When my personal computer's screen went black earlier this year, I naturally wanted to see if it could be repaired before investing in a new one. After reading the glowing reviews of The Computer Stop, it seemed clear to me that Ryan was the best person in town to take a device such as mine and receive the knowledge, guidance, and insight on how to proceed, regardless of whether or not a successful repair was made.
While Ryan's in-person customer service, passion, and enthusiasm matched the reviews I read, several of his basic business practices have quite frankly been disgraceful, hence the poor review. Listed below are some of my concerns:
1) He isn't present during his business's posted hours of operation. As of this writing, The Computer Stop is open 11:00am-7:00pm on weekdays. After recently driving through rush hour traffic after work and feeling grateful that I arrived at his front door at 6:30pm with 30 minutes to spare, I was confused to find the door locked and the lights off. It seems to me that he could either leave a note on the door, update his hours of operation, or develop some other system that would better inform clients of his whereabouts so they don't waste their time.
2) He isn't communicative. Despite carefully listing three different ways to reach him in his voicemail message (four, if you count text), my personal experience is that it takes several attempts to reach him through any means. It once took me five separate phone calls in order to receive a basic update on the status of my device after it had been in his possession for well over a month.
3) He doesn't follow-through. When it was clear that my device would be unable to be repaired, he promised me in writing that he would refund me the $80 I spent to purchase a part that at the time he deemed necessary to make a repair but that he instead ended up using "for another project". More than two weeks after promising to refund me "by tomorrow or the next day", he has yet to do so. This is despite a follow-up attempt on my end that, given how hard it is to get in touch with him, unsurprisingly went unanswered.
Given my experience, it seems that, in a city home to over 300,000 residents along with a growing technology footprint, you could find someone equally competent and passionate about computer repair services, with the added bonus of good business practices. I'll update if anything changes, but at this time I don't anticipate getting my $80 back. read more
