Northwest Computer & TV service

Reviews 3

ER

Eric Merrill

Horrible customer service. Brought in a desktop that would not post. Told me over the phone they cleared the CMOS and that had fixed the problem. with the laptop they said the keyboard was unplugged, the memory wasnt seated and the hard drive was bad. when I got to the store, they said the BIOS needed reflashing. Didnt understand what that involved but figured it didnt matter since they said it WORKED. I had said on the phone that I just wanted the diagnostic which came to over $90 for both computers. When I got home, the computer did not start. Upset was I, since I know that once you clear the CMOS it should have worked. So I figured it must be the BIOS chip. But since that is so rarely the problem, I figured Id call and ask as well as to express my concerns to Richard. He explained that it was the CMOS. I asked why it didnt work. Did they leave the jumper in the wrong position? sure enough they did . To which I replied that it is not right to return my computer in a condition it wasnt in just to make sure it still didnt work. That is just Wrong! They should have called me and told me that they would try that and charge me for it before hand rather than putting the computer in an unnatural condition. As for the laptop, well, it had a bad hard drive. They started the process to backup the data, which actually involved fixing the boot record to get back into windows. Of course they would have charged for this had I actually wanted the recovery. They were being proactive just in case since it required minimal effort on their part. I told them on the phone it wasnt necessary since there was no data there I need (have it all backed up). However, when I called he said I should be happy that they fixed the laptop. and quote, "Next time Ill just make sure they break your [insert expletive of choice here] hard drive with a hammer." Im aware he was not serious (I hope) but regardless, its not a professional way to talk to a customer, even one calling to complain. Anyways, Unless you like poor customer service, go somewhere else. RE: reply Wow. I actually opened a BBB case against Northwest Computers 3 years ago. As part of the resolution, the owner was required to remove his lying reply and let me state my experience. I see he has put on another reply, even if no where NEAR as colorful as last time. Positive review can be faked just as easy as negative ones. And granted, you walk into a computer repair store and most of the time they will just fix your damn computer. Do that here and you may be among those real 5 star reviewers yourself. But if you have any issue, dont expect them to deal with you in a pleasant way. And dont be surprised if they find some other way to inflate your bill.

SC

Scott Miller

Took a chance on NW Computer Svcs in spite of the handful of negative reviews I read here. Not sure they all came from one person, but they did all come from a single MINDSET, which is the type of person who tends to point the finger everywhere but at themselves for everything not perfect. Such negative persons are easily identifiable from all the profanity they so carelessly toss around, and I find it difficult to give much respect to the accusations of such rabid points of view. Now, onto MY review: Brought my gaming PC into NW Computers following a hard drive crash when my computer failed to boot up one morning. Elliot, the front desk clerk, was as polite and friendly as could be, and NW was able to perform a successful data recovery at a very fair price within just a few days time. I did not require rush service, and was fine having it take a bit longer since I could use my wifes laptop to check email, etc. It turned out the drive was fine, but Windows somehow became corrupted (I believe due to a failed update) and the BIOS could no longer see the partitions. The recovery would have gone quicker, but I had to wait for Microsoft to ship me an XP Pro disk so I could have NW reinstall the OS. Since they did such a great job on the recovery, I purchased 2 new drives from NW and had them set it up as a RAID-1 to protect against future such issues. I also then let them take a look at a G-Tech RAID drive I had that was failing to mount. Jake the tech called me at home to report his diagnosis that one of the 2 drives in the RAID had a blown main chip on its controller card, causing the drive to fail to spin up. As NW does not have a clean room for these sorts of recoveries, they referred me to DriveSavers instead. However, I purchased a 2 TB external drive online and brought it in to have them back up all my Mac computers drives onto, which their Mac tech did for me in a timely manner. The total cost of all this work was surprisingly low, and I found the entire staff of NW computers to be both friendly, polite, and at all times professional. I am now working with DriveSavers for data recovery from my failed G-Tech drive, and as it turns out, Jake was absolutely correct in his diagnosis. DriveSavers replaced the failed drives controller card, and was able to get an image of the entire RAID, and then perform a 100% recovery of my valuable video files. Thanks much to Rich, Jake, Rick, and Elliot for getting me through all this with minimal stress and cost! Scott in Port Orchard, WA

J

J MM

This was my first time there and I will never go back, they seem dishonest. Brought in a laptop with a small mechanical problem (DC jack), and took a laptop home that was severly damaged. I can not recommend this place. The laptop had a small mechanical power problem, nothing wrong with the computer at all. Then they tried to get my password which was not needed for this type of repair. When I asked why, I was told that the hard drive was bad, that windows is not working, and that it has a number of other problems and they need to see whats wrong. I did not give the password and said my friend will look at these problems if needed. This friend, a computer tech, had exchanged the hard drive only 2 month earlier. Everything worked perfectly up to the day I brought it to Northwest Computers. Now the keyboard is damaged, keys are stuck or type erratically, windows doesnt open, the password field is pre-populated with nonsense and cant be erased. Apparently they tried/or did break into my data as well. Even now nothing is wrong with the hard drive. Dont go there! They seem to have their relatives and friends writing reviews. The few reviews from real customers are very negative as is mine. Update: the blank DOS screen I received instead of windows and the pre-populated password field disappeared after 2 log-ins. It was rather simple to get around the DOS screen. It was a scam to get me to reveal my password and to authorize repairs that are not needed. But now I am getting threatening phone calls from his friends, probably the result of this negative, but truthful review. Really, dont go there. Last update: my computer tech friend confirmed what I saw myself when I took the laptop home, but could not believe. The key board is dented, several keys were hanging in different angles and are now hard to use. It looks as if someone hit with a fist onto the keyboard. The metall plate beneath the keyboard is dented as well. Someone damaged intentionally the keyboard, after I declined further repairs....?? Still getting juvenile threatening phone calls. What a place this is....