FirstTech

I was very sad to see them go. They always treated me right and I know I got the right machine for my needs every time I walked through those doors. When they closed in late March I was looking for a new place to buy and upgrade my Apple products, I found this shop in Oakdale MN called Affordamac. They are friendly, knowledgable and very reasonable. If you are also looking for a new «Mac home», try them out.

I stopped by for their last day of business to look at sales items, but really I think I was saying goodbye.
I’ve gotten several computers there over the years and they always did good repair work when I needed it. I bought my newest computer there when they were willing to put together a configuration that the Apple Store flat out refused to deal with (even though it was nothing unusual).
I’m going to miss you FirstTech.

Freakout time! Dead external drive loaded with the only copy of a project that needs attention. Like right now. Saturday morning and I call these guys, they ask some questions over the phone and tell me to c’mon over. Perfect timing, no one else at the repair shop, it’ll take them a few minutes to look at it so I head out and pick up a couple iced coffees for the repair dudes. I get back and they’ve diagnosed the problem, the drive is now working inside a new housing. Half an hour has passed and I’m out the door and heading home.
Thanks FirstTech! Your repair dudes are awesome.
Note…
Treat repair folks and airport gate agents nicely. Offer to buy em a beverage and/​or a chocolatey snack. They can do miracles for you and will if you treat em nice. It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.

I walked in early on a Thursday to add memory to my Macbook Pro. The tech department was very nice, and they told me to walk next door to the sales department which is where upgrades are performed. The salesman I spoke to was pleasant and quoted me a price and let me know the upgrade would be done in 24 hours, and quite possible by the end of the day. He said I would receive a call when the repair was complete. At eleven the next day I gave a call to see if the job was complete because I was going to be down the street a few blocks getting Chipotle. Wow. The salesman who answered my call was shockingly smug. When I introduced myself and explained the nature of my call he paused like some stage actor and asked me: «Did we call you to tell you the repair was done?» I was so taken aback by his attitude I simply responded that, no, nobody had called. He then said: «You’ll be called when it’s done.» I was honestly speechless with that. He failed to ask my name, look up my repair, or even pretend like he was familiar with the concept of customer service. I can not remember a time in my life when I have been treated that way as a paying customer. So I drove by the store and ate my Chipotle and went on with my day. As five pm approached and I had not received a call from them, I anxiously called again to inquire about my upgrade. Thankfully, another salesperson answered my call and she was professional and courteous, and let me know my machine was ready to be picked up. I went to the store to pick it up and I wanted to inquire about what time it was repaired to see if it was done prior to my first call, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone about their staff so I just picked it up and looked at the invoice on the way back to my car. The time stamp on the invoice showed that the Mac had been repaired prior to my earlier call, and I could have saved a trip to Uptown if the person I spoke to on the phone had taken five seconds to check on my machine.
Now it can be argued that they deserve a higher rating than two stars because only one third of the staff I spoke to was smug and obnoxious– that’s fair. However, the two star rating is a judgement call based on my overall experience and that sums it up. I will probably chose to go elsewhere next time because one rotten egg can spoil the whole experience.

I’ve dealt with First Tech twice now. The service has been great. Professional, courteous service. Jeff who does off site support does a super job of communicating. I’m definitely never going back to the Apple Store, and going to First Tech instead.

I took my rather old MacBook Pro into First Tech because it was overheating, hanging, and freezing, even when not running CPU intensive software. The fellow, Tyler (I think there may be two Tylers there) who worked on at first thought it was a memory stick. He replaced that for a reasonable charge, but the problem recurred. I took it back in but they couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Not only did they agree to refund the charge for the memory stick (and put the old one back in of course!), but with only minor grumbling on my part agreed to refund the charge for the diagnosis. So although my computer is not fixed, neither am I out any money. I really did not expect to get the diagnosis fee back. I would definitely go back there for future problems. In spite of this good customer service, my computer still overheats, so I can’t give five stars.

