Lapin Systems, Inc.

Tune up went well with no issues. They were punctual and everything went well. I trust them.

I had an $80 and $377 charge and that could have included the equipment or hardware. I have a UNIX system and nobody works on that anymore. The prices were fair. I paid a lot sometimes but when something is really wrong, you have to pay for it. They came right away. I don’t think you find people like them anymore.

I did not have an appointment, but a technician was able to help me right away. When he was unable to get the internet back up service to work he was able to pull what I needed off the old hard drive. Very pleasant and very helpful.

Spoke with Lapin via phone as they were rated highly by Angieslist. I knew the issue was a faulty HD. They agreed to change and gave me the exact price for the HD ($120) and the installation fee ($99). Wife dropped off the computer with specific instructions to change HD typed up in a letter to avoid any confusion. They followed up with a phone call to double check and again we agreed upon the services to be performed and the price. WIthout my knowledge they charged her a $29 drop-off fee which should be more clearly disclosed especially for low cost jobs. They did respond to my complaint promptly and professionally. I would use them again. Minor issue is that their invoices are VERY confusing.

I called Roger, the owner at Lapin systems. He led me to believe he understood completely about the symptoms. He wanted to send Alan Donohue over. When I heard the fee, I kind of lost my breath, but I must say that Alan gave me notice as to when he would arrive. He gave me notice that he may need to repair what other techs had corrupted. In order to make sure the system was back to orig. condition-- pristine--regarding the hard drive with associated operating system software, it took him extra time--3 hours all together. Prior to leaving, he made sure that what he'd fixed everything that was wrong. He was direct, pleasant, and honest. He suggested that if there are any problems to call Roger. I don't anticipate any problems b/c he was so thorough. I will call them again for future computer repair needs.

They service man came out to look at my computer, but it turns out he wasn't able to work on it because it is a PC and they only work with Macs. He still charged me for the service fee. Later on, the owner found out about this and apologized profusely and refunded me all of my money. He also told me that the employee who came out to my house had been fired 2 days later. I appreciate the owner fixing the situation.

Friday, 10/29/10: My boss' laptop was intermittently freezing, and he asked me if I could see about getting it fixed, as he was about to leave for Europe for a week. I take my boss’ laptop into Lapin to be fixed. An older, Caucasian gentleman with glasses is at the “reception” area, takes the laptop and my information. I work at Northwestern University, and so I have a PO with an open $300 from Northwestern on it. In spite of the fact that my boss’ information (cell phone, address, etc.) is in the system, I need them to contact me, and I explain to them that my boss will be out of the country next week. The gentleman takes down my phone number, and puts it on the order form. I also tell them to call me with an estimate of how much it will cost, and the man says “of course,” giving me the impression that this is what is normally done (I would hope so). Wednesday, 11/3/10, 4:37am: I get an email from my boss saying that he got a phone call from a computer repair store that his laptop is fixed and ready to pick up. I am infuriated. Wednesday, 11/3/10, 9:45am: I go into Lapin, and the same older gentleman is at the counter. I tell him that I had dropped off a laptop last week for repair, and it is ready to be picked up. He gets the laptop. I ask him what was wrong with it, and he says that a cable needed to be replaced, along with a sleep indicator, and if I needed more detail he could find out. I tell him the following: Me: “Actually, I have a real problem with how this transaction occurred, because a) I had asked that you guys not call my boss, who is out of the country, but to call me, and to b) please call me to let me know how much the repair would be. You guys did neither of these things: you called my boss, who is out of the country, so now he has an international charge on his cell phone, and God only knows what time you called him where he is, and you went ahead and repaired the machine without letting me know how much it would cost, and I have a real problem with that.” Older gentleman: smiles and says “Well, would you like me to take the part out?” (yes, UNBELIEVABLE) Me: (glaring) “That was not a very nice thing to say to me” Older gentleman: (sarcastically) “Well, what do you want me to do?” Me: (my voice rising) “I want you to do what you said you’d do to begin with, which is to have called me, since it’s WRITTEN DOWN here on the work order, and I wanted you to have let me know what the cost of the repair would have been before you did it” Older gentleman: looks at the work order, realizes that instructions to call me instead of my boss are clearly written down, and says “yes, that was a mistake; I don’t know why they didn’t call you. I don’t know what else to tell you – there was a mistake made. I will have to highlight it in yellow next time.” So he continues to say that “a mistake was made” and that “that’s all I can say.” So I take the laptop and leave. This gentleman never, EVER apologizes for his insolent, inappropriate and rude remark to me. I am so angry I cannot even look at this idiot (who probably thought I was some stupid girl he could push around, but in fact I am the Ph.D. lab manager of the laboratory), but then I start to think that it's strange that an older gentleman is the face-person of a computer-repair shop, and I had just read on-line that Lapin had dropped its diagnostic fee from $129 to $29, and then I think: is that man the owner? A quick Google image search of the owner's name, Roger Knuth, quickly confirmed for me that the gentleman with the obnoxious attitude and unprofessional, mean-spirited comments is indeed the gentleman with whom I had this terrible experience. I am very sad to write a bad review - especially to a small business, as I truly believe small businesses are the heart and soul of America. However, what occurred was unacceptable, and I can't even complain to the boss, since it is the owner himself that acted so badly. We have 11 Macintosh computers in the laboratory alone: pretty much everyone else on the floor also has a Mac as well, and I guarantee that none of them will ever be repaired by Lapin.

