Clayton Computer

Horrible service. Do NOT come here. Again: NOT. Normally I don’t post reviews, but this service was so bad, I had to. Don’t be fooled by the couple okay reviews buried within the bad ones, like I was.
I went in, wanting to fix my broken laptop display. Chris greeted me and said he would work with me. After looking at my laptop for a bit, he said he would take it for the day and run a mandatory $ 50 diagnostics test for any internal damages even after I told him only the display needed fixing. It was mandatory and it couldn’t hurt, so I said OK.
He calls me later that day to tell me the diagnostic test wouldn’t work because my laptop wouldn’t read his usb/​he couldn’t see anything via my display (duh, that’s what I needed fixing). He then tell me he needs to open my laptop and screen to check for the model, and needs my permission to do so. I ask him whether he can’t just google my laptop model without the need to open it up, he says he needs to open it. So I ask what happens if he messed up while doing so, thereby making more of a problem. After a while of dodging my question and me continually asking, he just said, «Well, worst case scenario, your laptop would just be unusable.»
I asked what would happen then since it would be their fault and he gave me no answer. After some more back-​and-​forth frustration, I gave in and gave my permission since we were arguing over a hypothetical situation.
3 hours later, he calls and tells me that he didn’t know my laptop was a certain type of laptop and in the process of opening it up, he broke my backlight as well. By this point, I’m pissed — especially since we talked it over and he still avoided discussing this exact situation. Plus, how could he not know? It’s called Google, Chris.
I then ask, «So what now?» He tells me he could still fix the laptop for $ 700. After I tell him how ridiculous that is, he tells me he could send me a link for the screen, which I could separately order and bring to the shop for him to fix, which would be about $ 150 cheaper.
I tell him I just want to take my laptop elsewhere, so the next day I go into the shop to pick up my laptop. He still tries to convince me to buy the full replacement screeb assembly online and bring it to him. I question why he thinks I should trust him after his avoidable incompetence basically cost me a good screen. He mumbles for a bit, and I also ask for my $ 50 back since he couldn’t even run the diagnostics test. He begins to explain that at the time he called me, he didn’t run the test but he got it to work afterwards, which made absolutely no sense since he broke the whole backlight and screen by the time he called me (he wouldn’t be able to see his diagnostics test). Pissed and very frustrated, I just picked up my laptop and left.
Do NOT come here. I’m surprised they’re not closed.

Not just shoddy work, but terrible customer service. Try anyplace in town but this place. We got totally hosed by them. After misdiagnosing the problem with our laptop and up-​selling us on a new over-​priced battery — a fix that didn’t work — they would not take a return of the battery or credit what we paid them toward the cost to actually fix it. Needless to say, I took it elsewhere and got it fixed. I can forgive an employee misdiagnosing a problem every once in a while, but to not take responsibility for it is ridiculous. If they had just taken a return of the battery and credited our previous payment, I would have paid them MORE money to fix it. Duh.

I brought my computer here after having problems with HP incorrectly diagnosing my computer problems. Clayton computer was fast, I got my computer back within a few days, but price and communication on their end were horrible. It was $ 150 for an hour of work; I would hate to know what it would cost if they actually had to replace anything or do any serious repair work. I ultimately could have done the work myself, had they let me know what the problem was. Clayton Computer was only supposed to diagnose my computer before letting me know what the repairs and cost would be, but they just called me to tell me I owed $ 150 after they were finished.

Brought my computer in about a year ago for a fried power supply unit. I had troubleshot it to the point where I was 95% sure the problem was the PSU but since I don’t have a multimeter or spare PSU on hand to swap out, I asked them to confirm before replacing it. Confirmation came in the form of a $ 60 diagnostic fee — a bit steep for a simple test that should’ve taken no more than a couple of minutes.
They proceeded to install a 1000W unit in my modest machine — the equivalent of throwing a V10 engine in a Honda Civic — to the tune of $ 400+.
Flash forward 15 months later and without having suffered any unprotected surges or outside interference, that PSU is suddenly blown too. Although nice enough from a customer service standpoint (minus installing the excessive replacement PSU without running it by me first), I can’t say I’d recommend these guys generally. Turnaround time was decent, but nothing special.

