By Jim
How many of you will associate computer in a drug store?
London Drugs is probably one of the best place to buy or service Apple as they are the only few places in Vancouver that deals with everything on Mac and PC.
My Macbook Pro went dead some time in Nov 2009. I went back to the Ladner store where I originally bought it from. One of the staff was very kind and told me that they no longer had a technician and suggested me to visit the nearby (10 min away) Richmond Ironwood store as there was an Apple tech there.
The Apple technician there looked at my machine, checked a few things on the computer and concluded that my Macbook Pro had a bad logic board.
Immediately, I was in shock as the unit was only a few months beyond warranty. I spent about $2000 on it and I suppose it would lasted for at least 3 years?
The technician told me it would cost over $1000 for repair when it was out of warranty, but he asked me to leave the computer for him for more diagnostic. I agreed and left the store hoping he was wrong.
He called me in a couple hours, told me that the graphic chip on the board was defective and a new logic board was required. I was in dead silence. He then went on and told me that Apple had a repair extension program for the nVidia graphic problem and my computer fell under the program.
He then told me that even he was certified by Apple to service Apple computer, but the Ironwood location was not an Apple authorized center. My computer would had to be sent to his home store at Kerrisdale in order for him to perform the repair.
The technican then told me that he would ship my computer the next day and order the parts right away; so that when he could repair it once he is at his home store. I asked him about the time it might take and he answered me honestly it could take a week or longer as the logic board was out of stock.
I told him that I couldn’t wait that long. He then told me there was nothing he could do about it as the logic board was in demand. He suggested me to purchase a another Macbook, he would helped me to transfer my stuff from my computer into the new one, then use the new one in the mean time. Once the repair is completed, I could refund the new one and he would transfer my stuff back to my original one.
“You could do that for me?” I asked. This friendly technician told me that I had to purchase the computer at his home store as he had a few open box Macboks there.
I did what he told me, and he got me up and running on one of the open-box Mac in a day. Although this set me down for additional $1200 on my credit card, knowing that I could get a refund later; I didn’t think twice about this. In fact, I started to like this new Mac.
A week passed and the technician called me and told me my Macbook Pro was repaired. He told me to bring everything and gave him another day to transfer my stuff back. I went to the Kerrisdale store again.
I returned the computer and got my money back without any hassle. The technican transferred my stuff back to my machine in a few hours. He even cleaned my dirty Macbook Pro too. He only charged me $60 for the data transfer before and after. Wow! what a deal!
I really want to give my thanks to this young Asian fellow. I think he went above and beyond his duty to satisfy a guy like me who couldn’t live without my computer. I highly recommend London Drugs for their excellent service.
Karleen Busman says...
This is a handy write-up, really easy to understand. Thanks for taking time to publish your actual thoughts.
LDWebguy says...
Wow! Thank-you so much for taking the time to write this about us!
Gerry says...
I always go to, LD, they are great!! Never had a bad experience.
Michael Dorosh says...
I had a similar experience in Calgary. I had a hard drive failure on a desktop I bought at Future Shop. I was thoroughly disgusted with the total lack of empathy from the counter staff. I realize my obligations to back up my own data, etc. Still - losing a computer is a big deal to people. You can’t just shrug shoulders and act like it is “no big deal.” The schmucks at Future Shop were mostly ignorant children with no people skills. I paid for the 1/2 hour of diagnostic time and took my computer to LD. They weren’t able to save the hard drive, but the adults working there were professional and exhibited a modicum of concern for me. I promised then and there that they would get all my future business. When I needed a laptop computer a year later, they answered my questions with patience, treated me with dignity, and never once tried the “hard sell” on me. Conversely, I made the mistake of trying to buy a TV at Future Shop and was made to feel foolish for asking about speakers, since the sales-boy was more interested in getting back to flirting with the female customers and talking to his buddies in the stock room.
London Drugs is far superior, in my experience as well.
Michael Dorosh says...
Well, after writing the above review, I took my PC back to the same London Drugs, and had a completely different experience. It really does depend on the tech. This time - March 2011 - I was left in the hands of “John”, who kept my machine for three weeks with what seemed like a failing hard drive. After promising to phone with a diagnosis after 10 business days, I finally phoned them after three weeks (I did not want to rush them, I know how busy they get, but when I walked in the girl at the counter said “oh, a PC for recycling!” which shot my stress level through the roof, and of course they have a 90 day abandonment policy, so I wasn’t going to take any chances that my PC had been ‘accidentally’ recycled) and I got a disinterest “um, yeah, we need to replace the HD, can we go ahead, should be done today.” Fine, take your time, no rush, I said.
Never got a call back for two days; I called back 3 days later, no apology for not calling back, got the explanation that it was a PCI/motherboard issue. Terrific - no data lost, they would just put the original HD back in and I’d be good to go.
I pick up the machine - again, no call from them when it was done - and instead of imaging the HD, they hunt and pecked around the HD, saved a bit of this and a bit of that, even “reinstalled” some software I had never even had originally but is factory installed on newer machines. I called back with the name of some spreadsheets I had been maintaining for 3 or 4 years. Yes, they had those on their backup, must have missed them.
Ok, I take the machine back. Most of my important data is backed up at home, though I have been lazy and it is about 2 years out of date. But I also have a lot of software installed, some of it direct to download, and I have not imaged my own HD either. When they said they would “back up” my HD, I assumed they would do that. But even if their “back up” means just copying the Program Files folders - they didn’t do that, either. When I got the machine back a second time, there were dozens of programs and hundreds of files simply gone.
Their guarantee says they are not responsible for lost data, and I can understand that stipulation in the event of a HD failure, but find it a bit harder to understand why they charged me to “back up” a HD and then simply backed up a handful of files and programs of their choosing and didn’t bother with the rest.
They exhibited an extremely casual attitude towards customer relations and diligence throughout the process. I don’t know if they were overworked or careless, but I’m personally tired of computer techs who are blase about other people’s property and especially data. Rebuilding software/passwords/downloads etc. is a time consuming and expensive chore. Yes, the onus is on me to back up properly at home. But yes, I was charged close to 50 dollars by the store for doing a backup, and in this case the HD was not even damaged - I still have the original on my machine.
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Lorinda Bagan says...
Thank you Loic. It’s a pleasure to work with you!