Complaint Review: Computer Answers

On Thursday, November 19th, the computer repair shop Computer Answers accepted our virus-ridden desktop computer for repair. The staff informed us that our computer's inability to work (non-functioning keyboard, inability to connect to Internet) came entirely from the viruses, all of which the staff would remove. The staff further informed us that this process would take about four hours, and that they would call us when they had finished.

Four hours later, when they called to say that they had "fixed the computer" for us, my husband went to the shop to pick up the "fixed" computer, paying $135 ($45/hour) on arrival because the staff informed him that the job had taken only three hours (and not the four originally estimated). However, the computer continued not to work, and the computer still had viruses (according to virus-testing software, including software recommended by Computer Answers staff).

On Friday morning, November 20th, my husband therefore returned the computer to the store for re-repair, which the staff (according to their policy) assured us that they could do for free because the re-repair is taking place within 30 days of the original repair. Later that day, the staff called to say that they had examined the computer, and they agreed with us that there was no evidence that any repair or de-virusing at all had actually taken place on this computer during the prior period of "work" on this computer at their store. Because of this, the staff said, we had to excuse their failure to have actually removed the viruses -- because (so the staff informed us) the staff was exoanding and re-organizing, so they had just hired a lot of new people who were not good workers yet. The staff additionally informed us that it would therefore take "another few hours" to actually do the work, which they would do on Monday because they close for weekends. The staff then suggested that the work (to take place on Monday) would need to involve restoring the computer to "factory new" condition and providing us with a disk of all our programs and files to re-install. (NOTE: throughout this call, the staff member in question spoke like someone half-asleep, not even bothering to open his mouth enough to let the words come out clearly. Also, he addressed my husband [age 57] as "dude."]

Because of our own work (home business) and other projects done on this computer (including projects with deadlines), we were eager to get this done on Monday (the 23rd) because it meant we would have an actual chance of doing the accumulated work, meeting deadlines, etc. before we had to leave town Wednesday for a long-planned Thanksgiving vacation (Wednesday through Monday) with relatives who have not seen us in a while. We believed their reassurances that it would take "just a few hours" before they called us to let us know the good news that they had actually finished the job -- so, when we didn't hear back from them on Monday, we called and heard it was "almost ready." Then today (Tuesday the 24th), we called once in the morning to see what was happening (was this going to be like the last time?) -- and they said they were "working on it right now" and it would "definitely be ready very soon" -- when we hadn't heard by 5:00 PM on Tuesday (today), we called again and they said (again) that they were still "working on it": adding that it would "eventually" be ready "sometime later today."

Since the store is open till 9:00 PM, I called one last time at 8:00 PM to see if they could tell me anything at all (so that we would know whether to go there and pick it up now, or wait until after we come back next week, or what). The technician said he didn't know, he said he couldn't know, and he called me rude and "a problem" for asking to know about this. (Specifically, the technician loudly compared me with a rude child who asks his parents, every minute of a journey, "Are we there yet?" He also said that it was "a bother" to answer this kind of question because he was working. Then, he threatened to just stop work on the computer right then and there. I asked him to please keep on working on it until he got it fixed: he didn't answer, but just stayed silent for 5 or 10 seconds, so eventually I hung up and I now have absolutely NO idea whether he is even working on this or not.

I do not know, at the moment, whether we can give thanks (this coming Monday) for a working computer or not. Because of the way that the store has treated us as customers, I am asking the store to do all the work for free: not just the "do-over" work that they are having to do because of not having actually done the work the first time around, but also to refund what they charged us the first time around, in addition to supplying us with a 100% functional, 100% de-virused, "factory new" computer and a disk of our files and programs that we will need to get back on track. They have pushed us so far off track -- with their "repairs" that really weren't -- that we can't even *see* the track from here.