My brother, the computer geek scientist (love you bro!), has an affinity with this store. Not I…read more No, that's a downright lie. I love it too. Perhaps I'm a little bit more tech-savvy than your average female arts student (oh, I really need to get out of the habit of saying that I'm a student, seeing as I graduated two years ago). EDIT: Perhaps I'm a little bit more tech-savvy than your average yelper, but I find that conversations about computers with the staff in Maplins are extremely interesting, easy and informative. Unlike store such as Comet, PC World and Currys, these guys know what they're on about, aren't desperately trying to sell you warranties and software, and explain things in a very clear and professional manner. Having had a problem with my laptop I went in to ask for advice and they spent 30 minutes helping me with no cost, and in the end I didn't have to buy anything to sort out the problem, yet all the while I felt like a valued customer. Well done Maplins. Excellent service.

I want to sing songs about Maplins. I want to dance and shake it to the songs I sing about Maplins…read more I want to write sonnets about the place. Craft solid marble statues in its honour and then shoot any pigeon that dares lay a feather on its resplendent beauty. Maplins should be where every good tech nerd goes to die, wrapped in bandages made from wires cut to different, but equally necessary lengths. Their headstones should be made from melted and re-formed solder and their epitaphs should be nothing more than the voltage that finally took their lives and carried them to geek-Valhalla. And if Maplins is such a religious experience, this store is the Mecca. A massive store filled with all the seemingly arbitrary-but-actually-completely-necessary bits and bobs that keep the turbines spinning and keeps the voltage flowing. The staff are eternally helpful, to old pros and beginners alike and the prices are exceptionally reasonable given the monopoly Maplins seems to hold on this market.

Much like if you need something for your PC you immediately think 'PC World' GAME is the same and…read moretheir marketers will be pleased. It's this knowledge though that I find GAME excessive in their prices. Owning most of the Gaming monopoly does not bode well for us then. Exchange prices are not great if you are bringing anything in, the RRP are as high as they think they can cheekily get away with. It's not the staffs fault, but more the aggressive sales style that the company are looking for. It makes for an uncomfortable shopping experience as you feel they are forcing inane questions at you in order to make you buy something. Even once you've bought a game they are still asking if you'd like to spend more on controllers etc with lines like "The game is a multiplier game and an extra controller would enhance the gameplay, would you like one' Not word for word, but along those lines. I find it patronising and geared towards people who are not as savvy gaming wise. However the staff are always friendly whenever I've been in there and the bright, spacious shop makes for far easier navigation for the products you need. It's a shame, but I'm always put off with their prices that I generally just go there to browse now.

I find game to be a pleasure to shop at, it is well laid out and easy to get around and extremely…read morewell stocked with the latest titles and a small range of used games. Its staff friendly, and very well informed about new products. Full disclosure, I run my own game shop near by focusing on the older games.

Level 1 of the students union is home to the IT Shop (or the Siop TG for the Welsh-speaking amongst…read moreus). They offer an IT Clinic, to which you take your computer and they will hopefully fix it right then. If they can't, they'll take it from you and sort out the problem. They also sell a range of electronic equipment and accesories, such as earphones and webcams. There is also a fair amount of stationery. I went in looking for earphones and found the service to be adequate, though I did feel a little as though I was intruding on a private conversation. The prices aren't great but it's a fair service for students. All in all, it's just average but, if you've got a problem with your laptop, it's the closest place to Cathays to go for help.

The IT shop is situated on the first floor of Cardiff student union. This shop can even be found to…read morebe open outside of term times, making it very handy whether you need some supplies or you need your laptop repaired. They stock a vast supply of everything you could possibly need to function as a student. They sell stationary, technical items for computers and even laptops, with prices not being too extortionate. There is also a photocopier that you can pay to use. Repair prices aren't too heavy either, when I went to take my laptop in, they quoted a price of £15 to have a look at my laptop to see why my left mouse key wasn't working. The guys that work here are very friendly and there to help as many of them are fellow students. This store is a great asset to students and beneficial for anyone looking to get a good price on their IT needs.

Accessory World shares the same retail outlet space as Student Services, in a prime location where…read moreAlbany Road meets City Road. Occupying a corner unit provides them with two large shop windows, which face the traffic from different directions. This is particularly advantageous at this point, as the traffic lights that serve the junction are always immensely busy, thus providing Accessory World with unmatched visibility. There are a couple of other mobile phone services shops in the immediate area that offer very similar facilities and supply a commensurate range of accessories, but none enjoy the same level as exposure that Accessory World has managed to glean for itself. One of the mobile shops is actually just across the road, but the Adam and Eve Hair and Beauty Salon has managed to claim the corner unit at this side of the street, and so the mobile shop only looks out onto Albany Road. Accessory World offer a full suite of services including; mobile unlocking, mobile accessories for all makes of phone, mobile phone, iPod, PC and laptop repair. They also carry some accessories for laptops and PC's.

