Western Computer Reviews 209

Maria was excellent on our visit to the shop in Chelmsford today. So much advice and so patient - hopefully our repair on the in warranty AirPods goes well

I needed a case for my new IPad yesterday. Maria was so friendly and helpful. She even fitted the case for me!

The staff at the Chelmsford branch were very helpful and knowledgeable. I personally dealt with Brad, who I was open & friendly - he was able to answer all my technical questions & kept me imformed regarding of the progress of my custom ordered MacBook Pro. When I collected my order Brad even carried my monitor to my car for me - providing good old fashioned service. I would definitely recommend purchasing from this branch again.

We visited the Chelmsford store today with my iPad that had turned off The staff were extremely helpful and managed to sort out the problem without me having to buy a new one We were not pressured at all I would recommend the store to anyone with an “apple” problem When we need to purchase a new iPad we will definitely return to the Chelmsford store!

I went into their Chester Store to get an iPhone Se 2020 battery and camera replaced. They first refused to do the job then as they claimed that the phones battery was not fitted very well due to a third party vender changing the battery and sticking it in too much with tape in the wrong places. I asked them could they try and do the job they then charged me over 50 pounds for just looking at it again and then they refused to change the battery and the camera citing Nfc chip damage on the motherboard. I also had some scratches on the phone after them attempting to repair it near to the charging port. I then took it took a 3rd party seller in Mold who has almost perfect reviews online, the guy then replaced the camera and battery perfectly for a much cheaper price and he was much more friendly and helpful too and he also used an original Apple camera part as he showed me the packaging from the camera. Now the phone is working perfectly please avoid.

P.S As a reply to your comments below. I’m annoyed simply because, you should have took the chance to repair the phone as I asked you to. Instead you just said it would cause issues with the nfc chip which effects Apple Pay. I was willing to take the chance. It didn’t matter to me if Apple Pay did not work as the camera and battery would be working. You would have rather me to have a phone that would be in worse operational condition. You need to care about yours customers needs and not the corporate policies you have. As the customer is always right. Thats a fundamental rule of any successful business. Hopefully you will learn from this incident as a company and put your customers first.

As a reply to your 2nd comment, i would differ in your assessment of the situation. Unless there's extensive damage to the motherboard of the device then it shouldn't too difficult for a device to be restored to a decent working condition as a device is simply a collection of replaceable parts and screws that can easily be replaced. In this case there was not extensive damage to the motherboard of the device. It's all about if you're willing to put the time and extra effort in for the customers.Maybe you've grown too big as a company and lost sight of the key points of customer care. This is a classic example of what happens when companies become too large and bureaucratic as their corporate policies tend to come before everything else. The phone shop in the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold demonstrated that the customers needs always come first, they even replaced the battery and camera phone in front of me to demonstrate their transparency and they even replaced the screws that were missing on parts of the device nothing was too much trouble for them. I used to repair electronic devices so i know how hard or difficult for a device to be repaired or refurbished. At the end of the day it's up to the customer to vote with their feet who's right or wrong in this case as that all that matters in business.

I received outstanding service from staff in the Cheltenham store. Recently purchased a 10th gen ipad with excellent help from Matt who set up the ipad, gave tips on how to get the best out of it, and advised on how to install/use the logitech keyboard. Friendly, knowledgeable and happy to answer all my many questions. Highly recommend.

all the staff have been so helpful and friendly on our visits to the Cheltenham store. Martin yesterday went above and beyond to help. Always a pleasure to go to this store. Makes me wish I needed more Apple products.

I've been using Western Computer in Cheltenham for several years for my iPhones and always got great service - fast, polite and very professional. Popped in recently when my charging cable wasn't connecting properly to my phone and Martin cleaned out the connector and its now fine.
Highly recommend them.

I took my MacBook Pro here for repair. The internal display was no longer functioning, but the computer was working perfectly with an external display.

I took it in and actually plugged it into a display in the shop to log out and turn off Find My as per their policy. The following Monday they emailed to say that the repair will cost £1300 to replace the display, the logic board and the touchbar. When I phoned to query this, they told me that the computer no longer works with an external display or has working fans anymore. Basically, the device has been bricked.

When I pointed out that it was functioning apart from the screen when I left it, I was told that it was probably had this fault all along and it just got worse when I left it. Well, maybe, but I have another explanation, and it involves the bloke holding the screwdriver.

(EDIT: although Western claim that the screen has physical damage in their reply, below, this is quite incorrect. The laptop was, and still is, in pristine condition as far as the externals and physical screen are concerned)

Having got it home, it doesn’t even boot anymore (although it does work with an external display for long enough to display the apple logo). Basically, Western have charged me 99 quid to brick my computer. Pretty sure I could have done that myself.

Lesson learned: if your device is under warranty, take it to a proper Genius Bar. If it isn’t, take it to a real, reputable independent repair shop that actually fixes stuff, rather than swap out components. Under no circumstances use these cowboys… Western are aptly named now I think about it.

I've been a Mac user for over 12 years, and I've used Cheltenham Western Computer from time to time, for repair or just advises.
Yesterday, I dropped in, and a staff member Martin was super helpful.
It takes time and can be difficult to drive to Apple stores in Birmingham or Bristol for small issues as a Mac user, having a realisable local help, really does give you a peace of mind.
Thank you again Martin!

Have been using Western for years with my business now and they have been nothing but polite and always offers great service

Fantastic service , super helpful - thanks Jack!

