I was going to make a new post regarding the "Standing his ground" post because a couple people have been inquiring on the status about that as to whether the Dragon has been actually standing his ground or not. Unfortunately, that has to take a back seat trip because I have something which needs to get out there ASAP so YOU don't become a victim to what my customer has been a sad victim of.
On Friday, January 25th 2013, I get a call from a man who has been helping out his friend with her computer needs. Let's refer to this man as John and his friend as Jan. John gives me the run down as to what was going on. I'll sum it up here:
On 1/3/13, John goes with Jan to HH Gregg to purchase a new computer. They decide on the Gateway PC pictured here:
Nice looking little Gateway PC, isn't it? Problem is, as with all PCs sold in stores today, it comes pre-installed with Windows 8. Ain't that just great?! Well, I'll get to my take about 8 in a future post but for now, Jan wasn't too happy about 8 and I can understand that since she was coming from Xp. For those of you who don't have a clue as to what Windows Xp is because you've been living in a cave or just now got a new PC, well, you can look at this article on Xp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP.
So, Jan bought the PC anyway because she knew she can have Windows 7 put on it. Sounds all fine any dandy, right? After all, how hard is it to have Windows 7 installed on a brand new PC? Well, if you aren't tech savvy, it is a daunting task. Also, if you are of an elder age as the majority of my customers are, it is a feat which need not be taken on by yourself! This is why there are computer tech companies out there. She decided to take it to one. This is a company she has used before which is why she went back; to give him the service again and because he took care of her the last time.
After they were finished in HH Gregg, John and Jan went straight to Treasure Coast Computer Sales and Repair located on Jensen Beach Blvd and spoke to the owner Derek Bateman. I would love to provide a link to this computer company's website but, for some strange reason, this computer company does NOT have a WEBSITE nor is there an EMAIL ADDRESS on the BUSINESS CARD!! So, I'll provide the business card itself for all of you to take a look at:
Besides the crappy font choice, it's not a bad looking card. Strangely, there is no website or at LEAST an email address. What business these days doesn't have at least an email address? Maybe Derek is afraid to provide an email address for spam reasons or fear of getting a virus? Whatever the reason, this isn't the point of the post but it does just make me want to go hmmm.....
As you can see above by the three steps in red: 1. Stick the COA (that sticker). 2. Distribute MEDIA (which means CDs/DVDs!!) and manuals to customers with their PCs. 3. A LEGAL copy INCLUDES CD, manual, and COA!!
If you look above at this example COA sticker, it says "You are required to affix this Certificate of Authenticity to the EXTERIOR of the PC." Exterior! I shall say it once more, "EXTERIOR!!" No where does this example which is an actual COA from MY media does it say interior!
Now, back to the story... When John hooked the PC up to the DSL modem which was working fine on the old PC, he couldn't get it to work with the new PC. After trying a few more times, he gave Derek a call again to see what was going on. Derek said... the LAN (Local Area Network) port was bad. This is the connection on the PC the modem plugs into for DSL or cable internet service.
Now, when I heard this when he was giving me the story over the phone, I was also quite shocked (as if I wasn't shocked enough). Here is a brand spanking new computer bought from a computer store. It was then taken to a computer "repair" shop to have Windows 7 put on it. Correct me if I'm wrong, computer techs, but if you were to install an Operating System on a PC, wouldn't you not only install the OS and drivers (little pieces of software for the OS to make the hardware work, such as keyboard, etc.) but install the updates AND make sure the HARDWARE inside the PC is fully FUNCTIONAL before handing it over to the customer? Isn't that the ethical and moral way of conducting a computer business?
Let's do an analogy: If you were to bring your car to a mechanic to have a new engine put it and the mechanic said everything is done and it's time to pick it up. You pick it up and drive it out of the shop and decide to put the A/C on only to realize.... it's not even blowing any air out! Don't you think the mechanic should have CHECKED the A/C and other functions of the car in relation to an engine replacement before saying the car was ready?
Now, here is the conundrum. Maybe the port was bad from the factory. Maybe the A/C wasn't working when it was brought to the mechanic.
Before I do any operating system install, I make sure all of the hardware works first. If some of the hardware does not work, I determine if it's a driver-related issue or hardware issue then I either continue or notify the customer of the hardware problem. However, this was a NEW PC which rarely get's a bad LAN port. Even if it was bad, why was the customer not called while the computer was still at the shop so the computer could be exchanged for another one? It makes me wonder....
Anyway, back to the story. The port was "bad," according to Derek. Derek said a fix was to get a wireless router and adapter and make the PC which is in the same room as the internet connection (a desktop!) wireless. John went back to Derek's lovely computer repair store and bought a USED router and USB adapter from Derek. More money for Derek!
