Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/16/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  yes, i have been without my usual and much needed "music therapy" for the last x8 mos, when all my music- player/internet-connection- to-the-world NEEDED, very mistakenly on my part, from "ABTS Computer", was to correct a broken "hinge", so the lid would close shut tight again. The "correction" was made, i paid a hefty price, which by the way they said, " you don't need to keep the receipt--it's all on file on our computer"---got it home, and low and behold, it would play a while, start blinking, and then completely die---the screen/monitor/everything...now, i might add, at this point, that my computer was a whole terabyte of memory...very valuable and hard to find, with a good long life. When i asked them to tell me what happened, that such a simple "fix" should destroy my computer, they not only 1) discredited my opinion saying, "well it's not blinking right now", but also 2) misquoted the price i paid as much less than the price i actually paid...close to $300. Now, i might mention, they also sell "refurbished" computers, and i do believe that is the "bend" of their "repair" end of business...destroy their computer so they'll have to settle for one of our used ones, and then we can turn around and sell theirs, too and/or keep it for ourselves, as, i might add, my computer included, on memory, an extremely valuable, carefully and personally selected/purchased itunes music library of songs. I am just in need of "relaxation" music selections to my liking, and they have now "deprived" me of that for too long, i must say.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/17/2022

  We have worked with this customer for some time. Originally the ********************** only came in for a hinge replacement. We collected $60 + tax for testing which is $63.30. She overpaid by 70 cents and was recorded as a tip. Testing goes towards the cost of the repair that we quote. We found the part. the parts were $50 and labor to install them was 2 hours at $60/hour at that time. October 5-6th. We received payment and ordered the parts. because the testing 1 hour was credited her second payment was for $110 + tax. She paid $116.05. This was to replace a hinge in the screen.

  On December 3rd, the customer came back in because the screen has been flashing. We waived the testing fee thinking this may be related to the work we had done and maybe a cable connection was loose. During the testing we found that since the first time it had been in, the hard drive was beginning to fail this was not noticed during the first time it was in for testing. We also found that the reason for tapping on the palm rest was causing some issue such as the user to be logged out. We found some corrosion on the touchpad and is likely to be the issue. Since we did not note properly about her hard drive failing the first time it was in, either it was overlooked or was not checked by our technician, but the hard drive health for another computer was listed in our ticket for this customer from early October. We cleaned off the corrosion on the touch pad for no charge. something that the labor to take the laptop apart and get to the touchpad was much more expensive than any work we had done previously. At this time, we advised her with a failing hard drive that the computer could stop working if important files get corrupted due to the hard drive failing further. We recommended to backup any important data in other locations. We had quoted for an SSD upgrade if the customer would like. The customer declined. The ********************** was still working fine as it left our store, the customer had another person pick up the ********************** for her.

  
  2021-12-08 at 04:01 PM
  ******* called and was not happy. She said the computer doesn't do anything now. I told her that she would have to give me more detail so I can try to understand what is going on. I did tell her that it was working at our office when she came to pick it up. She again said it didn't do anything and I asked her if it turns on or what can it do? She said it can play music and that's about it. She went on to say she canceled her internet because she didn't need it and that she knew the issue was with a metal piece in the hinge and that we destroyed her computer and said something about how the inside is camo and she spray painted the lid (I was thinking WHAT?!!??!) I didn't get a chance to ask her about this, maybe I misheard. I went over all of the details of what we did with the computer since she originally brought it in and told her that none of the things that we provided service for would have "destroyed" her computer and that it was working when she came in to pick it up. I told her that it didn't make sense to me that the computer would be able to play music, but she can't do anything else. I asked her what she can't do. She said none of the apps show up at the bottom. I explained to her that it very well could be due to the hard drive failing and she said that didn't make sense and didn't hold any water for her. I told her that I was sorry that it didn't make sense and explained to her how hard drives are mechanical, similar to a car is mechanical and can have parts fail as you use it and you can't predict when it will fail. She said she didn't have a car and that she still didn't think that was the problem. She said she wanted to talk to the technician. I told her that talking to the tech wouldn't help since we can't tell what the actual issue is by just talking over the phone. I told her she'd need to bring it in and we could take a few minutes up front to look at to see if we can figure out what is going on and that it is possible it could be a simple issue that could be resolved or it could be the failing drive is causing problems. She started complaining about how many times she has had to haul it back and forth and that she isn't happy with the service. I told her that this last time it was actually not an issue with the repair we had done and we had just fixed the corrosion problem for free for her. She said we are lucky that she lives so close being only 4 blocks away, but went on to ask if we had a pickup service. I told her we do, but the service is $40 and that it wouldn't make sense to do a pickup service for only 4 blocks. She said that was too much and said she'd just have to come in some time when she can. She said she was not happy with the service again and I told her that we do warranty the service we did for 6 months, but we can't predict other problems the computer may have and don't cover issues outside of the service we did. I told her we did find the issue with the drive, but she chose to not have us fix it, so if that is the problem, that is not covered under the service she paid for. She acknowledged this, but still was not happy.

   

  We did not hear from the customer and closed the ticket again ***** after waiting for her to bring the computer back in.  Apparently the computer did continue to work after this as the next time we heard from the customer was ***** 20th.

