Affordable Computer Services

[redacted] [redacted] After days and no show appointments, he finally showed up to the third appointment and gave me back my phone, still unrepairedNo apologyJust handed it over and said "have a good day" basicallySent from my [redacted]

*** ***
*** *** ***
*** *** *** ** *** ** *** **
*** *** *** *** * *** *** *** *** *** *** *** After days and no show appointments, he finally showed up to the third appointment and gave me
back my phone, still unrepairedNo apologyJust handed it over and said "have a good day" basically. Sent from my ***

I did receive a refund but my phone was still not fixedI was not reimbursed for the multiple trips to the office nor did I receive an apology for the many times I was stood up

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/03/04) */
*** *** Came to my shop with a 3Tb WD external drive that was not workingHe asked is I could evaluate the drive and determine if I could get it to workAt that time I did a preliminary diagnostic and determined that the drive was not
working and explained that I would have to open up the case the drive was in to examine the drive furtherI also told him the case surrounding the drive was not made to be re-installed as it is a plastic press fit and made for only installation at the factoryHe agreedI removed the plastic case and the USB interface card and plugged the drive directly into my lab MAC GMy mac would not recognize the drive so I phoned him to be sure of what computer he was usingHe confirmed it was a macThan told him that I could not confirm if the electronics on the drive
were bad or it had a mechanical issueI would need a drive electronics board that was the same as the on on his driveHe volunteered to bring in another WD External hard drive that I could use
to tear down and get the drive electronics board from to see if I could get his failed drive to workAt that time I advised him to make a baof the "functioning" drive as I didn't know if the drive we were trying to test could damage the "functioning" driveHe agreed and understood the processHe also wanted me to put any data I recovered from the failed 3Tb on a number of 3Tb external drives he had that had data on them, but all had some unused spaceI advised him that it would be better to put the data on a new WD external driveHe agreed to purchase one and brought a 5Tb Seagate external hard drive to my shop about week later, saying he got the Seagate drive for the about the same price as a WD drive of 3TbI told him I cannot be responsible for his data integrity as I have no idea what state his data was in at the time and as a general policy we do not guaranty customer dataHe agreed, and said do whatever it takes, there's just movies on the diskAt this time he had been informed about the process, the risks, the fact that we do not take responsibility for his data, and that removing the drives from the factory case was a destructive processHe agreed to the work and I informed him that I would phone him when the work was doneHe indicated that he was in no rushI connected the functioning 3Tb drive he gave me to get the electronic board to my lab Mac Gas well as the Seagate 5Tb drive and "copied" the contents of the functioning 3Tb drive to the 5Tb Seagate drive to make a copy in case the functioning 3tb WD drive electronics controller was damaged in the recovery attemptThe Seagate drive would not accept a direct transfer with out installing its Seagate baapplication, so I created a folder called backup and copied WD 3Tb data to the folder using the seagate back up applicationOver 2Tb of data was copied
from the WD 3tb drive to the Seagate 5Tb drive
Again...I did not observe, analyze, or modify the customer data, or guaranty the data at anytimeSeagate and WD also do not make any guaranty customer dataThe attempt to get the failed 3Tb WD drive to work failedI then set up an appointment with another lab that work with to use a clean bench to open the drive an check the PRE-AMP electronics in the failed drive to see id I could piggy back a good pre-amp and get the drive to workWhen I got to the lab, they let me use their digital analyzer, and It indicated that the R/W heads were blownSono need to open the driveThe time to get the appointment with the lab was about daysI informed customer of the situation and he said he would pick up the drives and pay meA few days late, he cam to pick up the drives and I started complaining that the drives were dis assembled and he wanted them re-assembledI reminded him that the disassembly process was destructive as there are no screws or fasteners on the drive casesThey are pressed together in a factory gigHe started demeaning my work and demanded that I clemy messI offered to glue them together, but cannot guaranty
it will work as well as the factory processHe agreed and left my shopI reassembled the functional WD 3Tb driveHe came in a few days later and picked up his drivesSince we do not charge a customer for recovery if we cant recover the data(most shops have this policy), I invoiced him only for the labor of disassembly and re assembly of the 3Tb functioning driveHe paid his bill of $for this service and leftNext Day, I got the following e-mail
:***;
I got the drives home and mounted themThere are issues
The original 3TB #drive you moved movies from was unreadable by my MacI reformatted it, it's fine now(*** RE-FORMATTED HIS DRIVE)
The 5TB disc you dumped it's files on has a single file called "Copy of #wd Drive" on itIn it is "backup" file, in that are files: Documents, Picture, VideoVideo has *** .mkv files, all numbered consecutivelyDrive #has been completely disassembled in to the backup fileIt bears no resemblance to the original, nor are its files useful in their current state
How do I reconstruct drive #the way it wasfrom the "backup" you created? Perhaps it is simple
Call me ASAP
I called him and tried to explain that I had no idea what format his data was originally in and