The hard drive on my 8-month-old MacBook suddenly crashed late one Thursday night. Lapin took a look at it Friday morning, and I had it back completely restored the next business day (Monday afternoon). All of my business files are on that computer, so I was pretty nervous. Luckily I was backed up, but even so, there was a problem with the restoration due to a corrupt file or application or something. Jeff at Lapin knew just what to do to fix it, and explained everything clearly over the phone. The repair was covered under warranty, so I only paid a $150 optional "rush job" fee--kind of steep, but I guess that's only fair if you can't afford to wait your turn. I completely trust these guys and I highly recommend them.

We were very satisfied with them. They were very good. They charge for $129 an hour. We were only charged for a half hour, plus the additional expenses for each job. They actually came to our house. They were very professional. The man who came out was very patient with my questions.

I dropped my Macbook off Thursday at noon for repair. Lapin is certified by Apple Care to work on Macs so the repairs were covered by my warranty. I did make follow-up calls on Thursday and Friday and on Friday was told it would not be ready until the following week Tuesday since parts needed to be ordered. I was also told at some point they were backed-up which was a bummer since I depend on my machine to earn a living. However, I was told upfront what the policy was [2-4 days] so it wasn't really a surprise. Since they had the machine, I also had them upgrade the memory which was is a bit pricey though they did not charge for labor since the machine was already open. I have to admit I was not the most patient customer, but with the exception of an initial tense conversation, things went OK between me and the service technician and the person who does the scheduling, Bonnie was always pleasant and receptive when I called. I will say, Lapin does quality work and my Macbook screams now so I am very happy with the results and its performance. If they didn't have to order parts, I would have said 4 days seemed excessive. Is it worth the extra cost - I would not take my Macbook anywhere else and while it is under warranty, that is where it will get serviced.

They do in-house service and only work on Macintosh computers. They are extraordinarily knowledgeable about the mac and the only alternative would be to take things in to the Apple store. I like that they come to the house because desktop computers are too heavy to be lugging around. I've been very pleased with them and the advice that they have given us. They have a basic charge of $150 and that includes an hour of work. They are frequently about an hour late in arriving. I will certainly use them again.

They were very efficient and professional.

The service agent was prompt, thorough, instructive, and very professional. He solved the problem and helped with some other issues

They were very prompt in providing me with an estimate that was reasonable and with recommendations on whether or not it made sense to do the repair on my aging PC laptop. I elected not to have them make the repair, but was impressed with their service.

My son said his old Mac computer was suddenly shutting down. I tried to fix it but couldn't get the Airport to work, and as it was shutting down while browsing the internet, I couldn't get the problem to repeat. The Apple store said they don't service computers over 7 years old ("vintage") and recommended Lapin. They charge $129 just to look at it, which is a little pricey, but a lot cheaper than a new computer! This covers the first hour of any work they have to do. A couple of days later, Jeff called to tell me that the computer wasn't shutting down. He thought it was a power cord issue. Unfortunately the person who took in the computer didn't communicate exactly how and when the computer shut down, so after I told that to Jeff he worked on it for another couple of days. He still couldn't get it to replicate the problem, so we went to pick it up. So it wouldn't be a total waste of time, he performed all needed updates. He did verify that there was nothing wrong with the Airport, and sure enough when I got home I found that I was just trying to use it too far away from the main unit. Fortunately, they didn't charge me more than my original $129.

Lapin's friendly, helpful staff diagnosed the problem in a seemingly dead laptop computer, and they fixed it exactly when they said they would. I recommend this company.

Went great. Young, polite, computer wiz came in, fixed my problem, networked the printers, (an old black and white laser printer that I had just about given up on) and then with time left on the hour of service, did software updates and scanned for viruses.

Excellent, friendly service when our Mac powerbook crashed. It was still covered by Apple and Lapin took care of everything.

They responded the same day to my inquiry. When I brought in the computer they promised it would be ready the next day or day after. I received an e-mail from them the following afternoon that it was ready to be picked up. It was ready when I arrived. No problems. No hassles.

I had a big problem that needed professional attention... troubleshooting connection issues. These were solved. Lapin was diligent in staying with it until all issues were solved. Came back 3 times.

VERY RELIABLE AND NICE. ASK FOR ANDRES, PC SPECIALIST. VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE. EASY TO FIND IN EVANSTON, DOES HOUSE CALLS IN CHICAGO.

PATRICK WASTED NO TIME, ANSWERED ALL QUESTIONS, TOOK CARE OF ALL OUR ISSUES, AND OFFERED SOME USEFUL ADVICE AND TIPS AS HE WORKED. BOTH MACS ARE BETTER THAN NEW.

WE WORK IN A MAC ENVIRONMENT, BUT I THINK THEY ALSO DO PC SERVICE. FOR MAC WORK I WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE.

PATRICK WAS GREAT. I AM A VERY NON-TECHNICAL PERSON, BUT HE WORKED WITH ME ON MY LEVEL. I WAS SO HAPPY THEY WERE ABLE TO RECOVER THE DATA FROM MY DAMAGED HARD DRIVE.

VERY TIMELY RETURN OF CALL AND I WOULD RECOMMEND.