Smart Ideas by Joe Shipley

I was very satisfied with the service.

It was a pleasant experience. Joe is professional and friendly. He requests some upfront information you the device you want serviced so that he can be prepared for the job ahead of time.

I purchased a Big Deal from Joe Shipley’s Smart Ideas. I was contacted immediately to set up an appointment. Joe was very upfront about the time he might need to perform a tune-up. He sent instructions for preparations I could do before the appointment to help shorten the time. He called at exactly the hour agreed upon. He went right to work, explaining what he was doing and why. All of my questions…even the dumb ones… were answered clearly by offering analogies that made sense to a non-technical mind. Work was completed in the allotted time. Joe then offered to help with one item I had mentioned early in the conversation “off the clock.” It took only a few minutes, but was definitely above and beyond. The entire process was professional. Joe was pleasant and listened, which is not always the case when working with an expert. It was great not having to leave home to have this work accomplished. I would recommend him without reservation.

We were having some severe "slow down" problems with my wife's computer. Even though we had run anti-virus software, removed unnecessary files, and scrubbed the registry, the system was still very slow. I knew we needed a tune-up but really didn't want to deal with the hassle of disconnecting the computer and taking it into a shop to troubleshoot. When I saw the Angie's List coupon for an online, interactive tune-up, I quickly purchased it from Smart Ideas (Joe Shipley). After leaving a voicemail at the number on the email from Angie's List, Joe contacted me promptly and was able to schedule a session within a few days. He sent prep information as promised and called the home right on time. During the remote session, he checked in with me via phone twice to ensure that what he was about to do would not screw up the way in which we used the computer. Given the amount of work that was required to get the computer back to its full operating speed, there was a charge for an additional 30 mins ($55) but Joe definitely spent more than 30 mins chasing down and fixing the last issues. During the entire interaction, Joe was courteous, professional and most importantly, explained why he was doing what he was doing. He also followed up his service with an email summary of what we should do to keep the computer operating at top speed. All in all, a great service interaction. I would definitely recommend Joe and Smart Ideas if you need a computer tune-up.

Excellent. He corrected my problems.

It went very well. The convenience of being able to do it from home was awesome. He is very personable as well, I talked to him on the phone while he fixed my computer. For the amount of work he did, I think it went very fast.

He was very nice and friendly when he performed the services. He did all he could but couldn't completely finish the last step. I'm still hoping to have him finish the work.

Prior to the appointment, Joe sent me a three page email explaining how to download the program that would allow him access to the computer. He also explained what to expect during the appointment. He advised allowing 1 to 2 hours for the session. Unfortunately, my computer presented several problems. I do not know what all of the problems were, but after working 2 1/2 hours on the job, [I sat in front of the computer as he did his work] he said he would stop the clock, so my total payment would be for two hours. He would, of course, continue working on the problems and would get in touch with me the next day. The computer was left on. At 7:30 am the following day, he sent me a note that he had fixed the problems and that I should review and test the machine. Getting onto the computer is now fun and not a chore. Everything works well. Joe Shipley is meticulous and obviously very knowledgeable about computer repair. He is a professional who is easy to talk with. All in all, he worked over fourteen and 1/2 hours on my problem computer. I was very impressed with his persistence not to stop after two hours and to carry on until the end. I will contact Joe Shipley again, if I have other computer issues. I highly recommend him to those persons who have problems with Windows on their machines.

Great job, well pleased - will contact Joe in the future for any computer problems.

I explained the issue to Joe about "Windows" folder hogging about 90% of my hard drive rendering my PC useless for both storage and performance. Joe downloaded a couple of great programs to find the culprit. Since I bought this computer used, there were about 8 folders in the off-line files that were still resident, occupying about 22gb each. Joe deleted 2 folders and tested the system to ensure there was no collateral impact to other programs in the computer. Testing went fine; no other programs were affected. I did the rest on my own. I am very pleased with Joe's fix and also his great personality. I was just about ready to buy another desktop; but Joe fixed my problem and the new desktop can now wait because this one runs great now. I will definitely use his service when the need arises again. This Angies List Big Deal was the best yet!.

