Alliance Computer Stores Inc

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! I have been using Alliance Computer for my repairs for about 10 years now. I used to be completely satisfied with them. Their service and technicians were impeccable, and; I was always treated as a valuable customer. The past two times I have used them, it was a complete disappointment. I took my computer in on a Thursday late afternoon. I called on Friday, and was told that someone would contact me on Saturday as nothing had been done to it as of yet. I went in on Saturday, and, was told that the technician, J. dan, looked at it on Thursday night, but; nothing had been done to it since then. The VERY RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL customer service person at the desk informed me that J. dan wouldn’t be back to work until Sunday, and that «someone would be in touch with me as soon as they could.» I don’t know the customer service persons name, but, he was male, dark colored short hair, and dark eyebrows. I told him that this was unacceptable, and, I needed to talk to someone else. He said, «Well, there is him over there. But, he is just going to tell you the same thing» I told him, «Well, I will wait to talk to, «him over there.» The person that I talked to was Steve, the manager. He was the only bright point in the whole experience. I explained the situation to him, and, he apologized on behalf of his employees. I told him what the problem was with the computer, and, he told me how to rectify the problem. He was efficient, professional, and polite. However, I will not be using them anymore. I have since found another more professional shop with excellent customer service.

I was not going to go there because I saw many bad reviews on Unilocal but I read that they revamped their staff so we gave it a try. I have a brand new laptop that I used 3 times and now it won’t turn on. We took it to this place and paid $ 39.00 for a diagnosis to be given to us in 2 – 3 days. They had the computer for 2 weeks and no one ever diagnosed the problem. We called twice to see what was going on and we were told we would get a call back in 24 hours nobody ever called. The day before I picked it up my husband called and they said the tech manager would call in 15 min no one called. Finally I went and picked it up, still never got a diagnosis! What did they do with it for 2 weeks, obviously nothing!

We’ve been using Alliance for our IT parts and service for years. My boss says that started at least 5 years ago, before I was there and he said they’ve always been more than satisfied. We’ve had them do everything from replace our HP server to train staff on using Office apps. We’ve had nothing but positive things to say about every tech we’ve dealt with. We usually have them come to us, but when we go to the store they have whatever we need. I’m certainly no novice in the IT field myself and a few times they’ve shown me better ways than what I first had in mind.

I do not trust these guys. They use used parts in repairs, and try to swindle you every chance they get. I’ve been in IT for 18 years, but decided to play stupid with these guys. Well they clearly tried taking advantage of me. Never again.
Too bad there are no decent computer parts dealers in Harrisburg. Your better off buying what you need on the Internet. This place is the worst.

I agree with John JH, they sell used parts, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you are buying. If you are looking for cables, I found them to be somewhat cheaper than the big retailers since the items are used or repackaged. But anything else… I would be wary. The times that I resort to going here are when I need a computer part that I cannot find at a major retailer. Unfortunately, they are not that much better. There’s been about 3 or 4 instances where I have went to there Derry Street location asked them for a particular kind of cable, wire or connection and they had what I needed just once. I wasn’t asking for anything a techie wouldn’t be aware of, but one time the guy had no clue what I was even looking for (simple mini-​USB to USB splitter). He then proceeded to tell me I would kill my harddrive when I explained to him what I was trying to do, even though it was recommended by a number of websites. Another time they didn’t have the part I wanted in stock, so they insisted that they order it for me even after I told them I needed it the same day. I literally had to tell the guy to «STOP! Look if you can’t give it to me today I’m leaving…»
Which leads to their customer service. I dread talking to one of their sales people. If they are not being pushy at trying to sell you something, they are either know-​it-​alls (or know-​it-​wrongs) or condescending. Both of these types of sales people immediately turn me off. So if you have to go here out of necessity because Harrisburg lacks another true computer parts store, get in, get what you need and get out.

I want to give this company a ZERO but I cannot. If I could rate it a MINUS five I would. I have to disagree with Rein about this company being honest and fair.
I brought my desktop system in because my optical drives wouldn’t reload Windows onto my fresh hard drive (which happens sometimes with those drives, from what I understand). I had a second hard drive with all my data on there. I left explicit instructions, both verbally and on paper, as to what to do and to NOT touch my second drive, as it was fine, working properly, and is my data backup.
My fault was not pulling out that second drive just in case.
I get the system back in a couple of days. I get it home and boot it up. They’ve loaded windows for me on the C: drive. Fine. The I go to look — my secondary drive is not viewablee! I went to the BIOS and checked — it’s not been disabled. I opened the case and checked — the drive is still there, cables connected. However, I did notice they didn’t put back the two thumbscrews on my case. That’s very bad and sloppy workmanship IMO.
So I called the company. The guy that answered the phone said that maybe the tech forgot something and to bring it back in — should take about 15 mins to fix and I can hang out in the store while I wait. OK no problem.
So I bring the system back in on the weekend — no techs are there. We needed the system so I bring it home.
Then I brought the system back. I told the guy what happened (again). I’d seen this older guy several times when I went there and I’m sure he was familiar with the issue. I expected my system to be done within a couple of hours so I left it.
I called back later to find out that they said something was wrong with that drive and I needed to spend money again to repair it. I asked to speak with the tech and he said that somehow the drive had been partitioned and formatted, and he’d have to run a recovery on it and that it would cost me. He also said that I had formatted my own data drive, with 10 years of backup data on it. By this point I was pretty upset, and asked to speak with the manager.
Denny, the manager, was the guy I’d given the computer to when I walked in that day — he told me that it was him who took my computer. I explained to him what the tech did, and what he said. Denny took the tech’s side. He also said that I’d have to pay for it. I said, Ineed my data recovered and I needed it today and not to pay. After all, the original tech said it’d take about 15 minutes, and I’d left the system half the day now with the store, it wasn’t my fault. I believe either the tech didn’t want to fess up to the mistake of doing something wrong, or he parted my drive without realizing it. The fact that he didn’t even simply return my nice thumbscrews to their place on my machine shows that the workmanship was sloppy. Instead of offering to expedite the service, and correct their mistake, Denny went on to call me a liar. He said I lied and said that HE was the one who said the system would be done in a short time. I tried to be calm and explain to him that it was the tech last week who answered the phone, but he was so mad at ME — his customer. He continued to yell at me over the phone saying that I’m lying and he doesn’t like liars. ME! Who tries very very hard never to lie (but he doesn’t know me personally so he doesn’t know that.)
It’s one thing to be upset with your customer. It’s one thing to be upset with how someone does something. But to attack someone’s integrity? And your customer’s to boot? I calmly got off the phone with Denny, and later I went down to collect my computer.
One of the young guys in the store helped me do so. He was very nice and was shocked that the manager had done such a thing on the phone (I didn’t explain all details, just that I was very unhappy and his manager had yelled at me and name-​called over the phone). He apologized profusely and that was nice and all but it wasn’t him that made the mistake. It was the tech who worked on my machine and worse — the manager!
I come from Virginia where everything’s professional. I myself manage support staff. If I were ever to call one of my customers a liar — I’d be fired on the spot. Who does this Denny guy report to anyway? What a total lack of professionalism. He should be ashamed of himself.
So I have a machine that is still missing 10 years worth of important data, my system still won’t recognize the drive. I will take it in to Best Buy to see if they can fix what Alliance Computer has broken. Best Buy has always been very professional and timely, and I regret that I didn’t take the system there in the first place. I don’t think they’d yell at me in the store and call me a liar.
EDIT: THREE WEEKS LATER: they called me and said that my hard drive was available for pickup. Wha??? They actually removed my drive from my system. Who said they could do that? They should be ashamed of themselves.