I was asked by other customers to report my issue here with this repair shop, and it's owner Chris Galagaza to be more specific, for stealing a laptop from me. It was several years ago and I have since given up on trying to get my anything back but will help prevent any other issues from arising if I can. I brought in a laptop to be looked at for a broken screen, He offered to look at it and even to send it back to me when completed. He quoted me a reasonable price and was contacted the next day to confirm and paid the price to replace the screen and ensured it would be sent out by the next day and should arrive quick with local post. After a busy week and losing track of time I contacted the store and got a response of shock and that he would look into the tracking and be back to me as soon as possible.
Another few days and I had to contact him and got a story of a message left for me about the package being lost but found and should arrive shortly, and that I must have just missed the message. I asked him if he could email me the tracking number so I could keep check. The next day I called back after I got no email with tracking information and got no answer. I went by the shop that afternoon and there was no one there and, like stated a few times in the negative reviews here and on other sites review sites there was a note from another customer he had apparently scammed with a pretty negative message for the owner that doesn't need repeating. But it was enough to let me know I made a mistake and these issues were likely not on the part of bad luck with shipping. Several days and several phone calls to no answers and just voicemail I was able to get a call back and voicemail left from him apologizing profusely for delays and that he was busy with some family issues and to resolve any troubles he was ordering a new laptop to replace the one lost in shipping.
At my next available time I tried calling back to find out more information, and I never did get a hold of him again. I tried his email multiple times and phoned a few times over the following week before giving up and never receiving my old nor new laptop. It was a nice macbook I lost but the screen was no good, so I can't confirm he sold it off online like the other complaints claim, I guess he could have used it for parts or did replace or fix the screen and sold off but I never received it back and am pretty confident no attempt was made by him to send it back to me. It now seems odd for him to have offered to send it and I should have just refused as the location was not more than a 5 minute walk out of my daily commute, but it seemed a very nice convenience at the time from someone who was very nice and pleasant to deal with at first.
It was just not worth my time to pursue farther, I was able to have my bank reverse the charge and the laptop was dead to me and I was already ready to just buy a new one. I contacted the BBB and got in contact with another customer through FB who had almost the exact situation to confirm this wasn't an isolated incident and had herself been in contact with 3 other customers and was trying to locate him. What I can confirm is as of at least this summer he still lives in the west loop area, I had come across him and an older women twice at Bartelme and Skinner parks with their dogs together (a very large gray mastiff and a sort of bulkier looking greyhound mix.) I am done and wiped my hands clean of the situation and honestly was just glad he didnt recognize me. I can not attest to anything else new, his website for the company does not appear to be up, I had to pull information off other reports of his fraud on yelp reviews. But this man almost assuredly was in the business of scamming unsuspecting customers.
Chicago Computer Pro, "owned" and operated by Chris Galagaza was a fraudulant scam artist company intended on taking in computers to repair and then just being sold off and never returned.
The store front has since been closed down and the tenent, chris galagaza, was evicted some time ago. It now seems apparent he is still operating with a website still up and apparently off craigslist as well as more people have been reporting him in recent months.
There are numerous reports of him taking in laptops and computers to repair, informing the customer he would send the item back and then just selling it off. The story seemed to be pretty much the same among those of us scammed, saying it didnt get shipped for numerous reasons like lost/label torn off etc etc, and he would resend it out, and then after never receiving he said he would replace the item to make things right and it would never arrive. Conveninetly he was never available to just go to the shop to pick the item up. He then just stops responding to any calls.
Like the other stories about the owner, Chris Galagaza, he woul become beligerent and some said almost violent when confronted. Since he was never in the shop when it was around you could find numerous notes left on the front door about him being a "scamming pig" so several other people were being ripped off by him and losing their computers. And all the confrentations came in just random passings in the neighborhood.
A search of the owner's name brings up several arrests and outstanding felony warrants for him in Ohio, Penssylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, and Illionois. It is apparent he is a traveling career con and scam artist.
Do not do any business with Chris Galagaza or his company "Chicago Computer Pro"
Chris Galagaza & Kenneth Blum opened a retail store in Chicago called Chicago Computer Pro. They were supposed to be fixing my sons's laptop and after I dropped it off, I never heard from them again. I could not get an answer, I emailed and called both of them for months, I was sent right to voicemail which means I was blocked. I drove past this 'store' a dozen times to try to find one of them there. The place was always empty - I think it was a front for something and it looked like letters piled up everywhere. There were nasty notes on the door - because I think they did this to other people.
This was my son's ONLY computer. He is Autistic, I am on a fixed income and it was purcahse by his father to help him with school. He dropped it and broke the screen, so I took it to Chris & Kenneth. I was promised it would be fixed and he would have it within a week.
Eventually I sent a letter to them and Ken called me, screaming that he would sue me and his family has lawyers and he has nothing to do with the business. I was scared to pursue a small claims against this guy because he sounded genuinely nuts.
Chris Galagaza has skipped town and I heard Kenneth is selling used cars for a palce names JK Auto in Melrose Park. SO NTO BUY A CAR OR COMPUTER OR ANYTHING FROM THESE CON ARTISTS.
I know I will not get my son's computer or my money back - but I am doing this to warn other people to stay away from Chicago Computer Pro, Kenneth Blum or Chris Galagaza and most likely any business they have anything to do with.
