Tekserve Reviews

The best place for Apple product repairs and troubleshooting. Staff are more knowledgable on average than Apple Store Geniuses.

Great selection of external drives, and prices are very competitive.

I came here to fix my MacBook Pro. It turned out the Hard Drive had failed after less than a year of owning it. They told me $924 for Data Recovery, and I have no choice because of the importance of what would have been lost. I get my computer back, within 20 minutes, it starts crashing like it had before the first visit. This time I bought an external to back up my data before I get it fixed again. Guess what, the external doesn't work! How many times do I have to go back to Tekserve before my computer functions again? Can you guys get it together?

Service and products are fine, but the staff is always extremely rude and condescending. Usually I'm willing to put up with lousy attitudes for a good product, but this place goes too far, and sometimes it impacts the quality of service.

When I entered, it was not that busy, so that might be why I had such a great experience, but they seemed very interested in helping me!

I don't remember his name, but he was able to help me right away, even without an appointment, so that made me very happy, thanks Teckserve!

If you want Apple products without having to wander in an Apple store, this is definitely the place to go. The shop is lighter on everyday shoppers but the staff is just as helpful and knowledgeable as any genius that you might find at the official store. Repairs are done onsite when possible so you won't need to make the extra trek and requires extra effort for the same exact service that you would receive elsewhere.

Do not go in go a HD assessment or data recovery, they prey on the weak and your fears, to miss sell their super expensive services. You are better off buying a HD caddy, spare HD and doing it yourself for $60-$100. Nobody should find out it costs $800-$1K after they do the work. Would give a zero if I could.

Tekserve is not the best Apple Store. It is the BEST store in NYC period! From the day it opened many years ago it was always a place that is exciting to walk in to by offering great service, instilling confidence and making shopping for Mac products a fun experience. No... I don't work for Tekserve. But I know a great store when I see one. And Tekserve is the place!

I've relied on Tekserve for many years and will continue to do so. My business relies on daily use of all my Apple products and when I need help they are my first and only call.

Great place for Mac service. It's sad to see Tekserve close.

Tekserve came highly recommended, and for this reason I took my macbook pro here instead of to an Apple store. My mid 2010s Macbook Pro was intermittently shutting off. The techs at the store had a look at it and suggested I back up the files and do a clean install of the OS. They were willing to do it for me, but it had already taken them two weeks to tell me they couldn't figure out the problem and the guy who helped me conceded that it would probably be faster if I backed it up myself. I did it, no change in my problem. For this "service" I payed almost $200. I felt robbed.

excellent quality Apple and non-Apple products. Excellent customer service. Sane environment.

After being told by Apple that it would take 7-10 business days to replace my hard drive; I went to TekServe. Short wait, intelligent, personable assistance and an estimate that my computer would be repaired in 4 business days. Despite a delay in obtaining the hard drive, my computer was repaired and ready for pick-up on the fourth business day. My experience with TekServe was as good as it gets.

Just go to apple directly. don't waste your time and money with these guys. Unprofessional technicals and bad customer service.

Check the service tech for possession! Avoid these guys for anything!!! Hating the service center here, never dealt with the store, I hope to never have to.

I work for a very large company and my laptop came in as a usual service order due to water spill damage. Tekserve held it for over a week only to inform us that they refuse to service the laptop as it is infested with insects. This is a brand-new macbook air which I had the apple genius bar open and quote me their repair estimate a day before taking it to Tekserve, naturally nothing alive was found. The laptop has only been at the office that doesn't even have any food facilities beyond the coffee machine an a vending machine.

I went to the service center in person, waited for an hour with my number ticket - they brought my laptop wrapped like there was a zombie inside and refused to talk to me about what they found.
I brought the laptop to the office and opened it, it is absolutely pristine inside. Zero live organisms, zero trace of any of them ever being inside the laptop.

The laptop is going back to Apple for service - there is absolutely no savings or sense in ever taking anything to Tekserve.

