How we chose
We started from the IT support firms listed around Telford. Trade schemes were sourced from the registers, each firm's own website and the platforms checked: Microsoft, HP and Dell backing is listed on the relevant firms' own sites, while anything found nowhere is shown as can't be sourced [1]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Seven firms met all three. What customers say counts most toward the score, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated 4 September 2026.
How to hire
Match the help to the problem first. A break-fix shop suits a single faulty laptop or a virus-struck home PC; a managed IT contract suits a business with several users, shared files and email that must keep working; a telecoms bundle suits a firm that wants broadband, phones and support on one contract; a phone counter suits a cracked screen needed back the same day. This ranking covers all four, from walk-in benches to enterprise consulting. When you first enquire, say how many users and devices you have, what systems you run, and what symptom or project sits behind the call.
There is no mandatory register for IT support, so check standing another way. If a firm claims Microsoft backing, search its name on Microsoft's partner directory and ask which designation it holds, since partner tiers change and a logo alone proves nothing [1]. The same applies to HP, Dell or Apple claims: ask what the status covers and get it in writing. Then look the business up on the Companies House register, which is free to search, to confirm the legal name, the registered address and whether the company is active [6]. A sole trader with no company record can still be a sound choice, but you should know which one you are dealing with.
Anyone touching your machines will touch your data, so settle that before they start. Ask how they back up a machine before wiping or reinstalling it, and who holds your admin passwords while the work is under way. Firms that handle personal information generally need to pay the data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office unless an exemption applies, and you can search the public register for their entry [4]. The National Cyber Security Centre publishes plain-English questions for small organisations on backups, devices, accounts and scams, which work just as well as questions for your supplier [3].
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same written description of the problem, so you compare like with like [5]. Each quote should separate labour, parts and VAT, name the call-out fee, state whether support is remote or on site, and give response times in hours rather than warm words. For a support contract, pin down the monthly cost per user or device, the contract length and notice period, what counts as chargeable extra work, and how you exit with your data and admin rights intact. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question, not a bargain, and ask what is included or excluded.
Start with a small paid job before signing anything long-term, and ask for one recent local reference you could verify. Ask for public liability cover details, and employer's liability where the firm sends staff to your premises, then check the documents rather than taking a line on a website at face value. Confirm warranty terms on repairs and parts in writing, including how long the warranty runs and whether it covers parts, labour or both. If a firm leans on scare talk about viruses to sell hardware you did not ask about, take your shortlist elsewhere.
At the end, collect the paperwork that keeps you in control: the invoice with the VAT position shown, a job record of what was fixed or installed, every admin password and licence returned to you, and, for contract work, written confirmation of your backups, your data-processing terms and your exit rights. File it where you can find it the next time something breaks. If a purchase goes wrong after that, Citizens Advice sets out your options for putting it right [5].
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough ranges from a Which? survey of ten repair traders in November 2025 run like this: a laptop screen replacement £50–£300; a laptop battery £30–£180; a keyboard replacement £30–£200; a power socket replacement £45–£210; liquid-damage repair £50–£250; a laptop motherboard £100–£500; a desktop power supply £50–£150; a hard-drive replacement with data transfer £85–£250; a general service for a slow machine £40–£120; and virus or malware removal £45–£90 [2]. The figures include labour and materials but exclude VAT, with Telford usually below London and South East prices [2].
What moves the price is mostly the machine and the fault. Apple parts and touchscreens cost more than standard laptop parts, older machines can wait longer for spares, liquid damage gets dearer the more parts need replacing rather than drying out, and data recovery adds time when files must be pulled from a dying drive before anything else happens [2]. Travel and parking across Telford and Shropshire, and whether old parts are taken away, all add or subtract at the margin.
Ask whether the quote includes VAT or has it added on top, since published ranges exclude it [2]. None of the seven firms in this round publishes repair rates or contract prices, so every figure you see must come as an itemised written quote naming labour, parts and VAT separately. Managed support is priced per user or per device rather than per job, so get the monthly figure, the response-time promise and the exit terms in the same document before you sign.
Get two or three quotes on the same written fault and compare them line by line: Which? advises asking shops to break quotes down and getting more than one view of the going rate [2]. Treat a single fixed price for a large job with no breakdown as a question, not an answer, and keep every quote, invoice and job record together.
Red flags
Quotes a business-wide support contract without asking how many users, devices and systems you run.
Will not put response times, call-out fees and the contract length in writing before you sign.
Takes your machine or your admin passwords with no receipt, job number or paperwork.
Gives no business name, address or phone you can check before handing over equipment.
Promises your data is safe but says nothing about backups before wiping or reinstalling.
Asks for full payment in cash up front for a large job, with no written quote or terms.
Uses scare talk about viruses to push hardware you did not ask about.
Finishes the job with no invoice, no VAT note and no record of the work done.
The bottom line
For most small businesses, start with Midland Computers: one long-standing Telford partner across support and infrastructure, with vendor backing stated and client names behind it. Ask for an itemised proposal covering response times, call-out terms and what happens at contract end. If you would rather walk a faulty machine into a shop, DB Computing is the closest alternative, with its free test and quote before work.
Match the firm to the job: Telford Computer Repairs for home call-outs, Appel for Apple-only repairs, iCrack for a fast phone screen, Associated Telecom for a phones-and-broadband bundle, and Capgemini for enterprise programmes. Then shortlist two, describe the same problem to both, and compare itemised quotes before you agree anything.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.