License To (Hard) Drive
By Wyatt Earp | October 30, 2011
Remember a few weeks ago when the blog was having virus issues? Turns out that was the high point of my internet month.
A few days ago, I did an internal scan of my desktop computer and it came up with a few red flags. The underlying message after the scan was, “The hard drive is in danger of failing. Please run a back up immediately.” Yeah, not exactly the kind of message you want to see. I sent an e-mail to Code Monkey, my trusty computer sidekick, and she sent me links to a few local computer repair shops. One of them was Evolve Design, located on 3rd Street in South Philly. They had great reviews on Yelp, so I figured I would give them a try.
The short version? They’re fantastic! The more detailed version is below the fold.
I called Evolve on Wednesday at about 9am, but didn’t leave a message. At 11am, my cell phone rang. It was Lisa from Evolve, returning my call. She returned my call after checking the caller ID. What company does that? I gave her a short rundown of the problem, and asked if I could bring in my tower on Friday. She said sure. When I arrived, I was met by Lisa and her husband Darrien (I hope I spelled his name correctly). Darrien talked to me about the issue and said he would run a diagnostic, free of charge. He did this in front of me and explained everything, which was good because I’m not that computer savvy.
What really impressed me is that even though I told him the scan said my hard drive was in danger of failing, he didn’t immediately say, “Oh, you’ll need a new drive.” He wasn’t trying to make a sale; he was trying to fix the problem. His initial scans came up negative, so he asked if he could remove the hard drive and do another diagnostic. No problem. This was Friday afternoon at about 1pm. Darrien told me that even if the hard drive had to be replaced, he would have my tower back to my by Saturday night. I thanked him and left.
Sure enough, I received a phone call from Darrien on Saturday at 4:30pm. He said the hard drive was having read issues and he needed to replace it. I expected that (especially after the scan I did at home showed as much) and agreed. He said I could come right down and pick it up. Bam!
When I got there, he showed me everything he and Lisa did with the computer. They gave me my old hard drive and said if there was anything I didn’t back up, they could pull it up for me. They also installed a few anti-virus and malware programs, as well as a remote access program – so they could fix any future minor issues remotely. A nice touch since it’s a half hour drive to their place.
After all was said and done, they replaced my hard drive (and actually did an upgrade as far as memory goes), and did it quickly and expertly. Through it all, they were incredibly friendly, never talked down to me, and their prices were highly reasonable. If you are suffering from computer issues and live in the Philadelphia area, Evolve should be your first call.
Topics: Site News | 9 Comments »
October 30th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Thanks for the tip.
October 30th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
So should folks they say they heard about Evolve on your block, or have Darrien and Lisa read it by now? *g*
October 30th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Where do all the hippies meet? South Street. South Street!
[this post made me feel like singing that old classic tune].
October 30th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Good thing you were proactive
October 31st, 2011 at 8:29 am
Glad your ‘puter hard drive is in tip top shape again, now about that graphics card….
October 31st, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Bob – if you ever need their services, send me an e-mail first. The location is a little hard to find.
Richard – They’re much too sophisticated to read this drivel, believe me.
AJ – Yep, just two blocks south of there.
Old NFO – As Code monkey said, my anal retentiveness came in handy for a change.
Jon – It was eba,rrassing when they were asking technical questions and I stood there saying, “Um, I don’t know . . . “
October 31st, 2011 at 1:35 pm
As a side note, since your issues, my work firewall has blocked you as “Adult”.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:57 pm
911 – I’ve been called a lot of things – “adult” isn’t one of them.
November 1st, 2011 at 11:16 am
Wyatt:
Now THAT’S what you call a DEFINITE WIN-WIN…good for you!
(and good PR for Evolve, too)
Nice to see a small company in AMERICA do good work and get a thumbs up.
Stay safe.