Since 2001
Twenty-five years on the same bench.
Astute Computer Ribbs has been repairing printers and refilling cartridges in Chennai since 2001. Same trade, same workshop, same phone number.
What twenty-five years actually buys you
Over 75,000 services and refills, and more than 3,500 customers since 2001.
Those numbers matter less as a boast than as a reason you get a faster answer. When you describe a symptom on the phone, you are describing something we have almost certainly seen several hundred times. That is why the diagnosis usually starts before anyone arrives, and why the right part is usually already in the van.
Where we work
The workshop is on Vijayalakshmi Street in Ayapakkam, north-west Chennai. Machines come to the bench, or the bench comes to the machines — doorstep service across the city is how most of the work happens.
Who we work for
Analytical laboratories. Heat-treatment and alloy plants. Industrial engineering firms. And the small offices and homes on our own street.
It is a wider range than it looks. A laboratory printing results and a home office printing school forms want exactly the same thing: the machine working, today, without a fuss. The scale changes; the job does not.
Why the industrial work matters
Printers in a plant have a harder life than printers in an office. More dust, more heat, longer runs, and a stoppage that holds up something expensive. Twenty-five years of keeping machines running in those conditions is why a jammed printer in an air-conditioned office tends to be a short visit.
How we work
- Diagnose before travelling. Most faults narrow down on the phone. It saves everyone time.
- Test before leaving. Nothing is finished until it has printed properly in front of you.
- Say when it is not worth it. Some machines have reached the end, and some cartridges have had their last refill. You get told.
- Answer the phone. Unglamorous, and the thing customers mention most.
The name
Ribbs is for ribbons — where this started, back when every invoice in Chennai came off an impact printer. Plenty still do, and we still stock the ribbons. The rest of the trade grew around it: toner, inkjet, consumables, service.
Who you will speak to
Centhil Kumar P R. Ask for him by name — it is that kind of business, which is rather the point.
Common questions
How long have you been trading?
Since 2001 — twenty-five years, from the same workshop in Ayapakkam.
Who will I be dealing with?
Centhil Kumar P R. It is a small business by design; you deal with the person who does the work.
What areas of Chennai do you cover?
Doorstep service across Chennai, with the fastest response in the north-west — Ayapakkam, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Padi, Korattur, Mogappair, Villivakkam and Avadi. Call and we will tell you honestly what we can do for your area.
Do you only work with businesses?
No. Laboratories and plants alongside small offices and homes. A single printer is a perfectly normal call.
Tell us what it is doing.
Call and describe the make and the symptom — most jobs are done in a single visit, and we will tell you straight if it is not worth repairing.