VC Computing

09/23/2020

OK Facebook… one more try.

I had an unfortunate situation develop which has ultimately caused me to shut down my repair shop, VC Computing. Sometime in the evening of August 3rd, a City of Belleview sewer line backed up and overflowed into the suite adjacent to mine. Discovered the next morning, the city of Belleview immediately contracted with ServPro to make it "Like it never even happened" as they claim. (Folks, don’t EVER hire ServPro) It did not overflow in my suite, but there was so much from the suite next door that it soaked through the floor and walls.

As all of you know, my shop was always a disaster. After all, it took me 18 years to create that mess. Now I had two layers of carpet soaked with human waste, and I had tons of "stuff". It became an even larger mess after the brilliant minds at ServPro got through tearing down half the drywall, ripping up the carpet(well, half of it actually), taking all the stuff from the contaminated side of the shop and putting it all on the clean side and then disappearing for 6 weeks so far and counting.

The city's insurance company offered me a whole $500 for my damages and then like the proverbial last straw breaking this camel's back, a couple of days ago, my landlord asked for this month's rent despite the suite being uninhabitable. I've spent the last week or two vacating the place, tearing everything down. Had a recycler come and pick up more than 800 lbs. of laptops, 50+ broken desktops and another 700 lbs or so of various cables, boards and other such, I am done. The reason I share all this with you is to let you know a couple of things.

Service Calls Only from now on. I'm keeping my phone number, 352-307-3687, forever, and will put up a different website soon. I've built a lot of computers over the years and I intend to service them until I or your pc dies. I will still be available to all of you folks, though I am changing things up a bit.

Everyone has told me for years that I didn't charge enough, now that I'm closed, I believe them. I’ll be coming to your place, cause my place is gone. I am still available to do custom builds and service calls but I am increasing the cost of these services. Service calls are going from $50-$75 to $75-$100 depending on location and custom build fees are going to increase from $100 to $150, mostly due to the HOURS it takes me to shop parts. Questions are still answered for free.

Ah well, I knew I'd close the shop one day, but not this day, and not like this. Covid-19 coupled with my lung disease was forcing me to lay low anyway and I'm not really going anywhere, just going to be less visible for the time being, take a few weeks off. I'm not out of business, I've closed the shop and won't be doing the little $10, $20, $30 jobs that used to make us both happy. You because it didn’t cost much, and I because I knew you wouldn’t be taken advantage of by someone else. If I ever find a shop that I can trust not to take advantage of you, I’ll let you know. It has been my distinct honor to have helped thousands of you over the years, thanks for allowing me to do what I do to your computers.

12/27/2017

VC Computing will be closed until the first week or so after New Year's Day, owing to some down time after spinal fusion surgery on my neck. I'll be trying to get back as soon as possible, but the exact date of my return is a bit of a question mark, henceforth and forever to be known as January Somethingth. That will be the date of my return, the somethingth of January, but I have the ability to do a bit of work from home after a few days so I'll be checking my messages, if you need me.
If it can wait until I return, feel free to check back here or on Facebook for a better guesstimate as to my return date. I'll be updating.
Happy New Year to all, I will return.

09/16/2017

I understand there was a hurricane because I stuck around for it. It’s easy to see the damage, from my own neighborhood to every other neighborhood, street, avenue, road and highway. I know it exists, because I can see it. What I don’t see in the immediate area, is why on earth Duke Energy still has not restored power to both businesses and residences around Belleview for almost a full week now. So many still without power, my daughter and her family among them, and where are the Duke Energy trucks? Nowhere to be seen.

There is no place on the planet as dull as a computer repair shop without power and I neglected to setup a call forward prior to the storm so callers get an operator-intercept message. Great way to make money… The shop closes for a week for the first time in 15 years and when I return, Irma is about to pounce. It is the 16th as I write this, and the shop has been open for a total of 2 days this month. I blame Duke Energy’s piss-poor response with barely any updates and just a vague, “By Sunday Night” showing all week as the expected date of repair… it hasn’t changed all week. Duke Energy is clearly inept, and it is costing me $$.

