Repair Status
Computer Repair and Sales Blog
All things not being equal…
I received a flyer from a new competitor in the mail the other day and took a look through it. Some really good pricing until I noticed that all the laptops they sell are discontinued models -leftovers- and all the good ones at the too good to be true price are “special order” only…in other words lure you in to sell you on something else of less quality and higher margin, a very common and deceptive practice.
Well, I started looking through their pricing to set up a computer. It was broken up into several different parts, so I had to add it all up to be equivalent to what we do during a computer set up……….to find out it was DOUBLE the price. They even charged for the one year system warranty that we give for free. For them to honour the warranty of parts over the counter you also have to pay extra, otherwise you’re on your own with the manufacturer.
It’s probably worthwhile to ask them if they will remote in for free to help you tweak things if they’re not quite right. Something tells me they don’t do that either.
Here’s what we offer you at no charge with every purchase:
- No “3% premium” for credit card purchases
- No “direct exchange” fees. We exchange new faulty parts for six months…FREE.
- No “extra fees” for in house one year parts and labour warranty on computers
- No “restocking fees” when it’s our mistake
- FREE email setup and document transfer included with every computer setup, including installation of Office, antivirus, etc.
- FREE remote assistance over the internet for small tweaks and tunes.
The reality is that there are no corners to cut. I encourage you to call around to compare. We like that, it makes us look better.
Post Example One
Trying this thing out. Why doesn’t it want to play nice with others?
Post Example Two
Humorous scma atetmtp
Here’s an example of a scammer that fails at life in general. You’ll really enjoy this (and then you’ll understand the title of this post):
EFTPS ONLINE
THE ESAYEST WAY TO PAY YOUR FEDREAL TAXES
Your Federal Tax Payment ID: 01037593178 has been not accepted ________________________________
Plaese, make sure that all informaiton you have sbumitted is crorect and refer to Code R21 to find out the ifnormation about copmany pyament. Pelase cotnact this page if you have any questions:
http://eftps.gov/R21 <http://kskairos.org/red2.html>
Rteurn Reason Code R21 – The identiifcation nubmer you enetred in the Copmany Idenitfication Feild is not functional. Try senidng infromation to your accuontant advsier using other optoins.
EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
WARNING!
You are uisng an Official United States Government System, which may be used only for authorzied purposes. Unauthorized modification of any information stored on this sytsem may result in criminal prosecution. The Goevrnment may monitor and audit the usage of system, and all presons are hereby notified that the use of this system cnostitutes cnosent to such monitoring and auditing Unauthorized attempts to upload infromation and/or change information on this web site are stirctly prohibited and are subject to prosectuion under theComupter Farud and Abuse Act of 1986 and Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1030.
Apparently the US government has a complete fail of the spelling. When you see something like this, delete it immediately. We promise you that the US government spell checks all communications.
WARNING – Facebook scam email
It looks like our pain in the arse overseas friends are at their little games again. This email showed up in my junk mail:
Sally sent you a message.
(no subject)
Hi, have we met ever before? Sally
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://facebookreplymsg043.sendboard.com/html-h1.htm
___
Find people from your Windows Live address book on Facebook! Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/find-friends/?ref=email
This message was intended for You. Want to control which emails you receive from Facebook? Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications=1&mid=1328f55fN5898ds997b05695G38dd6G0
Facebook’s offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.
Note that the link was changed to the REAL link, not the fake link you normally see. This is Outlook’s way of protecting you from these crooks. If you click on it, you’re taken to a fake spoof of the Facebook page. If you look at the recipients, you’ll see it’s to “undisclosed-recipients” which means they sent it to a bulk mailing list. The email is facebookmesgrep@facbokmesgreplye.com, not a legitimate Facebook email.
These people are scammers. Once they have your information, they take over your account and try scamming the people in your friends list for money. You are best to report emails like this immediately to http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=16589&ref_query=phi#!/help/contact.php?show_form=report_phishing
UPDATE OCT. 21/2010: The page has been taken down, replaced with a warning page in Arabic. It’s good to see the internet community work so quickly to protect the end user.
Renovations under way
Originally the plan was for the renovations to be completed by September 30, 2010. However, a few things have changed, such as how the renovations were going to be done, so the new target date is October 31, 2010, provided the city cooperates with the permits. Originally we were going to add on to our existing space. Now we’re just going to move everything one door over. Our address and suite number will remain the same.
A temporary permit has enabled them to get rolling on it and it’s coming along nicely. Click here for photo updates.
Computers are like crackers
I know. I’m wierd. I just couldn’t help it. My fiance bought me some crackers the other day, the no name version of Ritz crackers called “Jazz crackers” by Compliments.
Opening the box revealed that half of them were broken. If you like coating them with an inch of cheese whiz and topping it with Kolbassa like I do, you appreciate that this is a problem. On the outside of the box is this picture of these pretty round crackers. Inside the box is a bunch of leftovers that Ritz wouldn’t dare put in one of their branded boxes.
