Dave’s Computer Services

I have phoned this business twice for advice on printer repair. The owner is the rudest business person I have ever spoken too. Does not seem to care about your business, I wish someone else would open an Epson certified store in the area… it is ridiculous that this our only choice without going to Fremont! no stars…

Dave’s Computers is way rad. I highly recommend them to anyone with computer issues.

My almost new Epson Workforce printer, displayed a message that said there was a problem with the automatic document feeder… which I had never used… so I assumed it might need to be reset or adjusted. i took it to Dave’s and when I picked it up they said they couldn’t get it to malfunction, but they charged me $ 50. I brought it home and it continued to display the same message and was not usable. I took it back and after several weeks I went by the store because I had not heard anything from them. The store had moved! I went to the new location, and was told that they had left a message notifying me they were moving and that I should pick up the printer. I did not get the message! Because I didn’t pick it up, they recycled it! I was extremely «perturbed» to hear that I paid them $ 50 to recycle my almost new printer! They will not get my business again, and I will recommend that my friends do not patronize them!!!

I’ve dealt with Dave’s for over 20 years! And I like the guy. Sincerely, Clay Olson, Santa Cruz City School’s Macintosh Computer Instructor (2500 students taught).

Apple authorized dealer I used for an Apple recall of a 1 TB drive in my three year old iMac. Yes, Daves did the work. But the phone estimate for TimeMachine reinstall was 25.00 which morphed into 75.00 with no explanation.

This shop had so much promise it’s local… and then Dave happened; the owner has no social skills whatsoever. Did not check the messages I left him, wanted to sell me an incompatible adapter probably lying around his disgusting shop, did not call me back after giving me his word as an OWNER OF THE STORE.
No one is professional there, the receptionist does not know what is going on, the employees are left to fill in the blanks and treat the customer and their services anyway they want, and it’s not okay!
The one employee was ready to fix me up with the answer when I walked in there, which seemed like a new power adapter, BUT, then I was to assume the position; I needed to get in line with the rest of the helpless individuals who are left unassuming to these creeps. I had to leave my computer there, for «diagnostics» to see what the problem is??? Not for one week, but, for two, while English papers were left to the mercy of library hours and commuting from work to school, all the while, like I said, the owner left me with ill and scarce communication, with disorganized (lies) information.
When I go to finally get it, guess what? I needed a new charger.
The 2 week checkup cost me $ 80. The most painful *part of all this is after explaining the absurdity of all this to them, I HAD TO PAY THEM.
Go somewhere else!
*If you’re reading this Dave!

Rude, condescending, uninformed, apparently delight in turning away customers.
I just called Dave’s to see if they would be able to help me with my damaged adapter, which falls under Apple’s Adapter Replacement Program category. I’d received a notice in my email recently that I would be eligible for a new adapter as part of the recall of Apple’s MagSafe adapters– sure enough, my adapter had exposed wires and was about to die as a result of the defect that caused the recall. I then went online to investigate, found info on Apple’s website, and was directed from Apple’s site to the «Apple Authorized Service Provider» nearest me. So I call up the store and ask the guy on the phone if they could help me with an adapter as part of the recall. He said «how old is your computer?» I replied «2007.» He then rudely lectured on me on how I was ineligible for help unless I’d bought the computer within the last year. I said «I received an email notice saying I was eligible.» He then said «Well if you’d read on the apple webpage, you can’t get a replacement out of warranty, and even if you did your return value would diminish over the course of the following years, to be one ½, then ¼…» I don’t even know why he was telling me this. He proceeded to berate me for my ignorance for far longer than was necessary and for really no discernable purpose, since I was just asking if his store could help me or not. As a matter of fact, the Apple webpage I was staring at as he blathered on stated clearly «whether your product is in or out of warranty you can take your adapter to an Apple Authorized Service Provider for replacement.» It’s just crazy how some people can be so on edge and angry that they take it out any time they get a chance. Stay away.