asked him why he formatted his dataHe stated that I formatted it on a PC and some other statements that made no sense to meI told him to bring it in and Id look at itAt this point I realized that I had a hostile customer that would not listen to reasonHe came back to the shop and demanded that "I clean up my mess" and told me I didn't know what I was doing, that I used the apple application "Time Machine", which is used to back up one mac to another and has nothing to do with disk copy, and that I formatted his drive on a PCNON OF THIS IS TRUE AND MAKES NO TECHNICAL SENSE(He did phone me once and asked me how I copied his data, I didn't know who he was as I had three Macbooks in the shop at the time and he didn't introduce himself in the call, so I assumed it was a customer I was doing a time machine back up on, until his comments let me to realize it was himI didn't have his invoice data in front of me.) I tried to explain what may have occurred, but he rudely interrupted me times and demanded that I fix it by fridayThen leftI did an analysis of his (Functioning) 3Tb WD drive and discovered the the alignment on the USB and power connectors would shift causing the bad connection to the computer, because the WD drive was never meant to be reassembled in the case(as I informed *** in the beginning) This causes an intermittent connection as the alignment is set in the factoryI was part of that project at WD in I think *** "assumed" I formatted his data with a PC when his computer did not recognize the WD 3Tb functioning drive,and reformatted itThis erased his dataHis non sense about me using a PC or Time Machine on his drive is ridiculousIt makes no senseI do to data recovery a week, with no issuesEveryone except *** understands that we do not guaranty data integrityNo shop has time to go through every bit of data and verify it to a copyThe drive could fail during the copy, the data could be bad when the customer brings it in, ectThat's why we make that statement on the invoice and verbally to the customer before the workIve been designing and working with computers since 1973, I know the difference between a PC and a Mac, Time Machine application for user computer data restore, and how disk drives work*** phoned me a few days later wanting the serial number of his failed WD driveIt is on the plastic case that he asked me to dispose of when he picked up his other drivesI had recycled all the non functional parts he did not want and had given him the failed drive and interface cardHe repeated a serial number he said I gave him on the phone and I said I cant verify that that is the correct numberHe became very angry and abusive over the phone and I told him that I refuse to do business with him any longer and for him to please make an appointment to pick up his drivesHe continued over the next weeks to E-mail, TX and voice call and message me over timesEach time I told his to stop harassing me, and he continued to threaten me with legal action and negative comments on social mediaThis did not stop until I told him I would make a police report and get a restraining order
He has already put a multi paragraph review on my yelp page and stated he was going to hurt my business unless I comply with his demands
Again, we state on our invoice and verbally that we do not guaranty customer dataHe knew that from the startHe formatted the data on his good 3Tb drive, he stated that in the enclosed e-mailHe got his money back for the work I did from his credit card company
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2016/03/10) */
***Document Attached***
The site tends to jumble information into an almost unreadable paragraphI will send .pdf documents that will make reading a bit easier and explain in greater detailAll information is documented in emails, texts, and phone logs if you need itIt's not easy describing a dysfunction like this, most people just walk awayIt's all true
Final Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2016/03/11) */
WellQuite an essay hereI'll just cut to the chaseHere's my apology: Dear ***, Sorry you lost your dataI tried to get it back for you, but your drive, Hard drive, external drive, Hard disk, or whatever you prefer to call it, was electrically damaged when you brought it to my shopAs for the facts of the interaction between *** and ACS, my original statement remains unchangedI refuse to be extorted by his offer to take down a negative review on my Yelp page so
he can make me perform a task for himIf he was honest and believed he was being truthful in his negative review of my company, why would he make that offerThe real issue here is that *** treated me with disrespect, insulting comments, and a demeaning attitudeAfter her paid me for attempting to recover his data and took his external drives he evidently
formatted, or erased one of the drives used in the recovery process(See following e-mail)
***@gmail.com
Feb at 9:PM
To *** ***
Message body
***;
I got the drives home and mounted themThere are issues
The original 3TB #drive you moved movies from was unreadable by my MacI reformatted it, it's fine now
The 5TB disc you dumped it's files on has a single file called "Copy of #wd Drive" on itIn it is "backup" file, in that are files: Documents, Picture, VideoVideo has *** .mkv files, all numbered consecutivelyDrive #has been completely disassembled in to the backup fileIt bears no resemblance to the original, nor are its files useful in their current state
How do I reconstruct drive #the way it wasfrom the "backup" you created? Perhaps it is simple
Call me ASAP
AgainHe "formatted" the external drive containing his dataThat erases the dataHe screwed up his data
I told him to bring it in and I would see what I could doHe brought the drives in and started up again about how I dont know what in doing and I formatted his hard drive and used Apple Time Machine, Microsoft format and other statements that made it clear he had very little technical knowledgeI tried to explain the issues and options to him but he rudely interrupted me a number of times the demanded a fix by the next Friday and walked outHe then calls me a few days later and wants me to write a report on his crashed drive so he can get a warranty refund from WD digital
I told him at that point that I don't want to work with himI completed the original work and was unwilling to deal with his negative attitude any longerHe continues to contact me on this subject and I asked him to stop contacting meHe continued to phone/TX/voice mail and e-mail me additional times over the next weeksI had to threaten to contact the police to stop himI stated verbally and in writing that we do not guaranty customer data integrity(see invoice) attachedThe manufactures of his Seagate and Western digital drives also do not guaranty the integrity of the data(See Links)