  Notes from ticket 2022-04-20 at 11:51 AM
  ******* came in today and was trying to bad-mouth us. She said her computer hasn't been the same since she got it back from us and wishes she had just taken it to Best Buy. I told her that even though the warranty ended last week, I'd like to make it right with her if I could. I asked if I could take a look at it and see what the issue is. We turned it on and it was working just fine, just slow due to the traditional hard drive.
  
  Once it was on, we tapped around on the lower bezel, the back of the screen, on the palm rest where the display connection should be. I couldn't get it to flicker one bit. It was SOLID. I explained to her again that we had replaced the broken hinges and replaced the back cover of the screen, bezel and cables. I explained that when she brought it back, we put her old display cables back in since the ones we had put in were not working properly. I told her that it is possible the cables we got were defective, but since putting the original cables back in, it had worked solidly for us. I told her that since I couldn't see that there was any evidence of a loose connection that there isn't anything I could do for her at the moment.
  
  She left feeling less upset and said she thought she'd continue using it.

  June 14th the customer came back again with complaints resulting from the failing hard drive which is not related to any work we had done similar with the touch pad issue.

  Notes from Ticket 2022-06-14 at 06:09 PM
  When ******* came in today, she was upset and asked me what we were going to do for her. She is still convinced that she paid $274 and said she shouldn't be having these problems for the amount she paid. I told her that amount didn't sound right and told her I would check to see what she paid. I told her she paid about $180 after tax total. I told her that if she had a receipt that said that she paid that amount, then that would be proof, but our system said otherwise. She didn't want to accept that.
  
  She asked me what I'd do for her. I told her that the last time that she had it in and showed me the computer, it seemed to be working just fine and that the computer was in better working condition after our repair than when she originally brought it in. She was not having it and told me that she thought that we purposely messed up her computer so we could fix it up and sell it. I told her that we would not be interested in doing that and would never purposely mess someone's computer up.
  
  She then threatened our business by telling me that she'd walk right down to the library and "write a little letter to the Better Business Bureau and put us out of business".
  
  I stopped her from leaving by telling her we would happily try replacing the cable again since we had to put her original one back in and that possibly that was the issue and also look into making sure there wasn't anything we did that was causing the problem. She told me that as long as we wouldn't charge her again, she'd leave it. I told her we wouldn't.
  
  She said she'd like a refund or preferably a working computer and gave me her new phone number
  Last Edited: Jun 14, 2022 @ 06:15 pm 

   

  We will not continue to work with this customer who is threatening us. As we have already done work more fixing unrelated issues to the work we had completed trying to appease the customer. We will not do another service where the parts and labor are double than the work we originally preformed. My staff has done what they can and I am not allowing them to work with this customer any further.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/17/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [Please type your response here.]Yes...well, i first want to add, i was "rat-raced" back-and-forth, with the help of a dear friend who had a car last winter, when i was unable to, to get to the neighborhood business. They had several ideas of what happened to the computer being ruined with such a simple repair. Delays for x8 mos b/c i was either unable to decide what to do next, and/or unable to get there. Admittedly, they WERE kind enough to extend past their 6 month policy, even though i first pointed out their "repair ineptitude" way before the 6 mos were up. When i inquired about a pick-up/delivery service on their part, they said "$60 each time". So they thought perhaps the new wiring was defective, and said they had saved the old wiring, and would just put that back in--why a joint replacement involved ANY wiring is beyond me, but i did not question them on that. They, however, did NOT then save the NEW wiring when their first idea failed. Okay, so when i brought it back to them the other day, i just decided i had waited LONG ENOUGH for my "therapeutic music"...i LIVE for music, honestly...it helps me to keep going on bad days, expresses my emotions of the day, relaxes me/makes me feel good/better... natural remedy, on and on and on...That's when i thought YOU should know---well, now this morning, x"2" calls, back-to-back, "i'm sorry, but we are not going to work on your computer anymore"---"is the problem of blinking and then turning off fixed"???---neither the first girl associate nor the owner, "*****" could tell me. In fact, when i informed him then that i have A LOT of friends in the neighborhood, AND a BIGG mouth, he accused me of threatening him...i told him i disagree when i would only be stating the truth...So he said "I'd like to be here when you pick it up...let's set a time.".."ok"...So, **** today...now i'm NOT an idiot, and if he claims i am threatening him, i know darn right he will have the police there, so i'm NOT planning on going, and guess what---VOILA! They have themselves yet ANOTHER computer to refurbish and sell!!! Well, rest assured, with the help of my TRUE friends at *********** LaCrosse, young and able with today's technology... i HAVE my music NOW available on my "gifted" cell phone, God-willing THAT keeps working. ABTS business, in my honest and true opinion is NOT only WORTHLESS, but criminal. I have left a public review of them for ALL to see. AND, yes, i WOULD like my property back,   IN working order, but i don't NEED it THAT badly... but i have learned from this EXTREMELY  upsetting and disruptive-to-my-life experience, that THERE ARE OTHER WAYS  in our modern and advanced public world of high technology, and i am very thankful for my friends, all of them, for showing me the way. Thank you very much.
  
  Regards,
  
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