The Good: Local place you can pick up a part off the shelf.
The Bad: Took a macbook pro there for apple care warranty work on a faulty display. Right off the bat they knew they had to ship it for repairs. It look them three days to get around to shipping it and when they got it back they didn’t bother calling me. I had to track it through my apple id and tell them they had my computer. I use my machines for work not play and don’t want to burn extra days for no good reason and certainly didn’t appreciate the lack of interest on the staff’s part in doing their job and just tell me where my computer is. When I had to send the machine back again, I just made apple send me a fed ex box. I got the box within hours, sent it out, and received my computer back the next day. Why bother going to Dave’s? I actually had to send it back one more time before apple could finally fix the display permanently and the fed ex route was definitely the most convenient.

Please don’t ever come here.
They need to seriously readjust their attitude. I can’t believe how rude they are, and accusatory, like I was lying about what I thought had happened to my computer. They fixed things that didn’t need fixing without my approval and overcharged by a landslide. They also returned my computer in twice as much time as they had originally claimed, and when I came in over a week later to check on the status, it was sitting on a shelf and had been completely untouched. So, they lied too.

Condescending and frankly quite rude when I called a week after I’d left my computer with them and had not received one call as to the extent of the problem let alone the status of the repair. As if it was a bother to deal the customer that’s left them with a $ 2500 computer and is willing to pay them over $ 600 to fix it. Really? Maybe they really don’t want any business. ??
I was misinformed and uninformed as to how long it would take. This is my livelihood after all. Repairs were further delayed for reasons unknown and unexplained to me. If they had told me right from the start it would take them more than a week, I wouldn’t have left it with them.
And when I did go pick it up **two and half weeks later**, I had to press them for a receipt and itemized invoice of repairs [for work and taxes], and even that was a bother. And then to top it off, they give me a hand scrawled illegible invoice, pre-​computer age on a xerox form. .. a computer business? Are you kidding me? Not sure what era these guys are coming from…
Problem fixed for a few months, but now another problem related has emerged. But I don’t want to go through any more condescending attitudes and minimal performance to ask them to look at it and/​or bite my head off for bothering them. Very unprofessional service. The only person that was even semi respectful and helpful was the actual technician, when I was actually allowed to get through to him.

If you want to be treated like your wasting there time by doing business with them, then this is your place! Not happy with this shop and I would not recommend doing business with them.

I had a great experience with Dave’s. These guys are awesome. I had an external hard drive that stopped working. They fixed it for me in 15 mins and recommended the best brands of external hard drive to purchase in case I needed another one. Great price too for what they did and how quick they were. Just talking to them for 15 mins and I could tell they know what they are talking about.
They might be more expensive than Computer Zone or Geek Squad, but it’s because they are certified for Apple and Epson repair. So if you need a repair to keep your electronics under warranty, they are the ones you need to go to. I wouldn’t risk it taking my stuff to a place that is less expensive personally. If you want your stuff to work right, pay a little extra for local business, friendly service and certified knowledge!

Dave’s Computers is a Santa Cruz institution. It’s the best Santa Cruz business I have used since i moved here 20 years ago. I believe much of this is due to Dave’s — the owner’s — philosophy. He is not in business just for the money. he wants to help people, to be a public service. Great philosophy which has served our town well.
The staff at Dave’s Computers — in particular Dave himself — are highly skilled and professional. yet they are still friendly. I wish more Santa Cruz businesses were like them.
Whatever question, about hardware or software you have, Dave’s Computer will answer it, or send you to someone else who can. They have answered most of my questions for free, as a favor to customers, sometimes spending a lot of time explaining their answers to me.
Their work is impeccable. Their business does much more than just repair computers, although they do a great job at that. They also service, maintain, sell and buy computers, peripherals, and software.
To me Dave’s Computers embodies the best of the Santa Cruz ideal.
I am afraid to recommend them so highly because it might attract more out-​of-​town people to move to our small oasis between the sea and the trees.

I rely on my computer for my income. When my Macbook Pro died, I quickly looked into Unilocal for the reviews of authorized Apple repair people here in Santa Cruz before I borrowed the $ to take it in. I should have read down the site for more reviews first. Going into the shop was my second mistake. I was charged $ 165 for him to look at it, tell me flippantly that it would be $ 1000+ to repair when I went to pick it up, and send me off with pieces of my laptop, minus the installation discs which I had to go back to the rudeness to get. Plus no information or technician resp. for the work to talk to me about what was done; just scribble on paper (were they high?)and a machine that didn’t get dropped off in that condition-​I can’t even plug it in if I want to!.I’ve worked in retail: no one deserves to be treated so rudely, and in my case, while already suffering their loss of income and paying for it! Next time I will drive over the hill for professional help.