And of course because I’m a nerd it occurred to me: Crackers are exactly like computers. You get these pretty boxes, lovely pictures, all kinds of promise on the outside with a seemingly GREAT price tag. You then get it home to find out the reality doesn’t match the pretty pictures. Just because it LOOKS the same, or crafty sales people try to convince you it IS the same, doesn’t make it so.
When you buy a computer from Northern Protocol Inc. you can rest assured you’re not getting the leftovers or sub par products or service. We let them make the claims and force you to jump through hoops to get quality and service. We simply “put on the ‘Ritz’”.
Northern Protocol in the Community
We are very pleased to support three great and much needed local charities.
1) Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family Program
2) David Busby Street Center
3) Youth Haven
For those that aren’t familiar with these programs, the Salvation Army assists you in adopting a young family that is unable to give their kids a Christmas. Families are pre-qualified and chosen based on your abilities (number of children, etc.) The Salvation Army is a key player in our community and can really benefit from community support.
The David Busby center is an outlet in downtown Barrie for the homeless to receive help, counselling and perhaps a new direction in life. Many people walk through their doors each year and benefit from their many services. We are currently accepting donations for the David Busby Center. One of their laptops was stolen and they urgently need a new one. Donations can be brought to our office or the David Busby Street Center directly.
The Youth Haven is a similar idea. It is a shelter for homeless teenagers. Their goal is to help them get back on track, get into school, gain meaningful employment, etc. They are in need of computers and software for the residents’ school programs. If you have software or computer equipment to donate (must be at least Pentium 4 or newer. LCD monitors only please) please drop it by our office and we’ll refurbish it before delivering it to them.
UPDATE: The response has been great and as such we don’t need any more computers for Youth Haven at this time. Thank you Barrie!
We are pleased to take care of all their computer repair needs. We do business in our community and support community programs. Thank you in advance for helping to support these great programs.
When you pay more, you get more.
I was presented an interesting situation today. As most of our regular clients already know, we’re authorized Asus and Fujitsu dealers. We had a new client come to us today looking for an Asus laptop. He’d noticed how the new kid in town was selling Asus laptops for seemingly crazy low prices. They really were low, lower than our cost. Well that’s not right I thought, so I looked closer.
It turns out they bought up a bunch of End of Life product (in other words, discontinued) at a discount from our supplier and then dumped them on the market at a sizable discount over new. Of course a great discussion ensued, started by an excellent question: What’s the advantage of buying from you?
When you pay more, you get more. Let me explain that here:
1) You get current products. The product they are selling is discontinued. It’s old stock. The new models are already out and have 500GB drives in them as opposed to 320 GB in the old model. When you purchase from us, you get more computer, less leftovers.
2) You get more knowledgeable staff. When you work on razor thin margins, you can’t necessarily afford to hire the top guns in the computer field. A prime case in point: One of my clients bought a monitor from the vendor in question here. The vendor assured her, swore up and down, that this touch screen monitor would work on her computer. I took one look at it and knew it wouldn’t. In fact a quick check on the manufacturer’s website said that it wouldn’t. She had me contact the vendor on her behalf. They demanded a 15% restocking fee, despite the fact that it was their error.
We repair your computers. We know them inside and out. We know what works and what doesn’t. We help you make sense of your technology and we’ll make sure you get the right part, the first time. If it’s our fault, we’ll take it back without restocking charge and make it right.
3) You get better service. We have an outstanding staff of seasoned, qualified computer repair technicians ready to answer all your questions. We have in shop, onsite and remote service available, plus telephone support. We offer free delivery in Barrie on any product(s) that total over $100. We also offer far better after sale support.
Consider this. This particular vendor has a 14 day return policy with a restocking fee if you’ve opened it. Chances are better than average you’re going to open it before you figure out they sold you the wrong part.
Their warranty is stated as “manufacturer’s warranty only”. If something happens to it, you’re on your own. When you buy from us, the first year of any system or laptop purchase is dealt with in shop. When you sell laptops near or below cost, you can’t afford to offer this kind of service. Yes, you can buy their “Replacement Plan”, but with the added expense isn’t it better to just do it right and get more computer to begin with?
4) You get better products. We only carry the best (that means no Acer or Emachines). It doesn’t do any good to you sitting on our bench, so we’re not going to sell products most likely to get there quicker.
Lori here in Barrie summed it up in her email to us:
“unlike so many other businesses in Barrie, you are of the few who still offer that personal touch and go the extra mile to know and help your customers.”
When you pay more, you get more. We have better service, more knowledgeable staff and only the best products.
We can repair your Apple computer.
I’m very pleased to announce that our Apple specialist has just passed the latest Apple certification exams. Apple certification is important to ensure that your Apple receives the best and proper service.
As is the case with all our repairs, we will fix your Apple, or it’s FREE! Contact us today.
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