Had a great atmosphere, service was fast. A different take on the apple store

Tekserve is a great resource and I highly recommend them. Recently had brought my MacBook Air in for maintenance, there was a mistake made by the person taking in my computer, so there was no work done until I inquired about the status several days later. The manager did the right thing, putting my work on a fast track and not charging any labor cost. Not every thing goes smoothly all the time, but Tekserve made it right and I am very appreciative. I will definitly use them again.

this is a re-post from yelp originally dated 9/17

Don't believe anything they say! my 2011 macbook pro laptop had every sign of a faulty gpu chip and I went to tech serve to see if this qualified for the recall ( it was not under apple care anymore but because of the recall they were supposedly going to do this for free ) . I took it there and everything seemed fine. the gentleman behind the counter seems to think that that was the issue too. so in it went. 5 days late i get a call saying that they cannot send it in cause they found water residue on the logic board and that a circuit had shorted. so they were saying that it was water damage that messed up the logic board and not apples recall fault. they advised me to pay for the replacement. At this point it was their word against mine. My laptop was very well protected and I know for a fact that it never touched water. But the gentle man over the counter then pointed at part of my computer ( the side of the aluminum shell that had a plastic protective sticker that I applied that was slightly peeling a bit. ) and said "see this is water damage". He was pointing at the dirt that had accumulated on the sticky side of the protective coating that was slightly peeling away which attracted some dirt making it slightly brown! seemed like they did not want to do the repair for free. so I took it back home. I gave it to a tech on near my house and they looked at it, opened it up and told me that they dont even think that techserve even opened up my computer, and that he saw no water residues at all. I've been a mac user since 1993 and tech serv has always had a good rep in my mind. their customer service is indeed friendly, but they are a scam!!! dont trust them!!!

UPDATE 10/08/15

After reading my review Tekserve emailed me to "try to clear up the situation". I replied and said i would be open to discuss...and of course they never responded. So I made an appointment with apple.
Took it to the genius bar on 14th street, they looked at my computer, plugged it in and instantly the Gpu failed, the guy that was helping me said I was covered but for some reason it wasn't popping up. he said it would cost 310 total to repair what was wrong, he said with that apple would repair anything that they saw was an issue. logic board, replace battery ( btw tekserve wanted to charge me addtl $150 to replace the battery...). so compare to the $800 dollar quote Tekserve quoted me this was a bargain. So i pulled the trigger and had apple repair the laptop. When I got home I called apple just to make sure once more to see if I qualify, a 5 minute phone call later and the apple rep told me that I was indeed qualified for the recall and that the repair would be free. When I picked up my computer not only did they do the repair for free but they practically replaced everything except for the display and the harddrive!!!, They replaced the Clamshell, Battery, Keyboard. Mag plug! NOW THATS SERVICE!....

SO THE LESSON HERE IS DONT TAKE IT TO TEKSERVE, ALWAYS TAKE IT TO APPLE FIRST!!! SHAME ON YOU TEKSERVE WHEN I WAS INDEED QUALIFIED FOR THE RECALL!!!

I SAVED MYSELF $1000 BUCKS TEKSERVE WOULD OF CHARGE ME FOR THE REPAIR. BOOOOO

I seriously don't know what I would do without this place. You cant get the right kind of service at BestBuy or RadioShack. Smart Tech guys/gals and I never feel rushed.
Highly recommend.

Iam extremly impressed with the customer service at Tekserve, always professional & they give you space to be hands on with the product! #GoGettersNetwork Approved!

I could not be happier with the excellent service I received.

I brought my laptop in to get a 500GB hard drive installed. Although Tekserve was out of the 500GB size, they installed a 750GB drive at no extra charge!

That's excellent customer service. Great job Tekserve folks!

This place is a nerd's paradise, even if you don't like Macs.