These guys are awesome. They know what they’re doing and are nice too boot. They also actually seem to care, which is super refreshing. I spilled a little coffee on my computer’s keyboard and it started doing all kinds of weird stuff. I called them and they said, ‘turn it off immediately and come right down.’ They said they could at least take a look at it right away to see what needed to be done. They fooled around with it for 15 minutes or so, had three people look at it, fixed a few things and told me it would be fine, but that I should turn it upside down, put it in a warm room for 24 hours, etc., etc. After that, all they asked for was ‘any donation i cared to make.’ When I made a small one, they were SUPER appreciative. Love them! I’ll be back when something really breaks…

My family and myself have used Dave’s a few times; generally to do upgrades to our existing macs, but also for repairs as well.
They are apple-​authorized, so you don;t have to trek over the hill to get warranty work done, which is great. Even better, they’ve always gotten our stuff back to us as fast or faster than promised. They really know macs, which is nice when you have older models. Quick diagnosis & solutions. Finally, everyone there has always been friendly and nice; despite the look of an old-​school IT department, they won’t drown you with tech-​speak.

Dave and his crew are our lifeline to computer health and sanity. When I think of the different problems our family business has brought to him over the years, it blows my mind. I’ve been using Macs since the first Apple personal computer, and Dave is the best technician and most savvy repair guru I’ve ever met. Let’s face it, he’s a genius. He also reminds me of why Macs changed my life in the first place. I should add they’ve also solved network problems for me that no one else could touch, and made all my peripherals behave, as well as coaching me on what to buy, how to protect myself, etc. Thank you, Dave, and all the amazing people who work with you!

Highly recommended! They saved me thousands of dollars on data recovery and was even more helpful than the Apple store in Los Gatos (who referred me to Drivesavers, in turn quoting a shocking $ 1600 – 2400 for data recovery – WTF?!). I’m even thinking about taking some Dave’s Computers business cards to the Apple Store and informing them that there’s a closer & much cheaper place for local SC county people/​poor students.
Thank you Dave’s Computer for saving my life! :)

I was originally skeptical about taking my mac to a non-​apple store, but these guys know what’s up. My laptop had a massive fail recently when the screen went out and parts just went bezerck. I couldn’t start the damn thing and Applecare told me the nearest apple store was in san jose (pretty far when you don’t have a car), but that I could take it to Dave’s (thank god for the extended warranty, seriously). It was somewhat hard to find because everything in the complex has the same address, but once I made it in I could tell I was in good hands.
The entire store has that «computers are our fukkin’ deal, ya dig?» kinda feel. The people behind the counter are hot/​cold and sometimes you need to wait a little in order to get any real attention, but the technicians know their stuff. My computer somehow stumped them for a few weeks, it’s almost as if every part went out at the same time, and had to get sent to the repair center in houston, leaving me laptopless and disconnected, However when I called the store the technicians were always willing to give me the full scoop on what went wrong and what they were doing to fix it. Overall, these guys deserve their 4 stars.

i don’t know… some people seem helpful and others are just depressing to deal with. i have had two friends who worked there and i have always thought of dave’s as a good place to go for computer repair although my experiences tell me otherwise; i have dealt with them twice to no benefit of mine. the first time i had a g4 tower that would burn up firewire interfaces that were connected to it, smoke and all. i left it with them for a few days (with a victimized firewire cd drive) and they were unable to diagnose any problem and i think the damage was only around $ 40 for this. then it burned up one more firewire interface (on a friend’s new 12″ powerbook) before i put masking tape over the firewire ports and got a pci card to handle their function. so they couldn’t find the problem, whatever… then i went in today looking for a replacement key for a friend’s laptop and they were very unhelpful. i would have prefered a simple, «we don’t sell replacement keys,» but was instead treated to a «they are five dollars a piece but it is not worth my time to find the key you want,» in spite of the fact that i had done all the research and knew exactly what i was looking for. i won’t be back… and my friends no longer work there.