Ollie's Computers, Inc.

Review: COMPLAINT ABOUT OLLIE'S COMPUTERS, BUSINESS IN POWHATAN, OWNED BY [redacted] and [redacted], located in the mall with [redacted]t.

After teaching Marketing and Customer Service Skills for over 35 years, I believe in treating your customers with respect, especially if you are the store owner. I will sing the praises of small business owners all day long. Entrepreneurship is awesome. But, unfortunately, I had a disturbing encounter with[redacted], the [redacted] of Ollie's Computers in [redacted] yesterday.

I was going in for surgery last week and the day before surgery two keys on my keyboard were not working. I was facing a possible six week recovery time, during which I would not be able to drive, so I needed my computer. In a panic I went to Ollie's and he sold me a 50 dollar keyboard, but also popped off the two keys that were not working on my keyboard and used an air can to blow the cat hair out, after I told him I had cats. He said, "It may work for you." I said, "Well just in case I will buy the keyboard, because I can return it unopened if mine is working, right?" He said, "Sure." Had he said, you can only get store credit, I would have tried my old keyboard first and then come back to purchase the new one. I only live five minutes away, so it would have been easy to run home and try my keyboard before buying the new one. Well, when I got home and tried it, my old keyboard worked. I thought how nice it was of [redacted] to blow air under the two keys and get it working for me. And, he had assured me that I could return it after my surgery. I told him I would not even open it if my old one was working. I paid cash and taped the receipt to the top of the box. I arrived at the store to return the keyboard yesterday, 8 days after the original purchase date (exactly one week after my surgery, praise God.) [redacted] was there with his wife, [redacted], and when I told her that [redacted] said I could return the keyboard, she went in the back to get him. When he came out, he said "you can only get store credit." Well, I just paid him close to $200. a few weeks ago to remove a virus from my computer, so what would I do with store credit? I was just so surprised, and I reminded him that he told me I could return it. He never mentioned the word, "exchange." I told him that I had asked if I could "return" it and he had said "Sure." He raised his voice and said he never said that, that he told me I could return it for store credit only. I insisted he did not. He waived the receipt which I had taped to the box in my face saying it states store credit only at the bottom. I asked him not to shove it in my face, please, as it was alarming my foster daughter, so he stepped back. If he had simply admitted to me that he thought I knew he only allowed exchanges that would be one thing. But to insist that he stated to me, "exchanges only" is simply a LIE on his part. I would have immediately said, "Well, let me go home and try this one before spending 50 bucks." But when I asked if I could return it with the receipt, unopened, he said, "Sure."

To add insult to injury, he then proceeds to tell me that blowing air under the two keys on my keyboard was a $25. charge, so if he refunded my keyboard, he would deduct the $25. charge. I said, "You never said there was a charge for that." He then told me, "Nothing is for free." I said "Ollie, you used a can of air and blew it on two keys." He then proceeds to tell me, "I lubricated the keys also." I said, "What are you talking about? You did not tell me that either." I guess he just makes up stuff as he goes along. Why wouldn't he have told me it was a $25. charge when he did it? It was such an ugly encounter with him yelling at me and my foster daughter looking at him in disbelief. He finally told his wife to write me a check for the difference, $25.00.

I took it and was so rattled by the incident that my daughter and I just prayed in the car on the way home. She could not believe he said, "Nothing is for free." Bad philosophy for a business owner.

CUSTOMER COURTESY and WORD OF MOUTH is certainly more important than 25 dollars to a store owner. Here I am, fragile, just after having major surgery, and having to fight with this man who was so ugly to me, almost spitting in my face. It was not about the money. I was shocked to learn that a return for an unopened keyboard would turn so ugly. And for the owner to then turn it into a battle to "show me" he would get something out of me, by charging me $25. for blowing air on my keyboard, after taking almost 200 dollars to run a virus check on my computer a few weeks ago. WOW! [redacted] should have said, "Sorry, Mam, if I failed to mention that we do exchanges only, but I do have a sign over there that states just that and I also print it at the bottom of my receipts." Guess what! I would have said, "Oh, o.k., no problem." Instead, the entire argument was about Ollie, lying, telling me that he had TOLD me that it would only be exchanged. He did not tell me that. To insist that he did is simply dishonest and rude.Desired Settlement: Invoice for keyboard totaled $52.60. They wrote me a check for $25.00 They still owe me $27.60 and an APOLOGY!

