The time will come when our old faithful computer will have one problem or the other. It may be a virus, it could be malware or you may even have a hardware issue. When a problem happens most people have three choices, Buy a new computer, take it to a big well know company like the geek squad or go on Craigslist to look for a small independently owned repair shop. Some owners are aware that the geek squad will charge more for the repair but the work will be better. If that seems logical to you I would follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=638UwJxyNCU
You may not know Eli the computer guy but he owned and operated one of the largest computer repair shops in the United States. After spending 20 years in the computer repair business myself I have a little different opinion. I have the advantage of having managed two best buy geek squad crews. The young technicians get paid a little over minimum wage. Best Buy on the other hand makes a killing. It should be no surprise that Best Buy charges more because after all they have a big building to pay for. Most of the kids there would like to and on some occasions do just send you to one of their friends that does computer repair. Taking your computer to Best Buy is kind of like going on an Internet date. The picture may look good, the hype is all there but you never know who will show up! The one thing you can count on is you will pay from twice to four times the price of what you would pay at an independently owned shop. Now some people just need to feel like they are dealing with a well known company. That is why large companies like Best Buy and Staples offer computer repair.
I do get a lot of customers who come to me after the shock of getting an estimate from one of these companies. To be honest they really could care less if you use them or not. Their business is selling things not repairing them. Any older 4 to 7 year old computer should not be repaired if the cost is over $100. There are a few exceptions like a big bad gamer computer where the owner has invested several thousand dollars in the unit already. Small shops are never going to get rich repairing computers. Most of us do it partly because we love the business. Computer repair in Boise Idaho is going to be different than computer in a big city in California or Texas. Chances are good that I’m going to run into one of my customers at the local store.
At the end of the day people just want their computer fixed fast. If they live close to Staples chances are good that that’s where they will end up. If you don’t have an extra $300 to remove that virus come on over to Craigslist and click on computer repair.