cafeMac

I had a dilemma about getting a piece of a Square attachment broken off in the outlet of my iPad mini. I myself am a business owner here in Sonoma (RED Loft salon) and my clients mostly all pay with credit cards, so it is imperative that I have my only source of processing credit card transactions up and running at all times. I thought at first I would have to bring my iPad into an Apple Store (to see if they could repair) but then thought, no they will just try to sell me another iPad mini and say they don’t specialize in repairs such as mine. Then someone suggested I give Café Mac a try, and I’m so glad I did! Friendly, attentive and skilled! They successfully took my iPad mini apart and were able to remove the bottom portion of the Square that had broken off and was (firmly) lodged inside of the earphone outlet. To say I was elated is a gross understatement! I dealt with Jim, nice guy and clearly a skilled technician. I’m certain the others are all equally as skilled! Best part it did not cost me an arm and a leg! A mere $ 40! Will I be back for other things involving my iPad?! Absolutely! Even though (clearly from their name) they specialize in Mac laptops and computers, they also work on iPads as well. I will share with each one of my clients here in Sonoma my positive experience with Jim at Café Mac and will do so with confidence! Thank you Jim! Thank you Café Mac!

CafeMac is a godsend in our little «island» of Sonoma. First, there’s no requirement for a «Genius Bar» appointment; you can just stop in and Jim or Ben are happy to help you right away. Second, they aren’t trying to upsell you on anything; they just want to help you get what you need or fix your problem.
My MacBook — which I use to run my PR business and absolutely need every minute of the day — started shutting down and restarting, shutting down and restarting, yesterday. I took deep breaths and tried not to panic. Brought my laptop in and Jim sat with me for quite some time, asking questions and taking apart my laptop, to help determine the problem.
If you are a Sonoma resident, you will appreciate that I came in during the late afternoon on the first Farmer’s Market Tuesday of the summer. He took a short Farmer’s Market break, then was right back to working on my laptop Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning, I went in to CafeMac first thing to check on things (Jim had left me a voicemail, but I was too frantic to pay close attention — I just drove there to check on my baby!), and he was able to figure out that I did NOT need a new harddrive as he’d first thought, but that I’d inadvertently downloaded some AdWare that put a weird virus into my computer. He removed it, cleaned up my computer in other ways to make it run more efficiently, and saved my business for under $ 100.
I’ll definitely do my Mac-​related shopping and diagnosing at CafeMac rather than driving to Santa Rosa to the Apple Store in the future!

I love Café Mac. Jim is so helpful and generous with his time. He was a southern California surfer in the late 60s, so it was fun hearing all his stories while we were waiting for my computer to be updated. A couple months ago, my old iMac kicked the bucket and I had gone to the Apple store in Corte Madera to try and fix it. (I wish I had brought it to Café Mac first!) I ended up buying a new computer from the Apple store. When I got home, I had all sorts of trouble with my Time Machine migration, and ended up having to manually transfer all my files (lots of hours on the phone with Apple care). I brought the computer to Café Mac to install Adobe Creative Suite and brought it home. Today I brought another computer to Café Mac that was donated to the place I work, because I wanted to install Adobe Creative Suite on that machine too. He spent lots of time with me getting this computer up to speed, wiping the hard drive, installing new RAM and upgrading the operating system. I told him I had been having trouble with my other computer backing up files, so he let me bring that one back and patiently did some troubleshooting to figure out what was up with my back-​up drives. Jim is really personable and explains things very respectfully. Now I feel like my digital world is in order! Thank you.

looked into cafeMac thinking it was a café selling coffee. got looks from everyone in the shop. instantly realized it’s a Mac shop, so i closed the door and left.
i don’t have a Mac and they don’t have coffee. everything looked neatly organized though.
easy parking in front.

Very helpful twice in the past month; first on a replacement MagSafe power adapter for a MacBook Air, and second on having just the right cable for a somewhat obscure printer setup — they even generously offered to loan me the cable for free. Makes being a Mac guy in Sonoma much more straightforward.

