Went back here with another cro-mag computer. this one ("Mr. Clunk") is a lead-weight laptop I got from work for free. It actually has a sticker on it that says "Warning: this computer has been known to spontaniously SHUT OFF." A good theft deterrant, I say, kind of like the "No radio" stickers people used to put on their cars. Anyways, I went in for two problems recently - 1. wireless connection had stopped working. Brought it in and the guy who helped me (white guy with longish red hair and glasses, forgot his name, Doug?) was very straightforward and helpful. He actually took 5 minutes to reinstall the software that had corrupted without charge. I.e., free repair! I left happy and put 5$ into the tip jar. Then a few weeks later AVG anti virus started telling me that it has Trojan horse problems, and Mr. clunk started to perform very very sluggishly. So I called and spoke to the owner (YC?) about my options. Option 1 - wipe the drive clean and reinstall the basic software ($112); Option 2 - try to figure out and disinfect the indivdiual viruses - ($180 or more). I chose to wipe the drive, I transferred imoprtant files (as all will be lost) before arriving. Brought in the computer and they had wiped the drive and replaced major software (Windows XP and Office 2003) within about 6 hr. The charge was as they said $112. Note: I asked for the software replacement to be included - be sure to do this. I get a vague sense that they may try to upsell you in certain circumstances, but again an overall positive experience with good outcomes. read more

i think they are a very good helper and been coming here every time mine or my family computer or laptop need to get fix.. .... very friendly .. would recommend this to every one read more

They repaired my laptop when the display stopped working, and it turned out great...eventually. I asked them to replace the LCD, but they found that the problem was actually due to a bad cable, which saved me a significant amount of money--that's good! When they reassembled the laptop, they didn't put the case together correctly--not so good. Worse: The display worked only intermittently due to another cable being loose. However, they fixed that quickly, at no additional charge, during a second visit and I'm very happy with the final result. read more

I have not used their services for a little more than 2 years now but I was referring people to GCS. I telephoned them today to see how much, if anything, they would charge my dad to just put the latest update onto his system for Adobe Flashplayer and Java. The programs are already installed but peer-to-peer Global Networking problems have kept me from remote accessing his computer. The Asian male who answered the phone kept trying to tell me that it was $75 an hour and may be more if they find problems on his computer. I told him again that there are NO problems and I just wanted them to "Update" those 2 programs (my dad's almost 80 so not the most computer literate person) which takes less than 10 minutes. I did not want them to even LOOK for problems and this guy kept talking about how they might find problems in his system. I hung up and read reviews and then decided to write my own. Yes, I am angry but that does not change the fact that I asked him to load the latest update to 2 commonplace programs onto a laptop and he kept telling me how he might find problems which might take more than an hour to fix. I used to trust these guys but never again. I have used Adobe forever and Java since it came out and have had no issue EVER in installing the latest updates. This was just an attempt to swindle me out of money. Check out their website www.gcsystems.com. You can't even leave Customer Feedback, that's how bad their business is right now. I can't think of 1 other company that doesn't want to hear from their customers. read more

My partner and I had had several good experiences here, but our most recent one was really disillusioning. To summarize for those who don't want to read a long review: the service was unbelievably slow (it took them two weeks just to order the part we needed) and when we complained we got contradictory excuses and no apology. For those who want to read the details: We brought in our laptop, they fixed it, we brought it home, it was still having problems, so we brought it back in. Turns out the connector on the hard drive was broken; since this was related to the original problem, we were told that we wouldn't have to pay for labor, just parts. After a week, I called, and was told that they had searched all over the store and the owner's house for the part (presumably to save us money?), but they hadn't found one. But they hadn't ordered it yet, either. We waited another week. My partner called. She was told they STILL hadn't ordered the part. She said she needed the comptuer by Friday. Called again Weds. and it was ready. When we went to get it, we WERE charged for labor, which I asked about. Then I explained that I was really more upset about the TWO WEEKS and two phone calls it took for them to even order the part. The person in charge interrupted me several times, did not ever apologize, and basically said it was a really hard part to find (mind you, this computer is fairly new and a mainstream brand) and they'd had to search online to find a way to order it, and then also said that the way they got it was someone came in who happened to be selling spare parts including that one. By this point I wasn't true what was actually true: they'd searched for it in the store; online; it fell in their laps and they never ordered it ... Oh and what would have happened if we'd never called to check in? I pointed out it would be nice to have had them call US and let us know if they were actually having trouble finding the part. To top it all off, when I said I was planning to write a bad review online (since clearly they didn't care about MY business or experience), I was told it didn't matter! read more

