Geek Available

Geek Available truly saved my bacon! My 5-​year-​old PC crashed for the second time in two weeks. The first time I got the Black Screen of Death, I had it repaired by Geek Squad, but it took 10 days. They did back up the files before doing a total operating system restore, but everything was saved in zillions of nonintuitive subfolders, which made finding individual files very challenging. When my computer crashed again, I knew it was time to buy a new PC, but first I desperately needed all the files on the old PC’s hard drive. Geek Squad quoted me 7 to 14 days to extract the files. Happily, I found Geek Available and gave them a call. Kenny at Geek Available was an absolute life-​saver: he was able to copy all of the files onto my external hard drive in less than 24 hours, and at a very reasonable cost. Plus, all of the files were in very logical folders, the same way they had been on my hard drive. Hooray! I highly recommend their services.

They did a great job and it was a fast turnaround too!
Cheaper than it would’ve been at the Apple store and they gave me some good tips on how to keep my Macbook cool.
I didn’t even know it was that much of a problem but seems like temperature is a big deal on these computers.

Dumped coffee in my pc. Immediately shut down my pc and contacted these guys. They fixed it in one day. Had no problems afterwards. Keyboard doesn’t stick and two weeks later — still works great!

Rod at Geek Available was very responsive to all of my phone calls and answering my questions. There was a longer delay than expected for a computer screen to arrive to repair the one that I had cracked. The crew at Geek were very professional and kept me up-​to-​date on its predicted arrival. When the screen finally arrived at Geek, they installed it immediately.

Thank you for helping fix my system and get her back and up to speed. These guys are great. Even willing to help me 6 months later with some information I had lost that they still had on file.
Thanks guys.

I am not a computer novice (build several computers) but couldn’t solve a network problem. Called Geek Available and they came to my house in just a few hours. Solved the problem in less than an hour. I was very pleased.

First, read some of the reviews here … the majority of which are very negative. (and you’ll notice that the negative ones are the most detailed; positive reviews don’t have much content, and therefore may be suspect as merely being shills for the owner).
I think the conclusion will be that there’s just too much negative evidence laid out here to risk taking your computer to this shop.
My experience was that their communications amongst themselves AND with customers is pretty bad … the only thing worse being their competency & computer repair skills.
I don’t have enough evidence to outright label them a fraud or a scam, but that was a strong sense I got from my dealings with them.
The owner Rodrigo is CERTAINLY clever at marketing: do a google search by brand name for computer repair and every popular brand you use will appear as THEY being the experts for that brand … giving the impression that they’re either authorized or certified for that brand, or at least that they SPECIALIZE in it.
I can cite enough examples (in MY case) of their utter incompetence in even simple tasks like cleaning a laptop that would send you running from this facility … and I’m happy to do so if you wish to contact me directly; I just don’t want to take up lots of space with the «sorry details» of my regrettable experience.
And before entrusting your valuable property to Rodrigo & his merry band of hacks, check out the Better Business Bureau complaints: FAR TOO MANY to be just a few disgruntled victims.
Places like this give all computer repair businesses a bad name. Shame on you!

I would recommend this location to other people. One day turn around time. Reasonably priced. I just need the DC Port fixed internally on my laptop, so it wasnt a huge job.

