I have been working with Macs for years. When my MacBook Pro had problems, I contacted Apple and found out there was a licensed affiliate who could take a look and figure out what was going on since I still have AppleCare.
This establishment was the closest to me, and came recommended, so I decided to give them a whirl.
When I arrived, I was surprised by the 'superstore/showroom' feel of their business layout, and a little shocked that they have both a concierge desk and then a separate receptionist for their computer techs. I told them I was there to see a tech named John, and watched the girl put a lot of unnecessary masking tape all over my external hard drive and my laptop adaptor, which doesn't even need tape in the first place.
When John finally deigned to have me go back to his cube or whatever it is, a blast of bad alternative rock hit me in the face, and he got to work, poking around and not acknowledging I even existed.
This went on for a good 30 minutes until he woke up from his coma and realized I was sitting right there with no clue what was going on.
I left that day under the impression he had to order some hardware and that it would be finished in a couple days. That came and went with no communication, and then he called to tell me that the hard drive was messed up. After some consulting with a friend, I opted to go pick up my computer, yet when I called him, he acted like I was making something out of nothing and it would be just fine. I was stupid enough to say all right see what you can do, and left it with him under the impression he might be able to get some pictures back for me. He couldn't do anything, so I decided I would rather just keep my original hard drive and try to get something out of it in the future with my hard drive. Simple enough right?
After he wasn't able to get it to work, he encouraged me to lie to AppleCare and tell the people there a friend of mine was able to get their hard drive back, so I would get mine, because apparently he is too lazy, as I found out, to follow the proper protocol for me to retain the original drive in hopes I can get some things back later. I'm thankful that he's lazy, since he apparently ran only 2 programs. He told me it was $115 an hour, which is an ungodly amount, even for technical specialty work. Hell, I have a master's degree in photography and it would have to be insanely specialized work for me to feel like gouging someone for that much money. Come on, folks.
Fast forward to a week or so later, I hadn't heard much and finally called Apple again to see what was going on. I let then know that I hadn't gotten my computer yet, and they contacted him to iron out some idiotic details, like telling him to just replace my hard drive there instead of shipping it off for repairs. He complied and called me very late Thursday afternoon telling me I could pick it up, but he wouldn't be there Friday because he's on vacation.
My dad picked my computer up, as I was scheduled to work maybe 40 minutes from the time he called, and when I was finally able to get into it, I found he left his own personal login info taking up admin space, and I can't do anything but hem and haw about trying to use my $2500 17 inch brick that has worked flawlessly since I purchased it in 2011.
Long story short, don't go here. Don't waste your money on their products, whether it's for cameras or a monitor, or even a photo print.
Go anywhere, Best Buy, Computer World in Appleton, bob's generic computer store in some guy's basement who isn't even named Bob, just do not go here. You could even drive all the way to the Apple store in Milwaukee and it would be worth your time, these people have no clue what they're doing, and obviously are more interested in money than quality work. read more