Austin's Computers

I came to Austin all worried about my computer. He quickly put me at ease and let me know that I wasn't going to lose my data. He sat down with me and gave me the time I needed so we could figure out what to do. No other place I've ever been to gave me the time like Austin did. He got my computer back to me by the next day! I'm just so impressed that I had to write a review for him. I'll definitely be back the next time I have computer issues.

There are 3 things which immediately put AUSTIN in a negative category: 1. He is a and quot;lone wolfand quot;. He has no partners. Lone wolfs can be very good, but there are often and quot;loneand quot; because they do not play well with other wolves. As a matter of principle, you should always choose to work with a and quot;shopand quot; of more than one worker. 2. He demands cash for services. You do not find out about this until the work is completed and the bill is presented Nothing on AUSTIN's web page mentions this fact. As a matter or principle, do not use free lance operators unless they let you pay with a credit card. First, the credit card companies demand some minimal financial responsibility and you have a lot more going for you if things go sour. 3. When AUSTIN begins reviewing your computer, he opens it up and begins to recommend changes before any testing. I needed a new power supply (NO, I did not). My brand new ASUS motherboard (selected by MAXPC as one of the best) was likely to be buggy. (This could be-there should be appropriate testing.) What professional does this? 4. AUSTIN claimed he updated drivers and cmos files -- this is about 20 minutes of work. No testing of memory was done that I know of. He charged me about $250. CURRENT STATUS OF MACHINE: 1. Machine still stops with blue screen errors ; it is unuseable currently. 2. Machine had several drivers that were not up to date; I ran two driver update programs which found about 10 drivers out of date. 3. There were 3 pieces of malware which were detected and removed by 360 TOTAL SECURITY.k 4. The mouse driver for my mouse was removed/replaced. I had to figure out how to reinstall my old mouse driver. My advice: run, do not walk, from the services of this young man, smooth talker that he is. I believe this is the kind of individual that ANGIE's LIST was created for.

Austin did what he said he was going to do, but I felt like I was dealing with an old school auto mechanic or car dealer. His goal is to get you to keep upgrading your computer, so he can continue to service and install the upgrades. There is logic to this as newer equipment is often of a cheaper quality. He seems like a decent guy, but in my opinion he is not trustworthy. He specifically told me he doesn't make money on the parts he puts in. He said he makes his money on the installation fees. When I verified the price of the power supply he put in, it ranged from $44 - $60. He charged me $119. He was fast and met my schedule. I dropped my PC off at 4 in the afternoon and picked it up with work completed at 8 am the following morning. He put the new power supply in and cleaned the inside of my pc, removed the dust. He missed the dust on the front of the PC within the DVD drive covers. Not a big deal, but it showed lack of attention to detail. He also didn't reset my PCs time and date, so I ran into some issues with my web browser not working properly. I called him and he was able to know what was wrong in 10 seconds, but it showed the lack of attention to detail. I also had to waste my time calling him. When comparing pricing with my old vendor who is across town (we moved) and with Microcenter, pricing was comparable. Both of these have retail locations. Austin mentioned a few times that his prices were better because he works from home, but that is not the case. If you are stuck and willing to pay for the fast service go with him. Be ready for a fast talking computer guy. If you have another option, I suggest taking it.

I was very happy with the service. Small shop, he needed to order the part, but I don't think anyone stocks power supplies for an iMac. Was complete ahead of his projected schedule.

He came over and did a good job. My printer would not print anything. He worked for 30-45 minutes and had it fixed. He reprogrammed the computer and printer because the connection between the two had been lost. He did the job well and was very efficient.