Answered questions over the phone with clear instructions. Very helpful and informative.

I am writing this only AFTER trying my best to solve the problem on my own and attempting to get a refund, only to have my number BLOCKED by The "PC Doctor". Possibly the worst customer service experience I've had in my life. This is likely a scam and hopefully my experience will dissuade other community members from wasting their time and money while having their equipment damaged in the process. I called for a simple hinge repair that in hindsight, I could have done myself but I was looking for a trained, steady hand that had done this many times before, because I cannot afford to replace extra parts for no reason. I discussed the issue in detail on the phone, talking about how the laptop can't close and after asking for a price, he said "I won't charge unless I fix it, but my rate is usually 100 an hour". First off, the address on Apple Maps where I found this place in Eureka, CA, is not the address he gave me over the phone which is sketchy by itself, but he sounded nice on the phone so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt (big mistake). When I arrive and bring my laptop inside, the very first thing he does is try to close it, snapping the screen off the hinges and damaging the LCD Screen/ Cable in the process. As I watch him do this in front of my own eyes, he does not apologize or admit his fault. At this point I'm in a strangers home who has just damaged my laptop and seems to have no remorse, so I'm extremely uncomfortable. Upon examining the damage, I noticed where the original hinge issue was and told him right away, "I found the issue, the screws on the back LCD cover are stripped and you won't be able to fix it now." He dismissed me, as though I was incompetent, and continued by saying "no I think if I just take this back cover off we can see something different". Since I knew I was being charged by the hour, I asked if he was sure, and he continued dismissing me all the while. Throughout the entire process, he showed no signs of attempting to protect my equipment. As seen as in the photo attached, there was no protective mat covering the hard surface he was working on, internal components of the laptop are hanging off the table by their cables, and there are silver scratches around the LCD screen from when he took a screw driver to pry off the front bezel. By now I'm just trying to find something to say to get me out of this uncomfortable situation and avoid confrontation, so I offer to pay him for the time he's spent so I can leave. When I get to my car I'm assessing the damage and attempt to turn the screen on. Nothing happens. I try again, still pitch black, so I call him out front of his house while I'm still there and talk to him about how the screen isn't working. He was once again dismissive and essentially claimed something just got unplugged and picks it up to start working on it while I'm in my car! It's raining outside, mind you, so he's got the window down letting the internal components of the laptop get exposed to the rain. He offered to take it back inside but by now as you can imagine, I would've done anything to just get away from this guy. I took it home, did some research by watching YouTube (How he does it by the way, he was watching YouTube the entire time which felt super unprofessional) and disconnected/ reconnected the LCD screen to no avail. Now none of this would really be an issue had he not taken payment for a job that was incomplete (against his original statement) or was apologetic for the mistakes he made. When I asked for a refund (not even for him to cover the damage he's done) due to his mistakes, he denied breaking it and proceeded to block me. As a member of the same small community, I refuse to hold grudges or treat people as though they can just be silenced because I know I will run into this person again sometime, and if they want to try and make it right, I would be more than happy to remove this post. Until then, please heed my warnings and steer clear of this place, take care! P.S. Unfortunately, this whole ordeal has caused me a great deal of stress so please excuse any typos or bad grammar throughout that lengthy post. Thanks! read more

The PC Doctor - Broken laptop as described, taken about 30 minutes into my experience with The "PC Doctor". - IT Services & Computer Repair Near Me - Eureka, California

I have an older computer that runs XP and Office 2003 Pro. The XP system and Office program are probably the best product Microsoft has ever offered, and, in my opinion, is still unmatched in the many reincarnations that have followed. It does everything I need it to do, and then some. From word processing to creating beautiful desktop publishing projects, to databases, to web surfing, this system has been a user friendly, easy to understand and infinitely customizable workhorse for the past 20+ years. And I believe it is noteworthy to mention here that in 20 years with XP (along with the help of Avast and Malwarebytes), I have had no data breaches! When my 8-year-old hard drive failed, I began calling some of the local store front computer repair services to replace it and reload my software and files. I felt I had a better chance of professional service if I used an established walk-in business, but apparently I was wrong. Each call I made seemed to elicit responses of alarm and outright hostility, which I found puzzling to say the least. I began to realize that for some strange reason my request to service an older system appeared to be striking terror in the hearts of these poor babies. I would venture to guess more than one of them had to visit the lav for a quick cleanup after they hung up the phone. The hallmark of customer service used to be: "the customer is always right," but apparently this is no longer the case. I have to wonder, first, why a repair service would care about the software I use, and second, why is it any of their business? All they need to be concerned with is completing the work requested by the customer. I am at a loss to understand what drives these self-ordained computer police, however, based on my experience, I'm going to guess they probably don't know how to work on older systems. I chose a repair service that turned out to be an absolute disaster. After providing detailed instructions for the work I wanted done, and an explanation of why I needed what I needed (which included some visual disability), they chose to totally disregard my needs and instead decided what they wanted to give me. I returned home in utter disbelief and despair, eventually turning to Craigslist where I found The PC Doctor. I made an appointment and Mason came to my home the next day. He first sat down at my new computer and quickly made adjustments to the less than ideal Win10 program so that I could at least see the screen. He then went to work on my old computer with the trustworthy XP operating system and Office Suite software, and got that one working. I now happily continue to do all my important work on my old computer with the tried and true XP system. Since the newer computer with the less than ideal Win10 program loads faster, and many websites no longer work with XP, I've decided to use that one only for web and email (although it is taking a toll on my eyesight). And I'd like to note here that data breaches with Win 10 now seem to be a fairly common occurrence. I have to say, watching Mason click and clack undaunted through programs, updates, and software at lightening speed was certainly impressive. I'm convinced this man knows everything there is to know about computers and software, both old and new, and he isn't afraid to work on any of them. Additionally, Mason understands, believes in, and provides old fashioned "customer service." I have no doubt that if The PC Doctor works on your computer, you're going to get the service you ask for, and not what he thinks you should have. I can say without reservation: thanks to The PC Doctor, I am an extremely happy customer! read more

This is my first Yelp review, but I really appreciate Mason's professionalism and expertise. He can fix pretty much any computer related problem, and has even helped me with my printer, cell phone and Suddenlink issues. He will make himself available at your convenience and he is fast and efficient. I highly recommend the PC Doc! read more

So I called at around 1100 and was told that he would call me back for my address in about an hour. Two hours go by and nothing so I decided to call him. He apologizes and says he'll come by in about 20 minutes. I say ok but I have an appt in the afternoon. 40 minutes and nothing. So I left for my appt. I get text with this guy trying to make it seem like I did something wrong and he calls me a jerk. Ha...I am thinking to myself...what? Anyways this guy also seemed unsure what to charge me if he actually could provide a service. He said "aah... I only charge you if I fix it." So puzzled, I'm like " aah... Okay." Then he says oh it will be 10 bucks. Anyways I was hoping it would just be acouple of restarts to get it working but that wasnt doing it. So I thought to give it one more try and thank goodness it popped on. So ended my nightmare with this unprofessional metchant. read more