After reading other reviews, I took my laptop to ITM Computer. It did not start properly.
Being in the web development industry and having several computers, it's always good idea to find a reliable hardware repair company. That was my thought when I first approached ITM.
Letizia, the person who answer the phone calls, told me to take the laptop to the ITM office. Once there, she made me fill out a form in the lobby of the office building explaining the problem and with my contact data. As I always do, I asked to be called with an estimate before they do anything.
A few hours later, a technician named Mark called to ask for the laptop's main password. I had already written down this data in the form (since they ask me to do so), but I gave the password to him again.
Some time after that, Letizia called to say that the laptop was ready to pick up. It will be $100. I didn't like not have been called before with an estimate.
This time I entered in the office, a little one-room space in one of these multi-offices' buildings. In the tiny space there were the two desks of Letizia and Clyde, the owner. Mark, the technician who called, was not there.
I asked Clyde politely to explain me the causes of the problem and how had they fixed it. He says that they had run the CheckDisk feature of Windows to fix some damaged sectors of the hard disk.
Being familiar with this feature since the MS-DOS times, this solution seemed a little weird to me. But the fact was that the computer seemed to work properly. So, 100 dollars for having a CheckDisk done (for anyone not familiar with it, it is a feature of Windows that takes 2 seconds to set it in your computer). They say it took one hour of labor.
Clyde tells me that, apart from this issue, the computer looks fine and it will probably be o.k. for a long time.
Well, one week later my laptop crashes again. Same problem: it does not start.
I've called ITM. I explain the situation to Letizia. She tells me that she has another client on hold and that the technician will call me back.
A few minutes later, Mark calls. I explain the situation again: I paid $100 and my computer is not fixed. He "guesses" that maybe the problem is the hard drive, and that he will charge me 50-80 dollars for a replacement and nothing for the labor. If it is not the hardware, he thinks I would better buy a new computer (this one is a two-years-old HP Pavilion).
I politely tell him that I am very disappointed with ITM. I don't think their behavior have been professional and ethical with me. They made a wrong diagnostic, didn't give me an estimate, did not fix the problem and do not response properly when I complain.
Mark tells me that "he is just a technician", that he will speak with Clyde about it and that Clyde will call me.
Since then, I've had no news from Clyde. Being an entrepreneur myself, I would had been happy to write a good review for ITM and help a small company grow. Unfortunately their behavior has not been correct and I cannot recommend ITM to my fellow yelpers.
UPDATE. One day later, I update the previous rating from 1 star to 4 stars due to the fast and ethical response I got from Clyde.
A few hours after speaking to Mark, Clyde called and invited me to have a free diagnostic. I went back to his office and meet with him and Richard, other technician.
After one hour trying, Richard was unable to determine the cause and the solution of my laptop's problem. At that point, Clyde offered me to have my money back since the problem was not fixed.
I appreciate very much the interest and attention Clyde has showed in order to solve my complaint. As I told him, there is no shame in recognize that sometimes one just don't have the solution. On the contrary, it shows professionalism and respect for your client. On top of that, it maintains your reputation intact so the client will be sure that you are a trustworthy professional. read more