Thank you Jim Witous for getting rid of my adware situation. I had been spending 50% of my computer time closing out irritating pop ups and now its all gone. I enjoy my time on the computer again. You also helped me fix some other issues in terms of organization and even gave a few tips that I have used today. Thank you for the excellent service! Leah Jones

I brought my new mac and old PC laptop here, to have information exchanged from one to the other. My old PC wasn’t letting me log on properly (this has happened before, and it has been fixed before) so I also requested that my PC be repaired — just for basic use to the point where I could log on and off and access the software already on it. When I dropped them off, the woman at the desk offered to wipe my old computer clean and reinstall the Microsoft software on the computer. I told her I didn’t really want that — I didn’t need my old PC to be in tip top perfect working order, I just wanted it to be minimally functional, as it had been. I was nervous about dropping off my computers here, because in the past with another computer repair shop, the technician always broke something — the screen hinge, my fingerprint reader, or other screws and fixtures. So I was concerned something would go catastrophically wrong. She assured me they would take better care of my equipment than that.
After a week, an employee called me to confirm what it was that I wanted. I explained all of the aforementioned to him. He again offered to wipe my computer clean and reinstall the software, for a total of 2 hours of labor. I said again that I didn’t really want that, I just wanted to be able to log on to the thing. He said he would work on it.
After nearly 3 weeks of waiting to hear the status of my computers, yet another employee called to inform me of what was being done. I was told the file transfer was done, and would cost 1 hour of labor ($ 140). This employee again offered to wipe my computer clean and reinstall updated software. I AGAIN said that wasn’t what I was looking for. He insisted it was the easiest way to resolve any issues with the computer and ensure it would be in proper working order. He made it sound very simple, and again said it would take about an hour. So I finally relented and said do whatever it takes. I just want to be able to log on.
Well… 4 days later, I call again… still waiting… for approx 1 hour of labor… and the same guy I spoke with last says «oh yeah I forgot to tell you, it will be an extra $ 130 for the software, on top of the 2 hours of labor, do you still want me to go through with it?» Ummmm what? $ 410 to be able to log on to my goddamn laptop? In addition to the $ 140 I already owe on my macbook? I said yeah um no I don’t think so. This is exactly what I didn’t want. I don’t care if its not up to date. I don’t care if my iTunes doesn’t work properly. I just want to be able to log on to my administrator account and use the word processor and applications and such. And THEN he tells me that he already wiped the hard drive clean and it cannot be restored with the original Microsoft software on it. WHAT THE F*CK?! I really just wanted to scream into the phone. But I didn’t.
So. In summary, my old PC is non operational. Until I want to fork over a REDIC amount of money for them to fix THEIR error. I dropped off two laptops, for what I was told would be approx 1 hour worth of work. 3 weeks later, I pick up one laptop and a very expensive paperweight. Needless to say, I am NOT a happy customer. I will not be returning here with my business again. This has been very upsetting to me, as this business was a highly praised referral from a family member.

A couple months back, I had one of those horrible crises with my Mac. My hard drive died and I didn’t have a back up of my data (I know, I know). As I run a small business I was really in a horrible place. I called CafeMac and asked if they could work on it quickly. The owner went out of his way to have me bring it in at an appointed time on Friday afternoon and go over all the problems I was having in detail. Over the weekend, he found there couldn’t be a straight repair from the old hard drive so he had me come in on Sunday afternoon and work him him for a solid two hours saving files and updating everything that needed to be done on the computer. By Monday, I was back in business and the computer is running better than it ever did! I can’t say what a terrific help Jim Wittous, the owner, was in getting me up and running again. He went out of his way to work with me and did superb quality repair.

cafeMac offers helpful service with a friendly face. Jim, Jake and Ben go out of their way to help solve your problem. I was treated like I was the most special person on the planet while I was there.

Paid $ 70, for the diagnosis that my computer is broken. Not quite the real answer I expected. There is no business phone number to get a hold of anyone. They just offered to sell me a different computer. Pretty disappointed with my experience. Would definitely seek alternative professionals for help with more complicated issues.

This place is a total scam. They are not only over priced but sell products that are lemons. Really un-​honest work.
Be careful before taking your computer to this place…