I took my computer here 3 years ago when my hard drive was failing, & they replaced it, seemed honest, & did a good job. Back then, I would have given them 5 stars & I did recommended them to friends.
Today, however, I can safely say this business needs much better inter-​employee communication.
Tues ³⁄₁₁: Unfortunately, my recent experience left much to be desired. When I brought my laptop in, I reported a # of problems to Chris at the front desk, including that it was freezing after I restarted it, it made a clicking noise, word documents frequently crashed, my copy and paste shortcut was broken, AND that I believed I needed a new fan.
Tues or Wed: After bringing it in, they told me my hard drive was failing. They did offered me a discount on a new hard drive b/​c I was a returning customer, which was nice, & the new hard drive itself works well.
Thurs ³⁄₁₃: When I picked it up, Chris said everything was fixed, & that it should work. I asked him, «What about my fan? Is it okay?» His response was something along the lines of, «Oh yeah, when they were repairing your computer, they said your fan is fine.»
Fri ³⁄₁₄: However, when I got home Thurs evening, the laptop was still making a lot of noise, so I called Fri morning & said that I still believed there was an issue w/​the fan, so they told me to bring it back in. I brought it in around 4 PM before they closed Fri & explained that, if possible, I needed it back by Mon b/​c I had class then, & Chris told me that it would probably be ready by Sat. If it was not going to be ready by the end of the day Sat, it would have been nice of them to let me know & give me a heads up.
Mon ³⁄₁₇: By Mon morning, I still had not heard from them, so I took the initiative of calling them myself. When I did so, Chris passed me along to his manager, who said when he replaced the hard drive, the notes he received said nothing about issues w/​the fan. I explained to the manager that I was very frustrated because: (1) I DID report issues w/​the fan when I dropped it off, so I’m not sure why they were not written down, & (2) I also asked, «If you weren’t aware of issues w/​the fan, then why did Chris tell me they looked at the fan & explicitly tell me the fan was fine when I picked up the laptop & asked about the status of the fan?» The manager said, he did not know why he did that, & that that was curious of him to say b/​c when you replace the hard drive you don’t even open the area of the laptop where you would look at the fan, so it would be impossible for them to say that in replacing the hard drive, they noticed the fan was fine, as I had been told. He said a fan would normally be around $ 79.99, but b/​c I was a return customer, he would give it to me for $ 49.99. I explained to him, that I did appreciate him doing that, but it didn’t seem like they were that apologetic that: (1) I now have brought me laptop in 2x when I should have been able to bring it in 1x & have everything done & (2) I needed my laptop that day for class, but they obviously had not started on the work, much less ordered the part, & if I had not called, never would have known that it would not be ready on time. He just said he was sorry & understood & said to try & make amends for the trouble, he would pay for the part to have express shipping at no extra cost to me, & that in the meantime, I could pick my laptop up that day before class, & that they would call me when the part arrived (meaning I would be bringing my laptop back to them a THIRD time). He said when the part arrived, I would bring it back, & «It will only took 30 mins for us to replace the fan. Just bring your grocery list, go across the street to Rite-​Aid or the grocery store, buy the groceries, & by the time you are done, we will be done w/​your laptop.
Tues ³⁄₂₆: Over 5 business days later, I receive a phone call letting me know that my fan had arrived. That’s some express shipping.
Thurs 3.27: I take my 3^rd trip to there (having been told to come whenever & that it would take no longer than 30 mins), & drop my laptop off around 11:30 AM. Chris tells me he will call me when it’s ready; however, I’m assuming that he is saying this w/​the understanding that it will take 30 mins as promised by the manager, & that he would just call me in case it was ready earlier. I sit in my car doing work for about an hour & a half, & finally, around 1 PM, I go in there to ask about the status of my laptop, & Chris responds, «I told you I would call you when it was ready.» I responded, «Yes, but your manager told me on the phone last Mon, that this would take no longer than 30 mins, & that I could ‘go get my groceries’ & it would be ready by the time I was done, so maybe he didn’t communicate that to you.» Chris said okay, they would work on it, & it would be ready in about 20 mins. About 20 mins later, I came into finally pick up my laptop & they tried to charge me $ 79.99, & I had to remind them that I was promised $ 49.99 by the manager.

I would never use these people… they are crooks… i took my lap top in… it crashed… since my friends told me I had a virus. but I had bought this lap top with 650mg and they called to advise me I should down size it to 350!!! not understanding that I let them do it… since I received it my lap top sucks. they robbed me and my sound never worked the same as before! crooks is what they are!!!

I gave these guys three chances over the last 3 years. All three times I was desperate because my computer, a PC, crashed. It was a computer I spent a lot of money on in the first place. The good is they were able to «diagnose» the problem right away. That’s about where it ends, the rest is disappointing. I wanted to really like these local guys. After the first fix, a faulty hard drive, the installed a new one, within one month that one died. A lemon. I originally thought there might be a virus attacking the computer causing the weird problems and pop ups I was having but they assured me they cleared everything, re installed windows, and recovered my files. Here I am now using my computer for the first time since the repair and the speed of it is shameful. It takes 10 minutes to start up, forget internet, and even word processing isn’t possible. I still don’t know what is wrong with it, I’m in school and am desperate, but I won’t be going back to these guys. The last time I even asked if he could discount the «diagnostics» since they were the ones who guaranteed me the fix right before, the answer was basically no. Fool me once shame on you, twice shame on me, three time I’m gonna Unilocal it.

