Hi there! I’m Vlad Tabaranu, and honestly, I never thought I’d end up being Birmingham’s go-to computer repair guy. But here we are, 25 years later, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
You know that friend who everyone calls when their laptop crashes? That’s been me since I was a teenager. Back in Romania, I was the kid who took apart radios just to see how they worked. My mum wasn’t thrilled when I “fixed” our family computer and it didn’t boot for three days. But that curiosity? It changed everything.
How It All Started: From Medical Dreams to Digital Reality
Picture this: 2000, Iasi, Romania. I’m studying Medical Bioengineering at university, thinking I’ll save lives in hospitals. Instead, I ended up saving people’s digital lives from crashed hard drives and corrupted files. Life’s funny that way, isn’t it?
The turning point came when a friend’s computer died right before his final exams. All his coursework was trapped inside. I spent three sleepless nights figuring out how to recover his files. When I finally did it, seeing his relief and gratitude – that’s when I knew. This wasn’t just about fixing machines. It was about helping people when they felt completely helpless.
We started our first shop, reparacalculator.com, with barely enough money for rent. But we had something bigger: genuine care for our customers. Word spread. Soon, we were fixing computers for students, families, and even big businesses in Palas Mall. People trusted us because we treated their data like family photos – because often, that’s exactly what it was.
The London Chapter: Learning What Really Matters
In 2014, life took us to London. Operating Dr IT Services in Kingston-upon-Thames taught me something crucial: technology problems are universal, but people’s stories are unique. The stressed businessman who lost a presentation. The grandmother trying to video call her grandchildren. The artist whose creative work disappeared overnight.
During this time, I also discovered another passion: helping businesses succeed online. In 2010, I’d started exploring web design and SEO, but London really opened my eyes to how many businesses struggled with digital marketing. Just like their broken computers, their websites weren’t working for them either.
This led to Dr IT SEO Services – our sister business focusing on web design, search engine optimisation, and digital marketing. Because what’s the point of having a perfectly working computer if your business website doesn’t work for you?
Each repair became a story. Each customer became part of our extended family. We weren’t just fixing computers; we were restoring peace of mind, saving memories, and sometimes rescuing entire businesses – both technically and digitally.
Coming Home to Birmingham: Where the Heart Is
Birmingham called us home in 2018, and honestly, it felt like destiny. This city has this incredible energy – creative, diverse, resilient. Just like the computers I repair, Birmingham takes whatever life throws at it and keeps running.
Setting up shop in Harborne wasn’t just a business decision. It was about becoming part of something bigger. When your MacBook crashes the night before a university deadline, or your small business loses crucial files, you don’t need a corporate service center. You need someone who genuinely cares.
My Core Values: What Really Drives Me
After 25 years in this business, I’ve learned that success isn’t just about technical skills. It’s about the values that guide every interaction:
🤝 Genuine Care
Every device that comes through our door belongs to someone. Behind every crashed laptop is a story – university coursework, family photos, business dreams. I treat your data like my own because, in a way, your digital life becomes part of mine. Our customers are our strength, and what they think of us can make or break us.
💡 Education Over Sales
I’d rather spend 20 minutes teaching you how to prevent problems than sell you unnecessary services. We try to insert humor, training and education into every possible interaction. Knowledge empowers you. An educated customer becomes a lifelong friend, not just a transaction. We don’t sell or repair things you don’t need.
🎯 Honesty Always
If your 8-year-old laptop isn’t worth repairing, I’ll tell you. If your problem has a simple solution, you’ll get the simple solution. Trust takes years to build and seconds to destroy. While we’re here to make money, we’re not here to rip off our customers.
🏠 Community First
Birmingham isn’t just where I work; it’s home. We want to be a permanent fixture in the lives of our customers – many from our other locations still keep in touch with us. We like it that way and don’t plan on changing.
