On-Site Service: Desperate House Calls.

COMPUSA Inc. 121428098 CPU

This article evaluates the quality of service being provided by some of onsite PC repair services in the U.S. CompUSA's performance was mixed, but good overall. The technicians who responded in Boston, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California were professional and thorough. Each technician brought along a personal toolkit. The results varied somewhat. The Boston technician dearly knew his stuff. He downloaded the drivers right away, and he installed a 30-day demo version of SpySweeper. He also came tantalizingly close to solving the CD drive problem, but he never entirely succeeded. The technician in Los Angeles left with a trial version of Panda Antivirus, which deleted the spyware handily, and he patiently explained how using a firewall and antivirus software could help prevent a future spyware infection on the PC. The Boston technician from ComputerAssistant.com was a former IT director. He carefully solved all of the computer's problems in about 3 hours. He also scavenged the cable from an old PC that was sitting around the house, thereby restoring the CD drive to working condition. Best Buy's Geek Squad president Robert Stephens characterizes his company as a hospitality business, and says that technicians are trained not only in the technical skills needed but in communications skills, punctuality, and even the small niceties.