Computer NERDZ!

I dropped my laptop off on a Friday morning with a fan issue and was told that I would have an answer either that day or by Saturday at the latest. Well by the end of the day on Saturday I called and was told that it was on the tech’s desk being looked at right then and I should have an answer soon. Sunday they were closed and Monday was a holiday so Tuesday was the next working day. I waited all day and finally called then myself and was told the exact same thing that I was told on Saturday. Finally at the end of the next day, Wednesday, I was called and told that I needed a new fan. I told them to go ahead and was told the lead time was 3 to 5 days. A week and a half later I called them again to see what the hold up was and they said that the fan was installed but it was still giving them an error message on startup and that they could try to fix that but most likely they couldn’t. I understand that repairs of any kind take time but when you lie to me several different times about how long, that just not acceptable. I will not be a returning customer and I would not recommend them to anyone else either.

I called them out to fix what I knew to be an odd problem and before I let the guy inthe door I explained and asked him to promise he could fix it. He said that he understood thte problem and thought he could fix it. Guess what-​he couldn’t. He left a scan running when I knew that would not be the problem since I already pay and run scans every week automatically. Then he said if that wasn’t the problem I could bring it in and they would reload everything. Seriously? $ 93.00 later and no repair done so I would never take it there and don’t recommend their service.

Thank you Nerdz for helping my mom get her new laptop up and running yesterday. One of the Nerdz, if I remember correctly, Alex, got her data restored from her old laptop and modified her touchpad settings to her liking. This is typically easy to do, but the Nerdz went above and beyond the call of duty in doing it while she waited AND getting old emails restored to her AOL software.
I’m semi-​handy with a computer, but when I’m at my wits end with a PC problem, I’ll continue to use the Nerdz as my backup. Couple their excellent service with their patience with almost any computer user’s particular comfort level and you have a winning combination for computer repair that goes beyond toll-​free tech support or scripted «technicians» at the local big box retailers.
Thanks again, Nerdz!

I got a serious virus on my computer at work — I wasn’t visiting any naughty sites, I swear — and I needed to get it fixed. I brought the computer to the store. The sole employee in the store explained how they operate and was both knowledgable and pleasant.
My computer was ready to be picked up 36 hours later. It was fixed completely.
The time to fix a computer depends on a combination of how much testing they have to do, how busy they are, and the work schedule of whomever works on your computer. The rates are not cheap, but are reasonable.
Overall, they did the job as advertised and fixed a problem which was far beyond my technical skills.

$ 100 just to have a Nerd set foot on my property? You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re better off just backing up all of your data and reinstalling Windows by yourself. I’m just disgusted with these Nerdz. Avoid them at all costs.
While I was out of town my grandfather called this «Nerdz» company to tune up a sluggish computer, fix an Internet connection issue, and fix a printer issue with one of 2 printers connected to the PC.
First the Nerd told him he couldn’t have both printers connected to his PC at the same time. This is false as one printer is USB and the other older printer connects to the LPT port. They both worked fine in the past being connected at the same time.
First I replaced the older printer drivers with newer ones. After that they worked perfectly. Next I turned to the Internet problem and quickly saw that his DSL modem was dropping the connection every 5 minutes. All I had to do was watch the status lights on the front of the DSL modem to figure this out, very easy. After placing a call into his DSL provider (AT&T), I loaded the Firefox browser. Unlike Internet explorer Firefox can tolerate an Internet connection that drops off and picks back up every few minutes. Problem solved, he can now surf the web until AT&T gets a tech out there to sort out his DSL issues for good.
On to the sluggish PC. Finally I ran a free program, ccleaner, to clean the registry and temp files and then defragmented his PC with a free defragmenter I found on
, much faster than the one that ships with Windows too.
All of this took me about an hour total. The nerds were at his house for OVER FOUR HOURS and never did get both printers working nor did they did realize the DSL modem was dropping the connection. You should have seen the bill they gave my Grandad. He’s too embarrassed to dispute it so I not going to push the issue with him. I’m absolutely outraged that they took advantage of an elderly man and sent out such an inexperienced tech.
Asking around online I found out they pay their techs very poorly, no way anyone talented would work there when there are so many other places for talented people in Austin. Techs have to use their own vehicles and the company pays a very meager fuel stipend for each call. Their service area is big too! So the techs are basically losing money on each call depending on the location and traffic due to not being reimbursed fully for gas. To make up for this they are forced try to sell you things which you may or may not actually need so they can make commission.
The guys managing the office know jack squat about troubleshooting PCs, they only do clerical work. How can you manage a team of techs when you don’t know their line of work very well? It’s like the blind leading the deaf.

I am not really happy. In fact, I am so not happy that after they didn’t pick up the phone, I realized I had to Unilocal the experience.
Yesterday, my computer became infected with something — now, at the outset, I want to make it clear that I do not think strangers send me postcards with .exe (or anything else) attached, and I keep a virus scanner, malware filter, spybot s&d, and a Linux boot disk handy because I well know the perils of Windows. Occasionally, I’ve been infected before, but I have enough subscriptions (TrojanHunter, etc.) that I’ve never caught something I couldn’t get out of.
Yesterday was different. It caught, and despite running the cornucopia of the top scanners, whatever was caught wouldn’t stay caught and I realized whatever it was that skated right through my virus scanner even though it saw it coming and going was pretty deeply embedded. I decided to call ComputerNerz because I really didn’t want to have to reformat if I didn’t have to.
The gentleman showed up, I explained the issue, and he began running an adjunct few more (free) programs that I hadn’t, and found the same thing I did. After two hours (and $ 200 later) he announced that he couldn’t get it out because he «really didn’t know much about rootkits» but he’d Googled what had come up and did what they said to do on the web.
You know, it is a nasty virus/​infection/​malware/​rootkit, and I understand that there are some things on computers that cannot be fixed.
What I cannot understand is why I paid $ 200 for someone to fix my computer who announced multiple times that he didn’t know much about rootkits. It’s not like I didn’t specify my issue. Why send me someone who not only doesn’t know about the issue, but feels like he has to excuse that he didn’t fix it by announcing that I’d paid $ 200 for someone that had little to no familiarity with the issue he was there to fix?
I’m posting this on Linux at the moment, am reformatting my drive, and will never call Computer Nerdz again. I expected an expert, I was charged for an expert, and what I got was the equivalent of a script support person who stated multiple times that he didn’t know much about my problem at all.
That is not what I expect for $ 100 an hour.
Later Edit:
Company refunded entire amount paid, apologized, and stated that it definitely shouldn’t have happened. I’m raising them from 1 to 3 stars for an excellent response to an issue and for the prompt way their office handled the complaint. If I use them again — which is unlikely after this — I’ll edit further.