Wow- the best place to get your Macs fixed. I have had them fix 2 machines. Very professional and knowledgeable team. They do the diagnostics, give you and estimate and you get to make the call. In case you have to leave your machine behind, you get notified by email when your repairs are done. An absolute pleasure.

i took my 17" mac computer to tek serve because it crashed and i could not restart it after my cat walked on the edge of the keyboard. the person who helped me, named Edgar, was awful. First he asked if my cat urinated on the computer which is just gross and wouldnt i tell him that, if it DID happen?! Then he referred me to sales while they tried to fix the problem.. just in case they couldnt fix it- so they wanted to sell me a computer without even trying to fix it. The first thing the sales person told me was: "I know he told me you're pregnant so do you want to walk over and look at the computers" and I'm NOT pregnant. The sales guy got really embarrassed and annoyed that this Edgar person would say that and I was really angry about that- i mean who knows if I'm fat or if I just had a miscarriage or what. horrible. Then they told me the technician was busy and they would work on it later and call me when they knew what the issue was... so i left it there. 2 days later, I called asking what happened and they looked up my ticket number and NOTHING happened. this Edgar person wrote "declined repair" on the ticket, which was totally not true. They repair and service computers, right?! SO i guess they thought I left it there as a gift? So if i had not called, my computer would still be sitting on a shelf somewhere... After that the service team was professional and called me to come in and get my computer (which they couldnt repair) and the back up disk. Amazingly when I went to pick it up... WHO was the person who called me? Edgar. So i had the opportunity to complain to him in person. I asked him why he put "declined repair" and he told me that's part of the process .. umm,, what? He couldnt care less. so then of course i told him when i dropped it off, he told the sales person that i was pregnant and I asked why would he do that.. he didnt even answer me. After i got my computer back and paid for the disk, i asked for a manager. Edgar went and got him and walked around the edge of the terrace with him telling him his side of the story as if I'm an idiot and didnt notice. I told the manager everything and I also informed him that I would not be purchasing a $4000 new computer there due to this Edgar person. I explained everything and all he could say was "i'm sorry to hear that" over & over again. so i just left. awful awful awful customer service.

Helpful explanations. Busy at peak times. Was a little confused which color ticket to take.

I came here trying to buy a Torx T8 screwdriver to replace the HDD on my macbook; it was more than $20. I wen to the hardware store around the corner where I got a T8 for $3.50. Based on this, I'd be very careful about buying anything from here, especially with J&R and B&H in the city competing with online prices.

Have only had great experiences here with really friendly techs.

Tekserve is a cool Apple Store and Repair shop. It is not glamorous and fancy like the real Apple Stores. Instead, it has real cool geeks help you with real service instead of pushing you to buy new products all the time.

In a city like New York that is falling to pieces before my eyes lacking in quality, service and over-inflated prices running amok - there's TEKSERVE! What a fantastic place. I've been going to TEKSERVE for more than 15 years (very rarely because Apple products are just so darn good!) and whenever I go I am thoroughly satisfied and blown away by the care, service, professionalism, knowledge and kindness that they dish up in such a comfortable atmosphere. Great products and the best place to shop for a computer or fix the one you have. The only thing missing is a coffee bar and nibbles. I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! One of the last remaining GREAT NYC landmarks that outperform every time I go. BRAVO TEKSERVE! Way to go!

Amazing location with a great variety of equipment. Friendlier and better selection than the Apple Store. Definitely recommended if you're in the area. Don't miss the giant wall of Classics and Plus's at the front.

iPad died - needed a new battery. Tekserve took 4 hours to answer my VM and call me back. By that time I had found another place that gave me prompt service.

Staff are always friendly and capable, plus they often have the parts and accessories that you can no longer find at Apple. When I was an Apple Specialist, we even used to send people to Tekserve to find the items Apple no longer carried.

Was able to find a computer accessories difficult to find elsewhere.

Paid 530 dollars to upgrade my computer storage and they guaranteed a one day service. The next day when I came it wasn't ready because they actually didn't have one of the pieces. Very disappointed.

Tekserve not only fixed my computer issue but they did so with patience and kindness. Everything from the diagnosis to the solution and its costs was clearly explained. The people there were great with me, as one who is not knowledgable about the hardware of a computer. I will definitely be back.

I also appreciate that Tekserve makes it easy for me to e-cycle. I have been able to safely dispose of my electronics because of their periodic collection days.

Although returning a large computer for repair can be a real pain, my actual experiences at Tek Serve are something of a miracle a kind and caring staff who took care of my every issue or question, and with a follow-up second to none. On every level and in every department, Tek Serve shines. I'm a happy customer for life.

