Chip & Bytes

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They took my laptop, with a hard drive to install. Simple for them to swap out. They did a great job, and appreciate the prompt service!

I use my laptop PC for my business, personal, and school tasks. Right before Christmas, it started acting funny, and then would not open any program. There was some kind of self-repair program that I tried but that did nothing. I thought I would talk to friends about who could fix this for me, but it was so near the holidays and everyone was so hassled and busy with life, I didn't bother. I also was not impressed with the geeks at the local office supply or electronics stores, just from past experiences. So I signed on for Angie's List and started searching there. I was ready to drive an hour round trip, based on the reviews that I read, but I didn't want to because I was so pressed for time. Then I found Chip and Bytes in my area (about 10 minutes from me) and I liked what I read. I called Chip, the owner, and he said I could bring the laptop over and he would get to it that day. Originally, he thought he could replace the hard drive and get it working again, but that did not work because my laptop electronics were damaged - probably resulting from a faulty adapter that I recently replaced. So we opted for data recovery. We had already purchased a replacement laptop, so I took it there, and Chip transferred all the data from the dead laptop to the living one. It was like a miracle. I was able to get right back to work immediately, because Chip performed the data recovery properly and quickly. He was very responsive to phone calls and kept his promises in regard to completing the work when he said he would. And it was very reasonable; $125. All of his pricing for his various services is posted on a sign at the front counter in his shop and there were no surprises. Also, I am not very computer savvy and Chip very patiently explained things to me in a way I could understand. I am very grateful to Chip and plan to use him again to resurrect some data from a desktop hard drive that crashed years ago. We had been saving the computer, not knowing where to take it. Now I do. I would highly recommend Chip and his service.

I was not satisfied with them, it was full of viruses when I got it back. They also did not return my power cord, and I had to go pick it up at a latter date.

The first time I called Chip and Wallys I was distressed because my computer had totally stopped working after being painfully slow for quite awhile. I called the library for a referral (because I could not look online myself); they went online and gave me a few names and numbers for computer repair businesses. I left a message for one person who did not call me for several days, but Chip answered the phone and gave me the option of coming to his shop with my computer, or spending a bit more and having him make a house call after his shop hours. He agreed to come out THAT night, spending over two hours working on my equipment; he left me with a highly functioning computer. He told me he would help me with some of the additional tasks over the phone once I bought the equipment I needed. About 6 weeks later I called again because I thought I had downloaded a virus, but on inspection he found I did not allow the virus to enter my computer. He came to my house, this time in the morning before he opened his shop; he determined there was no virus, hooked up my fax/printer, set up my router and tested my wireless. additionally, he took some pictures with his camera of some flagstone pavers I wanted to sell online and e-mailed them to me after he arrived back at his shop. I had mentioned that one of the reasons they were still stacked on my patio was because I still had not mastered the task of obtaining a picture for an advertisement. I have very limited technical experience, so I really appreciate that in addition to being knowledgeable, Chip is mature and very understanding.