Tech-Toads

I went and picked it up on Jan 5th brought it home and had no drivers for my wireless adapter or Ethernet adapter. I couldn?t get on the Internet at all and the performance was horrible. I called and brought it back in. Dan called me back a few days later and said really nothing they could do the mother board was fried and started offering me a new computer starting at $400. Then told me it would be another $59 for a diagnostic fee. I reminded him that they already charged me the $199 for the recovery; he said he would refund the $140. He said he would provide me with a cashier?s check. He also said I could come pick up the computer but he would let me know when he would have a check for me, Huh?, why don?t I just pick up the computer and the check at the same time? He gave me some run around answer about having to go to the bank to get it and he wouldn?t be able to go today. I waited 3 days and called him, he said yeah he would have the check next week. Next week came around, called him again, said he would have it the next day, next day came around, called again, said was on a onsite install and couldn?t make it to the bank. This went on in the same fashion day in and day out. I finally called him again after 23 days and asked him where the check was. Again he said he would have it tomorrow and he would call me when he had it. I asked him why he thought I could trust him after all these times he said he would have the check and didnt. I explained that this was a very bad way of doing business at which point he said he wasn?t going to deal with me anymore and hung up on me. I am reversing the charges on my credit card for the entire $140 not the full $199 he charged me, but what he said he would refund me. He was the one that offered me the refund, I gladly took it but clearly it was an empty fraudulent offer. If there was a rating beneath ?poor? I would give it to them. I will never do business with them again and I recommend you don?t either. I have a hard time believing they will be in business for very much longer anyway.

Brought in a lap top that was freezing intermittently. Called first, owner indicated over the phone that they would be able to diagnose and fee would be waived if they completed any other paid service, but indicated the problem was likely a virus, which I doubted since the lap top had not really been used and the malware/anti-virus software was all up to date and working fine. I ended up bringing in the laptop and the owner was not in when I dropped it off. I explained to the other guy who was there what had been happening, he indicated I should get a call later in the day. The next day I ended up calling them to find out what was going on with my lap top, they indicated they had it running all day, and were able to recreate the freezing problem I had but were still doing diagnostics on it to determine what was the cause. He (the owner) would get back to me later. He called later that night and left a voicemail indicating there was an intermittent hard drive failure, that he could replace the hard drive but it may be more worth my while to just get a new lap top, and started running through the options he had available, starting at the $400 price range. I asked him what he would charge to replace the hard drive, he indicated $200, and so I said I would need to call him back. A week later I wanted more information so I tried calling, no answer so I left a voicemail. I called the next day too with no answer, and I never got a call back. I had my husband go to the store to talk to them in person about replacing the hard drive, and when the store opened no one was there, he ended up waiting outside the store for 2 hours and no one ever came to open the store, he left an angry voicemail and never got a call back. He left the store at noon and it was still not opened. I ended up getting a hold of the owner of the store that afternoon, and as long as I was asking about what the options were for buying a refurbished lap top where he was more than willing to talk to me, but as soon as I started asking questions about repairing my lap top he got impatient and rude. He also changed the diagnosis, in this conversation he said it was the mother board, then backtracked and said it was the hard drive, but then said it was hardware and that the computer was worthless, that if I wanted to look at a new computer to come in, otherwise he didn’t have any more time to help me and essentially hung up on me. We both went into the store over the weekend to pick up the laptop. I wanted answers as to what was wrong as it was guaranteed he would be able to determine what was wrong initially. At the store the owner was not there, just the younger guy who indicated diagnosing computer problems was not an exact science, that they had determined they were not willing to try to fix my computer as they couldn’t say with any certainty what was actually wrong with it. We asked to speak to the manager, who was not there. He tried getting him on the phone without any luck. We asked that he call us once he is in the store because we wanted to talk with him about our bad experience. We never did get a call from him. The only reason I am grading the place a D and not an F was because the employee let us take the lap top back (still broken) without charging for the diagnostics as they were not actually able to tell me what was wrong with my computer. He said he was probably going to get in trouble for doing that, but I really hope not as his customer service was much better than the owner’s. Overall it was a poor experience which could be totally attributed to the owners poor customer service. I felt as though the owner was more interested in selling a new computer, or other “easy” services like transferring data. I was also found it frustrating that the owner kept saying that my laptop was “worthless” and instead of either acknowledging he didn’t know what was wrong, or offer to try to repair it for the initially stated $200 he kept stating it would be a better value to get a new computer for “starting at $400”; that a computer comparable to the computer I currently have would be $450 to start. In simple math, a $200 repair is a better use of my money than buying a “refurbished” computer for $450.

We are very pleased with the rebuild of our computer from Windows XP to Windows 7. Pricing was very fair, customer service excellent and turnaround time excellent. They even followed up afterwards to ensure we were completely satisfied! Would highly recommend Tech Toads!

