Computer Zone

Michael and Alfredo did an excellent job with my old computer. They took the time to explain everything, gave me the lowest cost and did the repair well and in a timely manner. All in all they are good and I keep returning. Thank you so much

There are two kinds of businesses: those that will do a diagnostic for free and those that don’t. Computer Zone, I am happy to say, is the former. Michael is great. My laptop wasn’t charging and wouldn’t turn on and I didn’t know whether it was the power supply or the battery inside. Michael carefully explained to me what we needed to do and let me use his (working) power supply to recharge my laptop (the problem, it turned out, was my power supply). It took time to explain my problem, time to set the laptop up with the charger, and time to charge the laptop – all of which Michael graciously gave me, and without charging me. Voila: instant loyal customer. I will be recommending Computer Zone to my friends.

Worst experience ever! Aside from the fact that they couldn’t actually fix a flat tire let alone a computer, they have terrible customer service. I had to call over and over again to get updates and the owner is a total jerk!!! Don’t go here! I’d give them zero stars if I could!

I found these folks to be very helpful and very upfront about costs and how much time the repairs could take. I was completely satisfied with their service.

They will take your money but make no effort to provide a good service. Crooks.

The owner calls me up on the phone two weeks after I go into the store in person asking for a refund, and he tells me on the phone, out of the blue that he «doesn’t give a shit» about the refund policy and I tell him that’s not fair.
This people shouldn’t even be in business. I bought the macbook charger they recommended for my computer, and the person who had sold it to me said, «If it doesn’t work out you can just bring it back.» The charger was the wrong one. I brought it back in great condition, with the plastic still on it, receipt in hand, asking for a refund from them. They wouldn’t give me one and so I leave my number for the owner to call me. The owner calls me up on the phone two weeks later and I ask him for a refund, and he tells me out of the blue he «doesn’t give a shit» about the refund policy and that I can go fuck myself. I tell him that I don’t think that’s fair and that he’s going to get some pretty terrible reviews for treating me so poorly. So here is the bad review. I’m never coming back there again. My experience wasn’t just bad. It was the worst customer service I’ve ever had in my entire life.

RUN AWAY from this place if you value your hard-​earned money. My husband brought his cell phone in for repair. They had him PREPAY (first warning sign). Upon follow-​up if the phone was ready on the «latest possible day» (a Monday), they said they received the part on Saturday and the person installing it would be in at noon to do so. Apparently, they did not verify it was the wrong part (or a bald-​faced lie, perhaps?)… Either way, phone will be another five days or so. Because of an upcoming trip, my husband needed his phone and simply requested his phone back and a refund. They returned the phone but conceded a store credit for 7% of the charge; for credit card fees. WTF?! $ 14 for doing *nothing* but NOT meeting their commitment. And it’s their policy to charge upfront; therefore it should be their liability. Btw, we don’t want the store credit because we want to NEVER DO BUSINESS THERE AGAIN.

I have been a regular at the Computer Zone for the past five or so years. Most of my experiences there have been mostly positive. Kevin the owner has been clear with me about the prices they intend to charge. They always call ahead and ask for permission to do work. The turn around time is fast. The techs are knowledgeable and polite. I can ask questions on the phone when needed. I highly recommend the Computer Zone. Thanks. Jan Schwartz.

In March of 2014 I brought my macbook pro into Computer Zone and they diagnosed it with a dead logic board. The part needed was quoted as a new logic board @ over $ 400. I authorized the repair. It took them over three weeks to repair the problem. They had to be pressed to complete the repair, and had a «It gets done when it gets done,» attitude with me whenever I inquired. When all was said and «done» I was charged over $ 700. Fast-​forward to the present. Here we are a mere seven months later and the computer dies again. Not believing it couldn’t possibly be the logic board again, I have the problem diagnosed by someone else. And wouldn’t you know it: a DEAD LOGIC BOARD. After he had dissassembled the mac and had a look, the repair person asked me straight out if the logic board was refurbished. «Why?» I asked, to which he replied «Because it sure looks like a refurbished board, are you sure they sold you a new board?.» I answered «That’s what they told me.» I then asked him if what caused the first failure could have caused the second. «No,» said the repair person «The fans are clear, and functioning perfectly.» Anger. Deep down anger. I have since moved out of state for grad school and the warranty is long-​expired, but still – I would NEVER give these people my business EVER AGAIN. Take your Mac anywhere else, but STAY AWAY FROM COMPUTER ZONE! The place reeks of unethical fishiness.

Ordered a battery that doesn’t work with my computer. Replaced it with yet another incompatible battery. Policy won’t allow a refund event though they have failed to provide a working battery. Rude owner. DON“T GO HERE EVER!

Computer zone? More like Computer BONE! Prepare to get f***ed!!!
TERRIBLE service; outrageous rip-​offs. The employees look mortified and embarrassed about what they’re clearly being forced to do.

I wouldn’t even give these guys a star, they are con artists!!! they rip you off they say they give u deals but you pay more! they charged me 345 $ to do absolutely nothing except break apart my laptop and in the end say the motherboard was broken? Ummm hello? No its not broken the screen is the one that’s broken they quoted me 590 $ for a motherboard and on top of that the 345 $. Plus! they asked for 65 $ to put my laptop back to how it was if not they would keep my laptop? Seriously these guys need to get out of business! DO NOT GO HERE!

