Behind the Counter: Restore Computer Services

In our increasingly technology-heavy world, the difference between your computer or smartphone working and not working is like the difference between life and death.

Sam Palm, a lifelong Parkville resident, keeps machines happily buzzing away from Restore Computer Repair of Baltimore. Palm and his wife, Tammy, have been maintaining and repairing computers at their Harford Road store since 2009.

And he doesn't just fix your laptop or your desktop—pretty much, if it has a circuit board, Palm said he can fix it.

"People bring in cell phones all the time, mostly because of cracked screens," he said. "One time, I had a guy bring in a machine that measures the speed of a golfball as it leaves the tee. It just needed a part resoldered—that's sort of my specialty."

That's certainly not the most unusual thing to ever come through his door though—Palm said that once, as a result of a misunderstanding an elderly customer called to ask if he would "take a desktop" and brought a piece furniture into the store.

Palm started out as an IT professional working for a large bank about 14 years ago before decided to go off on his own to start a computer repair service. he said he started off in the basement of his Parkville home and eventually moved to the basement storefront he's in now.

Over the years, business has grown quickly enough to keep Palm, who likes to work on several devices at a time, busy.

"Most of our business comes from word of mouth," Palm said. "We guarantee the lowest price, that’s a pretty big selling point. We’re honest with people, we don’t try to sell anything to anybody; we’ll just repair your computer."

That's the attitude that's allowed him to grow the business organically.

"We're the number one hit on Google for computer repair in the area, people leave us a lot of positive reviews there. We’re honest with our customers, they see it, they love it. It makes them eager to tell a friend."

If good old-fashioned customer service is what brings the customers in, then it's Palm's willingness to work with his clients that keeps them coming back.

"Usually I spent an hour or so a day helping my customers out—whether it's remotely fixing a virus on their computer or replacing a key in a keyboard. Once you’re a customer of mine, I’ll help you with whatever you need."

And if you're more interested in staying out of Palm's shop than coming in? He offers five free pieces of advice to keep your computer in good shape.

• Use an anti-malware tool (Palm recommends MalwareBytes: "It's a free program that's excellent") to keep your system free of viruses and ad software.
• Blow out the dust from your computers fans using compressed air to make sure it doesn't overheat.
• Be gentle when plugging in, or unplugging the power source from a laptop computer. "The power jack on the computer is the most sensitive thing in the world, it doesn't take much to break that," Palm said. 
• Use software like CCleaner to remove old temporary internet files, cookies and other unwanted data from your drives.
• Get a keyboard protector. "A keyboard protector that you can get for $5 on eBay would have prevented that coffee from seeping through the keyboard of your laptop and destroying your motherboard."

But if you wind up in a bad spot, he'll be around to restore your computer.

"We understand that computers are so cheap nowadays that if you come in here and the bill is $300 you’ll say why don’t I just by another computer," Palm said. "We try to emphasize repairs over replacing parts. That’s our big thing, trying to keep the bill as low as possible so that you feel good about your repair."