevented the machine from detecting the hard drive. He was then able to resolve the issue and get the computer working like new, with no new parts or frustrating warranty claims required. To top it off, he charged me an extremely reasonable fee for his services, particularly considering the fact that he had stayed around long after closing time to make sure I had a working laptop before he left town. I could not have been more pleased with my overall experience due to Aldo's evident expertise, generosity, and commitment to seeing the job through to the end. This is the only place in Waco I will be taking my devices...

I have had my computer for a few years now and it’s pretty good size and pretty pricey computer. No communication for a few days. I did explain no rush was needed when I asked for a ETA I did not receive a response after waking up on Saturday no response so I do what any natural human would do and that is show up to his shop. Only to be greeted by 2 people one who is an employee and one stated they are an owner of the establishment so I ask them to take a look in the back and come back to me and ask me to come back and take a look to where we saw nothing so that definitely raises some red flags. Now I’m a very patient man so from Wednesday to Saturday with no response I’m a very concerned of what I was not receiving it . So after about 2 hours of waiting the owner Josh goes ahead and releases it to me and we still not have received word from the guy who has my computer. observant/patient person from years of being in the military. So communication is key to me. At approximately 3:10 after I met up with my family he calls me asking me what’s going on, I explain to him that Josh found the tower/pc after several times of calling and no response from him. That after several days of no communication I decided that I did want to give him my business and did not want his service. He then explains that he’s been telling everyone he had a baby shower Saturday (which would have been fine if that was stated to me at all at any point) so everyone must not include me. Now we did discuss that I was not in a rush however I would have enjoyed some type of communication or once again ETA on when he would roughly be done. Now I don’t want this review to show that he is not a bad shop or not someone who you can take your stuff to. This is just from my pov...

In September 2022, I had my PC serviced by Aldo, the owner of Hardware Junky. After completing his work on my system, Aldo requested a Google Review from me. I didn't have a good experience with him, and I wanted to find a solution to the problems he caused before writing this review in June 2023, but I haven't been successful. He charged me $300 to install a CPU - a very simple, straightforward fix that I could have had completed for a fraction of the price at other businesses - I only chose Hardware Junky because Aldo had the quickest appointment availability and, being a college student, I needed my computer fixed immediately. To his credit, he was able to install my CPU and fix a broken pin on the underside of it. However, in doing the repair, he destroyed my computer's fans and liquid cooling system. His level of customer service is extremely unprofessional. The office was a mess. I had to wait for over an hour past my scheduled appointment outside a locked door for him to finally show up to "fix" my computer. He downloaded a program he said was a CPU temperature monitor onto my computer, but it was either a cracked/malware-infested version of the program that completely corrupted files on my computer because he had uninstalled my anti-virus and malware protection software before starting the repair. He didn't reply to any of my requests for assistance in repairing the damage to my system. The computer maintenance was completed by Hardware Junky on 9/15 and requests for appointments and service went unanswered from that week through 9/28. I was unable to reach them following this date. I strongly advise you to seek...