PC Solutions of Illinois, Inc.

This business moved, then was sold in the past year or two. Jeff the IT technician I used is gone. My previous 5 star review is no longer valid. Un fortunately things change.

This is not a Chicago location. I called to get the address in Chicago and said I wanted to drop off a computer for repair. I was told of the $ 50 diagnosis fee and drove down to their address. When I got there I found an intercom system and locked door. The voice on the other end instructed me that this isn’t a drop-​off location and thati was supposed to go to Evanston! Went over to ubreakifix and they took it with no issues and no diagnosis fee.

The service was nice and they did pick up our laptop etc. However, while they charged a lot and said they fixed everything, the problems came back some time later. They said there was no guarantee on service… Wasted money!

I’m posting my review under both locations to make sure whoever is looking for a great computer repair/​tech shop finds it. That’s how much I believe in this company.
PC Solutions has been basically the IT department for the small business I work for in Chicago, IL for years. We are only three people and while we have some basic tech and computer knowledge, we definitely need help on a regular basis. They are our go-​to team to help us with all types of computer and tech related issues, and they put up quite splendidly with me when I think I know what I’m doing and in truth have mucked it all up (someone with a little knowledge is so often more dangerous/​frustrating than someone with no knowledge!)
I find that any staff that I interact with are helpful and resourceful. We most often work with Matt and he has gone above and beyond what any other company would so many times I’ve lost count. Onsite calls, late night emergency fixes, remote access solutions, Matt and his team do it all. Recently I moved and transitioned into working remotely and Matt helped us set up a whole new system (server, cloud based access, email) to make this happen. And he helped trouble shoot when I couldn’t remember the sign-​ons I had chosen months later!
I’ve recommended them to anyone I know looking for smart, professional computer help.

I am writing this on the night I have received my computer back from repair.
Issue: My HP netbook stopped charging unless the power cord was plugged in at a specific angle, and even with that sometimes it doesn’t like to be recognized. I got frustrated so I decided to let somebody fix it. (warranty has expired).
Process: I had previously been to the store when it was still located in the city (it is now in Evanston) and had a very pleasant experience with Jeff (see review from 8÷25÷2011). I was told that even though it has moved, a pick-​up could be arranged with no extra charge. I am not usually one who leaves anything with a stranger, let alone my computer. But I did regardless, because I trusted this place.
Diagnosis: The computer was scheduled to be picked up on a Monday afternoon and since I had to work, I left it with my doorman. I was later told that the pick-​up person arrived 40min after scheduled time. I never received a phone call on any updates nor confirmation that the computer made it into the shop. On Wednesday, I called and was told that my power cord was indeed defective and needed to be replaced; but diagnostics was still being run on the laptop itself and had to wait to see if there were other problems.
I then got busy in the week and did not call.
Result: Today, a week after I sent my netbook in for repair, I finally received the first proactive call made by the shop to me, letting me know that there was no problem with the computer, except for a risk for its hard drive to have problems later on. The person on the phone said I have the option to replace it ($ 200 replacement + $ 100 labor fee) or not to. He was not pushy, but rather just laying out the choices for me. But honestly, why would I spend $ 300 on fixing it when the same model is being sold for only $ 200 and less?
Returning of the computer: After paying my fees, I was told that my netbook could be delivered on the following day, but later they offered to deliver on the same evening because they could make it possible, which is nice. However, the netbook case that I gave to the shop to protect my computer during transport is now missing. I received the computer after hours. So I left a voicemail, hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow and I will make another update.
Total charges: $ 50 diagnostic + $ 50 material fee for the power cord replacement (which costs about just the same if I were to go to Best Buy and get one). Not exceptionally well priced but fair.
Overall thoughts: The customer service is no longer a good as before its move. I don’t know if Jeff still works there, but I didn’t talked to him once (or at least nobody introduced himself as Jeff) and he was the reason I sought for help here. i definitely think PC Solutions could have done a better job on updating customers as diagnostic results were determined. Maybe they are busy or something. At least 30+ invoices were made between my initial charge to my final charge, meaning they were dealing with at least 15+ devices at the same time. As mentioned, I will wait to hear back from the store about my netbook cover. But even if they retrieve it, the incident still speaks about the disorganization of the place.
****UPDATE****
Called at noon on the following day (Tuesday) and was told my voicemail was received and that they found my case. It was brought back to me on the same evening.
So overall, my experience wasn’t ruined. My computer did get fixed and they seem appreciative for their clients’ choices of business (free pick-​up and delivery and what not). I hope the decline in service quality was just a impact of the move and Ithat it will again be as good as they were before.

