Your show was interesting, and I'm not surprised by the results. Having handled hundreds of machines in the 20 years I've been involved in the PC industry, you hear and see lots of horror stories. I think a nice addition to the show would have been to call the "kid in the neighbourhood" who works on computers and see what their diagnosis was. Having been one, I would have liked to seen what someone with no agenda would have said. I suspect that it would have put an interesting view to the show, as well as a boost of confidence for such a person. Posted by: Dickson | Oct 3, 07 08:14 PM

I have been using the services of Nerds on Site for 4 years and I find them to be honest, courteous and reliable. Remamber, these people are self employed contrators, and all customers should be smart consumers, and keep their heads up. Posted by: gerry Haliburton | Oct 3, 07 08:50 PM

I cannot believe how your story on COmputer repairs totally contradicted itself. Your tech that you hired first tells you that the RAM is only $25.00 then later shows one for $64.99 that he finds on a website. Before you bash well known companies you should make sure your tech has his price facts straight. In my opinion and previous experiences of taking my computer to a retail outlet for repair of course they are going to try to upsell you something else that you may or may not need. I would rather pay extra for someone to come to my home that is not affiliated with a big box store. At least these people take responsibility for their actions and carefully screen the people they hire. Posted by: Calie Krauss | Oct 4, 07 09:21 AM

Great show: I saw lots of the same sort of thing in the business. Being robbed by free-booters is one thing, but you should see how miserable warranty service can be. My laptop has been back for the same problem seven times in the last four months. They can't find or fix the problem, so of course, it's the customer's fault. They reload the modem drivers and the machine works for a couple of days. Repeat your process with warranty issues, you'll probably find the same sort of results. Posted by: Doug Lendrum | Oct 4, 07 10:42 AM

I watched your show and was thankful for the in-depth reporting that went into it. While a lot of people have issues with their service provider when having their computers serviced, there are many more people out there that have no issues and are serviced by a reputable firm and / or person. It all boils down to the business owner who is honest and willing to go the distance to provide service as it should be, honestly, with integrity and with willingness to back it up. The owners are ultimately responsible for what their employees are doing out in the community and should be providing their employees with the processes, protocols and the information they need to do their job properly. It is also their companies job to hire the best, qualified people for the job and avoid all of this type of problem in the first place. In an industry that is largely unregulated, consumers need to be educated on what to look for, not just in this industry but in any purchasing arrangement. I'm glad that we have venues where the average consumer can see what is happening out there and make choices based on knowledge and not on a leap of faith in whomever approaches their door to provide services. I had each and every one of our technicians watch this show to see exactly why we do business the way we do. We can hold our heads high and be proud that we work hard to earn our reputation as a company that has honesty, integrity and the right mix of personalities and industry certified technical know how to do the job right and to back it up. Posted by: John Henderson | Oct 4, 07 05:27 PM

In Over My 20+ years in the computer industry i have seen this many time's it is a shame that people are taken for a ride like this. I myself have never charged for a repair that i couldn't fix and this is very rare. I am a MCP and A+ ceft tech, And Work for a large IT firm and i pride myself on knowing the latest and greatest about the computer industry. I think a good show idea for would be for you guys to look in to the training of theses people for example, what certifications do they have and there background. In an industry that has been overrun by people just getting by and not knowing really what cause these issue's i am glad that marketplace did a show to maybe make these companies more aware of it. Posted by: S. G. | Oct 5, 07 08:27 AM

I worked in this field for a few years for a small company as well as a big retailer. While I thought the video was good, I also felt that it was unfair to the industry as well. I agree that it was unacceptable for the mis diagnoses, but I felt that their "estimates" of the cost of the repair was outrageously low. The memory issue was estimated far too low. The reality of computer repair is that it takes time. While I agree that it is an easy issue to fix, it takes time to diagnose it. The issue of a machine not booting can be an issue of many parts. Often, to fix the problem it involves just trying different parts, to diagnose the issue. Many of the good repair technicians are worth more than 30 bucks an hour. To expect them to be in and out in a few minutes and then to still do a quality job is outrageous. Fixing computer problems takes time, plain and simple. The system as a whole is very complex and if one component fails, it is hard to tell what is causing the issue at first glance. Again, I am not condoning the misdiagnosis, just trying to point out that our time is worth more than $40 for a housecall from an experienced professional! The reality of the computer repair industry is that the people that are good at it, are in the IT industry making enough money that they don't need to moonlight. Posted by: Daniel Lohin | Oct 9, 07 08:32 AM

I liked your story "Getting gouged..." as I appreciate any news media reporting on how the public gets shafted by unscrupulous service people. I had a few problems with it though and one has to do with the word in the title - 'geeks' - and the fact that two of the businesses you reported on have 'geeks' in their title. I think this shines the spotlight too harshly on them. This is complicated by the fact that I happen to know and have done business with "24 hour geeks". You reported that the technician couldn't fix the problem but that he was honest enough to not charge for his time/service. Fair. But in my dealings if one of their techies does not solve the problem someone else comes through and makes things right. The boss, James Harding, has never been stumped to my knowledge and is more than generous with his time. And often doesn't charge anything if it comes anywhere near 'support'. I hope this will be made clear sometime soon as I'm sure that while viewers like to see fraud and ineptitude revealed, they also like a fair report and that nobody, no business is left in any sort of shadow. Posted by: Dennis Hemmings | Oct 22, 07 05:42 PM

"If you have compromising material on your computer when you bring it in for repairs, you should expect the repair people to a) have a look, or b) make copies for themselves, or c) both." WRONG!! If you have "compromising material" [read ILLEGAL such as CHILD PORN] expect to have your local police notified and to be charged under the Criminal Code. Every IT Professional would do exactly that, not one of us would let that pass by. Posted by: Jaqui | Oct 31, 07 05:11 PM

I believe that being a technician is not just to fix and guarantee solutions but to educate the customers and explain the causes. Saying it is just the motherboard that is dead is not a complete answer, and it does take a while to diagnose a computer problem. I am happy that this video shows exactly how these so called "technicians" or "IT consultants" manipulate people. There are so many of them out there and they all work together; sending customers to each other and getting a percentage out of it. There are honest technicians and those are educated and there are fake technicians going for the money rather than customer satisfaction. One thing this video will impact is the behavior of customers toward technicians by not trusting the technicians and always wondering if technicians are playing them. And that is the cause produced by these examples we have seen. As technicians we have to always be positive and honest and always educate customers about the problems they experience and go beyond to provide a beneficial service for them rather than expensive service. Posted by: danny | Nov 12, 07 02:33 PM

I am also a person who fixes computers to pay my way through school. What is funny is that people expect to pay high prices. The reason I say this is when I offered low prices, people tried to haggle for lower prices. When I had elevated prices for repairs, the people I did work for would kind of sign and go ok here you go and pay. I have been fixing my own stuff since 96, I run my own servers both windows and Linux, I know my stuff simply because I broke everything under the moon. I actually stopped offering to fix computers because when I gave it to them it worked beautifully. A few hours later in the persons hands, didn't work anymore and it was my fault. My statement is simply "I don't know, I don't use windows". Posted by: Tony | Apr 17, 08 11:36 PM