Chicago Computer Pro Reviews
I was asked by other customers to report my issue here with this repair shop, and it's owner Chris Galagaza to be more specific, for stealing a laptop from me. It was several years ago and I have since given up on trying to get my anything back but will help prevent any other issues from arising if I can. I brought in a laptop to be looked at for a broken screen, He offered to look at it and even to send it back to me when completed. He quoted me a reasonable price and was contacted the next day to confirm and paid the price to replace the screen and ensured it would be sent out by the next day and should arrive quick with local post. After a busy week and losing track of time I contacted the store and got a response of shock and that he would look into the tracking and be back to me as soon as possible.
Another few days and I had to contact him and got a story of a message left for me about the package being lost but found and should arrive shortly, and that I must have just missed the message. I asked him if he could email me the tracking number so I could keep check. The next day I called back after I got no email with tracking information and got no answer. I went by the shop that afternoon and there was no one there and, like stated a few times in the negative reviews here and on other sites review sites there was a note from another customer he had apparently scammed with a pretty negative message for the owner that doesn't need repeating. But it was enough to let me know I made a mistake and these issues were likely not on the part of bad luck with shipping. Several days and several phone calls to no answers and just voicemail I was able to get a call back and voicemail left from him apologizing profusely for delays and that he was busy with some family issues and to resolve any troubles he was ordering a new laptop to replace the one lost in shipping.
At my next available time I tried calling back to find out more information, and I never did get a hold of him again. I tried his email multiple times and phoned a few times over the following week before giving up and never receiving my old nor new laptop. It was a nice macbook I lost but the screen was no good, so I can't confirm he sold it off online like the other complaints claim, I guess he could have used it for parts or did replace or fix the screen and sold off but I never received it back and am pretty confident no attempt was made by him to send it back to me. It now seems odd for him to have offered to send it and I should have just refused as the location was not more than a 5 minute walk out of my daily commute, but it seemed a very nice convenience at the time from someone who was very nice and pleasant to deal with at first.
It was just not worth my time to pursue farther, I was able to have my bank reverse the charge and the laptop was dead to me and I was already ready to just buy a new one. I contacted the BBB and got in contact with another customer through FB who had almost the exact situation to confirm this wasn't an isolated incident and had herself been in contact with 3 other customers and was trying to locate him. What I can confirm is as of at least this summer he still lives in the west loop area, I had come across him and an older women twice at Bartelme and Skinner parks with their dogs together (a very large gray mastiff and a sort of bulkier looking greyhound mix.) I am done and wiped my hands clean of the situation and honestly was just glad he didnt recognize me. I can not attest to anything else new, his website for the company does not appear to be up, I had to pull information off other reports of his fraud on yelp reviews. But this man almost assuredly was in the business of scamming unsuspecting customers.
Chicago Computer Pro, "owned" and operated by Chris Galagaza was a fraudulant scam artist company intended on taking in computers to repair and then just being sold off and never returned.
The store front has since been closed down and the tenent, chris galagaza, was evicted some time ago. It now seems apparent he is still operating with a website still up and apparently off craigslist as well as more people have been reporting him in recent months.
There are numerous reports of him taking in laptops and computers to repair, informing the customer he would send the item back and then just selling it off. The story seemed to be pretty much the same among those of us scammed, saying it didnt get shipped for numerous reasons like lost/label torn off etc etc, and he would resend it out, and then after never receiving he said he would replace the item to make things right and it would never arrive. Conveninetly he was never available to just go to the shop to pick the item up. He then just stops responding to any calls.
Like the other stories about the owner, Chris Galagaza, he woul become beligerent and some said almost violent when confronted. Since he was never in the shop when it was around you could find numerous notes left on the front door about him being a "scamming pig" so several other people were being ripped off by him and losing their computers. And all the confrentations came in just random passings in the neighborhood.
A search of the owner's name brings up several arrests and outstanding felony warrants for him in Ohio, Penssylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, and Illionois. It is apparent he is a traveling career con and scam artist.
Do not do any business with Chris Galagaza or his company "Chicago Computer Pro"
Chris Galagaza & Kenneth Blum opened a retail store in Chicago called Chicago Computer Pro. They were supposed to be fixing my sons's laptop and after I dropped it off, I never heard from them again. I could not get an answer, I emailed and called both of them for months, I was sent right to voicemail which means I was blocked. I drove past this 'store' a dozen times to try to find one of them there. The place was always empty - I think it was a front for something and it looked like letters piled up everywhere. There were nasty notes on the door - because I think they did this to other people.
This was my son's ONLY computer. He is Autistic, I am on a fixed income and it was purcahse by his father to help him with school. He dropped it and broke the screen, so I took it to Chris & Kenneth. I was promised it would be fixed and he would have it within a week.
Eventually I sent a letter to them and Ken called me, screaming that he would sue me and his family has lawyers and he has nothing to do with the business. I was scared to pursue a small claims against this guy because he sounded genuinely nuts.
Chris Galagaza has skipped town and I heard Kenneth is selling used cars for a palce names JK Auto in Melrose Park. SO NTO BUY A CAR OR COMPUTER OR ANYTHING FROM THESE CON ARTISTS.
I know I will not get my son's computer or my money back - but I am doing this to warn other people to stay away from Chicago Computer Pro, Kenneth Blum or Chris Galagaza and most likely any business they have anything to do with.