🌍 Equal Treatment for Everyone
We’re very open minded – non-racist, non-political, non-religious preferences. Everyone deserves equality, consideration, respect, fairness and kindness. It doesn’t matter if you’re Religious, Atheist, Christian, Wiccan, Pastafarian, Nerd, Geek, German, Londoner, Brummie, Geordie, Black Country, Scouse, Mancunian, Cockney, young or old, from the UK or outside but living here, LGBTQ+ or Straight, from Mars or Earth, 2 feet tall or 10 feet tall – if you have a computer issue or need marketing or website design, you’ll get equal treatment from us.
🔧 Craftsmanship Pride
Every repair reflects our reputation. Whether it’s a £50 virus removal or a complex motherboard repair, you get the same attention to detail. Quality isn’t negotiable.
The Stories That Keep Me Going
Let me share what really motivates me…
Sarah’s Wedding Photos: A bride-to-be brought in a corrupted SD card three days before her wedding. Five years of relationship photos were gone. We worked through the night, trying every recovery technique I knew. At 6 AM, we recovered 98% of her photos. She cried. I cried. Her wedding album was saved.
Marcus’s Business Rescue: A small café owner’s laptop crashed with all his accounts, recipes, and customer data. His insurance required those files for a claim after a break-in. Standard recovery said “impossible.” We disagreed. Three days later, his business was back on track.
Emma’s University Lifeline: Final year dissertation disappeared from a failed laptop hard drive. University deadline was in 48 hours. While she panicked, we worked. Her laptop was beyond saving, but her dreams weren’t. We recovered everything and hand-delivered it at midnight.
These aren’t just job stories. They’re reminders of why I do this.
What Makes Our Approach Different: The Real Story Behind Our Methods
Why Our Virus Removal Takes Longer (And Why That’s Good for You)
Here’s something most shops won’t tell you: we take up to three full business days for professional virus removal and repair. Our competitors? They’ll scan your system and hand it back the same day.
Here’s why we’re different: We don’t just run a single disk scanner and call it done. We actually manually repair the damage to your computer instead of trusting a scan to remove everything.
So OS reinstall is our last resort – because YOUR TIME is worth it. It took you months, weeks, or years to compile all your information, documents, pictures, videos, and music. We believe we should try to save your data first.
Our Honest Pricing Philosophy
We can’t always quote prices online or over the phone. We just can’t. It’s like calling a mechanic saying, “I was just in a car accident, how much will it cost to fix this engine?”
We’re more than willing to give you a Free Diagnostic Evaluation for software issues so we can figure out what’s wrong. If we need to open your computer for better details, we’ll charge a small fee – and we’ll discuss that nominal fee with you before doing anything.
We will NEVER charge you for something you don’t agree to.
Will we charge more than our estimate? For the most part – NOPE. We absolutely won’t charge more than our original estimate. However, sometimes we discover additional problems while working on your computer – things we couldn’t see initially.
Like working on cars, sometimes unavoidable and unforeseen problems happen. For example, a customer brings in a computer with a cracked screen that won’t display anything. After repairing the screen, we might discover that the motherboard chipset isn’t working. There would have been no way to diagnose the motherboard before completing the screen repair.
The customer is still responsible for the screen repair costs and labour, but it’s up to them whether to fix the motherboard too.
Generally, no, we won’t charge more than estimated. But occasionally situations arise causing additional charges – and we’ll ALWAYS discuss these with you before doing any additional work. We don’t want to lose customers; we want to keep them. So we’ll always try to be honest, fair, and the best IT techs in Birmingham.
What Happens If Something Breaks During Repair?
Electronics are delicate things that can break at any point. Sometimes, customers bring in computers that appear working but are actually in the process of breaking down. They might fail while at our shop during the repair.
For example: a hard drive might fail while we’re working on a broken laptop screen. We didn’t cause the hard drive to fail – components sometimes just break regardless of where they are. The customer is still responsible for charges for completed repair work and labour.
While we do our very best job and are always honest with customers, these things can happen. We remind customers that electronics are delicate.
However, if we’re responsible for damaging your computer while in our custody (like if one of our employees took a sledgehammer and beat your computer to death – a very unlikely scenario), then we’ll certainly repair or replace any damage we’re responsible for.
