Help Computer Services

This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only.

 

Work pro-rated by hour, minimum one hour. Replaced EP Copier in 2005.

Local computer tech help - computer repair, installation, and training. On-site service available.

2006-11-26 13:47:40   These guys ROCK. Extremely friendly, helpful, don't talk down to you if you're not a techie, and VERY FAST turnaround time. I have had bad experiences at other Davis computer repair places and won't go anywhere else now. —BugGrrl

2008-03-12 18:50:31   Awesome service. If you need a DC jack repaired for a laptop, its going to run you around $250. They are fast and make sure it works before you leave the store. If you still have a problem, you can bring it in again and they'll look at it free of charge. —imyonlyfriend

2008-10-30 12:46:28   I hate to break the good trend that the comments have been making, however, I do have a gripe with these guys..

Earlier this month I brought my laptop to the Help Computer Services, since I was unable to use it to connect to internet at my new place after moving. At the time I knew nothing about internet configuration, which is what I needed to do...

The guys in the shop took in my laptop and a few days later tested it. It connected to the internet upon booting up without any problems (hence, according to them problem was solved and I got charged a $35 diagnostic fee). I understand that diagnostic fee has to be there in order to allow them to get paid for figuring out what the problem is and getting some idea of how to fix it.. However, they found nothing wrong with my laptop and yet took the fee, for basically doing nothing (one of the guys did tell me that having Limewire is bad, but seeing I couldn't connect to the internet anyway, it wasn't really a problem for me).

Their further suggestion was that I request them to come out to my house ($20 house-call fee plus $60/hour for software repair work).. Of course I declined and furthermore decided to never come there again and refer to the internet (at work) on how to configure my internet connection and solve the issue.

All in all I could've ended up paying over $100 for something that took me fifteen minutes to do...

—LinaPlanuty

• Help Computer Services charges a minimum of $35 to look at the computer. This is our minimum fee for time spent, as was explained when the computer was checked in. We preformed a full diagnostic on the computer in order to determine the source of the problem. It was found that the computer was fully functional and therefore the problem must exist locally; in the customer's home. Also, I recall this specific computer; it had multiple virus infections which we recommended be addressed (Which the owner declined). We regret that you feel over-charged, but in order to do any further work, we would have to be at the source of the problem and we are pleased that you were able to fix the issue yourself. —masonmurray

2008-12-04 01:16:30   definitely one of the worst experience i've ever had...it took those guys over 5 weeks to fix my labtop's problem...i'm not a computer expert so i don't really know how bad the problem was...but 5 weeks is just rediculous...the guy who works there is nice, but the way they do business sucks...one of the biggest problem i have against them is that they would fix something else on my laptop without asking me first...and they expected me to pay the full price on the day i picked up my laptop...so, after all this, i ended up paying over $300 for the problem...i could have gotten a brand new laptop for $375 on black friday....in my case, their service wasn't that cheap, their customer service was horrible, and their speed was really really really slow...if i could choose again, i would have gone to fry's...good luck to you all, i hope you will have a much better experience than mine... —doc

• We regret how long the repairs for your computer took, but we can not fix the computers without the correct parts. We hold a small stock of parts on hand and order more on demand in order to keep our prices competitive. If we were to hold a larger stock, we would need to charge much more on all repairs. As for the lack of communication, I would like to personally apologize as we were experiencing an employee rollover at that time, and there should be no further problems. —masonmurray

2009-04-06 17:41:32   Nice to see that you guys keep track of the comments and respond to them.. So, I have decided not to come here again to fix my computer (see my gripe above), however, at the same time I figured maybe it was just my case that was too tricky and maybe my friends will be more lucky. I have recommended the place before to many of my friends and two of them have had several encounters with this shop. The first one was good for both of them (about a year and a half ago for one and maybe a year for another), however, all of the following visits with different issues didn't go so well. My 87 yo friend had to bring in her old desktop to have it backed up and wiped (it got backed up, but still contained all the info when she brought it home), her laptop needed to have Windows XP reinstalled and then when she picked it up, the guys forgot to give her back her power cord... (I am sure you guys will remember her). Now these things might seem minor and rather sloppy, but in this economy you shouldn't be sloppy if you want to continue with business as usual. Low rates don't matter if the service sucks... My other friend will be able to tell her own story herself when she finally gets her laptop back out of the shop... —LinaPlanuty

2009-05-04 08:35:59   These guys are completely hopeless. Don't bring your computer to this place! They will keep it forever, won't repair it, but still charge for (yeah for what?)

I'm a professor at UC Davis, and my girlfriend went to Help in order to fix one of her laptop fans that seemed to be malfunctioning. After a couple of days, Help said that they've diagnosed the problem: "The fan is malfunctioning [duh!], that will be $35 please". They also suggested to fix it by ordering a new fan from HP. It would probably take one week, or two weeks tops. After three-four weeks we still hadn't heard a thing. She started emailing, and they didn't reply (what kind of business doesn't reply to emails from customers??). Then she would go to the actual store and every time they would say "it will be here any day". After several more visits she had to nag for them to contact their supplier to see what on earth was going on. After eight weeks, numerous emails (without reply), numerous phone calls, and at least five visits to the store, they concluded that their supplier was out of fans and things could take three more months. They also refused to refund the $35.

Instead we went to Real Computers the guy there said that a part of the fan was a bit bent, but otherwise it was totally fine. He bent it back and fixed the computer within hours.

In summary: The crooks at Help Computer charged $35 to MISDIAGNOSE the problem with the computer, claim we needed a new expensive fan (which we didn't), kept the computer four two months without fixing it, and then refused a refund. Is this even legal???

DONT GO HERE!!! —pontus

2009-05-04 19:34:17   I used to work at help computers for a very short time. I do not wish to have any tension with this establishment. Its a good repair shop. —RealComputers

2009-06-25 16:37:49   After taking my computer to another repair person in town who re-installed my Vista, which did not fix ANY of the problems I reported to him, I was very dismayed at having spent $100 for a reinstallation I didn't need. I brought my computer to Help this morning and the guy there figured out in 30 seconds that it was a malfunctioning MOUSE that was causing all my problems. He didn't charge me a dime and a $30 mouse later, I'm back in business. Now I just have to spend the weekend reinstalling all the software that it turns out I didn't need taken off after all. :/

—NotSure

2010-05-07 06:01:35   can someone tell me the name of the guy who used to work here? african american, mid-twenties-mid-thirties... —ExtremeMancala