MacDoctor, Inc. — Local services in Winter Park

I brought my 2022 MacBook Pro in this shop a little over a year ago, but wanted to write a review retrospectively because the whole experience with this shop just rubbed me the wrong way. I went in with an issue where the laptop would randomly shut down while unplugged and after getting really no great help from the Apple Store besides them selling me iCloud after 8 hours of being there, I took it to Steve to see if he could diagnose the issue. Upon my first visit to the shop, it was closed even though the hours showed it was clearly open. A janitor from next door confirmed he would randomly close the shop, which I later found out was so he could work on repairs, which I guess is understandable, if not a little bizarre. The next day, I returned to the shop and while Steve was very smart and knowledgable, telling me that the specific production run of MacBook I brought in had less thermal paste on the on the CPUs than others or something to that regard, he swore constantly and ranted openly about other customers of his to me, particularly this one older client who would call nearly every day about an issue with their older Mac and who happened to call yet again while I was there. This should have been a red flag to begin with, as this could be the way he treats all customers behind their backs. Maybe he had just assumed that I'd be okay with this behavior because I was a younger client? I'm not really sure, but regardless, I was uncomfortable and continued to become more uncomfortable upon further visits. Fast forward about a week, and I return for pickup of my MacBook, only for him to preface me before handing over the computer, "You should really stop smoking pot around your Mac." If the customer rants were already a little strange, this in itself is just extremely unprofessional. Not only that, but this was also a baseless claim because not once had I smoked anything around it since the time I had first received it new, and the comment was overall just kind of rude and condescendnig. Not only that, but I opened up the machine and was quite confused to find a different wallpaper than my own (it was a Grateful Dead one). I had at first assumed he'd wiped the device and changed the wallpaper to something temporary which would've been an odd practice, but it had turned out he had actually handed me another client's device. I chalked it up to an honest mistake and I myself should have realized immediately that it wasn't my computer upon opening it alone, but I digress. I get my actual laptop shortly after to find within seconds the problem I had addressed was not fixed at all. Frustrated, I left it with him again. This first visit cost me close to $100 if I remember correctly for what was essentially the internals being cleaned. Fast forward another week, I come back to pick up the device once again. This time, he had swapped the battery which seemed to solve the issue. I was satisfied for the time being, but mainly just ready to be done with these awkward visits. I paid I believe a little over or close to $200 at this return visit. Upon taking it home, I found that now the opposite problem was happening with the computer where I'd plug in the device and it'd shut down randomly. At that point, I just gave up on taking it back to Steve. The reason I even write this review now is because I took it back to Apple recently and they found that the battery he had used was actually completely faulty and that I'd paid over $300 for nothing. What was even more baffling is that going through Apple was actually significantly cheaper, with them charging only $99 for the replacement. I really should have just left it with them in the first place, but I was under the gun at the time with schoolwork and needed the repair done quickly. Others may have had more positive experiences with the store in the past, sure, but with the customer rants, pot smoking accusation, and nearly or above $300 in repairs for the machine to still be faulty, I advise others to...

I took my daughter's Macbook pro to the Mac Doctor because it wouldn't boot except in safe and recovery mode. Three days later, Steve called and said the problem was fixed. He showed me that the computer was on and I took it home. My daughter tried to use it and found that various pieces of apple software would no longer work (messages, itunes, etc.). I called Steve, he apologized and said to bring it back in. Again, three days later he called and said it was a permissions or code problem and that everything was working now. I picked it up and took it home. My daughter shut it down that night and the next morning, it wouldn't boot again. Took it back again. This time Steve said a memory chip was corrupt. He replaced it and the computer was working. A couple of months later, the original problem occurred again. So hundreds of dollars and multiple trips to the Mac Doctor and I still have the original underlying problem. Steve is a very nice man, and I believe he really cares about his customers. I also believe he's very knowledgeable about Macs. However, he could not correctly diagnose and fix the issue with my daughter's computer. I just couldn't justify spending more money at the Mac Doctor store to continue having the same problem. I took it to the Apple genius bar. They couldn't find the root cause in the store (said they'd need to send it out for a fee), but they got it working again in the store and it didn't cost me anything but an hour of my time. I expect that the same booting problem will occur again in the near future, but at least it didn't cost me over a hundred dollars to get it...

Had my battery & Macbook feet replaced here and the owner was very friendly and did a great job, and for a great price! Happy customer.

March 2021 Update:

A year after the new feet were installed, two of the them feel back off but I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and have them re-done again along with my newly-faulty speakers. After this new repair was done, I collected my MacBook passed the agreed upon deadline and as soon as I tried to start it, it wouldn’t boot up. I then took it back again, waited a few days and then picked it back up. I then tested the speakers and found that the sound quality was very poor and one speaker was significantly louder than the other. I let it slide because since it was not a work laptop the sound was not such a huge deal. However, the speakers got exponentially worse over the next few weeks and began to sound just as bad as they did when I took them for repair the first time. I called the office and explained the issue on voicemail, no response. This was 2 weeks ago. This morning, half of my keyboard has suddenly stopped working.

Steve makes a good impression, has low prices and is very friendly but he does not do a good job. If you want a quality job done, it would be better for you to spend a more and get it by Apple or elsewhere. You truly get what...