A great client experience to share

Lately we’ve had many customers tell us how happy they are after we repair their computer.  Their friends come in on referrals, etc.  As we grow as a team, we polish our computer repair strategies and systems, striving to ensure that every job is done efficiently, effectively and to the client’s satisfaction.

Today one in particular stood out.  A client from six years ago came in to drop off her computer for repair.  What made my day is what she said.  In paraphrase, she said “I remember you.  I thought you looked familiar.  You came to repair our computer six years ago.  I remember you because you were excellent: you repaired it and you didn’t have to come back again, unlike most others”.  We had lost touch years ago, but was she ever happy to find me again.

It sure made my day and also reminded me what we’re all about.  We do our best to make sure you don’t have to keep bringing the computer back for repair over and over again for the same problem.  We pride ourselves in being good at what we do and our level of great service.  If it’s not right, our promise to you is that we’ll make it right at no charge to you.  As our (pending registered) trademark states, “we fix it or it’s free!”.  When you have a computer problem work with our friendly, qualified technicians one on one and let us give you the final solution.

Share

Save

The unfortunate reality of amateur computer sales / repair (Kijiji, etc)

It’s a fairly regular occurence. Someone gets sucked in by the “cheap” prices they see in classified publications like Kijiji and ends up getting taken for a ride. We’ve seen numerous examples of it over the years but this one really stood out.

Our client was referred to one of these scam artists by their neighbour. Everything seemed fine on the surface. The fellow came across as legit, knowing the right words to say. Our client paid their money and then sat back and waited.. and waited. Six weeks of persistent phone calls later this excuse of a computer showed up at the door.

It came to us because it kept crashing until finally it wouldn’t load into Windows at all.

There are some things to note about this computer.

• The wiring is everywhere. It was thrown together in five minutes
• The power supply is a $10 MIOS piece of junk
• The rear fan isn’t connected. Bad air flow results in premature hardware failure.
• The main drive, a Western Digital, is failing badly and needs to be replaced
• None of the drives are fastened on both sides. The fellow didn’t even bother taking the time
• Half of the motherboard stand off supports and/or screws are missing.
• There is no Windows license on the computer
• The backing plate was improperly installed and the clips were bent outwards

Unfortunately there’s no regulation of the industry, especially on sites like Kijiji. I’m sure there’s the occasional person on there that’s legit and can actually do a decent job, but we’ve yet to see it. If this isn’t the “expert”, “elite” or “quality” computer repair that you’re looking for, our only recommendation at this point is that any of these people that are advertising cheap computers or services in free classified websites and publications should be avoided.

Share

Save

The word is out!

Today was an exceptionally good day. We were busy all day. Plenty of computers to repair, two new builds to get out the door and I was called out to various job sites all day. That in itself is a typical day at Northern Protocol Inc. these days. What made it stand out was a simple thing, but to me a very important one.

We had a fellow come in today. It was a rather innocuous visit, really. His reasoning is what made it stand out. This fellow is a now former Future Shop employee. While he worked there, numerous people came in and told him to come and see us and buy from us instead. That was huge to me. The word is getting out that we are the place to go. It wouldn’t be the first time that Future Shop had sent people to us to purchase products (and we greatly appreciate the referrals).

This was, however, the first time we’ve had a Future Shop employee (past or present) come in and tell us that his customers were telling him to come and see me. Thanks so much, Barrie, for passing out the word to all your friends, family and colleagues. It is those referrals that are so important and valuable to us, the reason for our success.

Share

Save

“For the win”

We always do our best to make every client happy. Some jobs we do stand out in our minds as a huge “win” and encouragement.

Jonathan is one of those clients. He came in with an HP laptop in pretty rough shape. The internal battery that saved all the laptop’s settings was dead, the drive was encrypted so that nobody could access the critical (and highly confidential) data that was on it in case of theft and it was “blue screening” with a rather rare “internal_power_error” instead of booting into Windows.

It was easy to appreciate it wasn’t much good to him like that. He brought it in to another shop that quickly told him “I have no idea what to do with that. Go see Aaron at Northern Protocol. He’ll know what to do”. Well, it was an interesting challenge. We changed the battery, got it somewhat “running” again and then made a backup of all his data. Finally we fixed his Windows so it would run properly again.

What made my day was when he came in, told us that he had started out with the computer repair shop around the corner from his house, what they said and how he ended up coming to us. He finished it up with a great big smile and “Well, I’d rather come to the people that know what they’re doing”.