I have only great things to say about PC Solutions. They’ve been wonderful to work with on numerous occasions. I have taken many of my company’s computers their way, having blind faith that they will be honest and will fix our problems without gouging. They’ve always done great by us. Their prices are amazingly reasonable (sometimes even free!), their turnover is quick, and their work is reliable. Way to keep customers coming back!

This place is the BEST computer repair I’ve been to. Jeff was super helpful, professional and nice.
I repaired a loose charging segment in my laptop. I took it in on Tuesday and it was done and ready to be picked up Thursday. There’s a $ 50 diagnostic fee; Once Jeff is done with the diagnostic, he gives you a call and lets you know what exactly the problem is or any other problems you may have.
I paid the fee and he only charged me $ 35 for the labor of the loose segment. He also scanned my harddrive for any viruses. A total of $ 85 (Wayyy cheaper than I thought it’d be and cheaper than other places I went to)
When I got it back, my laptop was cleaned (screen, keyboard, fan inside the laptop) and he notified me of the 90 day warrenty. He also gave me tips on how to take care of my computer.
THIS PLACE IS THE BEST, I’m telling you. :)

(3.5 stars)
They were very upfront about what they thought they could do for me and it wasn’t much with the bad problem I had but said that they would try a few tricks. I was in a jam so I said ok. I was pleased with the work they were able to do even though HP had to ultimately fix the problem. I broke my laptop royally so I’m not surprised that HP had to swap out my mother board.
They are a small shop with only a few people working there. They totally delivered on service though they never once called me to tell me anything. I’d have to call days later when I never heard back from them. I don’t know if they are overwhelmed with repairs or what but on three occasions they said that they’d call me by the end of the day or the next and let me know what was going on with the repair and on all three occasions I waited a few days and called them and it seemed like they were caught off guard. So if you go there, expect to have to follow up with them as I believe they are pretty busy and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I was working with Jeff though so I can’t say for sure about the other guy there.
What I went there for:
I was clinging to the very slim chance that they might be able to fix a bios problem on my laptop. Dummy me installed the wrong bios from HP (I was off by one number) and it knocked out my display completely. It wouldn’t even bring up the post screen when I powered it up. This means I’d need a new mother board but they were going to see if they could reseat a few things and experiment. I needed the laptop in a the worst way and HP would take forever to fix so I said ok.
They tried a few things and were unsuccessful. BUT they were able to ship the laptop to HP when I gave them the box that HP had mailed for me as I was out of town at the time. They went above and beyond as far as repairing and shipping. (they drove the box over to fed ex) If I need some pc repairs they are definitely at the top of my list.

Can’t get any better than this. My technician Jeff, who helped me transfer all data from my virus-​infected PC’s HD, is knowledgeable, courteous, and friendly. The service was prompt, and the company even recycled the junk for free, which saved me a lot of trouble.
I would suggest calling them first before coming, because if I did, I would have brought in an external HD the first time (since I would have known it was not be cost effective to revive the PC) and saved a trip. Common sense, but I dread phone calls.
I highly recommend PC solutions! Great shop.

Taking my laptop in for repair is right up there with scheduling an appointment with the dentist (and following through!). There’s something about taking this piece of equipment in for a check-​up that caused a lot of anxiety. It’s probably because laptops & PCs have so much personal stuff on them.
After lots of procrastination and numerous attempts to fix my laptop on my own, it died of its own accord and I was faced with a choice: get a brand new laptop or see if I could have the old one fixed. I had a good feeling about PC Solutions after reading all the great reviews and decided to take the leap and bring mine in.
I’d read lots about Jeff here, but to experience firsthand what everyone was writing about was even better. The guy is really great with people and I can tell he loves what he does. But it’s his temperament more than anything that seals the deal. He’s relaxed, personable, and not at all arrogant about his technical knowledge. He’s got the perfect blend of people skills and techie know-​how to set anxious people like me at ease. And, he used my name and talked with me as if he’d known me a long time. That’s a skill too many sales & customer service people lack.
Jeff ran diagnostics on my computer and determined the hard drive had bit the dust. I brought it in early in the morning and had it back with the new hard drive by the end of the day. Perhaps he wasn’t too terribly back-​logged that day, but it was great to have it back so soon.
I’d go back in a heartbeat if I needed anything else and would highly recommend PC Solutions to anyone, especially those who’ve got reservations over leaving their babies in someone else’s hands.

