We don't fix home computers any more.
Triad works on business systems now, under monthly agreements. We stopped taking one-off repairs on personal machines, so this isn't the place to bring a laptop.
You still came here with a problem, though, so here's everything useful we know about getting it dealt with somewhere else. It's the same advice we'd give a neighbour.
Who we would send you to
Nobody. We've looked for a local shop we'd be comfortable putting our name behind and haven't found one, and we won't send you to a business we can't vouch for. Read the next part instead and go in knowing what to ask.
Before you hand the machine to anyone
Get your files off it first, if it still turns on. Photos, documents, anything from a tax year you'd rather not redo. Copy them to an external drive or a cloud account before the machine leaves your hands. Repairs sometimes end in a wiped disk, and you want to know your files are safe beforehand.
Write down your passwords, or reset them now. Especially the email account, because that's what everything else resets through. If the shop needs to sign in to test the machine, a temporary password you change afterwards is the safer way.
Sign out of banking and take the machine off autofill. A stranger is going to have this computer for a few days.
Note down what it actually does. When it started, what you were doing, and the exact words of any error message. A photo of the screen saves a lot of explaining.
Five things to ask before you agree to anything
What do you charge to look at it, and do I pay that if I decide not to go ahead?
Most shops charge a diagnostic fee, which is normal. What matters is knowing the number before you hand the machine over, and knowing whether it comes off the bill if you proceed.
Will you call me with a price before you do the work?
The answer should be an immediate yes. If a shop wants to start the work and tell you the price afterwards, go somewhere else.
Is my data safe, and do you take a copy before you start?
Repairs go wrong sometimes. A shop that images the drive before touching anything has been doing this a while.
What happens if the fix doesn't hold?
Ask how long the work is guaranteed for, and what happens if the same fault comes back next month. Get that answer before you agree to anything.
Is this worth fixing, honestly?
A shop willing to tell you no is worth keeping.
How the money usually works
We're not going to print a price list for other people's businesses, because we'd be guessing and you'd be acting on it. What we can tell you is roughly how the money works, which is enough to spot a bad deal.
There is usually a fee just to look. Then either an hourly rate or a flat price for the job, plus parts. Parts are normally marked up, which is fair — the shop carries the risk if the part is faulty — but you're entitled to know what the part is so you can see what it costs on its own.
Recovering data from a failed drive is its own thing. It's a different job with different equipment, and it costs far more than a repair. If someone quotes it as a small add-on, ask them to explain how.
The rule that saves people the most money: if the repair gets anywhere near the price of replacing the machine, stop. A five-year-old laptop with a failing drive and a swollen battery is two repairs away from being a new laptop that costs the same and lasts another five years.
How to tell you're being oversold
- A yearly subscription to something you've never heard of, added to a one-off repair.
- A tune-up, a clean-up, or an optimisation, sold by the word rather than by the fault. Ask which specific problem it fixes.
- A pop-up or a phone call that found the problem for you. Nobody legitimate calls you about your computer.
- A quote that goes up once the machine is already in pieces, without a phone call first.
- Pressure to decide today.
Most shops down the road are honest. The questions above are worth asking anyway, and a good shop won't mind you asking them.
If you're reading this on behalf of a business rather than a household, that's a different conversation and one we do have. What managed IT with us involves. We work across Lexington & Davidson County, NC.