I have to say that meant a lot to me. It’s that “thrill of the kill”, so-to-speak, of beating the problems and seeing those happy faces that keeps me coming back for more. Thank you Jonathan, we really appreciate your business…and you made my day too.

Share

Save

Our warranty in the spotlight

Fortunately we have very few warranty issues with our computers, but every now and again one turns up. Today was a perfect example. Almost a year ago we provided a client with a computer that they bought for Christmas.

Today she brought the computer in for repair because it wouldn’t turn on. We pulled a power supply off the shelf, swapped out the faulty one and it’s back up and running again.

Usually a computer warranty involves either sending it back to the manufacturer or having the computer in the shop for months as the vendor sends the faulty part back and makes you wait for a replacement.

Box stores and some independent retailers will try and sell you an extra warranty for the service you should be getting anyways.

At Northern Protocol Inc. our first year of warranty is covered in house and the faulty component is switched out, typically within 24 hours. Nobody likes to wait weeks to get their computer back from repair, nor should they have to pay to get service. We endeavour to get your computer back to you as quickly as possible.

When you don’t have time to waste time, depend on Northern Protocol Inc. to keep you running.

Share

Save

Success! One of our most challenging virus removal jobs

This week we had an HP laptop come in with a blue screen error.  It absolutely refused to start Windows, no matter what you pushed.  Every attempt would end up in a “blue screen” error.

To summarize it in a nutshell, the computer was in a disasterous state.  It was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced to date…and I just love challenges.  I took the job on myself.  This laptop had so many viruses it wouldn’t even run.  Everything from the Rustok rootkit to trojan droppers, fake antivirus programs, the Conficker worm and everything in between.

It’s rather ironic when you think about it.  It had Norton Antivirus, Spybot, Ad-aware and Spyware Doctor on it.  If nothing else, a dramatic testament to how absolutely ineffective those programs can be.

The situation was dire.  Years of work were on this computer.  There was a program on it to manipulate their data that could not be replaced as it was several years old and very specialized.  It was not something you could go to Future Shop and buy.  Certainly this would prove to be one of my biggest challenges.  No backup and reload here, this was all or nothing.

After pulling the drive out and removing several hundred infections, putting the drive back in, repairing all the damaged system files, cleaning up the registry and a fair bit more work, I finally got the computer to load Windows.

To understate the situation, it was not a pretty sight.  Windows would barely run.  Clicking on My Computer took 5 minutes before anything would open.  It was clear I wasn’t finished yet.  There was a failed install of the Sympatico Security Suite.  Microsoft Installer Service kept running, seemingly for no reason.  The Service Host was intermittently running at full steam.

Out comes the hard drive again.  A manual removal of the Sympatico Suite and related tools.  Expunging the registry of any reference to the program.  Back in the laptop.

Finally, the computer started running normally again.  It responded quickly, it got on the internet.  The virus nightmare had been conquered.  All was well once again in Windows Land.  A final check reveals that the virus removal efforts had been a success.

The “thrill of the kill” was more than ample reward.  There’s nothing I enjoy more than beating these losers at their own game.  It disgusts me how they feel they have the right to invade other people’s computers and literally destroy them or defraud them out of money.   It disturbs me that people push products that people will trust to do the job and protect them, only to have this happen.

…And it makes me smile when I can reverse the damage and hand the client a fully functional computer without them having lost their information in the process.

This, to me, is what computer repair and virus removal is all about.  When you need computer repair, including virus removal, trust us to get the job done.  We fix all the computer problems, not just the easy ones.

Share

Save

Our we fix it or it’s free guarantee in the spotlight.

Today we had a lovely lady named Saudra come in.  She had just come in from one of the box store tech departments that quoted her hundreds of dollars to repair her computer.  They told her how her Windows files were corrupted, how she’d have to buy Windows for several hundred dollars, have the computer wiped out and reformatted, etc.

She came to us looking for a second opinion.  Her concern was understandable.  The computer was a few years old and she had a whole bunch of information stored on it that wasn’t backed up.  She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of spending hundreds of dollars and losing all her data on top of it.  I took a look at it personally while she was there and realized that I could fix it a lot cheaper.  I told her the time I needed and that it would be back to running precisely as before the problems started. 