These guys are fantastic. My computer died. I went to Best Buy and learned the hard way how unhelpful a store can be. A friend told me forget big box stores and find the nearest local computer store. So, I took my computer into General Computer Systems and they instantly started diagnosing it. Motherboard was toast. So instead of buying a new computer they completely rebuilt my computer and it's rock solid and fast as hell. Do yourself a favor and forget Best Buy, forget Dell, forget them all and go in here and have them create a custom computer for the same price or less. It's also nice to know if something happens you can take it back for ten years with no labor charge. Killer service. read more

I took my computer in because of the bugs- it had 2 profiles and I specifically told them I had years and thousand of photos I needed copied before they erased- well they only looked on one profile and saved about 150 pics...Yes I was devastated and could not believe it - no apologies should be their theme song. They made ME pay for the restore which cost a few hundred and got maybe 60 pics that was it. Don't waste your time with these bozos! read more

I took my computer to them because it was overheating and needed a new fan. They charged double than other places I called but said they had fans in stock. The repair was being covered by warranty and I cared more about same day service than price. Six weeks later the same thing happened. I took it to another company american tech who took pictures and showed me a new fan was never installed but the old fan was covered with grease to mask the problem, and General computer systems charged me for a new fan and double what the other company charged. It has been well over a year and no issue with the second repair. I was reimbursed for both repairs by warranty but was always disturbed by their fraudulent repair. read more

I am a big fan of YELP and have never given a negative review before, but for the sake of others, I felt that I should. My experience with this company was beyond negative and utlimately cost our business several thousand dollars. In short, we received a referral from a collegue of ours about a year ago and initially had an "ok" experience. The IT person assigned to us was pleasant and knowledgeable however often didn't show up when scheduled or showed up very late with no call to our office. Recently, when our scanner was not functioning, the owner sent a different, young man to assist us who, after an hour or so, said he could not fix it and we needed to wait for our regular IT person (who was in China for a month). Disappointed, we thought we could live without the scanner for a while if we had to. An hour after he left however, our entire office became completely disabled. When I called to ask that someone please come as soon as possible, I was told by this young man quite coldly, "sorry, there is nothing we can do". I then asked that he get the manager on the phone and was soon speaking with the owner who harshly cut me off and refused to send a more experienced IT person to look at what happened. The final straw that led to my writing my first bad review was that after nearly a month after this happened, the collegue who initially referred our office to this company came to our office and said he'd "been told all about our problem and conflict with their office by their management". While I shouldn't have been surprised, I was appalled that anyone on their staff would discuss what occurred between us with another business person. This was clearly a breach of confidentiality and highly unprofessional. read more

Used General Computer to try to repair computer with windows 10 operating system; after some initial problems on communication, General Computer staff did good and quick job on repair and explained work thoroughly. Would use Gerneral Computer again if future problems. Honest job. Peter Sheehan read more

These guys are great for repairs but unfortunately I let them talk me into purchasing a Dell laptop when it was determined I would need a new motherboard. I asked them to take the memory out of old one and upgrade the new one so I would have 8 MB. When I went to pick it up, they handed me the memory and said it was too complicated to do. The laptop I purchased is dog slow, awful, horrible, I hate it. I wish I had returned it right away. I called and asked about upgrading the memory and the cost isn't worth it. Have your stuff repaired but don't buy any new systems from them!!!!!!! read more

1). We have use General Computer Systems/Oakland, Ca. for so many years already. 2). Just like all their customers base: Once use their professional services we just stayed w/them. 3). Alex/Mgr. and Steve/technician both really good, they will inf. you how many hrs. will involved and how do they charge. When we picked up the computer, they will inf. you what's wrong w/the computer, and both Alex and Steve always find an not expensive way to fix it. 4). We really appreciated of them, they are family run business, total 5 people. From: Robert P. Gipson & Angel K. Chung-Gipson, Oakland, Ca. read more