COMPLETE SCAM ARTIST. Sean said replacement screen was £50, Which I Paid. However When collecting…read morehe said it cost £90 due to him needing to replace something inside which he made up ( I later checked online) He held my phone hostage and forced me to pay extra £40, because "the work was already done" Furthermore, he said it was original apple screen. IT IS NOT It is a fake, I know this because it broke within days and i took it to apple who confirmed. DONT USE SEAN HE IS A LIAR AND SCAM ARTIST. ps you can even notice the fake reviews below

sfx Tech takes me back to a past incarnation of mine. When I first set out into the world I…read moreinadvertently ended up in the computer industry... mainframes to be precise. After moving around a little I finally settled comfortably in the second user market. It suited my desire to live sustainably, (I used to obsess about the damage we were doing to the planet way before I was obliged to, i.e. before they even recycled our rubbish, let alone considered penalising us for putting recyclable waste in our landfill refuse). I really like these little shop based second user companies that cater to the domestic market that are springing up around the place. I guess that it's the more stringent rulings governing the disposal of commercial technical waste that is forcing companies to find more responsible means of disposing of their obsolete technology, some of which may be only a year old. This is where sfx Tech comes into it's own. They can turn this stock around, selling it on as is or applying a little technical wizardry they can adapt it for the home user market. Great. It means affordable computing for all and a green plant. Of course, they can also repair an existing system, if you have one already, and there's no need to upgrade to a faster or bigger model. The also retail new kit which is likely to be predominantly bankrupt stock, as well as consumables like cartridges etc.

Sfx tech cardiff are the most rude and arogent people you could possibly come across !!…read moreWe came across them a couple of weeks ago online whilst searching for a new computer and we noiticed that they buy computers so today we decided we wanted rid of our hp pavillion ready for our new computer we explained on the phone that we wanted to keep the hardrives from the pc so the lad said that was fine after about 15mins going through the specs he said he would defo be interested so bring it up he also said he'd give us £40-50 for it. so we spent £5 on a taxi to take us there to sell it well we explained thaf it wasnt workin we was selling for spare parts after the jumped up lad told us he didnt want it as it was no good to him he offered us £20 after us being told £40 POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AVOID AVOID AVOID !!!!

If I'm buying something from you, don't call me 'buddy'…read more You might think it's friendly, but you don't know me. In other circumstances, this would be appropriate, but it's not in a selling environment. Read the room first. I bought an iPad for my 90 yr old mum. I needed some checks made & went to the shop for advice. Your salesperson wasn't listening to my issue & towed the company line, explaining why I was in the wrong. I wasn't in the store to complain, I was there for help. Your salesperson was surprised that my 90-year-old mother didn't have an email address (???) Your salesperson was explaining that I was at fault for not understanding Apple's design concept. I became frustrated & your sales assistant told me 'Stop being angry'! So I walked out a furious customer & I will actively not by Apple products or services again. I rang the store number to speak to the manager, but rather that a human I didn't have any choice but to speak to an AI idot-bot. I've repeated myself multiple times to your AI bot. Your AI bot switched my call to a number that rang for three mins and dropped the call. You were very happy to take my money. But when there's an issue everyone disappears. I had Apple TV, which I have now cancelled because of this. Try finding somewhere on the Apple website where you can make a complaint. I couldn't find one.

I called in the Apple Store today while in Cardiff, having made an appointment as for some reason,…read moreI had a charging issue with my Iphone cable, despite it looking in near immaculate condition. As with any Apple Store, it is quite a nice, large store with. decent range of products and of course the staff do seem quite nice and helpful The 'genius' who served me seemed quite nice and helpful, and even had lots of high end gear, which you would expect to find in a doctors surgery to try and help with my issue. He also seemed nice and borrowed me a plug, which I had left in my hotel room so he could see the problem, which my wire just wouldn't charge at all. He got everything done quite quick, and he replaced it with a new cable, however he used the 2M cable as the cable I had previously was out of stock, this was more expesive anyway and should have cost £20.38 but was replaced for free with my AppleCare warranty. The 2M cable was better for me anyway, and felt like an upgrade. One of the reasons I continue to buy Apple phones, are not just because of them being great phones, but also because of the after-care support in their stores, which is something this store is a good example of.

I really love the look of A & G Mobile Communications. It's got the appearance of a 1950's American…read morestore come diner about it, which is somehow completely wrong for the kind of shop that it is, but somehow completely right at the same time... how messed up is that?!?! The shop window shows a profusion of products, one of which can be seen replicated all the way down City Road. It's an LED sign that reads Pizza, but I'm sure can be altered to say Kebab at the drop of a hat! The Pizza sign makes me smile, and I wonder if anybody has mistakenly entered their shop to buy a take out, and come out with their mobile phone unlocked instead? This shop is deceptively large, despite the smallish shop front, and is rammed to the rafters with gadgetry of all type and description. These guys can do anything! There's a few guys working here, but I only know the names of AIi and Gupta. Collectively I think that they could fix any dysfunctioning phone, no matter the make. But the only thing I'm really interested in these days is how much they would charge to fix the screen on a 3GS iPhone. They reckon that they can do it for £50, even if the LCD screen is leaking. I'm inclined to believe them, although I do wonder if they would be using Apple approved components...? (I recently paid £80 to get my 3GS fixed, and that was with a second user screen. I shopped around for over a month, and this is the cheapest price I could find by some margin... in the meantime, my phone was held together with cling film. That's class for you eh?).

The costumer service was not only very bad, they are rude individuals... They ripped me off! I…read morepayed for a iPhone 6 to be fixed and they charged me for something called a memory ic, which was £50 i waited two days to get it back, I was in a rush as I parked outside as it's very badly placed to park near this shop...I took the phone, it work for just one day, THEN stoped working completely. Then I took it back, they charged me again £45 pounds, said there was something else wronged and I had to pay again upfront. I've been calling them for up to Two weeks and they Now say the part hasn't come from China, then I went back to the shop to see what was happening as the guy I spoke with was not clear on the phone, and they said they couldn't find it. Now there saying I picked it up, or I didnt ever take it there... All my info was on there and the phone was worth at least £200 so I lost all together £295 to these people. BE WARNED DO NOT TAKE YOUR Phone to these guys.... It's not only the most expensive shop on City Road, that's why I thought it was the best but these people are liars and they Stole my phone.