Do NOT give these guys your business! They’re a rip off and they damage your internal hardware without telling you!
I brought my desktop PC in around November 2012 because the power supply burnt out. They replaced it with what they claimed was a great one and charged me 109 $ for it, not including the labor.
Fast forward 7 months and my power supply has burnt out, again! Now that I’m in SF I brought it to a guy I trust and have gone to much more often. Here’s what he found when he opened my PC:
— The power supply computerzone charged me 109 $ for was an extremely cheap, $ 30 power supply that had been shoved into a computer it didn’t fit into
— My guy called me over and showed me multiple internal parts of my computer that had been broken. More specifically, there are clips so this cable can snap into that board and stay in place. More than one of those clips were broken so the cables could just fall out anytime and I’d have to open my tower to get my computer running again
I have not tried any other computer repair place in Santa Cruz than this, but honestly, your wallet and your computer are better off with you following a youtube tutorial than letting these guys get their hands on your device.

my laptop froze up with a trojan virus
couldn‘t even use control-​alt-​delete
brought it in to Computer zone at 5.30pm and they fixed my problem in the morning.
folks here are very helpful.

I work at a local non-​profit and we had an old Macbook Pro donated to us that no longer worked (the donor just said «see if you can do anything with it»). So not expecting much, I took it into a couple of places to see how much it would cost to get it going again. Computer Zone was by far the cheapest. They replaced the dead board and even threw in a software update since it was out of date. The other places were basically trying to get me to buy a whole new computer. This place had it all fixed up for me within 3 days. Go local, don’t waste your money else ware.

Mixed experience, but more negative than positive in the end.
I brought my computer in to replace the hard drive. They technically got the job done and at first I was really happy with it because they install a bunch programs on your computer in case you want them like Skype, iTunes, and Malwarebytes. The PARTICULAR guy who did my job was fantastic, his name was Chris. He explained all the programs and was very friendly. When I called back later after discovering a problem with the keyboard he was 100% accommodating and told me he could re-​map some keys for me.
The unfortunate part was when I had to deal with his coworkers the next day. I came in and the keys weren’t quite re-​mapped like I would have wanted, so I just wanted to make one small change. One of the guys there seemed to have absolutely zero knowledge about what key re-​mapping even was, and basically had to admit that he had no idea what Chris did… he wouldn’t ADMIT that he had no idea and just wasted my time with irrelevant jargon as if I wouldn’t realize. Then the tall old bearded guy comes over and tells me that what I want actually CANNOT be done and I should just BUY a new keyboard from them. I knew it absolutely COULD be done so I tried to tell him, but he just kept arguing with me and then walked off to deal with another customer… so I left. I went home, found the program that Chris used, and fixed the problem myself in under a minute without ANY prior knowledge. Basically, these guys are idiots. CHRIS is great.

Normally I try to include some positives in my reviews but the only thing good I can say is that the place brought back memories of the early days of computing.
The «salesman» tried to sell me a VGA cable as new for 14.95 and it had dust on it and wasn’t even in a bag. After that he said he couldn’t sell it to me unless I provide a home address and contact information. When I declined he said it was required. I decide the guy was just too shady and walked to Radio Shack and made the purchase without providing any contact information or even a zip code. (yes radio shack was more expensive, but worth it in my book)

This was the worst retail experience of my life. My 18-​month old HP 19″ laptop wasn’t turning on. I took it to these guys. Big mistake.
I was working online and the PC died and wouldn’t turn back on. They told me my motherboard was fried and would need to be replaced. They quoted me $ 490 and after thinking it over and researching for 2 weeks, I decided to pay it. Then there was a delay in the shop being able to find the motherboard and they called me a week later and let me know, that was okay. Then there was another week they still couldn’t find the part and I was planning to cancel the order, but they got a hold of a motherboard. Cool.
A full two weeks went by for shipping time. Do they get their parts from China? This is week 5 now since I had paid them for the part. They called to tell me it arrived on Thursday but I wasn’t able to pick up the laptop til the next Tuesday.
I’m pretty miffed at this point and ask them in light of the delays if they would remove the last hour of labor ($ 65) from my total. The guy goes ballistic on me. He says there is no way it could have taken that long because he is looking at the receipt. He leans over the counter and in front of the whole store, calls me a liar. Loudly. I felt awful.
I asked to see the invoice so we could compare the date, since I paid up front for the part. He wouldn’t let me see it and was going on about the ethics of agreeing to pay for services rendered. I was mortified. He could have simply refused to take off the final hour. I asked to speak to someone else since me and the guy were obviously having friction and he told me to call his boss. So I did and his boss agreed to take off the last $ 65. I took my pc and left.
The motherboard failed 3 days later. My boyfriend took it to their Mission address, I couldn’t go back. They repaired it. Wrote «No More Warranty» on receipt, seriously guys. It died again a week later.
I bought a new pc.

These guys suck so bad I am surprised they are still in business. I guess there are enough new UCSC students that can be fleeced that they are able to sustain?
When I first went there I was seeking an adapter from my USB port; was interested in a used one. They quoted me a price of $ 34 & up; being the frugal shopper I am, checked around,
found the same new adapters for $ 28-​$ 32.
I am not going to let one mis adventure to a PC repair shop stop me from another try. this time though, my friend needed his laptop repaired, when he went back to pick it up, they said that he owed so much money on it so he left it there. They didn’t give him a quote or any of the business formalities. I feel bad because I took him there!
As a fact, it was a weird deal. I walk in there, the owner runs behind this card table grabbing aseat, hyming, hawing, not knowing a stich about computers but he takes my laptop into the backroom partitioned but I am able to see what is going on. The back room boys tell him what to say to me, even though I am hearing the conversation, he comes back out with a slightly different story.
I’ll tell anyone that lives in Santa Cruz that this is one of the worst businesses that I have come across. That says a lot because I have lived here since 1965. If I could give this business a lesser than one star, I would give it to this place for sure.

Generally a very poor inventory and very high prices. I came here for some fans for my case and theirs were $ 10 each. I ended up buying a few fans online for less than $ 1.50/ea that exceeded the specs of the fans they were offering me in terms of dBa and CFM.
I wouldn’t recommend wasting your time here.