Alter is my go to business fo everything in the electric world From computer science to tools and parts

Help in the Time of Crisis! On a recent business trip I had the horrible experience of having my external hard drive becoming unreadable/corrupted! Not knowing any better, I made an appointment with the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy, who qouted me $500-$2000 for an "advanced repair ATTEMPT"?!?!!? Distraught, I came to Altex and was quickly greeted by Matt and the store manager Jacob Wiese. Explaining my problem, they offered to attempt repair for a nominal charge- how reassuring! Jacob broke down the concepts of disc drives and solid state drives into terms I could understand [thank you!] - so I immediately purchased a new portable solid state drive. I left my "broken" hard drive with them- feeling much more confident in their skills. Within 2 days they called to inform me they were able to access the data and transfer it to the new SSD! While I am impressed with their technical expertise, I am MORE grateful for their kind, patient, customer-friendly demeanor- helping those of us who are novices and helplessly lost. My job as a professional nurse has been to help explain medical terms/procedures to patients who are confused and anxious. What a wonderful experience to meet computer professionals who are willing to help do the same thing when an anxious customer comes in. I have definitely found my place for "all things compute" in San Antonio. Thank you all so much for sharing your expertise and your kindness Respectfully, Dr. Laurie Singel Schertz, TX read more

I needed a replacement part, and Chris, the store manager saw that I was unsure of what to get. He not only assisted me in the store, but tracked down the discontinued item I needed from another location. Thanks Altex for having skilled personnel, and people who really care. The human factor is as important as the technical and Chris represents Altex well. I'm so glad he is on your team - he made my experience productive and memorable. People like him really do make a difference! read more

To Whom This May Concern (and I hope it concerns somebody at Altex!) As stated I am (was) a 20 year (+ or -) customer of the Altex located @ IH-35 in San Antonio TX. I am a 60 year old business owner, part-time professional musician and an avid shade tree computer enthusiast / gamer. My guitar cord comes from Altex. I rewire my guitars, and those of my band mates and friend's who have seen my work and want theirs done the same way. I fix assorted items with materials I buy from there: soldering irons, connectors, wire. shielding, shrink wrap, replacing factory rechargeable batteries for better one's etc. More to the point, as gaming has developed I have been in the fold learning how to upgrade my computers and again my wife's and friends as well. Not too long ago I purchased my last store bought computer as it was not upgrade friendly to the degree oh which I had intended when buying it. So I took my CPU out (i7-8700) and built my first PC around it. After sampling other products from"your" shelves and learning and deciding what I like, want and need I was ready to complete my build as of last night Jan. 25, 2022. I was there the previous day getting some RAM when I was told and shown you guys "finally" had a RTX 3060 available for the price of $499 which is what it is supposed to be as they priced them a little lower on purpose to make their product, the 30 series specifically, more accessible to more people. Now, I could buy any ten of them and hang them on my wall if I feel so inclined without batting an eye! I'm not rich, but I am no slacker either. I bought one stick of RAM with the intentions of going in the next day, picking up the other one and hoping that GPU was still available. Now here we go! The RAM was available and I purchased it. That's $220.00 right there in a 24 hour period. I was told that the card had been sold to another store so it was no longer available; but, they had another one going from a 2 fan to a 3 fan for the higher price of $649.00. I said that would be fine I'll take it. This is when I was notified that it had to be bundled with something else. I was told that the previous day but I thought surely for a devout customer something like this could be overcome as I have been waiting through all the price gouging due to the chip shortage, pandemic, miners and then once more through the last holiday season. I was told I needed a MB and some RAM or a MB and CPU or something like this combination before I could buy the card. Not only do I not need a new a new MB, but everything in my PC case is new and from there as well. I just bought $220 worth of RAM. I have bought 8 GPU's from there over the years paying double for a GTX 1660 Ti at $562 when it should have been less than $300; and, I made the purchase knowing it was just to hold me over until the craziness of the market had finally settled down. So they told me they could sell it to me whereas my spending in 2 days would have been $900. Are you seriously kidding me or what. If any of my employees had let that money walk out the door for any reason I would have fired them on the spot. They said they didn't have any control over the situation that it was a manufacturers deal. But there didn't seem to be any problem with everything else I have bought there. To me this is the difference between an employee and a manger and a business owner. There is nothing stipulated on your website. No signs or hand printed notes stating this on the shelves behind the register. Everybody in there knows me and knows I have been biding my time waiting for one. I'm pretty sure the employee who told me he was able to get one, at $499, probably didn't have to bundle to get his. So are the employees authorized to make up whimsical policies at random? Are they not allowed to make exceptions for "known" good customers? Do you guys care if they allow $800 to just walk out the door on a sale they didn't even have to work for as it sold itself? So I figured I guess they don't give a damn whether I do business there or not. At this point I'm done; but, if I would have known I would have got one some place else a long time ago. Which is where I'm at with it right now. You are a business. Your hands are never tied by anything when it comes to keeping a cash flow. You statement on the website says your customers are important to you blah blah blah. Now, I don't know if you or your company give damn or not and I know my no longer doing business there won't shut your doors; but, just think of how happy they could have made this customer if they would have tried. No, we don't want your $800 is quite possibly one of the stupidest things I ever heard in my life. I wasn't impressed and I certainly wasn't made to feel like I was a valued customer. I hope this didn't take up too much of your time if you didn't care in the first place, but I thank yoi for it anyway...just the way a good business man of any conscience would. Thank you and have a great day! John read more

