Lightning Computer & Laptop Repair

I got in touch via e-​mail with Charles via Thumbtack; he advised me that I would be better off purchasing a newer PC for my [very limited] needs – I really appreciate the FREE advice and not wasting time and money on the lost cause of very very OLD PC. My employer’s IT department agreed and echoed the fact that I had been give very good advice. So, when I DO have a problem with my newer PC, I will go to Lightning right away!!! Thanks very much.

I highly recommend Lightning. Nothing but fast great service at a good price. I starting seeking Charles help in August 2015 to install a new SSD and transfer data over from my old drive, replace a laptop keyboard with a bad key, and upgrade to Windows 10. It was a trickly and laborious getting to the drive it requires almost fully disassembling the latop (over 100 screws and multiple cables). The work was done in 1 day and Charles was able with the upgrade to Windows 10 to find all latest drivers that map to my 4 year old laptop. My Ethernet download speed went from ~20 Mb/​sec (ASUS said that I needed to buy a new laptop to get faster speeds) to over 50 Mb/​sec which is the average rate my AT&T provides to our home. He has also successfully fixed my wife’s laptop which fell off the back of her bike and had a broken screen glass and severe dents in 5 to 6 places. Charles clearly cares about his customers, just this morning when my laptop would not start and I tried a few things unsuccessfully. Charles free of charge told me what to try and it worked perfectly and got me back to working in minutes. A BIG THANKS Charles.

Charles is a good man. Smart, to the point. He gets it done – fast. His company has the right name. This is the place to go. Personable guy as well. He has solved computer problems for me twice now. Ten stars.

Wow! Charles was able to log in to my computer remotely and scrub my system of malware, fix an issue with not being able to connect to WiFi, update my Intel chipset, and install anti-​virus and ad-​blocking software.
Within minutes of me calling him the first time, he was solving my problems, and everything was done within an hour. I was totally blown away – I had expected these issues to require me giving up the computer for a few days. Charles was VERY responsive, updated me via text, and was incredibly professional.
Before he even knew the depth of my issues, he told me it was just a $ 100 flat fee. I was expecting him to come back after he was finished and charge me more, but he didn’t. I think the Geek Squad charges $ 140 for the malware scrub alone, so this was a screaming deal!
Highly, highly recommend. I’ll be sending anyone I know with computer issues Charles’ way.

Excellent! Affordable, professional, and true to the name. Cleaned up my laptop in a few hours, made some good recommendations for me going forward, and everything was as expected. Would use again.

I HIGHLY recommend Lightning Computer Repair, they definitely deserve and live up to their 5-​star Unilocal ratings! I came to them with laptop with a very damaged hard drive, hoping they could save my data. I was previously told by a different IT person that my only option was to wipe my computer in order to get it fixed, so I was preparing to hear the worse. But to my surprise, Charles and the team were able to retrieve ALL of my data!!! I was beyond relieved. Apparently it was a very difficult job but they did it! Thank you Lightning Computer Repair!

Charles is awesome! I had him pick up 2 laptops and 1 desktop and he returned it in 24 hours. I told him what the problem was and he was honest with what he could do. He also called me twice to keep me posted with some bigger issues my computer had. I highly recommend him.