John took the equipment home and hooked everything up. Oh, but before he got the USB adapter to work, he had to download the drivers onto a disc from his house because Mr. PC repairman Derek DID NOT provide the DRIVERS for the adapter HE SOLD!! After he FINALLY hooked everything up and got it working, the internet was finally working then... a few days later.... it stopped working. He then got a new DSL modem from the store and it then worked again for a while and.... stopped! Could it be a bad router? Did Derek sell them a bad router? It didn't come with the box so it was used. Maybe the adapter was bad? Obviously, something wasn't working. This is when John decided to give the Dragon a call. He wished he had called me first but I understood why he didn't so it was quite alright.
John told me the above story over the phone. I, of course, added my ad-lib and questions and examples so you get a better picture of what's going and why this is a pretty serious matter. Now... time to enter the Dragon...
First, I too grabbed a screw driver and tried to unscrew the case... only to also be embarrassed and quite shocked because I, a 32 year old man, could not unscrew the screws using a regular Philip's head screw driver. That was problem one.
To the untrained eye, everything looks fine and dandy, right? However, if you go to the properties of your current windows 7 machine, (Right-click computer then click Properties), you will notice your PC will say "Service Pack 1" below Windows 7 Home Premium. As you can see, this one... does not! Also, let's go down the bottom... way down to the bottom. Is says "Windows is activated." Also fine and dandy to the untrained eye and OEM (hint!!) PCs such as HP, Gateway, Dell, etc. will say that because the Windows version on those PCs are OEM version specific to that machine. So, Dragon, what are you getting at? This is a Gateway PC so what's wrong with the OEM on this PC, you ask? Great question! Let me explain some more:
Do you remember this is a brand new Gateway? New PCs bought not and a few months prior come with Windows 8 installed. Did you remember the Windows 8 sticker on this PC in question? Here, I'll show you another one from the side...
See? That window-looking logo says "Windows 8" not 7. This PC had Windows 7 installed. The Windows 7 installed not only has NOT been updated, but is also an OEM version which is not a legal version for this PC because IT ALREADY HAD AN OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLED AND... THE COMPANY (DEREK'S COMPANY) DID NOT SELL A PC WITH THE OEM LICENSE!
To try to explain some more... here is a picture of the box from a Windows 7 OEM disc:
The highlighted text states: "Each individual software license inside this package may ONLY be distributed with a fully assembled computer system."
Did Mr. Bateman install the Windows 7 OEM on a computer HE built and sold it along with the PC HE built? No... he installed this OEM on Gateway PC with Windows 8 preinstalled and used his OEM license of Windows 7 to install on said PC.
What is also silly is... he installed the 32 bit instead of 64 bit Windows 7! I'm not going into specifics about that but 64 bit is what all processors are capable of AND all computers come with 64 bit preinstalled, not 32!
After seeing that, I decided to go undercover and be Jan's son and go with John to see this lovely Derek and request him to open the case so I can have the key and get the disc.... here is what went down....
We walked inside and a female was inside. Inside the small store-front room where shelves with laptops close to ten years of age or more. On the floor were Dell's about the same age. I can tell this because I have worked on those Dells before and know by the design how old they are.
Derek was on the phone so we waited and I gave the female the quick rundown of what was going on. I then put the desktop on a chair. Derek came out from the door in front of us.
John introduced me to Derek and I, being the polite man I am, shook his hand and said hello. After that, well, it wasn't as easy dealing with this individual as I thought it would be, compared to other's I have dealt with in this business and retail!
I don't remember word for word but this is the gist of how it all went down. I wish I had my voice recorder in my pocket...
Derek: "So, what's the problem."
John: "We can't get the case open because the screws are on too tight. We'd like you to open the case so Dan (Dragon undercover) can get the product key."
Me: "The screws are on pretty tight so I'd just like you to open the case for us so I can get the product key and also get the disc in case I need to reinstall Windows."
Derek: "That's crazy! You should able to get the screws off just fine!"
*More Screw talk*
Derek: "Why do you need to get into the case?"
Me: "I just want to get the product key and disc in case I need to install Windows again in the future."
Derek: "Why would you want to install Windows again?"
Me: "In case there is a virus or any other issues with Windows."
Derek: "Is there a virus on the PC now?"
Me: "No. I said for the future! The PC is fine now."
Derek: "If the PC is fine now, why worry about the future?"
Me: "I'd like to have to product key for my records just in case something does happen in the future."
