Chip Merchant

If you need any IT Consulting, Jorge and his team @ ITCM are amazing! Professional, responsive, dedicated, and easy to work with.

I have personally sat down with Jorge, the owner of The Chip Merchant and talked IT security. He knows his stuff. As a business owner, it is very important that you backup your data from insidious threats to your network (e.g., ransomware, malware, trojans, etc.). Jorge is great for small to midsize companies that cannot afford a full-time IT employee.

They made me feel welcome, were attentive to my needs, new what they were doing, I didn't have to wait, I will tell my friends.

San Diego Computer Consultants/The Chip Merchant (I am not sure why they have two profiles/names) has caused irreparable damage to my computer, and are refusing to pay for any of it. If you read nothing else in my review, read that. I brought my laptop in to SDCC/The Chip Merchant this summer for power issues I was experiencing while studying for the Bar Exam, which requires a working computer 24/7!

They said they would take a look and get back to me. Come about a week later, they say a pin in my power jack was damaged, and they would attempt to resolder it. They did so for $120, and my computer seemed to be working fine for another 2 months. Then, the same issues began happening again. I returned to them, and they charged me another $120 to resolve the issue.

Without my consent, they installed a new power jack, and returned the computer to me. I plugged it in, studied for approximately four hours, and the power jack exploded, as in "POP", and smoke began billowing from the power input. FOUR hours of use and the laptop was now completely inoperable. I returned to San Diego Computer Consultants/The Chip Merchant with this new problem, and they said they would take a look.

More than a month later, they call me and tell me my motherboard is irreparably damaged and they cannot replace or repair it. They then have the gall to tell me that they will only refund the money I paid to them, and not pay to repair or replace any of my now destroyed computer. So not only do I now NOT have a working computer (albeit one with power issues), I don't have a working computer AT ALL.

This company destroyed my computer and has refused to take any responsibility for it. I am not asking to get rich, I am not asking for a brand new computer. I am asking for them to pay for the damage they have done to my computer, and they refuse. To add insult to injury, I picked up my now useless laptop, and they edited their invoice to make it appear as if they are not responsible for any damage to my machine.

From everything I have seen, SDCC/The Chip Merchant is a shady company who care about nothing but money. An honest company would admit they were wrong, pay for what they've done, and be receiving a five star review from me right now because they handled their business with professionalism and respect. Instead, SDCC/The Chip Merchant seems to have behaved only to cover themselves once they learned what happened to my computer.

I hope my experience enlightens you to the behavior of this company, whom (it goes without saying) I will NEVER be patronizing again, and I will be posting this story on any available outlet so people can be informed about shady companies like this.

Took my computer in to have windows 8 installed. They said it would be done in a few days. Its been over 2 weeks and haven't heard from them at all. Update: (21 days since original drop off) I was going to write about how the owner argued with me for 20 minutes into not getting the refund that I was promised but I just got off the phone with an employee notifying me I was getting the refund. so instead I would like to talk about how cool and nice the employees are.

From what I've seen Nathan was definitely the brains of the operation today as the owner had to ask him how to use the computer on the front desk. Nathan, if you ever open your own shop let me know but until then I am never coming back.

I had a problem with my computer locking up when I tried to check my email and when I went to play Torchlight 2. Also, the fan kept coming on when I was playing Torchlight 2 which was a real bother because it was noisy. They fixed the problems! It's strange to play Torchlight 2 now because the computer is quiet now except for the game sounds, but I love it. THEIR AWESOME! THANKS SO MUCH!

Great place, and really knowledgeable staff. A little hard to find tucked into a corner of a small retail mall on Ruffin Road. My computers hard drive crashed during our move from Northern California and we were looking at making a claim to the moving company. The staff there worked with us to make sure everything they observed and everything they did was documented for the claim.

As it turned out, they were able to restore the existing hard drive and with all the diagnostic and testing work they did, they only charged me $80, which is their initial consultation fee. Highly recommended.

Short version: Very professional and pleasant folks to deal with. Very understanding too. Lengthier version: I contacted them when my desktop wouldn't post to BIOS. Before I contacted them though, I took apart my computer and narrowed down my issue to either Mother Board or CPU (which was very less likely). They were very quick in confirming it was a faulty Motherboard.

They offered me two choices. 1. Buy a motherboard with them and 2. Try for an RMA. I took option 2 and sent in my Motherboard to ASUS for a replacement. While the RMA was in progress, SDCC kept hold of my computer and were very courteous in keeping it safe and sound. Finally I took my replacement mobo to them and they were VERY quick in testing it out (They understand the pain of being separate from a desktop, especially after seeing my rig).

