Battery

On Dec. 24, I left my laptop computer at the Radio Shack near Dadeland in Kendall for some much-needed repairs. After first being told that there was nothing wrong with it, and then being told that there would be a delay because there was so much to fix, it was finally ready for pick up Feb. 12.

I opened the package in front of the store manager. Not only was the computer badly scratched up, but when I turned it on, a bearded man in a camouflage coat came up. Then, I noticed all these strange files. I told the manager they weren’t mine. He couldn’t believe it.

After work, I looked harder. The computer was registered to a woman and had tax information, personal bank details, Internet log-ins and passwords. There were even birthing pictures! In the wrong hands, this could have been very damaging.

Then, I thought about all my private information. Where was it?

I called Radio Shack. The tech said all they did was replace the DVD writer and that HP replaced the motherboard. He assured me that HP cleans out the hard drive, but, in the same breath, he said they used my hard drive to back up this lady’s computer, which I find hard to believe. He also said that the person repairing my computer was no longer with Radio Shack.

Since I got the computer back, I get three error messages at start-up. The DVD writer has a big scratch inside it. When I asked about that, the tech said they replaced it with a used drive. Fire came out of my ears! I paid $180 for a service that replaces computer parts with scrap parts? As far as I’m concerned, they wrecked my computer.

In exchange, I was offered a refurbished computer. This wasn’t acceptable, as it’s not comparable to mine, which was $1,300, top of the line.

I’ve been losing sleep over this. Identity theft is a real issue that I can’t afford to endure. I would really appreciate Action Line’s help.