Why Experience Matters
We have extensive experience with almost every type of computer repair. Our engineers and computer technicians can quickly diagnose and resolve your PC problems.
It doesn’t matter if you use Dell, HP, IBM, Gateway, Sony, Compaq, a custom build, Mac, Apple Computer, Mac Pro, Mac laptop, or any other type of PC. We can fix it!
We pride ourselves on being the best computer repair in town. We might not be the big corporate “Geek Squad” type of group, but we’re also not teenagers without experience. We’re seasoned professionals who’ve seen it all.
What Makes Dr IT Services Different
We’re not the biggest computer repair shop in Birmingham. We’re not trying to be. We’re trying to be the one you trust when things go wrong.
- Personal Touch: I know many of our customers by name. I remember their pets, ask about their studies, celebrate their business successes. Technology should bring people together, not create barriers.
- No Corporate Nonsense: We don’t have scripts or upselling quotas. You get honest advice, fair pricing, and genuine solutions. If your problem has a simple fix, that’s what you’ll get.
- Local Understanding: We understand Birmingham. Students need affordable repairs. Creative professionals require Mac expertise. Small businesses need reliable data recovery. Families want honest advice. We speak all these languages.
- Continuous Learning: Technology evolves constantly. Apple releases new Silicon chips, Microsoft updates Windows, hackers develop new viruses. I spend evenings learning new techniques because your problems deserve cutting-edge solutions.
Awards That Mean Something
Recognition is nice, but customer trust means everything:
- Corporate LiveWire Birmingham Prestige Awards 2019 – Best Independent Computer Repair Services
- Central England Prestige Awards 2021/2022 & 2024/2025 – Computer Repair Service of the Year
- 4.9/5 stars from 300+ reviews – But the handwritten thank-you notes mean more
Professional Memberships & Recognition:
- No Rogue Traders Here – Proud member ensuring ethical business practices
- ThreeBestRated – Consistently ranked top 3 computer repair in Birmingham
- Expert Rating Certified – Professional computer skills validation
- Google Certified – Online Marketing Fundamentals
These awards don’t hang on our wall for ego. They’re reminders of the standard we must maintain every single day. More importantly, they’re proof that doing business the right way – with honesty, integrity, and genuine care – actually works.
What We Offer Birmingham: More Than Just Computer Repair
We have a lot to offer Birmingham. We know business competition is tough.
We offer great Birmingham computer repair services covering lots of ground – but we offer more than just computer repair. We provide:
- Complete computer repair for all major brands and operating systems
- Web services and internet solutions
- Social media marketing and management
- SEO and content writing that gets results
- Website design that converts visitors to customers
- Business makeovers – complete image transformations
- Media marketing and advertising strategies
We’re dedicated to making a difference in people’s lives. We like to see our business customers succeed and enjoy helping them get where they need to go. Whether it’s computer repair, networking, marketing, SEO, web design, learning to use a computer, or learning to use the internet – we enjoy helping others!
We address computer problems, PC issues, hardware problems of all major computer makes and brands, data recovery, upgrades, updates, software problems, laptop issues, desktop repairs, Mac and Apple computers, internet issues that are computer related, password resets, virus removals, virus repairs, and much more.
As part of our troubleshooting and computer repair, we deal with lots of computer problems. We can troubleshoot that blue screen of death error that won’t let you access your desktop. We remove and repair viruses, and fix computers failing to boot.
But one thing we offer Birmingham more than anything else is a business that wants to help other businesses succeed.
My Promise to Birmingham
Every morning, I unlock our workshop knowing someone’s day might depend on what we accomplish. That student with the crashed laptop. The business owner facing data loss. The grandparent who can’t access family photos.
Here’s what you can always expect from me:
- Honest assessment – If your device isn’t worth repairing, I’ll tell you
- Fair pricing – No surprise charges or unnecessary add-ons
- Quality work – Every repair reflects our reputation
- Data respect – Your information stays private and secure
- Education included – Learn how to prevent future problems
- Warranty backed – We stand behind every repair
Beyond Repairs: Complete Digital Solutions
Fixing computers is just part of what we do. In 2010, I expanded into something equally exciting: helping businesses succeed online.