I dealt with them years ago and vowed never to go back. The only reason I’m writing a Unilocal is because I clicked on their Facebook ad without knowing it was them. First, their service was terrible. Some guy sat basically in front of me messing with an electrical cord. He leaves the area and another person comes in; when he returns he asks if he can help her (she’s white, I’m black). So, when I call him on that crap, he reluctantly waits on me. I had a MacBook that kept crashing and I needed to buy a new power cord. He quoted something like $ 900 to fix the laptop, which could have nearly bought a new one, and $ 90 for the cord. Long story short, I got the laptop fixed by Apple for a fraction of the cost and a new cord at about half the price elsewhere. Racist. Bad service. High prices. I. WILL. NEVER. GO. THERE. EVER. AGAIN.

Ok, I am not normally don’t post a review like this, but I seriously I had a really bad experience at this place.
My laptop has been having problems for a couple of months now with it freezing randomly. I went to some place in a different state the first time to see what they could do. They told me all they did was upgrade the software and that it was all better. It was a little better, until I got to Minneapolis. My laptop was not only freezing again, but it also started making a beeping noise.
This was when I decided to go to FirstTech. I will admit, at first sight they seemed very friendly and helpful. After a week passed, the repairman, Tom, told me that he used different memory sticks and that it solved the problem. I took it home, bought new RAM sticks. It worked for a little while but then it started having the same issues again.
Once again, I went in to FirstTech and told them the problem.
I provided them my email specifically because I was going to be out of the country that entire week. Of course, they did not contact me by my email once and instead decided to blow up my phone.
I had a message saying, «I think your memory is not compatible for your computer». This made very little sense to me because the store next door to them, which sells Apple products recommended me that exact product. When I went to the store, I talked to Tom and I was starting to lose my patience because I felt that he was talking to me as if I have never seen a computer before. He told me that my laptop can fit 16GB of RAM at the most and that I bought 32GB. Luckily, I kept the box it came in, and went I got back home, I checked the box and it said 16GB on it very clearly. As far as I’m concerned, this place has done nothing to fix my laptop. Oh yeah, I also payed a diagnostic fee of $ 60.

Alright. I’ve heard plenty of good things about First Tech before I had to deal with them. But when I had to deal with them personally, it was an unfavorable experience. After initially calling to get a quote to simply install a new hard drive (the old one was already removed) without uploading an OS they said it would be $ 59. I call back the next day to set up an appointment, and am on hold for 26 minutes (FYI horrible waiting music, haha). So I hang up and call back to let them know about their negligence, and they respond with, «Oh. Sorry man.» Then I reed plain my situation, and they quote me at the same price. So today I go in to take in my computer, after waiting, they redirect me to the other building, and then as I’m about to hand over my computer, they tell me it’s going to be double the price. So basically, they kinda suck as a business.
TL;DR: overpriced, unprofessional

I have gone to FirstTech a few times. Once to repair an old machine, and a second time to buy a pre-​owned computer.
The pre-​owned computer was just what I needed. It had been updated with the newest OS and everything on the computer was in perfect condition, except there were a few minor scratches on the screen (which they pointed out to me right away). The price was so low, you wouldn’t believe it. I may never buy a new computer again.
I trust FirstTech as much, if not more than Apple. The staff is friendly and informative, and down-​to-​earth.
Mac lovers, you won’t be disappointed in any of your purchases or service needs at this place. I recommend it to anyone who is having a Mac issue, or in need of some new technology.

Awesome independent Apple sales and service center. Really knowledgable staff and no appointments for service. I love their «buy local» initiatives. They offer a ton of classes too.

These guys are fantastic! All the awesome Apple stuff (plus some third party goods) with none of Apple Store attitude. Dude behind the counter helped me find some fun goodies for my iPad and got me in and out of the store in less than 10 minutes. Moreover, everything he recommended turned out to be great! Fast, efficient and friendly… I’ll be back.

Best place ever to buy a MAC. Louis was my sales guy super nice. I even had to return my first one because it wasnt supped up enough and i didnt open the box so they took it back. Harvey is the owner and one of the best business owners in the cities. They really go all the way helping with products and the staff is no pressure and very professional. Great prices and products for all you MAC needs.