He said he videotaped when I was in the store. I would like to see the video to proove that he did not tell me "exchange only."

I also want my complaint for his horrible customer service on his Revdex.com record.

Thank you.

Business

Response:

To Whom It May Concem:We have received your information regarding a disgruntled customer, [redacted]. The customer came in to the store and presented a keyboard that she had purchase from my store and stated "She wanted a refund to my employee since Ollie had done such a good job fixing her other one.H I told the customer it is an "Exchange Only" refund policy, and there is "no exchange" if the package had been opened. She started yelling and getting angry and said "Ollie did not tell her that." The customer kept getting frustrated and Irate especially after I showed her at the bottom of her receipt our return policy, and I also pointed out to her the bright yellow and black sign that is posted with our exchange policy by the register. In her statement she stated, "Guess what, I would have said Ok, no problem H in reference to the return policy. is a an incorrect statement. She went ballistic when I showed her the return policy on her receiptI I went to the back to ask Ollie if he told the customer that she could get her money back. He came out and told the customer "He did not tell her that," which only made her angrier. Regardless ifthe employee told her or not, the return policy is posted and printed on her invoice .The customer had her daughter with her, and even the daughter grabbed her mother's arm to calm her down to no avail. He asked the customer what would make her happy, and she agreed to pay our normal minimum bench fee for the repair of her keyboard. I wrote her a check for $25.00. There was three of us in the store to observe her bad behavior and heard her threats to slander us on social media, and in our small county, which was heard by myself,[redacted], and a third employee. Maybe part of her behavior had to due with her recent health issues.I am sorry that the customer had a negative experience, but the whole thing would have been avoided if she would have accepted our return policy. It is a customer's responsibility to find out a return policy before purchasing an item. I have the Ollie's Computer's return policy in a very public viewing place, and It is printed on every receipt, Including hers. In addition, she received $25.00 back.DUring the process, Ollie tried to calm the customer down, by inquiring how she was feeling, what would make her happy, and he apologize to her at the time if she did not hear him say the return policy.Due to her threats on slandering us on social media, and in our county, and since she had documented on her receipt our return policy, and she received half of her money back, I feel I have done everything I could for this customer. If this customer continues to slander our company, legal action could occur.[redacted]

Review: I took two laptops In for repair.. first laptop was dropped of January 9th 2013.. that I just received today 5-18-2013 still not repaired.. had an agreementfor second laptop trade repairs on second laptopp was drop off 5-01-2013 trade repair on second laptop for first laptop. went to pick up laptop on 5-18 -2013... I was told he will not give me the second laptop in less paid in cash.. was then told by ollie himself " I hope I see you in public alone" after being threatened police officers wer then call by me. civil charges will be pressed within the week for verbal assault. My 8 year old daughter was in the store During his rant in raving and threatening actions. He also begin to speak to my daughter in a very inappropriate mannerDesired Settlement: Written letter apologizing to my 8 year old daughter for his inappropriate actions.. and the return of my laptop.. also reimbursement for work loss and money lost due to not having my laptop. repaired in a timely manner

Business

Response:

I am writing in

regards to Complaint #[redacted]. In January our customer dropped off a laptop to

be repaired. He stated he only had a little bit of

money to get it fixed and hoped we could help him. In trying to help

the customer who was "down on his luck" we did not charge him the

normal upfront $45 diagnostic fee, and [redacted] said "we could

work something out." We did have his computer several months.

It was a [redacted] computer that had an SSD chip, and it was one of

the free laptops Verizon gave out to their customers who ordered

wireless Internet. The laptop did not have a hard drive like a

normal computer. The customer did call several times through out the

months and we told him we were still checking it out, and having other

techs look at it and also and that it was a difficult fix.

Nothing seemed to fix it. We even ordered a part ($42

unrefundable) to see if that was going to fix it, and it did not. We did

not charge the customer for the part or the many, many hours of labor ($70

per hour) on working on his laptop, nor the diagnostic. We told the

customer we were having difficulty, and we exhausted all options especially

since we knew he was financially limited to pay for the repair.