http://www.seagate.com/support/warranty-and-replacements/limited-consumer-warran...⇄ /> http://support.wdc.com/Warranty/warrantyPolicy.aspx
*** has created quite a document about this issueThe left out some facts:
- He did not include the other 24, star reviews I received on yelpOnly the bad ones
- He was told up front that we do not guaranty positive results to get his data back, or the integrity of his data
- His original failed drive was not disassembled when he brought it inI did the work and charged him for it.(see invoice) I also never told him about my experience at WD until after he cam to my shop with his WD drive
- He was told that the process was destructive to the case surrounding the drive before he agreed to the workThe drive cost about $and he was more concerned about getting his data recoveredThat's why he bought another drive(see original statement)
I could go on about his "document" but I have a business to runBottom line*** was informed in writing (see invoice) and verbally about our responsibility concerning his data, the process of recovery, and the fact that we would not charge him if we could not recover his dataHe paid he for the above service, then called his credit card company weeks later to get the payment rescinded, after I refused to work with him any longerAs far as his data,
I have no idea what was on his hard drives to begin with, what he did to them after he took them from the shop, and have no desire to do any further work for himHe stated in his original complaint that his data was worth "thousands"
Why would someone put such valuable data on a cheap badrive with a year hardware only warranty? I don't see a way to remedy this situationI tried to explain the technical options to him in a professional manner on occasions and he refused to listenMy professional experience with him was very negative and condescendingHe knows very little about the technical issues and tries to get others to pay for his mistakesI do not wish to do business with himHe stated that his other technicians know better than me, well.....he can get them to figure out his issuesthanksPeace/***
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Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 19, 2016/03/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is an expectable response from ***All of this to avoid a half hour of paid work restoring a backup he made himselfIndeed, he "could go on", and on, and onIt's what he doesWhat he doesn't do is his job
I have three questions:
How does one work with someone like this, who will not focus on settling this simple dispute?
Can the Revdex.com compel him to complete his job and restore my data, or admit he can't?
If not, how might the Revdex.com sanction *** in a way that potential victims are warned that complaints against him are not fictions? The power of the Revdex.com is it's an impartial third party, able to review evidence without agenda and present the truth to the public
This is a simple caseI didn't delete my good Mac data, *** did when he formatted it himself to Windows, yet this is now irrelevantHe is holding the strange "backup" he made of it hostage to spite me or hide his culpabilityIt still technically exists, though he corrupted even that file when he opened it the final week the drives were returned to him for restoring (see below)He could simply restore the backup he made and all this noise would stopIt is likely the reason he doesn't do the obvious is he "doesn't understand what he did", clearly stated at the time and in follow up emailsWhat he did creating and modifying the backup has nothing to do with me, yet it is my property he manipulatedRestoring the files would clear him and satisfy me, but he refuses what anyone would consider a simple and reasonable solution to the very situation he created
It's not easy pinning down an irresponsible and deluded personalityIt's easy to make up stories, deny facts, and excuse oneselfHere the evidence is available to anyone wanting to see itHe repeats the denial of facts he has continued from the start of our relationship, and focuses on irrelevant pointsI am blamed for everything he didHe makes up what he needs to say as he goes along, even if it contradicts past statements or common senseEverything I say is verifiable in evidenceOthers have reviewed this Jeckl and Hyde businessman's behavior, calling him an outright liar
I do not want to interact with *** any more than he meBut, I am trapped just as he isHe locked up 3TB of good data and refuses to open it with the key only he hasAll of his rhetoric and excuses are to justify his refusing to do or admit the obvious
If this were my business and he was reviewing me, I'd have my attorney all over him for libelBut, my attorney wouldn't allow me to dodge my responsibility to a client or hang up this process for a half hour of paid work to redeem myselfWe are reputable businessmen
Please advise what you can do to resolve this case
*** ***
FYI:
Proof *** looked at, interacted with, and modified (corrupted) the "Backup" File:
Files on discs are time stamped, and information on them can be accessed on a Mac through the "get info" command which opens up an information windowUnder the title of the file as well as in the "General" category below there is a date they were created, and a date they were modifiedIn the emails *** and I have exchanged, there is a description of the unorthodox "backup" file that states clearly "...Video has *** .mkv files, all numbered consecutively." This email was written Feb5th, and *** includes this part of it in his last response to my rebuttal in his second paragraphA .tiff screen shot attached shows the current state of the backup file with info open on each tier of the backup file, ending with the mkv file and contentsThe Video File was modified at 4:pm by *** just after he received the drives back at 3:pm, and the mkv file was modified again February while *** was still in possession of the discsThe last file is numbered *** of the original number ***There are files deleted
The original backup disc can be opened to verify this screen shot at any time if necessary(Files are numbered through ***, totaling *** actual files plus the mkv shell file, grand totaling files under the "size" category)