Saudra asked what would happen if we weren’t able to fix it as quoted.  My response to her was our affirmation that if we weren’t able to repair her computer as promised, we wouldn’t charge her a thing.

The computer kept restarting when trying to load Windows.  It was also overheating.  We cleaned out the inside of the computer with compressed air and repaired the damage that made Windows fail to boot.  The damage actually wasn’t the system files at all.  The hard drive needed a repair.  We got it fixed and back up and running exactly the way it was before all the problems started…and running a lot cooler.

For a fraction of the repair cost quoted at the tech centre, she not only got her computer back up and running, she also didn’t lose a single file.  That experience epitomizes what Northern Protocol Inc. is all about.

A gentleman brought his computer in today as well, a rather nice Dell.  His laptop had a dim screen, resulting in not being able to see what was running unless you looked under the light at the right angle.  He diagnosed it himself and bought an inverter off of Ebay thinking that would resolve the issue, only to find out that it still didn’t work.

Frustrated, he brought it into us and requested a diagnostic to find out if he had received a bad inverter so he could send it back.  As it turns out, the inverter was fine, it was the LCD screen itself that needed to be replaced.  We quoted the cost of a replacement LCD screen after testing the diagnosis, both new and a very cost effective used panel.

After he found out what was wrong with the laptop, he demanded that we give him the computer back for free because we didn’t repair it.  Obviously it doesn’t work that way.  He was invoiced for the diagnostic he requested.

Not long ago I posted our definition of “we fix it or it’s free!” here on my blog.  The point of our guarantee isn’t so that we can do people’s legwork for them and work for free.  If we did that all the time we’d be out of business.  The point of our guarantee is to assure you that you will get great quality products and computer repairs, honest advice and guaranteed work.  Our guarantee is for people that are serious about having their computer repair done properly, swiftly and cost effectively.  We also offer diagnostics on request, which are billed at our diagnostic rates.

Obviously we don’t want to work for free, so we will work diligently to provide you with a fast, honest and cost-effective computer repair.  Thank you very much for your business.  We appreciate it and the trust you’ve placed in us.

Share

Save

To repair or not repair

Every computer is repairable, theoretically. One way in which we stand out from our competition is knowing when to draw the line and pull the life support.

Today we had a client bring in their aging Pentium 3 laptop. I brought it in and worked diligently on it. However, it quickly became clear that it would need at least two hours in repairs, with a good chance that the hard drive itself was on it’s last legs as well.

After discussion with the client, it was decided that it was not worth fixing. They offered to pay for our time, but we stood by our policy of “we fix it or it’s free”.

We don’t “win them all”. There are some computers that just won’t give a good return on investment by repairing them. I would rather serve our clients’ best interests by helping them to direct those funds towards another product. In this case, it was a used laptop in the classified ads that fit his needs perfectly.

We may not always be able to repair your computer, but we will always be able to be honest and give you the best possible value for your money.

Share

Save

Thank you Javiera

Javiera has a really nice HP Special Edition laptop. She brought it in with the DVD burner not working. It had sustained a minor “bump” after which the burner would not even show up in “My Computer”.

The store that sold it to her told her it would be $300 to fix the problem. Understandably she came to us looking for a second opinion and hopefully a more cost effective fix.

After she left I put it on the bench. Within minutes I had discovered the problem, settings in the registry for the player had become corrupted. I repaired them for her and sure enough, her player came back to life.

Within hours she was back to pick it up. How happy she was that she did not have to buy a player, that in fact the final invoice was only 18% of the quote she’d received! She was equally happy that she had it back the same day.

I couldn’t help but smile, seeing the reaction on her face when she came to pick it up. Thanks for your business Javiera, I’m glad we could help.

Share

Save

Success! (data recovery)

Recently we obtained some new, cutting edge data recovery tools.  In my last post I mentioned that we had received a hard drive that was completely blank, yet had been filled with memories of years gone by.  It was a perfect candidate for one of our new tools.

The tool was so effective that it successfully recovered every one of their files from each of their login accounts.  Not only are we very pleased with the results, our client is as well.  The best part of all is that the recovery cost them significantly less than a recovery service would.

After the success we had with their hard drive, I used it on one of my camera memory cards (flash card).  Again I was successful retrieving data I had deleted in June.

It always brings me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to help a client in ways such as that.  If you have a drive, memory card, thumb drive, etc. that has suffered a similar fate, bring it in to us.  We’ll get your data back or there will be no charge.

Share

Save