Everything turned out great. They were fast, communicated well, and did what was expected. I would hire them again.

The service was performed at my home (1.5 hrs.) and then continued with a computer linkage connecton continued sevice (1 - 2 + hrs) with their business facilities. They took care of all issues and explained problems and corrections made. It was a pleasurable service call.

Staff was friendly and professional. Upfront about costs, called with estimates before doing any repairs. Offered guidance when asked about repair options. Would highly recommend and will use in the future.

I took old laptop to Tech-Toads for evaluation and repair. They confirmed the cpu was failing and that it would not be cost effective to replace it. They offered to discount any future service by the amount I paid for the evaluation fee. I purchased a new laptop and had them perform the setup on it. They removed 9 not needed and unwanted programs and set-up system configuration for optimum performance. Cleared out 231 broken registery links and completed 71 Windows 8 updates. Installed antivirus software and added back the Start button. They did an excellent job and the work was completed in less than a day. I would definitely use them again for any computer problem.

They were close. They are only about half a mile away and they did a good job. They seemed knowledgeable. They answered my questions and so on and so forth.

Very well. Will absolutely use them again and recommend them to everyone.

We had a brand-new Windows 8 laptop that suddenly lost its internet connectivity. The tech was able to talk us through the fix, and we were back online quickly. I appreciated that he was able to fit us in during a very busy season.

It went very well. Called them - brought in 2 computers at 2 different times. They fixed them both by upgrading the OS to Windows 7. They are only 6 blocks from my home so it was very convienient.

I called Tech-Toads after having no success with a "similar" company. They told me that they could help me out over the internet but since I lived close to their location and I was going out of town for a week I decided to drop the computer off in their store. They were very confident om making the computer faster and they were successful. I picked up the computer and they explained that part of the problem was several viruses and malware that the other company that I had hired to clean it up couldn't even find any problems to start with. Tech-Toads loaded new virus protection and fixed over a thousand broken registries. They uninstalled factory programs that were bogging down the system and updated windows for me. The computer is working great. Later that day when my wife logged into her computer her client database would not open. She called Tech-Toads and they logged into her computer remotely and fixed the problem with no extra charge. Thank you very much it is a great relief to finally know a qualified and friendly computer repair service.

I called Tech-Toads based on the ratings & feedback from previous customers (found on Angie's List). I talked with Dan and briefly explained what was going on with my computer. It was locking up frequently, sometimes we would have to force a shutdown, the fan would run constantly if we were on the computer for any length of time, and eventually it was not allowing us to start up without hitting the F1 key. Overall just extremely messed up. Dan asked me some questions about my system and determined that it sounded like a Vista malfunction. We brought it in for a diagnostic check. They let us know what they discovered within 24 hrs - as they said they would. It ended up being a problem with the hard drive. Don't remember the exact words they used but the hard drive was failing and it wasn't going to get any better. So they gave us an estimate on replacing the hard drive, installing Windows 7, saving our data and cleaning up the system. They quoted us $347 to do all of that, then needed to add 1 GB of memory for an additional $30. They were most helpful from the moment we walked in the door. Marc did a fabulous job of keeping us informed on the progress. We had our computer back within 72 hrs. They had even given us other options if we didn't want to put the $ into our old system. So after we discussing the options we decided to go with the repair of our existing system - which was the least expensive route for us. I have no regrets, it runs like a brand new machine! Marc said it would, and it does! We are very pleased with the work that was done. And here's the bonus...I had been waiting to install CorelDRAW X5 on the computer, so when I attempted to do this and it wasn't working for me - it kept bringing me to an error message - I called Tech-Toads and Marc went to the remote connection - so I didn't have to bring my system back to them - and he tried the installation for me and went thru everything he could to determine the problem. It ends up it's a problem with my Corel disc, which is what he thought from the beginning. He did this with no extra charge. I found both Dan and Marc to be very informative, helpful, up front & honest. Our experience with them was extremely professional, yet very comfortable. We will continue to bring ALL of our computer issues and questions to them. They show integrity and honesty; qualities that are all too rare these days. I highly recommend them to everyone!

The computer kept going to a blue screen.Tech toads cleaned up the hard drive and installed Windows 7 over Windows XP. The computer has worked great since.

My computer was in the process of dying when I took it to TechToads. They defined the problem and indicated to me the cost and time involved and the overall prognosis. I explained to them my technical knowledge (low to medium). They discussed the issues with me in language I could understand – as opposed to other computer services I have used. When I asked them for possible alternatives, they explained them to me without pressuring me to pursue any of them. I finally decided to purchase one of their refurbished computers. I had explained to them my primary usages of the computer. They were able to retrieve data from my old computer and install it in the new unit. They also were obviously aware of my needs and set up my new computer in a way that was advantageous to the things for which I used the computer. My computer is now configured better than any other computer I have had. I felt their prices were quite competitive. At no time did they make me feel like a dummy. I thought their attitudes were quite courteous and useful to me. I have only had the new unit for a couple of days so it is too soon to evaluate that unit. However, based on what I know thus far, I would recommend them without reservation.

