There are a lot of choices for computer repair in Barrie. When you look in the phone book, you see a lot of choices and it’s going to be hard to decide. To further complicate it, there are all kinds of people on Kijiji offering their services as well. So what criteria can we use?  What questions can we ask?

a) Are they working out of their house?  I talk about some of the pitfalls of ”curb siders” in this article.  If they have an address or postal code in their ad, use Google Maps to find out if it’s a house or an actual computer repair shop.  Click on the Satellite view for detailed imagery.  If you know how to use “street view”, even better.

b) Is there a physical address in their advertisement? If not, they probably don’t want you to know it. They will typically push on site service or pick up and delivery knowing that you showing up at their house or shop doesn’t really lend to a sense of security or credibility. Brick and mortar shops will have an address for one simple reason. They want you to be able to find them. This has a desirable effect for you as the consumer. You typically can find them when you need them.

c) Are they offering you a diagnosis with seemingly low prices over the phone? There’s another potential red flag. We’ve all heard it said “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”. The reality is that we can’t diagnose over the phone without making at least some stuff up. There are many reasons computers do what they do. Until it’s on the bench you can’t know for sure, just like you can’t diagnose over the phone, with any degree of certainty, why your car won’t start.

d) Can you walk into their repair shop? If you can’t a fair question might be “is there something to hide?” At our computer repair shop here in Barrie, our shop is completely open with windows to look in or even for you to walk in with a technician to see what’s going on with your computer first hand. Our operations are completely transparent. We’ve even had clients come in with cameras to take photos and notes as we build them custom computers.

e) How long has the computer repair shop been in Barrie under the same name? That’s a tell tale factor in itself. For example, if they went bankrupt and changed their name to something else, it isn’t really a testimony to the fact that they’ve been successful in business for X years. How long they have been in business under the current name can give you an idea of business acumen.

Choosing a brick and mortar computer repair shop in Barrie takes more of the concern out of dealing in a trade that is already viewed with every bit of skepticism as car mechanics.  In this post I address that a little further.