All that Fred Karimi wanted was a new copy of Mircosoft Windows loaded onto his computer.
But when he took it around to places that employed technicians qualified enough to perform the task for him, he discovered that the cost was exorbitantly high – in excess of $300 more than a decade ago.
So he rounded up whatever capital he had, laid out a business plan and decided to start his own computer repair business. He employed the best technicians he could find in hopes of delivering quality service at reasonable prices to his customers. Tracy Computer Services was born.
Now, with a flourishing business under his belt, Karimi has expanded into Manteca with a new location near the adjacent to the former Mervyn’s building that will soon house a Burlington Coat Factory. He hopes to bring the same affordable, quality technical work to customers in an open environment.
Just three weeks after throwing open the doors, Karimi and his staff are looking to build up a customer base by offering completely free diagnostic checks on both laptops and tower devices.
“That’s something that you see other places but it’s kind of misleading – they’ll charge you $69 but allow you to put it towards the repairs or the work that they’ll have to do,” he said. “That’s not us. We just had a lady come in with a laptop and take it home after the diagnostic because she didn’t have the money to get it fixed right now. We’re at least able to let people know what’s wrong with it.”
Both walls of Manteca Computer Services are lined with monitors to service as public workstations and allow technicians to conduct their work right out in the open – nixing any concerns that somebody might have about people going through their personal files or scanning their pictures when they’re not there.
First-time customers are also being offered $20 off of virus removal and tune-ups – by far the most common problem that Karimi and his technicians see coming through the door.
“A lot of people don’t realize how prevalent viruses are because they buy a computer that comes with anti-virus software but they never update it,” he said. “They come in and we ask them if they have the software and then find out it’s from five years ago. That’s not good. Viruses are what slow down a lot of computers today.”
His business isn’t limited, however, to just computers.
On Wednesday afternoon his technician replaced the screen on an iPhone for a customer that accidentally dropped it onto a hard surface. The entire job – which included Apple-branded replacement parts – cost just over $60.
Within a few weeks he expects that his shop will be able to start accepting iPads with cracked screens – a repair that costs more than an iPhone but still less than an actual replacement would be.
That’s not always the case.
“We always want to be as fair as possible with our customers so if somebody comes in and a repair is going to cost more than it would for them to buy a new product, we’re going to let them know that,” he said. “We want to build that trust and show them that we’re honest here. If we can do that, we know they’ll be back when they need something else.”
Manteca Computer Services is located at 1045 S. Main Street in the Mervyn’s shopping center. The store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For additional information call (209) 239-3111 or visit them online at www.mantecacomputers.com.
To contact Jason Campbell, email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call (209) 249-3544.