Innovation excellence in Apple applications for broadcasters.

Took them 3 weeks to tell me that they didn't know what was wrong with my macbook and that they could send it to Apple to be diagnosed/fixed for a flat $400 fee or I could pay them $150 to look into it further and pay them who-knows-what to actually fix it. I would have sent it to Apple in the first place if I'd been given that option, rather than wait 3 weeks for no change in information. Horrible.

:( long time shopper of Tekserve.... They will be greatly missed.

I needed an older Apple computer for a specific purpose (older external hardware and software) when my laptop died. Tekserve happened to be having a used/open box/refurb sale that weekend. I popped in Friday evening, found an old desktop that fit the bill, and they rolled back the OS for me to the version I needed, after giving me an (accurate) estimate for how much time I'd have to wait. When it was ready to go, Emma wheeled it out on a cart, packed it up in a couple of bags and cut carrying holes in them.
In all, I dealt with three people: the first listened to my needs and recommended a solution. The second coordinated reinstalling the older operating system and getting it out of the building for me. The third took payment and discussed my need for an older computer out of his own curiosity.
I'd never been to Tekserve before, and I was very impressed with their service, charm, and knowledge.

I have purchased eight computers and all my accessories from Tekserve and have been very pleased.

Unfortunately, I think their telephone customer care is lacking. I called regarding an adapter for an Apple display to MacBook Pro (5 year old). I need a female thunderbolt connector to a male DVI connector or multiple cables to make this happen.

All I was told was whoever sold the display to you should have told you it won't work (which was Tekserve) and no it can't be done. With no other thought or let think about if there is another way around it to make it work.

My Macbook Pro was toast - no idea what was wrong with it. Went to Apple Store and they immediately sent me over to Tekserve to fix it.
Helpful and friendly staff and service, very knowledgeable, and went above and beyond to help recover my data. I thought I needed a new laptop - they brought mine back to life.

I waited for two hours to see a specialist. This specialist did not know even simple questions . He kept asking to other specialists. I ended up paying $ 60 just to get an estimate receipt.

Great guys who welcome you well and know their Apple. Great job guys.

Oh Tekserve you are loved, I've been frequenting this establishment since I was a little boy (well teenager). I've always enjoyed Macs and Tekserve was the place you would go to check them out, get them serviced, buy accessories.

When I went originally they were west of where they are now and on the 10th? floor of an office building. You would exit the elevator and be greeted but the Mac bong ( the start up chime Macs make). It was so fun and geeky. They had $.10 Cokes. And a swinging bench. Again there was no Apple store.

For me they were the Apple store in NYC.

Now they are a little bit of everything.

Apparently they are going back to their roots of service, which is good to focus on your strengths.

Their staff was more knowledgable than most retail stores you would go to especially since everyone was there for service first and sales second, meaning they knew the products and solutions from experience and trial and error.

I wish them the best in the future and if you still need them they are still there with their $.10 cokes and all.

Namaste.

The Tekserve that once was I have found no longer to exist as the bastion of mac-enthusiasts who were real techies. Perhaps it was to be expected with the competition for expertise. Perhaps it has to do with the depth of every product available now.

Although I did get some immediate support when I purchased a Mac Tower and they had not foreseen that the machine would not boot without a usb connectable keyboard (which they provided for free and over-nighted to me), subsequent questions when I walked in regarding high end video equipment purchased there were met with a lack of knowledge and I ended up needing to work through the manufacturer. Further, the turnover of employees makes for seeing a different individual whose reliability for quality information is uncertain. Once upon a time, one met with the same highly qualified enthusiasts who knew much about most things. Now there are more of the fast-talking sales types and less of those nerdy souls. The advantages of an in-store purchase over an on-line purchase are less clear except that one can see what the product looks like to scale.

Cool place, with cool helpful people. Amazing events.

I go to Tekserve all the time- even when they can't sell me what I need they are so knowledgable in pointing me in the direction. I buy direct from apple sometimes for corporate and I'm generally sent at least one wrong thing which these guys correct beautifully. it's nice to deal with these smart humans!