I just got my desktop back today. I had to reinstall a few drivers I am unsure why but no qualms. I respect the professionalism they dealt my case with and they didn't charge me anything extra that what they advertised.

I had a gaming PC for only 1.5 years and all of a sudden one day it cant boot up and no post BIOS beep either. I swapped out RAM and no luck. Luckily I found this store on Yelp. Went there and dropped off my machine. Alex immediately looked at it and ran diagnosis on it. He narrowed the issue down to either motherboard or CPU. I went ahead ordered the parts from Amazon with prime one day shipping. Swapped out motherboard, no luck, swapped out CPU, money! Alex was quick and clear on explaining the issues and keeping all the stuff nice and clean.

Nice chap! Best thing, they only charged $40 bucks for everything. Martin after calling Devin and they decided to give me a 50% discount to cover the motherboard return shipping cost back to Amazon. I truly appreciate Martin/Devin/Alex for making this so inexpensive and easy. Excellent experience and I will definitely come again. Now I just need to figure out why AMD CPU burnt out so easily, grrrrr that's $200 right there. :

Took them longer than usual to fix my computer, apparently guy was fixing mine was new. Just when i was about to blame them for total incompetence, the owner came out and apologized profusely. I mean, shit happens, as long as the owner acknowledge, what can you do. good business

So I saw all of these wonder Yelp Reviews for San Diego Computer Consultans, which is now part of "The Chip Merchant" and figured I would take my sort of old (2009) Desktop in to be fixed. It had been just turning off over and over again and never actually boot up. 1st time I took it in: They said it was the Hard Drive. So they replaced the hard drive and sent it back: Total cost $120.

I got it home, started up once ok, then it happened again. 2nd time I took it in: They said it was the Video Card, I took it in, They replace the video card. Total Cost $175 I got it home, started up once ok, then it happened again. Third time I took it in, they said a piece of RAM had gotten loose. I brought it home and I noticed something weird. Yeah, my wireless card is missing. AND the video card they put in my computer is so crappy that all the games I used to be able to play on my computer now crash it.

So I spent $175 and my computer works for VERY basic stuff, but does not have wireless, and does not have a video card good enough to run 1/2 of the stuff I used to be able to run. I don't think this is a the same high quality company it was when it was San Diego Computer Consultants. The Chip Merchant seems to have ruined them. Update re Jorge's 3/12/13 response below: Its true that they waived labor costs.

But it was the only decent thing to do as it was the exact same issue and they removed hardware from my system. I asked them to replace my wireless card on 1/25/2013 and they did not respond to me at all until this Yelp review was posted. I was not willing to drive the 40 miles round trip to Mira Mesa for a 4th time. I sent him photo evidence of my missing wireless card and got no response.

They wanted to help trouble shoot the issue, but there was nothing to trouble shoot, the piece was missing from the back! I understand that it must be frustrating, but my computer should not have gone from fine to needing several things replaced when its only 3 years old. If they send me wireless card they removed I will update this to three stars as Jorge was very accommodating.

But the fact that you had to pay $75 for a diagnostic that is obviously useless since they did not find what was actually issue until charging me to replace 2 pieces or hardware and losing a wireless card in the process is silly. I would have been much more happy if they found the issue, fixed it right away, and it cost me $250 than have to deal with this for 6 months, them not find the issue, and now having a computer that STILL crashes everything to try to do something moderating intense (play Dragon Age Orgins or Civiliation IV) with my video card.

Both worked fine, now I get fatal errors and crashes when I have them open for more than 5 minutes, and it says it has to do with the video card and the drivers. Update: 3/13/13 I updated this from 1 to 4 stars. They do have excellent customer service. They sent someone out to my house as apparently there was some email mix up where they did not get my email on 1/23/13.

The acknowledged that the wireless card was not working (did exist). And hung around to help me with the video card they installed to solve that issue too. The weird thing to me is that they did not update the drivers immediately on installation. Right? OVERALL: They are very concerned with making sure you are happy. And I am easy to make happy. I cannot give 5 stars because I came in with 1 issue, and had a working video card and wireless adapter, and ended up having to do a dance where I had to replace the hard drive, video card, and now still don't have a wireless card and this took a long time to resolve. HOWEVER, Jorge and his crew are very diligent about making sure you are happy.