On April 23rd,

2013 he called and we informed him it could not be repaired, and

he stated a friend gave him a laptop but it needed

repair. The customer dropped off a second laptop on April 23rd,

2013, a [redacted] since his other computer could not be repaired, or it was

cost prohibited to have it repaired. Again, we did not charge him the normal

upfront diagnostic fee of $45.00. This computer had a bad DC jack. The

customer was told it was $159.95 for parts and labor for the repair. He

said "Ok, to do the work that he needed a computer." When we

took a part the laptop we saw that the transistor was also damaged from the AC

adapter being roughly forced into the DC jack. We told the customer about the

transistor and it would be an additional $40 to order it and solder it to

the motherboard, and it would take a week to 10 days to get the part in.

He said "Ok to order it." The work was completed and we called the

customer to have the laptop picked up. We also told him when

checking out that the new DC jack was working, we noticed that his AC

adapter needed to replaced. The DC jack was working, but the AC

adapter was not providing enough "juice" to charge the

battery on the laptop. We told him the cost of a new AC adapter, and he said he

would borrow one, or take care of it himself. He said "he was glad it was

fixed."

On May 18th at

6:00 PM the customer and his young daughter came in to the store to pickup the

[redacted] computer. I told him the final charge and he said he was not

paying for it. He said [redacted] told him he would trade the first computer

for fixing the second computer. Why we would want to trade an inexpensive,

unfixable laptop for a working laptop? It doesn't make sense. I informed

the customer that I was the [redacted] of the company, and we did not do

"trades". He took his daughter to the restroom at a neighboring

restaurant and returned a few minutes later.

Upon entering the

store [redacted] spoke with him and said "I did not say that I would trade your

unfixable computer for the one we repaired." Why would I do that?

"I called you twice about the cost of the [redacted] and you gave me approval to

do the work." The customer got upset and would not calm down.

He continued on and on, and things did get heated in the conversation.

Things accelerated even more when he turned his anger on me. [redacted], did

apologize three times for raising his voice and tried to calm the situation

down. The customer continued to yell. I went to call the Sheriff's

Department. I got an answering machine and it said to call 911, or

another number. I did not proceed because I really did not want to

call the police on our customer and I hoped things would settle

down. (This is the first time I ever had to call the sheriff on a

customer) [redacted] shook the customer's hand, and then the customer called

[redacted] a "punk", **...hole", etc and things got heated

again. The customer's child was observing everything and [redacted] turned to

her and said one sentence "Can you believe your Dad is acting like

this"? This made the customer go ballistic! He told

his young daughter to go outside. I had to interrupt his yelling to

say there is a woman next to your daughter outside is that ok? He said

yes. [redacted] brought out the unfixable [redacted] laptop, the

customer signed that he picked it up, and he left the store. He

was did not charged for any diagnostics, labor, or the part we ordered.

The customer and

maybe his wife, or girlfriend, and another lady (mother?) loitered outside

the store for a while. [redacted] went outside and again tried to make amends.

He said" Come on let's try to work something out, I don't want any hard

feelings.' The customer said that "it was too late and that he should have

never spoken to his daughter."

A few minutes

later the Sheriff Department arrived. He spoke with me and [redacted], and

they found no cause to do anything.

We are saddened

that we were trying to help a customer that was "down on their luck"

and this is how we are being treated. We feel that the customer is trying

to get "something for nothing." At no time did the customer

apologize for his outrageous behavior, or try to handle things in a civil

manner or come to some sort of compromise though I tried numerous times to

calm him down and work something out and so did [redacted]. We

were concerned with the welfare of his daughter since he had her alone

outside until the woman came while he continued to scream and rant.

The customer also

stayed in front of our store for an hour after police left, and I was fearful

that we was going to do something. I even felt the need to contact the

Sheriff's Department to see the process of getting a Restraining Order

on him. We had a customer come to the store while he was outside and

he was yelling negative things to our customer as he tried to enter our store,

which is deflation of character.

We feel it is

unfortunate for this misunderstanding with this customer. We tried

numerous times to resolve things, but he continued to stay angry, yell and

scream.

We will not be

threatened or blackmailed by this customer, and if we need to handle this

manner in court we will be there to state our case. It is a shame that it has

come to this.

Sincerely,