Screwed by Compustar

This is the story of being really screwed by a computer repair shop called Compustar.

Compustar Inc.
www.compustarpc.com
565 Moody St.
Waltham, MA 02453
781-642-6622

Note that the website for Compustar is compustarpc.com, not compustar.com.

I fried an Asus K8V SE motherboard installing a PC3200 DDR-400 DIMM into the third memory slot. This was not a "recommended" memory configuration according to the Asus manual. Asus does mention some problems which might result if you don't go with the recommended settings, but nothing about physically damaging the motherboard. It is not clear if that is why the motherboard fried. The reason will probably remain an elusive mystery to me. After being screwed by large computer companies like Gateway and small, generic computer stores alike, I started assembling my own computers and doing repairs myself. However, since I was going away in 3 days, I was in a mad rush to get the motherboard replaced so that I could access my data. I decided to bite the bullet and risk bringing it to a repair shop called Compustar. Compustar has 2 shops. I brought it to the one in Waltham, MA.

At the store, I spoke to a guy named David. This is probably the David Chang listed on the Compustarpc.com website as a co-owner. I left the computer with him. He called me a short while later and said that he could install a similar Asus 754 Socket motherboard for about $195.00. He said it would be under $200.00. I looked up the motherboard. It cost around $80.00. Even though he was charging me $115.00 in labor for replacing a motherboard, something he could probably do blindfolded in 20 minutes, and, even though he told me it would take 2 entire days to order the motherboard, I told him to go ahead a do it, as I was desperate and just wanted the problem dealt with.
By 4:00 o'clock, 2 days later, there is no word from David. I call David. David tells me he's having a problem obtaining the motherboard and that he will get back to me. At 5:30 he still hasn't called me. I decide to rush over to the store in hopes of getting my computer back before he closes.

At the store David makes some more calls and tells me he cannot obtain the motherboard but says he can get me another similar motherboard in one day. I say that I want to look at the specs of the motherboard, but if they are alright, I will agree to this if he puts it in writing that he will replace the motherboard in one day. After a huge amount of resistance on David's part, where he says, "what are you gonna do, sue me?" David says he will put this in writing.

I check out the specs for the motherboard at his shop, online. The incompetent fucking idiot had chosen a motherboard for the wrong socket set. David goes back on the phone to look for another motherboard, but eventually concedes that he cannot find a suitable replacement motherboard. I tell him that I am going to take my motherboard back.

David tells me that he will be charging me a $45.00 diagnostic fee. At no point had David informed me about any fee. He had also failed to live up to the terms of our verbal agreement. I am not a lawyer, but this charge was probably illegal. And if it was not illegal, it was certainly unethical. I did not put up any argument though, because I feared that he might try to sabotage my computer, as I knew it was in pieces in the back room.

David reassembled my computer in the back room, came back with it, and asked for my credit card. Had the slimy goddamn son-of-a-bitch not tried to solicit me to come back after royally fucking me up my ass by not doing the work, and on top of that, charging me for NOTHING, I would have just paid and walked out the door. But you see, David thought if I needed more help, I might be ignorant enough to come back to him. I don't like to get into arguments with sleazy merchants, but I did have a wiggy. David kept displacing blame on the distributer, telling me it was not his fault. And I just hate that kind of mickey mouse bullshit. I'm not a moron. I don't like being treated like one. HE made the fuck up, NOT the distributer. HE failed to live up to the terms of our verbal agreement, and I was completely fucked because now I didn't have time to order a motherboard and do it myself. It was HIS fucking problem. He had to accept responsibility for it and not charge me for doing absolutely NOTHING. He got wiggy too, he wanted to argue with me. We weren't swearing at each other, but it got really heated. I had to ask him at one point to stop arguing with me and give me the bill so that I could sign it and get the hell out of there.

I have not decided at this point whether I will file a report with the BBB or protest the credit card charge. While David or one of his cronies is free to respond to my charges on this blog, I just want to warn that my blog is not an appropriate place for a counter-response. If you want to counter-respond, do it on your own goddamn website. If anyone contaminates my blog with a counter-response, I will post this blog post as an Alexa review. You don't want that Compustar, I assure you. So a few words of wisdom: DON'T FUCK WITH ME!

While not all small computer shops are corrupt, enough are so that, even if you are bad with mechanical devices as I am, it still pays to build and repair your own computer, if you cannot afford a pre-assembled computer from a large company. Even some large computer companies such as Gateway, are sleazy, incompetent, and deliver a shit product. You will not be able to diagnose problems like the professionals because you don't have the equipment, however I have found that despite the wasted money and time you will have to put into computer assembly and repairs because of inexperience and lack of diagnostic equipment, it still doesn't pay to bring it to a so-called professional. If you must bring it to a professional, WALK AWAY IF THERE IS ANY RESISTANCE WHATSOEVER TOWARDS PUTTING THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT IN WRITING. Don't be an idiot like me and trust that someone will live up to the terms of a verbal contact. For an honorable business, it should be standard practice to put things in writing.