My computer now runs three times faster than it used to. Joe was wonderful. He talked me through everything and did what I needed. He gave me a list of things to do every week for maintainence. The pricing was very reasonable. I purchased a Big Deal for an hour of work but he let me know ahead of time what the pricing would be if we went over an hour. I plan on using him in the future and I definitely recommend him to others.

Joe called on time, asked me all pertinent questions some of which I didn't even think about. He then worked on my desktop independently, only contacting me on specific issues that came up as he was working and ways to further improve my desktop performance. He made sure to minimize the time I was on the phone with him by asking for different inputs in the same call. He was also very professional and mindful of my investment in his services, before the first hour of service was up, he clearly defined what he still needed to do and gave me the option to continue the work or leave the work as it was. I never felt he was pressuring me to spend more and gladly accepted to have him work for another hour because there was a clear return on my investment. My desktop works again like it used to when it was new. Joe did an excellent job. Also, knowing I had concerns about spams and other issues he provided advice on useful tools and software that took care of the problem - this was on top of his services and I really appreciated it. There is no comparison between the service offered by Smart Ideas and other in-person tech support providers I used in the past. Joe was more knowledgeable and on top of the problem until it was fixed. With Smart Ideas I didn't even have to pay for their traveling time or gas. I highly recommend Joe - it was a real pleasure working with him. He is effective and price competitive.

First of all, Joe Shipley is a very, very nice man who was interested in helping me, not just making a dollar. Soon after purchasing his services on Angie's List, he contacted me to see if we could set up an appointment. I was very impressed as he didn't wait for me - he reached out to say "let me help you." We agreed upon a mutually convenient day and time (which would have been a matter of a day for him had it not been for my schedule) when he could work with me via Team Sharing software. He sent me an email days beforehand asking me to install a couple of programs so as not to spend time when we talked. I really appreciated that, as it saved me money. Joe called me promptly at the appointed time and then worked very quickly, finding and cleaning parts of my computer that I didn't know existed. He explained everything that he was doing, making sure that he didn't delete some program that I used. He even went a little time over the contracted/paid hour and made sure to finish the job. He then also told me things to do in the future to help keep my computer clean. I cannot recommend Joe Shipley and Smart Ideas too much. He did a tremendous job. He was polite, courteous, knowledgeable, helpful and patient. I will turn to Joe should I ever have any additional problems and will be sure to tell anyone about this man and his service.

Oh, my goodness!! I don't have enough words to tell how great a job Joe did. My computer was running like someone had poured molasses in it. I mean, like click to load a web page then write a couple of paper checks while you're waiting for it to load. One morning, I had to do something before work and was so frustrated I made 2 trips from the 2nd floor to the basement and back to get my laptop so I could do what I had to do. Joe found about 97 programs running in the background! By the time he finished it was about 47, plus to save time he showed me which additional ones could be removed after our session and how to do it. By my own mistake, I hadn't seen the detailed prep instructions mentioned above until about 30 mins before our appointment. I started working on them and was able to finish, but one download (probably because of the "gunk" in my machine) wouldn't load properly. When I talked to Joe, he said I should reboot. Well, since the machine hadn't been cleaned yet, the reboot was like watching paint dry. Joe suggested, again to save time and not run up the bill unnecessarily, why don't we hang up and get off the clock, let the machine crank and then call him back. I can't even tell you how many things Joe removed from my machine which were causing it's slow performance. There were a number of different processes to check out, but the removal of identified items was very repetitive. Joe walked me through a representative sample of each type, showed me how to continue the removal and gave me a list of which things to go after when I our call concluded. This enabled Joe to use my time and money more effectively by focusing on the tasks that truly required his expertise and things that I couldn't do myself. I ended up paying The Big Deal rate of $59 for 1 hour of service (discounted from $110) plus $55 for an additional 30 mins at the regular rate. I did not get charged for the time we had to go "off the record". With Joe's expertise and speed, plus the savings from the "homework items" he showed me that I could do myself, for the 90 mins I paid for I easily received 3 hours worth of service. I discussed with Joe that I plan to schedule another appointment in about 3 months to finish up some things we didn't get to (and meanwhile I'll make a list), and then plan a regularly scheduled appointment every 6 mos to once a year. I now have my own personal "IT guy"; life is good! You need to call him - right away!

