Computer Geeks

WOW — DEM was GREAT! It seems everything goes wrong starting at 5PM. My
email stopped sending/​receiving — and my computer continued to slow down
after a recent update. I showed up thinking I would need to leave my
computer for a day + but Dem methodically stepped through several virus /​
malware detectors (in addition to my own), ran updates I neglected to
perform — he did show me where I took a major hit/​capture of malware. He
checked and diagnosed email problem explaining to me (in basic terms for me)
what/​why he was doing. set-​up some emails for me to send and test when I go
home on my own internet and sent me on my way in just under an hour.
Everything is now working perfectly!!! I am very grateful for the calm easy
manner in which this major problem (for me) was quickly resolved. I will
bring my computer in soon for a detailed analyses and rebuilding of my
applications — before my next project.. Thank you again!!! AB

Paranoid, Condescending, Defensive and Rude!
Sounds like Dick Cheney?
Hardly…
These adjectives rather describe recent customer service efforts from the people running The Computer Geeks, a home PC consulting service in NW Washington DC. They are anything but professional and seem OK on ripping off old ladies like my mother over the past three months.
Here’s the backstory:
My mother’s hard drive was sorely infected with viral malware. She called them, and the first tech that came out to her house made it worse. The next tech suggested replacing a faulty hard drive. Which they did… days later they called her to see how things were going. They asked her a lot of technical questions and naturally she wanted nothing more than to get this behind her so she said yes, yes and yes to all the mumbling bullett points they use for follow-​up customer service. Which mean nothing b/​c how many normal consumers know what deep scan data recovery or bit-​map picture files really mean anyway?
My mother is 77. She emails and looks at pictures of the grandchildren. She has a really sweet Dell Studio 1550 that is just about as good as new. Sure, hard drives break. And you’d expect they’d replace it, install a fresh OS and restore the data.
Well, she started calling me back in early May about this new «This is not a valid copy of Windows» message suddenly appearing on the display everytime she booted. Hmmm… So I decided to pay her a visit this past week (June 21^st) and investigate. Not only did the message now morph into a «This is a counterfeit copy of Windows» but I soon discovered that all the personal data she had from before was missing. Some folders, yes, but nothing inside them! Adding fuel to the fire, I recognized right away they didn’t even bother to do a proper Windows 7 install either because I saw three instances of «Windows.old — xxxx» folders at the root of the C Drive.
I know my way around computers owing to 17 years experience as a storage professional. Anyone in the know will tell you, a Windows. old folder may indicate a newer version of Windows has been installed on top of an older one. Which leads me to believe they took an image of the «faulty» hard drive, removed it and replaced it with a new one, ‘ghosted’ that image onto the new hard drive and installed Windows atop the prior one as the final solution. What a sham! A fraudulent sham…
Seriously, these guys bilked my mother out of $ 300.00 before I had a chance to intervene. And when confronted, they refused to own the problem and blamed my mother for not letting them know about missing data earlier.
So let’s back up here. I was able to prove they lost her data because the folders that held those pictures were actually on the new system too… but all the snaps were gone. Their excuse is that unused data will get overwritten if left alone long enough of time. I laughed. More smoke covering tracks. I wonder how many other older people in NW Washington they’ve milked $ 98.00 per with shoddy service. Not to mention, when confronted they had no sense to consider the consumer’s POV. Perhaps they did make an error? Nope! Not them. Which led to condescension, defensiveness and downright beligerence.
This post is going to be reprinted on Angie’s List as well as Craigslist with hopes that enough people will read it or worse, recognize they too were taken to the bank by this shoddy outfit. I am drafting a similar letter to the Better Business Bureau as well as the DC Business Licensing Board. If you have been unfortunate to be fraudelently duped by The Computer Geeks. Do complain. You are not alone. Your voice makes a difference.
At least Dick Cheney knows he’s a crook… these guys haven’t a clue which is worse!
All the best,
Paul Dorn
Storage Engineer
San Francisco, CA

My advice with Computer Geeks: STAY AWAY!
I brought my laptop in for a very simple screen fix. I had previously sent my computer to its manufacturer for warranty work, but I had them send it back when they told me their exorbitant fees. A month and a half after I had dropped the computer off at Computer Geeks, I still had to send my laptop back to the manufacturer and pay their exorbitant fees as well as Computer Geek’s fees. They were very poor at communicating the status of my computer throughout that month and a half and I had to call often to get the right person on the phone to talk to.
Computer Geeks told me that they would return my laptop in the same condition in which I gave it to them, however, when I received my laptop back all of my program files were wiped out despite having been «backed up.» I regret having paid Computer Geeks anything since the manufacturer did the actual screen fix. Rather then offering to help me recover the programs, the owner of the company was very defensive, yelled at me and hung up the phone on me. Terrible, terrible customer service.
This seems to be a low-​budget operation out of the owner’s home and these guys do not seem to know what they’re doing. Take your computer needs elsewhere.