First off, before reading this, if you are having any problems with your computer, do not go here, go to Microcenter which is located on 87 Brentwood Promenade Ct.
I went to Microcenter and told them I would shop around and come back. My next stop was Clayton Computer. Clayton Computer was not busy, but it still took me 15 minutes to see anyone. I repeat. The store was empty. When someone finally talked to me, he gave me the same diagnoses, but wanted to charge me twice as much as what Microcenter wanted, said it would take twice as long, and said he wasn’t even sure that that was the solution.
Microcenter on the other hand said they were willing to do a diagnoses, if this fixed the problem, they would charge me and that would be the end, but if they couldn’t fix it, they would find out what was wrong with it, waive the fee, and then fix my computer (and though their proposed diagnoses was the same as Clayton Computer’s, like I said before, it was nearly half the price). When I asked if Clayton Computer could match this he shook his head and laughed, saying he could do the diagnoses, but would charge me $ 70 whether he could fix it or not.
So once again, if you have any problems, direct your business to Microcenter. I have also heard unfavorable reviews from Clayton Computers from several of my friends so this is not a unique experience on my part.

This place should be closed! I dropped off a hard disk that stopped communicating with my computer. I had used it as storage for years of family photos. I also gave them a new Western HD to transfer the recovered images and files. After a couple months I stopped by to find our what progress if any had been made. They hadn’t gotten around to it. They promised they would look and get back to me. Again several months passed and I checked back in. They can’t find the disks, «can we call you back when we find them?». I say yes, several weeks later, no call. I then show up demanding return of my disks, repaired or not. I’m told they clean house every few months and discard unclaimed property. What!!! Not only did I trust them with my equipment, I paid $ 59.00 for them to lose it. Any offer of refund, compensation, apology – NOTHING.
Bottom line, don’t go there. Your equipment goes in but it won’t come out… the ROACH MOTEL OF COMPUTING!

I’ll keep this short and sweet. I took a customer’s laptop there because the LCD screen no longer displayed. 4 weeks went by before my patience ran out. When I contacted them, they hadn’t done a thing to the laptop. I was given some story about how a guy had left the Richmond Heights store for the South County store. What that has do with my laptop and not contacting me over 4 weeks is beyond me! 2 weeks later (now a total of 6 weeks) I am going to pickup a used laptop for purchase from them because they finally determined that it’s not fixable. NEVER again will I even consider taking anything here. And this comes from an IT guy who could have done this myself but was pressed for time.

I brought my laptop into Clayton Computer after running around all of St. Louis. The first place I brought my computer to, I was immediately (after a quick glance) told I needed something soldered and it would cost over $ 100 dollars and they would not finish it until 5 days later. I was then told that Clayton Computer was nearby me and I should see what they thought. I brought it by and was immediately helped. He tested various things on both my computer and chargers and came to find out that all that was wrong was I had a bad charger! Clayton Computer not only saved me money but assisted me in showing how to avoid breaking parts in the computer in the future and even took the time to get rid of some space on my desktop… all at no extra cost! I would highly recommend them and will bring my computer to them again in the future if need be.

So, my laptop’s power jack got disconnected from the motherboard. Which sounds like the start of a dirty joke, but instead, meant that my power gauge went from 100% to 0%. And that’s not a good thing.
What is a good, no, great thing is the customer service and repair of Clayton Computer. I first called the Clayton location, and after talking to them, they recommended I go to the South County location (due to them being slightly less busy and a fellow named Jeff who loves to fix power jacks).
Forget Annie Sullivan, I’ll give Jeff the title «Miracle Worker.» I brought in my computer Thursday around 1:30 pm. Jeff said that he’d get back to me before the end of the day letting me know the status (and indeed he did — he had already fixed it and was running some diagnostics — which was part of the price).
Anyway, my laptop is fixed and running faster than it has in a long time. And of course, the turnaround was wonderful.
I’m elated!