Even if some standard things like updating drivers were not done. I am 100% convinced that if you bring your computer to their shop you will have a good customer service experience.

* These guys recently merged with another company and my hope is that their same excruciating attention to detail and spectacular customer service standards - continues under new management. In early August, I brought in my old Sony VAIO computer from 2002 because of blue screen errors and a failure to load Windows. I was prepared for the worst, e.g., losing all of the data on my hard drive. * But I checked Yelp first and came across San Diego Computer Consultants in Normal Heights (they've since moved to the Miramar area, which is kind of a drag, a longer drive for people who live close to downtown or in the East and South Counties). * I met briefly with Martin Bitmead, a knowledgeable, friendly and accomplished computer technician. (He has a wonderful English accent, which may have accentuated his good manners.) I told Martin my main goal was to save as much data as possible - and I wrote a list of file folders on my inoperable computer that I was desperate to recover.

The upfront cost to diagnose was only $75 - to be applied to any repairs if necessary. * Fast forward, 24 hours later. Martin called saying he had bad news and good news; the bad news is my computer's hard drive was dead. The good news (and this sent me over the moon) - is that he managed to save / recover ALL data - including my original settings, which he "mirror-imaged" onto a brand new, 2012 hard drive with DOUBLE the capacity of my 2002 hard drive! * Total cost out the door for the labor (which included an overnight effort to transfer a humongous number of gigabytes worth of data onto my new hard drive) - was an astounding $135! Martin was worth every penny. Fabulous guy and competent - and he saved the life of an old computer that was otherwise in fine shape. * These guys are the REAL DEAL.

Of course, my big worry has to do with the future. Everyone at San Diego Computer Consultants was fabulous, and I sure hope the new bosses appreciate what these guys are all about, especially their superlative Yelp and customer service ratings. A+ all the way.

These guys are awesome. I read the yelp reviews, paid them a visit, got some real good vibes so I took my computer there. Everyone here is really nice and attentive. I liked that. They don't require you to prepay. They told me cost of everything before I even brought my computer in. They said that they would call me if they needed to order parts so that I can approve everything and that's exactly what they did.

My computer needed a new video card. They called me up and said that they can use a $25 refurbished card that was better than the one I already had. Or they could have gotten a brand new one for $90. I went with the refurbished. Im not much of a gamer. I approved everything and then they called me when it was all ready to go. They cleaned the hard drive and also threw in some other small piece at no charge.

It was a three day turn around. It was fast, quick, easy, and convenient. These guys are good. It was a very smooth transaction. I will definitely go back here for computer repairs.

Superb, customer-focused service. Individual attention to my problems, and great results. I had what I thought was a bad motherboard.some LEDs lit on the board, but no bootup. I brought them a new, compatible motherboard, and asked for an install. They let me know the board I brought was faulty, then checked out my hardware and diagnosed a faulty power supply, not a mobo issue at all.

They had the pwr supply in stock, so replaced and I was on my way for a 1-hr labor charge + parts. They *could've* done exactly what I asked.installed the mobo, and I would've had the same prob, and probably had to pay a for few more hrs of service. Instead, they did what I *needed*, above and beyond what I asked.and delighted me. If I need them, I'll go back, no questions asked. These guys are the equivalent of a good auto mechanic.there when you need them, and trustworthy. I recommend them highly.

I got in and out of here for less than $100. Scanned and cleaned computer, made it run fast like new, despite the fact I am stuck in the Vista ghetto! Only complaint: can they get a phone answerer who is only slightly less biotchy? Please.

Fast, inexpensive, friendly - I will take ALL of my computer needs to these guys! My computer was severly infected with viruses and spyware. In fact, we hadn't turned the computer on in about 3 years - we just went out and bought a laptop when I couldn't resolve the issues myself. Now my son is 12 and needs his own computer for homework (and I don't want him on MY laptop!) - so I thought we'd give it a shot. For about $150, the viruses were removed and a super great anti-virus software installed (and includes 3 licenses!). All done in less than a week! AWESOME!

Holy cow -- I can't believe I am writing a review for a computer repair company, when I can hardly figure out how to turn one on most days. And yet, that is what makes this review so real. In a nutshell: I know just a bit more about technology than my grandpa probably does, and I am recommending San Diego Computer Consultants with a HUGE five stars!