I was referred to Geek Available after I mistakenly dropped my macbook off of my bed onto the tile floor shattering the glass/​screen. Good one Sonya, good one.
I could NOT afford to purchase a new computer and my macbook was only 3 years old. I looked into replacing the screen through Apple and they charge about $ 800 — close to the cost of a new laptop. Eff that. I called Rod, and he was most helpful. I shipped my computer to them and they received it the next day. I spoke with him and he said it would only cost $ 199 to fix the screen and they would send it back same day. I asked him if anything else needed to be fixed (which is risky if the company is shady and wants to charge you for all types of things), and he said «no». He said it still had about 7 more years on it! As promised, they sent it back to me same day and I received it the next day. It’s pretty now with it’s new screen, and they even cleaned the keys, which were dirty before.
My only concern is that it is still running slowly (since the crash, not since Geek Available), so hopefully that starts working again. Maybe they couldn’t fix that issue, or maybe it’s just my luck ;)
All in all, it was painless, affordable and reliable screen repair service. I would recommend them to others.

My laptop was not 12 years old as you say. It was 3 years old. What do you mean «the type of content I view is always a problem» I generally am on facebook and surf the nations newspapers and sports related sites. Just what is it you are implying?
You are a liar.
You need to be out of business, the sooner the better.

The techs here are friendly and seem to know what they are doing. I have brought a few laptops here with in the last few years, with various issues from crashed hard drives to virus clean-​ups, and they have fixed it in a timely manner.
Can you find a better place out there with a lower rate? Yes– to be quite honest; but for what it’s worth. I have no real complaints. Ron does care about clients and does his best to stay competitive, and gives realistic explanations which are easy to understand.

Look «Rod», arguing with everyone that leaves you a bad review is childish and only shows your immaturity and cluelessness on how to run a successful business.
Do you know how to read? The motherboard was not the issue for me. I knew how much it would be. I wasn’t irritated at the price, you CLEARLY have something wrong with your eyes. My displeasure is at your business practices, the damaged casing and the keyboard.
You replied after my first review, «Your statement is confusing though. Keyboard replaced without your authorization? computer was damaged? keyboard does not fit perfectly? that does not exist in apple world. it either fits or not. they are completely different among them. you cannot „force fit“ anything»
How could you possibly get confused from my statement? ya, the keyboard on my macbook has a large air-​bubble that wasnt there before, the shape of a couple buttons are different (enter and shift), and there is no wear at all on the keys. THE KEYBOARD WAS SWITCHED there is absolutely no debating this fact. Are you trying to tell me that I’m lying about this?
Yes, mr expert, actually, you CAN replace the entire set of keys of a MacBook. You know as well as i do. I’m assuming one of your barbarians in the back ripped mine apart and damaged some of the original keys, so you had to replace it. Who knows… but nobody ASKED to do ANYTHING to the keyboard.
And, again, how are you confused when I say, the casing was damaged. The bottom part, by the battery, and the sides, were all damaged like it had been dropped. I hate having to repeat myself, makes me feel like I’m talking to an inbred.
I didn’t come to this forum to get my computer fixed, I didn’t come here to get you to look at my computer again. I never want you to touch my computer again. I just want people to know about how shady your business is, that’s all. Knowledge is power.

I went to apple to see how much my screen would cost to get repaired. While I was at apple waiting I called around and found geek available. They quoted me a less expensive price for an original Mac screen, so I decided to go with them.
I got my computer back and the screen looked great. I turned it on but I couldn’t see anything. The technician had to keep it and diagnose the problem. They found out the cable was bad so they decided to fix it and could have easily charged me another $ 40 but didn’t.
My computer looks great. Thank you Marcus, Rod, and everyone. I really appreciate all you did. :)