A few days ago I published a F*** YOU IRMA on my personal page. It should have read F*** YOU IRMA & F*** YOU TOO DUKE ENERGY!

OK, rant over. Have a nice day. Hoping to open Monday.

09/08/2017

We are closed due to Hurricane Irma, and will be until power is restored, whenever that is. To those of you who made the similar decision to stay put for whatever reasons, I hope you fare well. I've been here now for more than 30 years, and always felt like Ocala was a place to evacuate to, not from, but we've never had the eyewall of one of these things pass over our house, or the shop either, which it is currently predicted to do.

For my Customers, I will be at the shop the very second power is restored in case you need me, until then, please take care.

For my Friends, once power is lost, we will have three cell phones to cycle through. The order that they will be on will be as follows. Trish's cell phone until it dies. My cell phone next and the third will not be powered up until mine dies. If you don't know the numbers, don't worry, those that need to do.

For my Family, Trish and I love you with all our hearts and will be looking forward to seeing you all real soon. Take care of yourselves, and don't worry about us, we'll be fine.

08/29/2017

For the first time since opening in 2002, I am taking a week off. The shop will be closed from the 30th of August until the 6th of September. Depending on the nature of your computer issues, I may still be able to help, though I will not be in the shop. If you E-Mail me at [email protected] with a brief description of what your computer is doing that it shouldn't be doing or not doing what it should be doing, I will help if I possibly can. Otherwise, see ya on the 6th...

03/26/2017

If you can help share the gofundme link, I'd very much appreciate it, as would my daughters and grandchildren.

To make this brief, my ex-wife burned down the house yesterday, before taking her own life, leaving my daughter and 3 grandchildren with no place to live and little left in the world but the clothes on their back.  It appears to the Fire Marshall that...

09/26/2016

Several things going on these days that conspire to produce some odd hours at the shop so here's my brief explanation and apology.

As some of you are aware, doctors seem to be quite enamored with me, constantly inviting me to show up at their various offices and spend hours waiting while they spend my time with their other patients. I went from zero ologists a few years ago to so many ologists that I can't even recall their names or the locations of their offices, so that results in the shop being closed at various times, mostly because I am out driving around trying to remember where they are. Sorry. Arthroscopic knee surgery scheduled this week, in fact, so expect the shop to be closed Thursday the 29th, Friday the 30th & Saturday October 1st, with Monday the third of October being a definite maybe. Sorry.

Additionally, I have been very fortunate of late to have secured a relationship with one of the largest companies in the country that DEPENDS ON ME to function properly. OK, OK, so maybe a bit of a stretch there, but some of their clients do rely on me to troubleshoot their network, phone and cabling problems, all large businesses that can ill afford down time so that accounts for some odd hours at the shop as well. The problem is, it pays really well and I LOVE doing it. The problem part? Most of these businesses are out of town, as they've sent me everywhere from Ponte Vedra Beach to Brooksville and Orlando so it usually takes time, resulting in the shop being closed. Sorry. I don't want to be a name dropper, so I won't reveal the name of the company I work for here, but when I call in to their Network Operations Center, the recording says... Thanks for calling NBC Universal...

For the record, as I've been known to say... ever comes the day I decide to close the shop, I'll be keeping my phone number forever, and will continue to serve you even if it means me coming to you to do it, so fear not folks... You can also find this identical post on my vccomputing.com page, just in case you enjoyed reading it so much that you wish to read it again.

I ain't going nowhere, anytime soon. Sorry.

05/06/2016

Windows 10 Free Upgrade Offer End Date Announced — July 29, 2016

Microsoft has announced that the free upgrade to Windows 10 currently available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users at no cost, will end on July 29, 2016. If you’ve been waiting, the time has come. Microsoft will support Windows 7 and Windows 8 until 2020 and 2023 respectively, while those who upgrade to Windows 10 have a scheduled end of support date of 2025. If you’re thinking or have been waiting to make the jump to Windows 10, the time is now… or sometime prior to July 29, 2016 anyway or it will cost you about $100.00, the customary price of a legitimate copy of Windows. More posted at www.vccomputing.com.

Marion County's Top Tech Shop Since 2002

11/04/2015

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