Wonderful place! I arrived minutes before closing time looking for a Bluetooth gizmo. An available salesman greeted me and quickly helped me locate my gizmo and attachments in 2 minutes. Their great tech helped connect my cell phone to my car stereo - Thank you so much! I am so impressed with this well stocked electronics store, prices are reasonable and staff is very helpful. Altex should be on top of your go-to list. read more

While trying to install a video card in my Dell computer I accidentally broke a wire that went to the built in wireless card. I first took it to Geek Squad and after waiting for about 20 minutes they told me that the wire probably just went to the light for the power button lol. They said they can ship it to their service center and have it back in 2-3 weeks. I said no thanks. So I take the computer to Altex and Jacob, a knowledgeable technician, helps me as soon as I walk in the door. He opened the pc up, asked me to hold on a sec while he took it to the back and then returned in about 2 minutes with it fixed. He didn't even charge me to fix it. You can't get better service than that. I'm done with Geek Squad. From now on I'm going to Altex first for anything computer related. And to Jacob if you ever read this review, thanks again for being so prompt and professional. I really appreciate it. read more

ITS A GEEK TOY STORE!!! Or maybe a nerdy hardware store. This is the go to store, with mostly go to people working there I couldn't find a 3.5mm to RCA stereo Y adapter on the internet for less than $17 delivered. Altex had it for $2 and change. Now I can hook up my Klipsch 2.1 to my tv and act like I could afford to buy a home theater for less than $150. Or maybe you're a "tech-prepper" looking for a reliable SSHD This is the place, with good advise on which one is right for you. Just two gripes, I never take the right exit to get there. And They may not have ever soldered a circuit board (I couldn't find anyone who soldered), but they sell the WSD 81by Weller (I will own one someday, oh yes I will!) read more

This is my roommate's go-to place for computer parts, cords, etc. I ran in there with him once 10 minutes before they closed and we were able to quickly find the cord needed to make my work from home setup function. I didn't have much interaction with the employees there, but they seemed friendly during my brief interaction during checkout. Unfortunately they're closed on Sundays but their hours are still broad enough to allow time for you to get there and get what you need. read more

9 days after my web order, multiple inquiries, and no one has a clue what's going on what my order. F---- Not recommended read more

This is the only bad review of a company I've ever written. I also worked retail for years and I get unexpected things happen, so I never want to jump to leaving something like this. The only reason I'm leaving such a negative review is because when I walked up to the door of this particular store today (wearing a mask), the first two employees I saw inside the store weren't wearing masks at all. One of the things I've loved about moving here to San Antonio (I'm originally from Alabama) is seeing everyone wearing masks wherever I go. Not because it's mandated by some order, which if I'm not wrong has been lifted, but because people here strike me as individually responsible and community oriented. I also want to play my part and be responsible towards folks working with the general public, for both them and their families. Seems to me like a small and easy thing to do. And personally, especially for local businesses, I'm big on giving customer loyalty. If I like the people working there and they do right by me, even if they make mistakes, they've got my business for the long term. That's all it takes. And I'm a young guy, I'm not worried about myself, but if I can do something small out of consideration for both a business and the people who work there yet there's no effort by the company to do the same back, I'll just go up the street. I'm not a fanatic about it, but if a business doesn't care to take even the tiniest of steps to do right by their customers, why should I care either? If I'm wrong-- if by some chance the store-front employees both took off their masks when I walked up then kept them off a bit while I debated going in-- then I'll absolutely take this down. Otherwise, honestly, I'd strongly suggest spending your money elsewhere. This is a great city with a lot of businesses I've personally found incredibly helpful. I'd go to those instead. read more

Love that everybody was wearing their masks and that everybody was friendly and very helpful. It is also helpful that Altex has everything you need for the electronics job you need to do. My kudos to all at Altex. read more

First thing's first - for the record, Altex's store hours are: Monday - Friday: 8am - 7pm Saturday: 9am - 5pm Sunday: Closed My experience was Altex was mostly positive. I wish they would do more to highlight their location as I ended up taking the Babcock exit and there's nothing worse than seeing the business you need to go to as you drive by and notice there's no way to get over. It also does not help that the street in the "College Park" neighborhood next door is not labeled because I tried to just go thru UTSA Blvd and find it in reverse but I had no idea what street I was looking for and the GPS ended up making me go back to 1604 and exit Hausman, taking the turn-around. For all those in the same situation, the street is "North Hills Village Dr" so that you can turn right and take a right at UTSA Blvd and loop around without having to go across the highway again. My purchase for today was for some CAT6 cables and 1/4 that I purchased was actually defective (-1 star) but nothings perfect and the service was great. My only criticism, service-wise is that the associates are extremely friendly and greet you when you enter, but when I was checking out the guy took his time to make his way over, continuing his conversation as he walked backwards to me. When the store is as dead as it was (less than 3 people in there total) the focus should be on pairing associates with customers because thats what makes revenue and associates being where the customers are. You can shoot off at the mouth all you want when you're finished taking care of the people that are paying your salary. read more

