Zodiac Computers

Zodiac is a small PC shop next to the fire station in Cotteridge. Inside it’s a bit like an Aladdin’s Cave of PC’s, Laptops and accessories. I’ve come here a few times over the years to buy small things like printer ink, mice and CD-R’s. They also sell PC’s, buy old ones and do repairs. A service which until recently I hadn’t needed.
Now, I’m not a PC expert. I can build them, take them apart and fix most software problems but a few weeks ago my laptop exploded (not literally, the power pack overheated). After trying a few other things, and getting my techie best friend to look at it I gave up. So I trundled down to Zodiac to see if there was anything they could do.
They guy who runs the shop was lovely, he took down my details and we spent about 10 minutes going over the problem so he knew what was wrong. We agreed that it was probably a problem with my motherboard and he told me that he’d have it looked at in a week. A week later and I get a call from the shop to tell me that it hadn’t been looked at because the engineer had needed time off due to a personal problem; I’m not gonna argue with that, it happens. So another week past and I get a phone call telling me to pick it up when I can.
When I picked it up, I was told that it’s not repairable. The guy showed me pictures of the damage to my motherboard and told me that they wouldn’t be able to repair it. Turns out the power pack surged and blew one of the chips. I didn’t disagree, laptop motherboards are a pain to find, even more so when the GFX card is integrated in.
Overall while my laptop may now be ready for the scrap heap, I was happy with the service from Zodiac. They were friendly and professional and didn’t charge me for looking at it.