Complaints.com

From: Message Author
Date: Friday, 15-Dec-06 22:07:21 CST

Business Info

Like the man who had the bad I Pod experience, I too wish I hadn't gone to Creative Computers in Santa Monica. I took my nearly three-year old I Book to the Service Department on a Friday afternoon, describing the problem I was having and suggesting that maybe it was the hard drive, since when my hard drive had had to be replaced about a year earlier, some of the same things were happening. On the following Thursday, six days later and six days without email, they called to tell me that indeed my hard drive would have to be replaced, which would cost about $300 all in, but that they recommended that I just get a new computer instead. When I picked up the computer later that day, they charged me $60 for their diagnosis of my problem.

I took it to the Mac store in the Third Street Promenade, only because I planned to have everything transferred the the new computer I was told I had to purchase. But when the Mac salesman opened up my computer, he immediately determined that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, other than it being short of space, something I could easily fix by simply adding some RAM, and expressed amazement that I had been told that the hard drive needed to be replaced. I then took it to Mac Solutions on Wilshire at Bundy, where they confirmed his assessment. I spent $94 adding RAM, and the computer has been working fine ever since.

I suspect, although I can't prove it, that the Creative Computer people just went with my hypothesis based on the sluggishness the computer was exhibiting (which I later found out would have nothing to do with a hard drive problem) and charged me $60 for supplying me with my own incorrect diagnosis. If that's not the case, they are unbelievably incompetent.

I would definitely recommend against going the Creative Computer's Service Department, as a result.