My 2TB external HD that housed my iTunes Library imploded and a friend thru work recommended them to me in the midst of my panic attack. Jeff is a Rockstar! He was able to salvage over 1TB of music/​video files with only a minimal loss of 300 GB. On top of that, he provided me with excellent suggestions on further preventing data loss in the future. Thanks to Jeff, I am now a proud owner of a 8TB Droba External HD that will continue to back up my data even with a corrupt drive. And it’s expandable to 16TB!
I am so happy to have found them! My computer worries are over and so will yours. I’ve already recommended PC Solutions to my friends and I recommend them to you. The Geek Squad doesn’t come close to the expertise and courteous service that PC Solutions provides. And don’t forget to ask for Jeff!

I have taken my laptop here twice and had a great experience both times. Last summer, I took it in to get rid of a computer virus and I needed a basic tune up. Great customer service, reasonable prices and everything was done in a timely manner. I went back recently because my computer was acting strange.
The guy did a thorough investigation, found nothing wrong and told me to come back if I have any other problems. He took a lot of time explaining how I can check for viruses and make sure my computer is working at top notch. He didn’t charge me a cent even though he spent so much time checking out my computer.
I was very impressed and would definitely go back if I need to!

So my HP Pavilion laptop from 2006 has been a little beat up. There was so much dust inside the laptop that it was overheating 2 minutes after booting up. I wasn’t sure if it was just the dust or a broken heat sink causing it to crash. However, these HP Pavilions have like.200 screws and I was not about to take out 200 screws to clean it out. After letting it collect more dust for another three months, I finally took it to PC Solutions.
At first, I felt like the person I was talking to was a little condescending. However, they were willing to do a diagnostic check for $ 50. After about a week, they had it up and running like new for no extra charges. They even were nice about me leaving my computer there for about 30 days (I got pretty sick and then I was traveling).
Overall, I was very impressed with their service and would definitely take my computer back to them if any other issues come up.

I really can’t say enough nice things about these guys. They worked their butts off on my laptop, only to discover that the motherboard has issues reading my wi-​fi card. Replacing the motherboard would be more expensive than the value of the laptop itself, so they re-​installed my drivers and gave me some suggestions regarding accessing the internet, working around the issue.
Two sidenotes:
First, I first brought this issue to Just Service on Clark and simply put, they were not helpful. When I Unilocaled about how unhelpful they were, the manager actually called me at work and spoke very aggressively with me. I removed the review because I didn’t want that psychopath burning down my house.
Second, don’t ever buy an IBM Thinkpad. Almost every story I’ve read on here regarding any repair or service seems to revolve around some IBM Thinkpad model. Coincidence?

Somewhere in the cloud covered towers of Chicago downtown, a five year old IBM Thinkpad G40 lies gathering dust on a wooden desk.
Deep under the coating of dust, the crazy-​collegiate-​calzone-​consumptionic-​grease, the dead wires, the piles of tax-​related-​paper and expired mail, a spark of life yet flickered. Yet how could the owner, the laptop banging, rough equipment handling beast that she was, know of this? She had been playing with her new toy for the last three years, that whorish HP replacement that had tech support and gas filled dusters from work.
But one day, one dark winter’s day, the owner wanted to play Pharaoh, that old empire building game that she hadn’t touched in six years. And that HP laptop, that shiny new fangled mistress, didn’t even try to be accommodating. The IBM heard cursing, it heard swearing, it heard declamations of «screw you HP! I will install it in my old laptop!» and seconds later, stomping footsteps came in, as cold fingers groped for the power button.
The IBM tried, it gave its all, yet the monitor flickered and died on contact. The OS loaded, and reloaded and reloaded, without going to the desktop. The laptop, despite being the IBM that could, had finally given up the ghost.
The owner pounded the desk, cursed and screamed, and called the only people she knew that could save her laptop for cheap…
PC Solutions.
Who, with wonderfully well spoken technicians, and perfectly convenient delivery and drop off solutions, promised much in the way of salvaging the IBM.
The owner said goodbye to the IBM when she dropped it off at her doorman’s. It was picked up by the friendly PC Solutions guy the next day. They called her, later that week, to tell her they were analyzing it, and they would get back to her. The owner waiting anxiously to play Pharaoh once again, cools her heels, and waits for them to call.
And waits.
And waits…
And waits.
A week later, she called them back, asking for an update. They told her it was salvageable for $ 150. That was far less than what the owner had been willing to pay, and she gladly agreed, and they told her they would fix it, and call her back for a delivery date.
She waited.
She waited some more.
A week later, she called them again… was the IBM fixed? Could she have it delivered back? They said they couldn’t deliver it that weekend, but maybe during the week sometime? Alas, the owner said that it would have to be the next weekend, and they agreed that she could come pick it up if she wanted it earlier than that.
The owner failed to pick it up, and PC Solutions failed to deliver it. There was no further discussion.
Another week went by in this unsettling condition. She called again, they promised to deliver by Friday evening. Friday evening rolled around, they promised after 5pm. 5pm rolled around. 6pm rolled around. 7.30 pm, the owner got a call. «The PC Solutions guy is here».
Ah! Joyous bliss as owner and IBM are reunited once again.
Ah! Celebratory happiness as check is given to super nice and super apologetic PC Solutions guy, and laptop is fired up fully working and immaculately clean once again!
Ah! The smell of excitement as owner and laptop rejoice, once again, in the game of Egyptian empires, as owner builds her kingdoms, becomes Pharaoh, and prepares to live forever.