I had a replacement battery fitted in my iPhone in June and 4 months later the battery had swollen and was losing its charge quickly. Western told me it was outside of warranty, I complained that any battery should last more than 4 months but was told that it was now out of warranty. The previous battery had lasted 7 years and I used the same charger on the replacement battery. I hope my experience helps someone thinking of getting a repair done with this company.
Update.
Hi, thank you for your reply, however I have already spoken to one of your technicans (Customer service) and they just wanted to blame every thing except a faulty battery, eg charger and cable etc. I have also been in contact with Apple and they confirmed battery swelling and suggested there may be a good will gesture from Western. But no good will here.
I feel you are hiding behind Apples guidelines.
Reply
Hi, I would just like to point out that you did not order my replacement battery as this was a walk in repair, it wasn't booked in advance.
Final update.
I have had faulty battery replaced by a non authorised Apple service provider (12months guarantee) which has now lasted nearly 18 months and still works fine with no issues.

Absolutely fantastic service. My iPhone was not turning on. The problem was quickly identified and fixed whilst I was there. This is the second time I have used the Oxford branch, and I can wholeheartedly recommend Western Computer to all Apple users in Oxford.

The team in the Cheltenham Store were super helpful, very friendly and resolved my issue in minutes. I use my phone as a medical device and i am incredibly grateful for their quick help after being locked out! Thank you!

Bond street Chelmsford shop . Appalling feed back for their customer service call centre , looking at percentages many must have been hidden because 43% negative I can only see half ! My experience was horrendous from one vile abusive member of their customer care staff at call centre when I confronted them for not keeping apple timed simple repairs . when you email them formal complaint threatening to report them to Apple CEO, do not be surprised after to receive one or more abusive ranting and raging calls afterwards from same particular man , they blame apple TC’s or customer basically anyone but their lousy service , they start bizarrely quoting their own TC’s 12pm deadlines from their own independent website which have no connection to Apples online care site nor Apples TC’s given at time when booking appointments .I will never use this company again .I felt sorry for chelmsford counter staff member as he not paid enough to deal with complaints caused by head office so I left immediately to phone from car.
From start at arrival at shop I was informed they had scheduled computer updates ! meaning they knew about this but still took bookings they could not honour that day I even had called them two hours before to discuss how long it would take , Greed comes to mind at customers time and travelling expenses . Throughout this traumatic mess I Only spoke to two men at the abusive patronising obnoxious customer care centre, sadly when i phoned a second time and got second chap who did listen call was jumped on by first abusive vile lout who ordered him to end call in a aggressive tone

And they surprised when after aggressively talking over customers including patronising abuse, that at end of call, customers in frustration at their bigoted attitude swear at them .

In business when you in wrong put your hands up do not blame customer or Apple I can see this scenario has happened time and time again as its referred to on new and old reviews of your company why don't western just sort the problem out once and for all or simply stop taking Apple care work , its abhorrent many customers on low income say they used expensive public transport to be met with same let down on arrival for same day apple simple battery repairs for example followed by abusive rude customer care

Independent shops fit batteries in under 20 minutes

Many people like myself, we rely on our phones for emergency calls from family like my elderly terminally ill mum and my daughter a kidney transplant patient .

Update to their reply . There is no depth this lot will sink to with their lies , nasty spiteful people in response to customer complaints about their lousy service and this is repeated over and over in other reviews about them on here , thats the thing guys I am not alone 43% negative many quote same experience , people reading trust pilot not stupid ! you should be ashamed of that many bad reviews ! No director called me it was same obnoxious lout after my emails to them and copied to Apple that call was vindictive. Customers are not interested in your terms they booked in with apple it should be a smooth quick repair not a traumatic expensive pointless journey . Get a grip and sort yourselves out and just stop it with the lies

The team in Leamington were very friendly and honest. Will absolutely return for any future Apple purchase.

Matt was very helpful in trying to find a Motif Photobook which I had spent weeks working on and had simply disappeared from my Macbook. Whilst he was unable to retrieve this, he managed to find the photos which had been used, so at least not all was lost! Matt was friendly, knowledgeable and I will definitely return with any future queries to book a support session.

i rung there customer services and was appalled by how rude the gentleman was! patronising and just generally so rude! i will not be going back to these people and going straight to apple! disgusted. i have the conversation recorded that i will be taking more foward. he was on load speaker and ever everyone around me in my house thought he was shocking.

being a non techy person i had just experienced some issues with my airpods and phone i was just asking general questions about i was met with rudeness and made to feel silly!

*Update ordered 18th Oct requested refund 19th Oct still states refund pending and the other order is not even stated as ‘pending’. This retailer is not honest at all. I contacted PayPal direct for the refund by raising a dispute and was instantly refunded. The retailer stated he was glad PayPal released the money back…It had nothing to do with PayPal. The retailed had not even started the refund on the second order. I am still waiting for the first refund. This retailer is very VERY DISHONEST!
Ordered an iMac online and was stated as ‘in stock’, so paid and rang store to collect. Store then stated oh no its not ‘instock’ here it means ‘instock’ at a warehouse. So it would be next day available for collection from Cheltenham store.
Next day i have an email, stating the warehouse does not have it ‘instock’ now.
Was told 1-3 week wait time, but if I’m lucky i may get it sooner!
Cancelled both the order the iMac and cable on two separate orders. It was stated a refund has to be done by filling out an online form with order numbers, dates, tick box selection and part numbers.
3-5 working days later they state, yet the second order had not been cancelled.
After 3-5 working days you then have a ‘pending refund’ in your PayPal account as their funds are not available immediately and will be another 3-5 days!.
So basically a 2+ week wait for a refund! If they actually do the return when they say and you chase them.
I had an emailing stating they were under staffed and not a large company.

Customer service does not need a large task force.