Tekserve service is outstanding. I have have never seen anything like it anywhere else in the industry. I highly recommend Tekserve. The Apple Store has good service. The service at Teserve is MUCH better.

World class!

I enjoy coming here more than going to Apple stores because the service you get here feels more personal. I also had a situation where a tech's diagnosis here was actually more accurate than one I got at a Genius Bar.

They took over four weeks to do a job they promised in two weeks (internal hard drive data recovery and replacement). To get them to do anything seemed to require several phone calls. In the end, they shipped me back a computer without an internal hard drive. Totally useless! You are better off shipping your computer directly to Apple.

Apple Store on 5th Ave told me they had all configurations of MacBooks in stock at all stores but that was nonsense! Thankfully, they pretty much do here and they carry all Apple-approved peripherals as well as other 3rd party stuff at the same price or less. The assistant was really knowledgable and helpful too, got all I needed from Sugru to a tricked-out MacBook Air :)

Apple Store told me I need to pay $280 dollars and wait for 5-7business days to fix my Mac's problem which cannot be turned on at all, and they don't guarantee they can keep all my data. The only right thing they did was suggesting me to go to this place and backup my data. When I brought my Mac here, they solved my problem totally and finally I just need to pay for the external drive for backing up data myself. Thanks for advisor alek and other friendly staff.

They're helpful, I guess. I don't go here to fix my electronic devices only when I need a computer cord or some headphones and I don't want to deal with Apple store madness. But for serious business, I'd rather go to a real Apple store. At least they're pretty and minimal.

A year ago I took my macbook to have the hard drive replaced. Paid, picked it up, drove home to wisconsin only to find out the next day that the hard drive had NOT been replaced. When I called to find out what happened I was told that the person working on my computer had gone out for a cigarette break and not come back. I am totally serious. All I hear about are problems from this place.

Convenient store to get electronics, especially Apple products.

came here last week with a burned motherboard. the super friendly and knowledgeable technician suggested i took my computer to the apple store instead, as it'd be cheaper to get it fixed there. i appreciated his honesty, followed his advice, but also rented a computer from tekserve for a week. really awesome experience overall...

In a lot of years, I've only had 1 decent experience here. RUDE and LAZY customer service 99% of the time.. I've got to stop going here.. Too bad, because with their merchandise they "could" be a great store.. Ciao! I'll take a cab to B & H....

Pretty good service, lots of products in this store. I like it better than the apple store on a busy day, thats for sure. I am going to use them for repairs in the future

David and Danny at Tekserve helped me work through a Mac issue. I am so grateful for the support they provided for me and I will go back there for any issues I have. I would give them 10 stars if I could.

I took my MacBook Air to Tekserve on 23rd Street on July 17, 2014 to have a missing screw from the underside replaced. The computer was pristine and in absolutely perfect condition, not even a minor blemish anywhere on the casing. When I received the computer back, the computer had a 5" (almost perfectly semicircular) scratch on the topside of the computer's casing, as if the computer had been placed on a table upside down, rotated 45 degrees without lifting it, and a scratch resulted due to some hard object on the table. The scratch was so noticeable that I could clearly see it from feet away as the employee was handing my computer back to me. I was so stunned, and they were replacing the screw for me at no charge (admittedly, a kind gesture on their part), so I felt I couldn't say anything at the moment.

I am extremely anal about my computers and take exceptional care of them. I was listing this computer for sale on eBay so I had just carefully cleaned and photographed it with a high-res DSLR camera, so I am 100% positive this scratch did not exist before. There were no scratches on the computer anywhere....

I will never come here again. The better option is to get your computer serviced by Apple directly, and I learned that lesson the hard way. The Tekserve technicians are obviously sloppy, careless, and poorly trained. Protecting a computer's casing is basic. If you do get your computer serviced here, make sure you put it in a clamshell case, and make sure you take photos and have a clear agreement with them on its condition.

Laughable.

Outrageous too.

400$ to backup one HD.

150$ for labour, 60$ for the backup, and 150$ for the "vintage fee". (Plus taxes)

Unbelievable.

On the other hand, the employees were very friendly and professional.