Everything you would want in this kind of service: prompt, accurate, reasonably priced, helpful, focused — no intrusive upselling, no attempts to sell additional «solutions» — and they came on time and returned on time — early, in fact, after calling to check that an earlier arrival was OK. And, perhaps best of all, is something that I have found to be rare when it comes to these kinds of technical or special-​knowledge services, from computer repair to plumbers to HVAC contractors. Often, these kinds of service suppliers take an attitude that I presume is meant to make their services seem more valuable and therefore expensive, that I can only describe as «haughty.» Not a bit of that with Charles. Polite, circumspect, humble — and he delivered exactly as advertised.
Also noted: I have had printer problems for a long time — my Canon laser printer/​copier had just stopped working, cold, after several years of perfect service, but ONLY as a printer. The copier still worked fine, so I didn’t think the problem was mechanical. Reloading the original software did not help; nor did downloading a fresh copy of it from the Canon website. So I suspected that there was something wrong with the cable, but since the geography of my apartment demanded a longer cord than is normally sold in stores, even specialty stores like Central Computer, I had held off and then forgot about my printer problems, as my disabled and non-​working status means I had far fewer occasions to use my printer than formerly. I asked Charles to take a look, and he brought a printer cable, but determined immediately that the cable port in the printer itself was broken — a very good thing to know before spending money for a special order longer cable.
And since I mentioned Central Computer, which is located near me, you might wonder why I didn’t take my computer there for virus cleanup and security software, instead of calling Lightning. I HAVE used Central for computer repairs previously, and I had them check out the used computer I bought at one point, and I have nothing but good things to say about their services, too. It is just that I can no longer drive, so the in-​home/​pick-​up service that Lightning provided, at prices totally competitive with what was once for me the eminently convenient Central Computer, was a godsend. I think Unilocalers would be satisfied with either service, but the quality of Lightning’s service, in an arena that seems overpopulated by fly-​by-​nighter in-​between-​jobs hacks, is especially praiseworthy.

Great service. Friendly, fast, and exactly what I needed in a pinch. I had a virus and needed it removed fast so I could continue working on my computer. I also could not lose any info on the computer. Charles was fast, efficient and worked around my crazy schedule. Highly recommended!

Very happy to recommend this service. I have an older laptop that crashed and needed to recover lost data. Within the same day of contacting Charles, I had my laptop repaired, some of my data recovered (my fault for not backing up more often), and the latest version of Ubuntu installed. He was professional, communicated the progress to me while my laptop was «away», came to my home to collect my laptop/​then return to me later that day, easy to pay with debit/​credit card, and the price was reasonable too.

My computer broke and I had very important homework that was due because it was the end of the semester. I needed data recovery so I ended up calling Lightning Computer Repair and someone was sent out the same day.
My data ended up being recovered and I had my computer back to me and fixed within 24 hours! I was so happy that my hard schoolwork was recovered.

Found them on Unilocal about a year ago. Since then have used them about 5 times to resolve some crazy issues. They never failed. Very knowledgeable, very responsive, always there when I need them, have never failed to resolve my issues. The best I’ve ever worked with.

Charles was knowledgable, professional, and resolved the issue over the phone without needing to visit. I will call him the next time I have a computer issue.

Good speedy data recovery Charles recovered some old photos I lost appreciate the good work

Our computer got a crazy virus on it, with McAfee on it. McAfee was going to charge me to get the virus off of it, but then advised me to seek outside help! Called this place and to my surprise not only was it cheaper than Office Depot, but it’s a mobile service. Friendly and quick turn around, with knowledgeable and helpful staff! Bonus, if you check in, you get 10% off the service. By the way they DO NOT recommend McAfee or Norton to protect your computer.

This is the BEST computer repair!!!
I had a virus of some kind that couldn’t even be fixed with any of the anti-​virus programs that I had on my pc. It looked pretty serious due to stating it was issued by the FBI! I Unilocaled for HELP and tried out this very professional and efficient in home repair option. My pc was fixed within 30 mins, THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME SERVICE!!! i would use this service again if needed.