If there were a NEGATIVE star, I would certainly use it for this place. I’m also glad to see that I’m not the only one who thought this place pretty much sucks! Price gouging and bait/​switch is what the description on the Web Site should be…
I took my Macbook Pro in that will boot up but has no video and they wanted me to pay over $ 150.00 with absolutely NO guarantee that it would be fixed. That was for basic troubleshooting and cleaning up the inside. Then, if that didn’t fix it — they would then troubleshoot the components. I asked it they could trouble shoot the components first, before cleaning (to possibly save the 100.00) and they said no. Potentially — this could have cost as much as getting a NEW motherboard on Ebay for 300.00 — without the guarantee they can actually fix it.
So — am now bidding for a motherboard to replace it myself. Luckily, I am in the field of technology and know when I’m being taken advantage of when it comes to this kind of work. Apparently taking a computer apart (in their words) takes quite a bit of work. I can talk my 14 year old niece through it in 10 minutes! These guys are full of it.
DON’T TAKE YOUR EQUIPMENT HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF!!!
Here is a place in Fremont, CA that won’t charge you unless they actually fix it and you can ship it there for cheap:
DT&T Services Inc.
UPDATE — Rod’s response to this review should clue people in to what they will deal with. Bad attitude! This is constructive feedback along with all of the other 1 STAR reviews. Take it and learn from it OR continue to fight it and get more bad reviews.
I was told you could troubleshoot the motherboard at the component level — I knew the liquid probably already did the damage, so why clean it? If you would have done what I asked — which is troubleshoot it — let me know if I need a new motherboard (or whatever), then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. When I left the shop, I was told this would be done. I get a phone call a couple hours later saying it can’t be done and I have to pay more. Today — I get a phone call based on this review. Then I get a blocked call. Everything that happens is going to get reported on this forum and to Unilocal Legal. If it doesn’t stop — I’m going to the BBB.

Geeks Available is a really good computer repair group. They are very nice,. They offer great pricing and similar conversation. Being Brazilian, they have a little accent but this is where you want to take your computer. Much less expensive than BB and you don’t have to wait 2 weeks for something to get fixed. Rod the manager is very nice and will give you a great price.
Definitely reliable.

Simply put, Rod (the owner of Geek Available) speaks computer. I would not be surprised to learn he dreams in binary code. He is ridiculously, dizzyingly, mind bogglingly intelligent. He is also, honest, prompt, and funny as hell.
Why would you trust your computer to an incompetent adolescent at Best Buy, when you can get better service, cheaper from Geek Available. This isn’t rocket science people; Call Rod.

[The owner of Geek Available had the original version of this review removed for giving the actual full names of the perps, instead of the aliases that they use. So, in this version, I’ll just use those aliases in quotation marks.]
Instead of ordering a new OEM part to repair my computer, Geek Available attempted surreptitiously to use a substandard part (pulled, failed, or counterfeit) ordered from an unreliable eBay seller (originalpartsglobal). Since the con-​men were being conned, the part was delayed; and, after repeatedly changed claims as to when the repair would be effected, I demanded my computer back.
(At this stage, I began investigating, and discovered their attempt to get a cheap, substandard part from eBay.)
The day that I was told that I could recover it, during the hours that I was told that they’d be open, their shop was locked-​up and no one answered repeated knocking. Later, «Sue» flat-​out lied and claimed that she’d been there and the shop open at that time.
When I did get back my computer, «Rafael» told me that «Rod», the owner, insisted that I must pay for their diagnostic, in spite of their delays (and in fact despite their diagnosis having been quite wrong).
Thereafter, I had a running battle with Geek Available, by way of the BBB and on various review sites. «Rod» told multiple different, self-​contradictory stories, and posted shill reviews. But he was ultimately smart enough to refund that diagnostic charge, which undermined the court case that I’d been planning.
I see from other reviews that things haven’t changed much.
Geek Available currently has a rating of F from the Better Business Bureau:
RESPONSE to the reply below from «Rod»:
As I said above, I WAS TOLD that you’d be open that Saturday. I was there during the time that I was told that you would be open; after the fact, «Sue» lied about having been there at that time. I didn’t reälize then that this wasn’t just some bad employee, that lying was part of your business policy.
Since you told so many different versions of what happened in my case, I wouldn’t believe your claims as to why the BBB gave you that F, nor would I advise anyone else to do so. What I do know is that the San Diego chapter of the BBB bends over backwards for businesses, but apparently they couldn’t bend enough for you.
Nor do I give any credence to your claims on Twitter (
) on 28 April and on 25 May that Unilocal advances bad reviews against you to punish you for not buying advertising here.
(And your four bad reviews here are out of a total of 13. A 30% rate of bad reviews over this length of time is pretty grim.)
As to keeping your business in mind, I rarely encounter such dishonesty and such incompetence combined with such a sense of entitlement. You’re memorable.