I've been pleased with them. I've had to use them twice. I was so impressed the first time with my tech, Andrew, that the second time (a year or so later, different laptop) I wanted to see if he were still there and could work on my machine. He was and did. So my endorsement is of him and his tech help. Two different laptops, two different problems, both successfully resolved. Andrew was helpful, smart and efficient, and I appreciated the service. It's very hard to trust your computer to "just anyone" -- and I felt like he earned and deserved the trust. Very capable and good results each time. Price depends on what you need, of course. read more

I love this store and everything they sell. There's no other store like it. They have everything you would need related to electronics in your home. Replacement power plugs, every kind of cable and wires, connectors for everything in the home, audio/video, replacement parts, tools, soldering supplies, everything for computers, etc. etc. etc. It's a dream store for smart kids and geeks too. You can spend hours there. I did today, and had more help than I could ask for. These guys made my shopping fun. read more

Great customer service at this location. A gentleman on Oct 6, 2018 helped me determined the viability of repairing an old HP laptop. He demonstrated great customer service helping me avoid investing in an old system. Thank you again for the help! read more

Great service, as someone who does not know a thing about laptops Adan was very patient with me and explained everything. Keep up the good work! read more

My husband and I visited this store because I haven't had a laptop for a few months and finally decided to get one. We were greeted right when we walked in and that same person helped me pick out what I should get. He was not pushy in a salesman kind of way, which we are used to. This sounds bad, but bear with me. He really didn't care one way or another if I bought anything that day BUT at the same time he was extremely helpful, answered my many questions, showed us the difference between a regular laptop and a tablet/laptop. And believe me, when I'm confused about tech stuff I have a zillion questions that would drive a person up a wall. But no. This guy was amazing. The very fact that he didn't "sales pitch me" and was patient made me confident in my purchase. I don't know why this place only has 3 stars but to me it's 5 stars all the way. This is the reason my husband chose to take me there instead of Wal-Mart (where they don't know anything) or Best Buy (where they a way over pushy). He's dealt with them on several occasions and loves it there. Now I love this store. I wish I remember the name of the guy who helped me to give him credit and I hope it's the type of place that gives him a commission because he earned it!! We'll be customers for life!! read more

I have to say that Altex came in clutch with their inhouse services. I needed a USB port soldered back in place and quick. Not only did they solder what I needed but also touched up the other solder connections on the board. And their price came in about 40% cheaper than other local places. My only criticism is that the staff comes off as kinda unfriendly, but we aren't friends so I guess that's on them. read more

Stopped in on a Saturday afternoon with the hubby who was building his own computer. He needed some parts and was hoping to find them at Altex. The staff was incredibly helpful and attentive and took their time to listen to what he needed and offer their recommendations. It was a little pricier than what you can find on Amazon but what isn't these days. We went ahead and bought the items here and were happy to support local. read more

I thought this place was very helpful in finding what I needed, the staff knew what they were doing and kept up with everything I asked and questioned, great place for PC parts read more

went to purchase three 12 volts...asked questions to gentleman and he seems irritated and has lack of desire to assist a customer. POOR Customer service. Gentleman at Cash register is in same way....Asked him what the policy for defect or bad batteries...said there is "no return or refund". What happen if take batteries home and didn't work. Said the can work out something. MUST BE THE STORE ENVIRONMENT!!!! read more

excellent source of computer hardware and networking cables, staff need more training

Last Wednesday I went to Altex (1604) and, although several sales consultants asked if they could help me, I made sure to ask for Robert G.'s assistance. Robert has assisted me in the past with fixing my two Dell desktop PCs. I was always so impressed with Robert's knowledge and professionalism, that I promised myself that when I needed to upgrade a PC I would try Altex, instead of the typical cookie-cutter PC. Robert provided me expert advice and a very good quote, which led me to order a custom Tria I7-6700 Desktop computer. The custom PC was ready a few hours later. Now having used the PC for several days, I am absolutely thrilled and impressed with my new Altex PC. I would never have ventured out from mainstream PCs and bought an Altex PC without Robert. Robert went above and beyond, providing me with outstanding customer service as he always does! read more

The employees in this location are uneducated when it comes to computers. I asked one of the guys who came up to me what the difference between a AMD and a Intel processor. He couldn't give me a straight answer. I asked him for a high end video card for my gaming pc. I tried to sell me a junk video card that cost 100 bukcs. I went to the location at 281 and within 10 minutes I was walking out with a case, motherboard, processor, ram and video card. I spent 1800 when I checked out. The location at 1604 the employees feed you false information. I asked for a motherboard that supports 64GB of RAM. He said and I quote "There is no such motherboard" When I showed him neweggs site with a motherboard that supports 64GB of ram he just walked away without saying a word. Very unprofessional. Never again will I go back to this location. They are a bunch of morons and try to belittle you. read more