I had a very helpful conversation with the person who answered the phone. I have a laptop with a bad VGA connector that causes the machine to crash when I wiggle it. He said they'd only charge one hour of labor to diagnose it, even if it took longer, and he also said it would be cheaper and faster for me to buy a USB to VGA adapter. Great idea! Now I don't have to leave my laptop overnight -- I'm totally dependent on it. I liked the fact that he thought creatively from the standpoint of the customer's best interest. read more

This place is great. It's an independently owned full service computer shop that's been around for about 25 years. Today I brought in a hard drive that I purchased from them 4 years ago because it had been accidentally reformatted to read only so I couldn't erase all the old files on it. There were three technicians working in there, they were all busy, but one of them just interrupted his work to help me. Within 5 minutes he had wiped it clean and reformatted it for use on PC or Mac. Even though I argued a bit, there was no charge because I had purchased the hd there. Customer service isn't a thing of the past! I've used this shop many times and never been other than happy with the service and the work read more

I do my own computer upgrades, and I've gotten a lot of free advice from the people at General. Once I broke the on/off button on a desktop PC which required a cheap but unavailable part to fix. When I explained what I needed, the guy found a spare faceplate in the repair shop and sold it to me for $5. I think that's the only way to get a part like that. All the employees seem very knowledgeable about PC's. read more

I had to call twice in order to find out what what going on with computer. First time I called to pick it up and they hadn't even started because they didn't have the password, but no one bother calling me to get the information. So instead of picking up the computer on the day I was told I had to wait 2 additional days because they were closed on Sunday. read more

I walked in off the street and I got an accurate diagnosis of the burnt power supply. The tech. fixed on the spot while I went to lunch. It was ready when I came back. The price was very reasonable. ***However he left one connector off one of my drives and it happened to be the one with 95% of my files. *** read more

I have never written a bad review before this. My experience with this company was awful. The owner was rude, yelled at me, and refused to correct his mistake. I brought my laptop in for a broken hinge. There was nothing else wrong with my computer. The hinge replacement went fine. But as soon as I brought my computer home, the keyboard was broken. When I brought my computer back in and asked him to fix it, he refused. He then began to yell at me in public, told me I couldn't prove it wasn't broken before, that there was "no way" he caused this problem, and that I'd have to take him to court if I wanted any money back. He insists that it was just coincidence that the keyboard broke the second his hands touched the computer. He then tried to get me to buy a new keyboard from him. On top of that, my entire computer just shut down several days later. I don't know that he caused my computer to crash, but a whole lot of stuff began to go wrong as soon as I took my computer in for a simple hinge replacement. I will never go to this store again and recommend you avoid it at all costs if you want to save yourself a giant headache. read more

these folks solved my laptop's problem!!! with friendly and fun service. they saved me $$$$$ by not having to buy a new on. i'd recommend them to anyone. one downside: a little pricely. big upside: they over-delivered!!! read more

I am a lawyer. I need dependability. I write a column on technology for lawyers for a national magazine. I wouldn't call myself a computer engineer b y any stretch, but on the other hand I would say I know more than the average business computer user about computers. I have good online support for software issues. I need a very solid and totally trustworthy source for "hardware." I rely on Alex at General Computers for my hardware needs. He is extremely honest. He is very bright. He is very fair. He sometimes tells me that I don't need something when I am prepared to spend more. I like that. He even does "housecalls" when I have issues that would best be resolved if he visits my office in the home here in the Lakeshore District. Today, I am accepting delivery on a high end computer that Alex has built to order for me. I have complete confidence that what I will receive will be far better for me than anything I could order from Dell, Amazon, or any other online discount source. I know from experience that Alex stands behind what he sells and services and part of the equation for me is knowing that if anything falters, Alex will make it right at a very fair price. Alex has been my "go-to" hardware guy for more than 5 years and has taken me through several crises -- where I face tight deadlines with clients -- without fail. That means a lot to me. It is no accident that General Computers has been in business for more than 20 years, while other companies have come and gone. read more