Dr IT SEO Services became our natural evolution. After years of fixing technology problems, I realised many businesses struggled with digital marketing too. Bad websites. Invisible search rankings. Wasted advertising budgets. Same problem, different solution needed.
We provide web design, web content, content writing, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services. I’m one of the best SEO specialists in the industry – our clients will recommend every project we’ve worked on. If you want to know more, call us or come in and we’ll give you links and information you can research yourself.
What started as curiosity became expertise:
- Web design that actually converts visitors into customers
- SEO strategies that get businesses found on Google
- Digital marketing that generates real ROI, not vanity metrics
- Business image consulting for complete online transformations
- Business makeovers – both online and offline image makeovers
- Media advertising and marketing in ways that will be breathtaking
Visit Dr IT SEO Services to see how we help Birmingham businesses thrive online. Our SEO expert can help your business rise to the top of search engines. With proper content writing and SEO techniques, businesses gain better online presence, increase marketing revenue and branding online, and reach new potential customers.
We provide Business Makeover Consulting, and every business we’ve touched has increased business and will gladly give us referrals. If you want to know more – come ask – we’ll give you the information to research yourself to find out how well we’ve done.
Technology confidence means:
- Teaching you backup strategies that actually work
- Explaining problems in plain English, never tech jargon
- Showing you warning signs to watch for
- Recommending upgrades that make sense for your needs
- Being available when new problems arise
- Helping your business succeed online too
Technology should work for you, not against you. My job is making sure that happens – both with your devices and your digital presence. Because what good is a perfectly working computer if your business website doesn’t work for you?
The Next Chapter: Growing Together
Birmingham’s technology landscape keeps evolving. New devices, emerging threats, changing user needs. We’re not just keeping up; we’re staying ahead so you don’t have to worry about falling behind.
What’s coming:
- Expanded workshop space to serve more customers faster
- Additional training in latest Apple Silicon and Windows technologies
- Enhanced data recovery capabilities for complex cases
- Continued community involvement and education programs
- Same personal service, just more of it
Let’s Connect – I’m Here When You Need Me
Technology problems rarely happen during business hours. While our workshop operates Tuesday-Friday 08:00-20:00 and Saturday 10:00-17:00, I understand emergencies don’t wait.
Dr IT Services
Workshop: 415 Court Oak Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B32 2DX
Phone: 07405 149750 (Yes, that’s my direct line)
Email: contact@dr-it.co.uk
I’m also around Birmingham quite a bit. You might spot me at local cafés (usually helping someone with their laptop), supporting small businesses, or just enjoying what this amazing city offers.
Find me online:
- Google Reviews (read the real stories)
- Facebook (behind-the-scenes workshop life)
- LinkedIn (professional updates and tech tips)
- Trustpilot (verified customer experiences)
- No Rogue Traders Here (ethical business commitment)
- ThreeBestRated (Birmingham’s top 3)
Final Thoughts: Why This Matters
After 25 years, I’ve realised something important: we’re not really in the computer repair business. We’re in the “getting people’s lives back on track” business. When your laptop crashes, it’s not just circuits and components that need fixing. It’s your connection to work, family, creativity, and dreams.
That responsibility drives everything we do. Every diagnostic, every repair, every conversation. Because at the end of the day, technology is just a tool. What matters is the human story behind it.
Your story matters to me. Your data, your deadlines, your digital dreams – they’re all part of why I love what we do.
Ready to get your technology working for you again?
Call me at 07405 149750 or drop by the workshop. Let’s solve whatever’s troubling your computer and get you back to what matters most.
Because life’s too short for computer problems.
P.S. – If you’ve read this far, you’re my kind of person. Seriously, give me a call even if you just want to chat about technology. I love meeting fellow tech enthusiasts and helping people understand their digital world better.
Dr IT Services is a computer repair business in Birmingham, UK. The business is owned by Vlad Tabaranu. Dr IT Services was founded in 2000.
