Nation’s First Office Repair

Here is a very long 2 month story that I hope will help someone to avoid these people
#1 My laptop stopped working, but would turn on intermittently, after several attempts at self repair I knew I needed help.
#2 I ordered a motherboard repair service from ebay and sent laptop in for repair
#3 I was told my logistics board was fried, when I protested this, they told me the board had too many cold points and needed replaced.
#4 I was quoted price for several styles of board (each time I declined and a cheaper board was offered.) Approx. quotes: New board $ 250, Used board $ 180, refurbished board $ 135
#5 I said I would pay $ 110 for a refurbished board — they agreed.
#6 One month later replacement board arrives from China
#7 After delay of a few days I’m told they didn’t receive drivers with board
#8 I tell them I don’t need drivers, I can do that download myself.
#9 They tell me laptop must pass all inspections before it can be sent out
#10 After another week, I ask for laptop again without drivers.
#11 They agree to send me laptop — so I send in a check (they weren’t taking paypal at that point, for an unknown reason.)
#12 After a week of my check not clearing the bank, I ask them if there is a problem
#13 They tell me on the final test that the replacement board failed.
#14 I count my losses and ask laptop be sent back to me
#15 I received laptop in a nicer box than I sent it in but cables were left loose and one screw (at least) had been lost.
#16 After repairing laptop I test it and it still has intermittent booting. At least they didn’t make things worse.
#17 I send in laptop to a motherboard specialist in NY
#18 Motherboard specialist in NY fixed laptop in 7 days — they tell me the bios was bad. No mention of cold connections or a fried board.
Note: On a positive spin to things Nation’s First was always very speedy to reply to my e-​mails.
Conclusion: Beware of Nation’s First Office Repair; my suspicion is that in order to avoid negative feedback on ebay my laptop was held hostage for 60 days, the time required to keep buyers from leaving feedback.

Bait and switch! We brought our huge Ryland printer to them to work on. Were told it would be $ 129 flat fee to give it a diagnosis. While they had the printer, the guy said they needed a code to finish running their diagnostics. Our business partner, that has been dealing with these printers for 30 years called bullshit and called his tech in TX and yep. IT WAS BULLSHIT… NO CODE NEEDED. Then, the tech at this place critized our desicion in purchasing this piece of equipment. He also told our business partner that he was authorized by us to charge us an addtional $ 350! WTF! Long story short, we had to pay $ 350…for something we werrle told was $ 129…a diagnosis… and they had our equipment for 3 weeks! NEVER USE THESE PEOPLE!

Call to check Saturday hours. The estimate of parts needed kept growing. Had I known the true cost upfront, I would have junked it. The laptop was totaled.

They are very nice, but make sure to haggle with them. They’re a small shop and they aren’t rude, but their prices are a bit steep, so I would watch out for that. However, they did bring the price down quite a bit from what they originally quoted me, so I wasn’t left unhappy, hence the 4 stars.

I took my laptop into office repair on Thursday, the hinges were broken. They told me that the flat rate service fee was $ 39 to estimate the damage, I’d have to wait 2 – 3 days. If I wanted them to look at it immediately it was a $ 100 charge and that money would go toward the repair. They came back and told me that the parts for the repair would be $ 235, I’d have to pay up front so they could order them. The $ 100 would cover the cost of installation. I felt suspicious about the cost of the parts, I mean for another $ 200 I could have purchased a new laptop. I called Dell and determined that the parts cost $ 45. When I called office repair back, they told me that they mark up the parts to make a living, I asked them if they thought a 600% mark up was fair, and then proceeded to tell them that they were ripping me off. They dropped the price of the parts by $ 100, but imagine how many customers they’ve ripped off.