He did that through his office, where he works. He was at his place, and I was at home. He was able to go through his computer into my computer to fix it all up. That was spooky for me. It was great. He does what he's there to do. He was efficient. He told me what he was going to do before he did it. It seemed to work out well when he did it. It would seem like it would be more normal to bring the computer in. He was easy to deal with and friendly. I really didn't price anybody else.

It went very well and everything is working smoothly. Dan is very knowledgable and professional and he will get all of our computer related business in the future. Thanks Dan!

I looked all over town for someone who understood this issue and who thought they could fix it. I was vey worried that I would lose my hard drive with lots of precious pictures. Ron first backed up the hard drive and called me to assure me that it was safe before proceeding to fix the software issue.

Great! The service was very convinient, he came to our home to pick up and drop off the computer. He was very accurate with time estimates given. He was also great at communicating with me while repairs were being made. He only did repairs that were necessary and didn't try to up charge me on a bunch of additional services.

He did a great job with replacing the keyboard and all of that. He tried very hard to work in a short timeframe to get it back to us. The prices were reasonable with regard to that. The maintenance turned out to be a headache, because we had a lot of printer issues following that, which required a return visit and additional charges. Ultimately, it ended up being resolved about 8 months later by another company.

First off I am about the least technical savy person that anyone will find. I purchased a new computer about 2 years ago and have been having problems on and off since then, I also purchased Windows Vista at the same time and unfortunately felt that was where my problems were. I called Dan when my frustration level had reached it's max asking for an appointment to bring the computer in to be looked at. He offered to pick it up, I gave him a list of my problems and he told me he should be finished by Thursday. He called me Tuesday evening and told me what the problems were and told me he would bring it back by 3 o'clock Wednesday. He delivered the computer (a day early) and his pricing was within the estimate. He was sensitive to my home situation (I am in middle of doing a large house clean out project and the house is a disaster) and did not cause me embarrassesment by coming all the way into the house. As I am a senior citizen and Angie's List member I also received a discount. He also commented that he works with senior's a lot. He was professional and friendly. Oh by the way, it computer had not been properly set up when I purchased it. I will definately use him again.

I managed Computer Renaissance stores for a number of years, including the technical departments. I am not a technician but I do know how these things generally go. In my opinion Dan ranks among the best technicians I have worked with. Along with being very talented, he is no-nonsense, unassuming, and respectful - not traits technicians generally have. My laptop was acting strangely. I took it to a couple of other places and none of them seemed to know what to do about it. I thought it was either a virus or a failing hard drive, and after analyzing the problem Dan confirmed this - the hard drive was on its last legs. Dan installed a new HD in my laptop, loaded a bunch of really useful utilities and a much better anti-virus program than I had been using. He found a really good price on the professional version of Windows 7 for me and did a great job of installing it so that everything on my really weird, proprietary Hewlett Packard laptop works great. He suggested that I upgrade from Vista - which was the right and appropriate recommendation. I was able to get online in seconds. He did all this without having the backup restore DVD which everyone else I went to said was a requirement. He made it seem like this was straight-forward and routine when I know that it potentially is not. Not only was Dan prompt, he was amazingly fast. The other places I called estimated a turnaround time of a week to seven weeks. Dan got it done in a day. He got it on Friday afternoon and had it done Saturday. I bid this job around. Dan's prices are industry standard - not cheaper, and not more expensive. He charged me exactly what he said he would with no nonsense. I paid $199 for the work, and $130 for the Windows 7 upgrade. (+ tax obviously) I provided the new hardware and he had no problem with that either. I cannot recommend this vendor enough. If I didn't value the service Angie's list performs (I've used lots of companies people here have recommended) I would keep Dan a secret just to make sure he had plenty of time for me the next time I have a problem.

My computer was showing a weird screen. He came and cleaned the computer. He got it all working and he put the little gizmo on that. So he was able to troubleshoot any issues online. I was really impressed and would use him again in future.

Very well, pickd up my computer at my home and delivered it the next day.

After another service failed in the diagnostic of my Dell Desktop, I contacted Tech Toads to reformat my hard drive after removal of data. However, Dan at Tech Toads was able to find the real problem with the computer (bad memory chip). So, a reformat of the hard drive was not necessary. He replaced the memory chip with higher memory so now I have 2.5x as much memory as before. He also upgraded the existing software and cleaned up unnecessary files. The machine works great now and I did not lose anything.