Joe was positive and upbeat and pleasant to be with on a 1 1/2 hour phone call. Whenever appropriate he explained what he was doing and why and helped me understand how to stay on top of keeping my computer uncluttered and running optimally. This was an overall positive experience. I feel much more secure that all is well with my computer and that I have some good and understandable resources with which to keep it that way.

Joe was on the dot responsive in calling me for our appointment, and went right to work examining my computer for running processes and cpu hog programs. Joe shortened the list of running processes, reset timeout settings, reselected some program options, identified some programs for me to delete, and explained why having many anti-virus programs running at the same time isn't a recipe for performance. The result is a computer that starts quickly, doesn't have its "moments" where it can't be bothered, and is a pleasure to use. And he fixed the character size and contrast so the display is more readable than I can remember it ever being. I use my computer for mostly email and Web browsing, not for CD burning, streaming, or gaming, just FYI. I am well satisfied with his services. He is great to work with, and I will use him again and recommend to anyone who has become dissatisfied with the performance of their computer.

It was great. They called me when they said they would, they were prompt, charged what I was quoted, and I was happy enough with their service to use them again in the future.

The computer is running much, much better and I learned a few things along the way! We spent an hour and a half on the phone, sharing view of my computer and removing unnecessary files and programs. The money and time were well worth the investment and I am very pleased. The best part was that Joe didn't make me feel like an idiot, as so many tech types manage to do (deliberately, or not). He spoke in simple terms, used analogies to communicate concepts and was an all around nice guy. That goes a long way with me! I would highly recommend his services. Melodie

I emailed Joe at his home in Arizona, and he promptly replied. At his suggestion, I called him and I followed his instructions to download software that enabled him to "take over" our computer and control it remotely. I chose to watch his work and interact with him, though he said I could just watch or even not interact, if I preferred. I was quite amazed at how well he knew my computer and most of the software on it, and what he didn't recognize, he quickly did a search on and found out what it was. He then "cleaned up" many pieces of software that I no longer needed or wanted, and made several other changes that made the computer faster and more efficient. I made plans with Joe for a future session to fix some other problems I have. I think Joe's remote service is an excellent answer for folks who want to avoid hauling their computer to a repair shop.

My computer had slowed to a crawl. After finding Joe on Angie's list, I called him. For the next two hours he remotely worked on my computer. He was very pleasant and knowledgeable, pausing to explain what he was doing during every step. Before we hung up, he told me that if it still did not operate well to call him back, and he would check it out again. Unfortunately, despite his effort the computer's performance did not improve. Two weeks later I left him a message. He promptly called me back and ninety minutes later my computer was operating much better than it had in months. He did not charge me for this extra time! Thanks, Joe!!!

I have been working with computers for a long time and I got stuck on a computer problem that I tried to figure out for hours. I guess I am getting a little rusty. Joe fixed all my problems in 15 minutes. The situation I was having with my computer would have cost me a lot of time and money without Joe being there. I would have paid him double to fix the problems but he is really reasonable. I would recommend Joe to anyone.

When he performed all of his services, my computer was faster and all unwanted/unneeded programs had been removed. In addition, ,he gave me ideas on how I could better use my computer to my advantage. In all, he was extremely friendly and professional. It should be pointed out that Mr Shipley was talking to me over the telephone and making the changes to my computer off site. Truly this was a unique and delightful experience for me. I certainly will highly recommend Smart Ideas to everyone, especially all those who are cyberphobic like me.

Joe was an absolute joy to deal with. His patience and professionalism were wonderful. He explained what he was doing every step of the way and provided training that enabled me to utilize my computer more efficiently and to maintain it more effectively. Joe is a top notch professional and I would highly recommend his services.

Joe Shipley was very responsive. He helped me fix my computer the same day I called him. I was not sure how someone in AZ was going to help me since I am in SC but he was able to do everything remotely through the internet and it was terrific. He not only helped to fix my computer issues but he took the time to explain what he was doing and to teach me how to resolve things on my own for future reference and gave me tips on how to keep my computer running better going forward. I highly recommend him and although I hope to never have to call him again - he will be the one I go to should my computer decide it's mad at me again.

They provided a one hour computer cleaning and servicing as part of my computer purchase package. They communicate to you how the procedure will work, and describe exactly what will happen. They're fast and effective, I'll be using them again no doubt about it.