Took my Sony Vaio here for repair. After paying the small fixed fee for analysis they told me it needed a new mother board etc etc which they couldn’t source as it was a UK machine.
MY partner wanted to bin this machine and at $ 2,000 I said over my dead body as it was only 16 months old.
I sent it to a company in London who fixed it for a no fix no fee repair for $ 160. Also it didn’t need a new mother board or rather it was a motherboard problem but it was fixeable. I guess it pays to send it to the pros.
These were nice guys but clearly couldn’t fix something that was a bit more complex to fix without swapping out something which anyone can do. They were courteous and professional though throughout but I still think ²⁄₅ is sufficient as they failed to fix something that was fixeable.

Excellent translators of compu-​geek-​speak to English.
They cleaned, repaired, de-​virused and evaluated all my PC issues at a very reasonable price. Ryan was extraordinarily helpful and patient.
This is a good business; a reliable place to go when your computer world crashes down on you. Trustworthy computer geeks in Lakeview; I highly recommend these guys.

After Ryan of PC Solutions had his way with my previously defunct Dell laptop, it’s now running like a champ. Actually, it’s outperforming itself. He replaced the corrupted 60 GB hard drive with a new 120 GB drive, installed 512 MB of memory, optimized the system and reinstalled Windows. Off the cuff: he even threw in some desperately-​needed software.
It wasn’t cheap but they’re good: with a free diagnostic coupon, all this came to about $ 275. They also offer free pickup and delivery service and provide a loaner laptop for a nominal fee. Once my sick little guy was diagnosed, Ryan transformed him into a powerhouse within 24 hours.
I’m bringing my other child in, a Mac PowerBook G4, for repair as well. Now THAT’S trust.

I have a four year old laptop. It’s really slow and sometimes gets itself worked up and freezes. Instead of dropping $ 2k on a new one (I really want a Mac), I decided to see if I might be able to upgrade it for a couple hundred bucks. I took it to PC Solutions on Sheffield on Saturday and got it back yesterday afternoon. Basically, they turned it around in one business day by adding some memory and performing an optimization (updating drivers, Windows updates, etc). It’s much faster now and PC Solutions «bought» me a couple more years with this machine.
I’d recommend them any time. They were very nice and accommodating. Good stuff.

I had a great experience with this company, mainly because of the customer service skills of Mike Oiga. First he talked to me over the phone for about seven to ten minutes while we tried to figure out what kind of extra memory my computer would need, since I had no idea where to check these sort of things. Of course, duh, he suggested I look on the Dell website and they’d probably have some way for me to check the specs on my desktop by plugging in the product number somewhere.
I was one of those slow, dimwitted folk for once, needing help, over the phone, which a lot of shop owners and clerks have a real hard time handling. They usually seem bothered to have to talk to you so much over the phone, and they usually try to rush you off the phone. And good luck at Best Buy. Those guys don’t answer their phones for a minute or so while it rings, then they answer and you tell them what you are looking for or wondering about, and they put you again on hold indefinitely.
With his awesome service over the phone, I felt bad not going over to pick up the memory chips that I wanted to install in my computer. Not that the prices were even that bad. I picked up two 512MB inserts for $ 40 each. You can find these online for $ 27 – 35, but when you add in any shipping, and the fact that you might be really impulsive like me and want things right when you think of them, then the markup seems acceptable. Plus you’re supporting a local business.
I can’t speak to how good their service and repair skills are, but it is always nice to know someone chill and friendly is working on my computer if I ever need a tough issue fixed. Also their retail and service space is so open and clean. Most of these little computer shops more resemble junkyards.