PC Guru

I’ve hired the PC Guru, it’s mostly one guy from Argentina. He responded to my call on Sunday and had solution for me the next day. I work in IT, so I can relate. Computer problems are not solved faster by throwing money at it. They require experienced technician. PC Guru is that person. I am now a returning customer. Not sure how else to compliment this business but I had to say something when I saw the bad reviews from 2011. My experience with Nathan’s work had been nothing but good.

I was told by everyone else that my hard drive would have to be wiped. They took the virus, repaired the code, provided me with better virus protection. He really took the time to educate me as well. Wish he would give some courses, really knows his stuff! AND he had it ready in 2 days!

I have taken a computer to PC Guru 2 or 3 times in the past and been satisfied. Not this time. I was not in a rush so I asked for their regular service, which was supposed to take 2 weeks. It took over 7 before they got around to looking at it. The motherboard was bad and it took a couple of weeks to get a new one (Robert said that he got it off E-​Bay and the shipper took 3 weeks to get it to him). Lots of excuses, when I called, they seldom called back. I won’t be going back.
Also they have moved and are no longer on S. Lamar.

These guys are very insightful and helped to save my data at a reasonable rate and very quickly. In an industry that is known to charge fees for work that may or may not be needed, PC Guru is very good at setting expectations and not charging for unnecessary work.

Viruses gone, machine tuned up, back to 100%. Quick and very effective service.

One star is too high for PC Guru. My experience has been totally unacceptable. My rush job dragged out to two weeks, but every day they told me it would be ready that day. Finally I learned that the technician had taken my computer to her home and then had a medical emergency and they were having trouble getting it back. I was horrified to learn that they had allowed my property (and my data) to go off site. No one ever called to tell me what was going on and they were evasive when I called. As soon as I learned they had my computer back, I rushed to pick it up. The computer does turn on, but I will not be able to check my data until I reinstall all of the programs.

This place is a hot mess! I took my computer in because it would go to an error screen and I’d have to reboot. This only happened once every now and then but I wanted to be proactive. $ 300 later the computer still had the same problem. I took it back for the warranty repair and got a call a week later — that the computer now needed expensive data recovery and a new hard drive. WHAT??? The computer didn’t need either of those things when I took it in. I would have been better off just buying a new computer. Avoid this place!!!

Liars and thiefs. Would have given them zero stars if possible.

35 days later, I’m still waiting for my laptop. There has been no communication at all, and it was well over two weeks from the time I dropped it off before they even looked at it (or SAID they did; I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t started on it yet). Ridiculous.
Check out their website at
for a vivid illustration of how professional these guys are. Go ahead, try to find a phone number or e-​mail address.
EDIT: They’ve added a phone number and address to their ugly-​ass website! Way to go, guys!

I would have put zero stars if I could, worst computer experience of my life. It started with a hard drive problem so I took my computer to the North Lamar store because of its convenient location. They said they would run a $ 26 diagnostic and call me in a week with the results.
Two weeks later after no response I called them. The guy I spoke with said there was no record of my computer or me ever having been there. He would try to find my laptop and get back to me. More days went by with me calling each day only to hear «they are working on it». After they finally found my laptop I re-​explained the problem and waited to hear the results
one more time.
Another WEEK went by with no word and when I called they tell me my computer has been moved to the South Lamar location because they were shutting down the North location. When I called the south store AGAIN they couldn’t find my information. A day later I get a call from a computer tech. After waiting over a month to get a diagnostic he gives me a $ 300 bill for work that I never approved. They never called to tell me what was wrong with the computer, they just worked on it without my permission and charged me for stuff I could have done myself.
To add insult to injury I spent an hour fighting traffic to pick up my computer and they LOST my power cord! The tech said he would order a replacement cord and have it shipped to my place. It’s been a week and I’m still waiting. How is this place still in business? Do yourself a favor and take your computer problems to Frys.

Pc guru… or pc magician? I took my laptop to the guru on january 7^th for service. After two weeks I called for status and they said its dead. So they said they would buy it for scrap…2 more weeks pass so I call them… still waiting for owner to give purchase eval. finally after a month of no return calls I show up to their store only to be told…“uh…we lost your laptop.” So after leaving messages for the owner for weeks… still no response. Its not like my identity, my music, my emails, photos or anything else important was on it… oh…wait…

This place should be called pc «screw you» instead. What a terrible waste of a $ 100. Don’t bother.

These people were amazing. I was greeted by a really friendly guy who didn’t make me feel like an idiot for not knowing what was wrong with my hard drive.
The process was simple and fast and the charge was minimal. They made me feel like they did everything they could to save me a buck and my hard drive was ready the following day without putting a rush on it!
I can’t say I liked their receptionist because she seemed to have an «i don’t want to be here» attitude and complained a lot, but don’t let her turn you off to the nice people working in the back. They are amazing.
I’ll trust them with my most valuable electronic any day!