I would never recommend this business. Please value your items and time and consider staying away. They never answer their phone and when you finally get someone and schedule an appointment, they aren't there. I am very disappointed in their business practices and don't know how they stay in business with such horrible customer service. Protect yourself.

Horrific customer service - they're impossible to get a hold of and are rarely open during their scheduled business hours. They quoted me a reasonable price when I brought my phone to them, only to tell me days later that the LCD was supposedly ruined and it would be much more to repair than they had indicated.
I would be able to accept this if it hadn't occurred after they told me my phone was all fixed up and ready to be picked up the next day, only to back pedal and say that the adhesive had not properly set and the job had to be redone. Then suddenly there is more damage and I owe them more money.
I really regret not looking into this place further before I took my phone to them, as I'm obviously not the only person that has been ripped off. They're shifty, liars and have no regard for their customers.

On Mon, May 4, 2015 at 8:29 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:Well the company finally returned my phone, still unrepaired, after 37 days and made me drive an hour and 10 minutes to pick it up. This was after an additional missed appointment on their end. It took me 30 minutes to be repaired by a competitor and that was their regular timing.  I feel this business should still have a bad mark so others know not to go there. Sent from my iPhone

[redacted]
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After 37 days and 2 no show appointments, he finally showed up to the third appointment and gave me back my phone, still unrepaired. No apology. Just handed it over and said "have a good day" basically. Sent from my [redacted]