Voice of London

Ever thought about what it what goes on in a PC repair shop? I went to find out.

Reporter: Emre Gunes / Sub-editor: Adrian Vasilescu

I recently had to get my laptop fixed because it suddenly crashed so as any mature person would I googled the closest PC repair shops in my area and checked online reviews to make sure my precious laptop doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. I soon found a small PC repair business called DNA-TECH computer solutions and saw the 5 star ratings and immediately became intrigued. Add the fact it was only 15 minutes away on foot, i set out to seek this repair shop. However, after finding the address on google maps and walking there I soon realized this was no easy task. I expected it to be some sort of store or workshop close to the main street but instead the address was deep inside a residential area. Confused I walked up and down the street until I gave up and decided to call the shop for directions. He answered swiftly and said that I was indeed in the correct area and that his workshop was inside his House in the basement. This seemed very strange to me but not unheard of so i agreed to meet him outside his house. He was a very kind, middle aged Jewish man who was very keen to find out what it was i needed his assistance for. He took me inside and I was surprised to see that it was just a normal household with two little girls running around playing with toys. I didn’t know what to expect but as soon as I began explaining my problem to him his lit up and he took me to his little basement workshop. While he was fixing my laptop I couldn’t help but ask him things I always wanted to know from a PC repair guy so I had a bit of an interview with him. His name was Dolph and he has been repairing electronics for over 13 years. “In the beginning it was a bit hard getting enough space at home to house all the computer parts and the boxes from the shipping”.

He points to his shack where he keeps a lot of the parts he uses when repairing computers and other devices. When asked how many clients he usually has in a week he laughed and said “It depends, usually I have 7-10 clients but because Christmas is coming up that number will probably go up. Holiday seasons always mean a lot of clients because they get devices as presents and something goes wrong and they don’t have the guarantee because it was a gift.”

After he took apart my laptop and explained to me the problem that was causing my laptop to stop working I asked him about what the biggest challenge is for someone working at a PC repair shop. “It’s actually the people not the computers themselves. The issues are usually very simple and easy for me to understand but the people don’t have any idea about technology so they make it even worse. Sometimes it’s the little things like for example this one woman gave me her mac to fix and the entire system language is in Russian so it is almost impossible for me to fix it so I need her with me at all times to translate..Computers are predictable but the users aren’t really predictable.”  I then also asked him what advice he would give students like me to prevent our laptops from breaking. “Always do your system updates, don’t download anything from dodgy sites and have a good anti-virus programme. That’s all on the software side. Hardware wise as long as you don’t throw your laptop or phone around it should have no problems.” After we finished talking about computers and phone manufacturers I paid him for his service and thanked him for his help. I walked out with a working computer and having learned something new about the world of computer repairs.