My husband had some kind of malware end up on our laptop that was slowing things to a crawl. I really needed it back the same day, so put a rush on it at PC Guru… It was indeed ready and cured that day, although it was almost closing so I picked it up the next day. Only complaint is that they put a work number sticker on it and it left a sticky residue! But all in all, good customer service and results.
I read the reviews below… All I know is that I would hate to be in this business… so good luck PC Guru!

Five stars for the fast, helpful service. (They fixed my laptop screen in less than an hour for less than $ 25)
Zero stars for the week of annoying phone calls from the high school girl hired by the owner to do «market research»…even after I told her repeatedly that I wasn’t interested in participating — she actually got belligerent with me at one point (kids these days!). I finally resorted to calling the store to tell them to pass along word to the owner that if I got another call, no more $ 20.00 orders from me. That’ll teach him.
In case he’s reading, here’s a market research tip: Hire professionals to do your surveys. Oh, and lose that stupid hippie logo.

PC Guru took some time to listen to my problem and gave me a quote on the phone. They fixed my problem quickly and at the exact price quoted.
I appreciated their South Austin mellow business attitude.
The business does not have a high coolness factor, but know how to fix computers and they talk to you, not at you.

I wish I could give ZERO stars to PC Gurus. They were the WORST! I spent almost 4 MONTHS haggling with them, hearing runaround and getting terrible customer service when I had a hard drive crash earlier this year. They outsourced my job without getting my permission first and then forced me to deal directly with the guy they outsourced it to (who was a jerk!)
Seriously — if you need computer repair — find a reputable shop. This place is AWFUL! :(

PC Guru, I am disappointed with you.
My laptop coughed out of breath a week before the bar exam. I had some panic, understand? So I tried to find my way to your place and drove up and down Lamar looking for it before finally deciding to call for directions. The woman who answered the phone said that you were on the corner of Oltorf, across from Office Depot. Ok, well, I had missed Office Depot but I certainly knew where Oltorf was and asked whether it was North or South of Oltorf and asked whether it was on the west or east side of the street. She repeated, miffed, that it was across from Office Depot. OK, lets try it again, I explained, slowly, that I was driving from 290 towards the North of town and have no idea where office depot was. If I were driving NORTH, would PCG be on my right or my left and would it be BEFORE OR AFTER Oltorf. She got REALLY huffy then. She repeated, as if I were brain dead — that they were across from Office Depot. ACCK. SO we did this dance a few more times and I understood that North, South, East and West were meaningless concepts to her. So I found it on my own. I agreed to pay the extra fee for a rush job and the extraordinarily hostile woman at the counter stated that my laptop likely had a problem with the cord, and that it would cost at least $ 100. Whatever. Seemed like the battery to me, but, whatever, just get it done fast, OK?
So I get a call later and some very nice tech said I needed a new battery. Great. But they don’t carry batterys. Wha? But I could go pick one up for $ 100 down the street and they would install it or they could order one and it would come in maybe in 3 – 4 days and it would be $ 75. So, I looked in the phonebook and called the first place that sold Dell batteries in town and picked one up for $ 39 and brought it to them. They snapped it in. Did they not know that Dell batteries can be easily had for $ 39, even on a Saturday?
Then, my desktop started giving me error messages and I kept losing sound. I brought it in, over my husbands protests, because I had to go out of town and figured they just had had a bad day the other day and maybe the mean lady had taken some happy pills.
So – I was gone for more than a week. The computer still wasn’t fixed. I resorted to begging. It was fixed for a few days and then had the same problem. So I brought it back. After a week, they fixed it and basically said that I would probably need a new processor.
Bullshit. The problem came up again a few days later and I googled the error message. I found out that the error problem I had was a very annoying but fairly common problem that is linked to automatic updates. Some of the computer boards discussed it at length. I turned off automatic updates and I fixed my own damn computer problem. Its been fixed now for months, no thanks to PC Guru.
The owner seems like a nice guy. He needs better staff and he needs to keep up to date with the technology and stay on the Computer Geek boards.

Nothing like your computer being down to really screw up your lifestyle. How did the ancients live before email?
Paul at PC Guru is indeed a guru and really knows his stuff. He gets it done fairly and explains to you thoroughly what’s going on. Yeah, like you’re going to understand a digiwink of what he’s talking about, but it’s a nice gesture.

PC Guru saved my life a month ago. I need my laptop like nobody’s business, so when it got infected by a million viruses and needed a major memory upgrade, I brought it here. These computer geeks get the job done pronto, for $ 85 an hour (that’s if you want rush service). They cleaned up my computer and added a free anti-​virus program, yay!
And just yesterday my adorable kitten chewed on the wire of my laptop’s charger. I started to hear mini-​sparks and freaked out! It was destroyed. I didn’t know where to go but I came here and bought a used charger for $ 35 (it’s worth $ 90). The kind employee looked everywhere in the store for a universal version of my «rare» Dell charger, even though he could’ve told me to order one.
If you have ANY computer trouble with your PC, just come here. Also, if you want to sell or donate your computer they’ll buy it from you or donate it to a couple of charities. I think it goes to children in need.