OK. So this is not going to be your typical 5 star review, but I feel like in a world of poor customer service, I am honored to give Charles a 5 star review. In most of the situations listed in the reviews, everything was normal and simple and this group did a great job and got great reviews. In my opinion though, it is what happens when things don’t go perfectly as planned that defines the quality of service an individual or company provides. This is one of those cases.
My wife and I have used Charles on two separate occasions now. Both times were far from normal circumstances, and both times he showed me the reason that he doesn’t have a single bad review. The first time we called him was because the LCD screen on my wife’s laptop was shorting out and we called Charles to repair it. He fixed it very quickly and when we went to pay for it we tried using an online coupon that we had found. Charles informed us that the coupon was not valid anymore, but my wife and I had just purchased it two days before. Ultimately, it turned out that he had told the company to remove the coupon and they didn’t do it. As a result, he was in a dispute with them. After trying to work things out with them over the course of the next several days, Charles ultimately decided to honor the coupon (even though I’m pretty sure he never got what he was supposed to from the coupon company).
The second situation involved the same computer with the same screen (but apparently a different issue). I called Charles to let him know that the screen that was fixed was once again going out (6 months after he had completely replaced it). I wasn’t sure what the issue was but it seemed to be the same thing as before. He asked me to get it looked at by someone else before him just so that we had a second opinion going into the job because he was very confident that the issue was not related to the work he had done. The other company (whom I won’t name since this isn’t their review) claimed that the screen was bad and needed to be replaced.
I informed Charles of this and he told me to bring it to him. He agreed that if there was something to repair that didn’t involve any parts, he would fix it for free. If there were parts that needed to be replaced though, he would only charge me for parts and no labor. I felt this was a good deal because the labor often tends to be the expensive aspect of computer repairs. He told me he would call me if there were any parts required to fix it.
I received a call a few days later and he let me know that there was spill damage (which my wife and I honestly do not know how we spilled on it, but we have twin baby girls so it could have been anything) but that he had cleaned the wiring completely and reconnected everything and it seemed to be fine now. We arranged to pick it up a day or two later. The issue we ran into here was a miscommunication. My wife and I had already purchased a replacement laptop (because we had many problems with this one) and were planning on selling the computer. Charles was under the impression that we simply wanted it fixed ASAP. He sent us an invoice for $ 75 (a VERY reasonable price for spill damage) but I was under the impression that he had fixed it for free since there were no parts involved. We simply were hurting for money at the time and were not planning on putting any more money into this computer.
My wife contacted Charles and expressed to him that she wasn’t happy that the computer was fixed without calling us and Charles said he felt terrible about the gap in communication and told us he would fix it for free. Ultimately we met him in the middle and paid him something for his time. I’m sure on his end he felt that we knew going into the repair that there was spill damage (which I can assure you was not the case) but he still did everything in his power to make us happy. Even though in both cases things were not just a simple repair, he still went out of his way to satisfy his customer.
I feel like in today’s world, to find someone who does fantastic work in a timely manner and stands behind their work, but also provides impeccable customer service is nearly impossible. In both of my dealings with him he did everything possible to make sure that my wife and I were happy and still provided great work (as I am typing this review on the twice repaired computer). Thank you so much and I would STRONGLY recommend this company to ANYONE in need of computer repair.

Couldn’t be happier. After wasting hours of my life trying to figure out what was making my computer do the bad things, I gave up and called Lightning (Charles).
After hearing what was going on, he told my what he thought should be fixed, and what would be more costly than it would be worth to repair. He came by my house as scheduled, just an hour or so after I first called and got the computer. He expected to have it ready about the same time next day, but I got a call a few hours later saying it was ready.
He fixed the problem, and even though it was more complicated than anticipated, he still only charged $ 100. I had my computer back in my hands in nearly perfect working condition less than 6 hours after I called, without leaving my house, and for a very reasonable price. As far as I’m concerned, Lightening repair is a friggin’ miracle!

I found this place on Unilocal and didn’t know why they didn’t have an address. It turns out that the workers come to your workplace or house to fix the computer.
My netbook died on me and I needed all the data on it. Instead of going to my house, I arranged to meet them in South San Jose. The guy told me that it would be basically 10 dollars per gig of data. I was worried because I had a lot of stuff on there, but the guy reassured me that it wouldn’t be that much. He’s seen 17 at the max for these netbooks. I mentioned how I had used Bay Area Computerman before and they retrieved all my data for 250 flat, no matter how much space.
He called me back the same day and said it was done! Fast service. I picked it up the next day at the same spot. It turns out that I have 27 gigs of data. It was supposed to be 270 dollars, but he said that he did not want to charge me more than Bay Area Computerman so he only charged me 200, tax included. I really appreciated. They work very quickly and if you are okay with dropping it off at random locations, then you will be happy with them.

Great company to use.
Auto Nav 2000 plus Inc is very happy with the service Lightning cpmputer provided us
Thank You