WARNING: SPEEDY PCS USE PIRATED SOFTWARE
I went to Speedy PCs at the University of Strathclyde's Students' Union with my laptop which had a fault: the screen kept flickering on and off. I had already paid someone to diagnose the fault from a Laptop call-out business in the West End (£20), but had decided against using his service because he quoted me a high price, diagnosing the problem as a 'loose screen connection'. At Speedy PCs, I was told that the problem was in fact not a loose screen connection, but that my motherboard needed replacing. They quoted me £60 to repair my machine. When I collected it from them after they had repaired it everything seemed to be working fine, but lately I haven't been able to shut Windows down. I was working in Glasgow University library today, and the internet connection was slow, so I took my machine to be checked by IT services on Level 3. The IT technicians were really helpful. They said I had dodgy antiviral software (Macafee) installed and so changed it for Microsoft Security Essentials. I mentioned I had used Speedy PCs recently to get my machine repaired and that the motherboard had had to be replaced, but they told me that motherboard replacements cost a lot more than £60, more like £150. They told me they have had a number of jobs from Glasgow Uni students who have been ripped off by Speedy PCs. In my case, it transpired that what the guys at Speedy PCs had done was to install a pirated version of Windows 7 on my machine and pass the job off to me the naive customer, thinking she was getting a good deal as a motherboard replacement. So I strongly recommend you DO NOT use Speedy PCs if you have a laptop or PC fault. Use Priceless Computing instead; I am told by the technicians at Glasgow Uni Library IT services that they have integrity. Now I have to source the Windows 7 software from somewhere thanks to Speedy PC's atrocious and clandestine service. read more