My review is on the pathetic policy of the store.

I was shocked.

I know little about Apple computers and told the salesperson what I needed a computer for and that friends advised me to get the 13" MacBook Pro. She did all she could to get me to buy the more expensive model of everything. She tried to convince me that I could see why Retina is better when the pictures she showed me were not as good as the non-Retina model. She gave me a very hard sell to buy the full warranty. I left more confused than when I first arrived and very untrusting. Even though I will follow my friends' recommendations, including NOT to buy the warranty, I will not make a purchase at a store that tried to take advantage of me.

I'm still in shock and mourning over the closing of this excellent store! R.I.P. Tekserve! You will be missed!

I visit this space daily for the monthly filemaker meeting. This place has great prices for apple computers-- I would recommend this establishment because of outstanding customer service.

This place is "F" ing horrible. My iPhone 6 plus froze in a boot loop and I needed data recovery because it was locked. After waiting over an hour to be seen just for them to walk in the back with my iPhone and come right back talking about it will cost $600 to try and retrieve my data. And to pay now. Why am I paying for something that ain't done. All the while listening to them diagnose customers simple Mac problems with ridiculous prices for 2 minute fixes. I will never go here again. I fixed my own iPhone with a forced update which did not. I repeat DID NOT wipe out my data and was able to back up. I advise no one to ever go here for any of there computer needs.

Simple iPod repair, my guy Timothy was excellent and personable.

I'm a big fan of Tekserve. They have great customer service, super-smart experts and techies, and it's a nice looking store. I really have no complaints. I mean sometimes it takes awhile for the techs to get to your number (especially for service) but that's to be expected since the support staff gives each customer their full attention and works with them all the way to to the fix. The staff seem like regular people who but they are actually superb computer experts

Love Apple products... and this is the best place to buy them and have them repaired in New York City. A phenomenal service. A New York treasure!

The real deal, for service and repair as well as purchasing new machines. I've been going there for years whenever I'm in N.Y.C. and enjoy it every time.

Always a pleasure to do pickups here. Such a cool store layout with all sorts of interesting things to browse. Recent additions- Apple computer mini museum. Also has a classic 5 cent bottle coke machine (you can't take the bottles with you though- so drink up). This place would make a perfect place to stop by on a cheap date.

Knowledgeable staff, very rude though but that's ok

Perhaps the loss prevention officers shouldnt strereotype so quickly. And especially as he lacks basic manners. I love Tekserve otherwise.

Walking in for simple return which I was told would be easy, I was accused of opening the package and then docked 15% of the return value. I was treated without respect. I've shopped here for over 15 years and felt bad they were closing. Now I understand why. They could dust for finger prints and DNA to see I never touched the package.

Great service and atmosphere! The best place to get Apple gear in NYC.

Helpful staff, good selection. The only place I would take my Mac outside of an Apple Store.

Tekserve is the best independent Apple retailer, bar none. Their shop is big, and has plenty of room to move around. You get a chance to lay your hands on all the products, and there are dedicated sections of the store to pro applications (music/video/graphic design). But what really does it for me is the retro aesthetic. From the moment you walk in, you see old Macintosh computers from the 1980s and typewriters sitting alongside superpowerful iMacs and iPads. If you are looking for an Apple product and are in the NYC area, give this place a visit. You won't be disapointed.

I went in to Tekserve looking for a cable converter to work with my new sound system. Once the greeter informed me that they didn't carry it, she proceeded to tell me to buy a Sonos - she has one and loves it. Other than her advice providing me with zero solutions (short or long term since my issue had noting to do with the inability to stream music), it's good to know Tekserve would rather push a $700 piece of equipment on to me rather than provide any tangible options.

I Went a block down to PC Richard and while they also didn't have the converter I was looking for, the salesman gave me some advice and also suggested that I'd likely have better luck online. He was honest and didn't focus on selling me something I didn't need.

A Mac mecca located slightly below Midtown, Tekserve is one of the best locations to get your Apple products. Both fixed and brand new. Sometimes they have a sale, but they can be iffy with the discounts. It's recommended, especially if your iphone or Macbook is broken. They even do computer rentals!