Our home PC had some kind of evil virus on it that was making even the most simple processes painful and despite buying Norton antivirus software and asking lots of techy friends for their help, the virus continued to make our lives miserable until we could no longer use the stupid computer at all. After consulting good 'ole Yelp and deciding to give San Diego Computer Consultants a call, our problems were solved!

I dropped it off mid-day Wednesday and they had it running faster than ever, virus-free and with a snazzy new anti-virus installed Friday morning for less than $150! For the peace of mind and no more frustration using our home computer, this was money VERY well spent. Thank you, San Diego Computer Consultants, for making this computer n00b feel like a smart shopper!

SDCC is professional, honest, fast and very reasonably priced. I had what turned out to be a failed power supply in my desktop machine and they were able to fix it in one business day. They also instsalled a new Blu-ray optical drive for me. Their employees are very good at communicating status and don't leave you in the dark. I can't recommend them highly enough!

I took my computer in on a Monday morning to get serviced. It refused to turn on and the motherboard lights weren't even illuminating, so I suspected the power supply was the culprit but was worried that other hardware could be damaged as well. Robert took down all of the background information and read it back to me to ensure it was accurate.

I really appreciated the attention to detail. Before closing time that day, I got a call from Adolfo, the technician working on my machine. He said that preliminary tests showed the power supply was at fault but that the next day they would replace it with a new power supply temporarily and run a full hardware test on the motherboard, CPU, memory and other devices.

The next day we spoke and he confirmed that the power supply was at fault and that the other hardware was fully functional. The PSU's they had in stock were only 500W, so I was able to run out to Fry's and pick up a new 1000W unit for them to install. I dropped it off and within an hour the system was all ready to go. Adolfo also took some extra time to re-run the cables between all of the internal components.

This is what the pros call "cable management" which keeps things better organized and helps improve airflow in the case. He even gave the inside and outside of the case a much needed cleaning to get rid of all the nasty dust. And he carried my system out to my car for me. Really top-notch service. I only ended up having to pay $75 which is the cost of their initial diagnosis, equivalent to one hour of the tech's time.

They were very clear that would not exceed that figure without calling me first to get verbal approval. They could have easily slapped on another hour of time and I would have never suspected anything so I give them big bonus points for being very honest. If I ever run into computer issues I can't handle in the future I will definitely take my computer back here!

I was recommended to this place by a friend, and am deeply thankful. I have had a prior dealing with Geek Squad - and I never wanted to return there! Geek Squad had terrible customer relations, were way over priced (and asked me to pay up front), did not complete the work within the time frame specified and basically made my skin crawl. San Diego Computer Consultants are the complete opposite of this.

They fixed not one, but two laptops of mine within a week time frame, were courteous, friendly, very amenable, and did not overcharge me. Of course, we all wish we could fix our computers for nothing, but it is always a relief not to have to buy an entirely new one! Plus they didn't make me pay until the work was complete. The issues they completely fixed for me were: non functioning computer after drink got spilled on keyboard (saving all the data AND fixing the computer), removing a virus infection, and the complete cloning and replacement of a hard drive. I would highly recommend SDCC for all your computer needs.

My computer wasn't so much broken as it just wasn't running optimally. I knew something was wrong, and with 13 five-star reviews, I figured this was the place to go. I dropped by the office with my computer on a Wednesday and described my problems. They provided a quote for a basic diagnostic service and I left it there. They contacted me by phone on Friday and explained my computer's issues and the recommended course of action.

After I decided how to proceed, they had it ready for me that night. Unfortunately, after picking it up, there were new issues. My computer worked for about a minute and a half before shutting down. I was obviously not happy that I took in a computer that worked poorly and brought home a computer that didn't work at all. However, I was really pleased with how the situation was handled.

I took my computer back the following day and explained what had happened. They provide a 30-day warranty for their work, and so the subsequent labor was free of charge. Additionally, they were excellent in terms of providing status. It took several days to get everything resolved, but during that time they provided frequent updates. I interacted with a number of employees and each one was professional and responsive to the issues I was having. They earn their stars not for their computer service, but for their customer service.

Had a desk top P C heat sink fan broke off It, s backet went a to big box store got the run around But I sure was happy after I walked in off the street And talk to these folks! they were great. I provided the part they did the install had it back in about a 45 minutes all for $34.00 and some change All A's for this group

Ok.so I have an old clunker that a friend of mine built. For some reason after I moved it started acting up. I looked on Yelp and found SDCC had the best reviews, so i tried them out. I ended up having some viruses. SDCC cleaned up my computer and it works great! I would definitely recommend them.