Derek: "Oh, ah ha, I see. You probably don't think the product key is in the case."
Me: "I didn't say that."
Derek: "OK, well, I use a drill bit to tighten the case tight so nobody goes inside it because I don't want anyone messing in it."
Derek: "I don't have a disc to provide you because my supply doesn't give me the disc, just the key. Normally Windows 7 is $199, sometimes $149 but I gave it to you for $119. I put the sticker inside the case because of the way they are made now. I don't want it to rub off being on the outside."
My "Bullshit Detector" was jumping off the walls!
John: "I understand but what if I would like to upgrade the RAM or something? That's a simple job I can do down the line."
Derek: "All you need is a drill or a torx driver to unscrew it."
As you can still see... Derek was still be hesitant on unscrewing the case. How hard is it to just comply with what his customer wants and just unscrew the damn case already?? I was starting to lose my patience but I held on for a while longer...
After more screw talk, he finally turned around to the back office door and said....
"Hold on, I may have something I can SELL you."
I repeated that to John when Derek went inside and we both couldn't believe our ears.
Derek went back out with one of these I have in my hand in the picture.
As you can see, I own one of these. However, I do not bring it along with me because the screws on the case are also a Philips head so 99.9% of the time, using the normal screw driver in my bag or on my SAK (Swiss Army Knife) works just fine. But, because this douchebag used a drill to drill the screws back into the case, a regular screw driver would just strip the screws.
So, he finally unscrewed the case, commenting about the second screw being "a little too tight."
Then he opened the case and took the cover off and showed us the COA. I saw it and kept my mouth shut until John and I went outside. I told him what I saw then when we went back to Jan's place, I showed it to her as well. Here is what I and everyone else saw...
Let's zoom in a bit more...
There we go. I'm sure you can read what the above COA says but just in case you can't, it says:
"Dell" then "Label not to be sold separately."
As you read just a little while ago. He said he sold it for "$119." He sold this Windows 7 product key SEPARATELY for $119!
I rest my case. Nothing more needs to be explained or proven here about the actions of the OWNER of Treasure Coast Computer Sales and Repair!
I have reported this to Microsoft's Piracy Site so they look into it and hopefully take his business down because I'm VERY positive he has done this on more than one occasion and has screwed more customers in the process. Also, from doing a quick Google search on his name, he used to have another computer shop as you can see here called 1 Stop Computers. Hmm... I wonder why that place is no longer in business and why he opened up another shop in another town.
A few more interesting tidbits:
His business card says "Treasure Coast Computer Sales and Repair." However, his fictitious name registered name is "TREASURE COAST COMPUTER REPAIR DBA DEREK BATEMAN" Maybe this is because there was another company by the same name when he filed? Such as "TREASURE COAST COMPUTER REPAIR" Why does he have to have the same name as another company?
Also, TCPalm's site has an article here which reads:
"JENSEN BEACH — Treasure Coast Computer Repair, owned by Derek Bateman, has opened at 889 Jensen Beach Blvd. in Jensen Beach.
Bateman has 26 years of experience repairing and building computers. The business will buy new and used computers and parts, and donations are welcome.
For more information, call (772) 634-2416."
There it is again yet his card reads... "...Computer Sales and Repair." Why so many name changes?
He doesn't have an actual website but here is some local website with his business information. He also has an email address on there!
So, there you have it. A crooked computer "sales and repair" company screwing Jensen Beach residents and most likely the surrounding areas. This business NEEDS to be taken down so others don't waste their money!
- Selling old computers and faulty used parts
- Says the job will be done in a few days. It took over two weeks and the PC came back faulty. How do you think the other customer's PCs came back after they went to him?
- His attitude towards ANYONE who walks in the door is outright HORRIBLE. He has shitty people skills for a man, let alone a business owner!
- He installs operating systems on the PCs he works on illegally to get extra profit out of the customer's pocket
I can list more but I'll stop there. Also, I will importantly note: I am not against other computer companies out there. I actually have a pretty good business relationship towards another PC company out there who deals specifically with laptops as far as sales and repairs goes. He helped a few of my customers and I also sold a few laptops to him. I can work on laptops to a point. If it's more than I wish to handle, I hand my customer over to this PC Wizard. So, I don't want everyone to think I try to put all of the PC companies around down out of business for competitive reasons. I do not. I only choose the ones who SHOULD NOT be in business at all because it is those companies who make all of the other legitimate and ethical computer businesses look bad!!
I will finally end it with that.
If you have been burned by the above company or any other computer business, you let the Dragon know! He will do what he can to set things straight!
Oh, and by the way.... the "faulty" PC was able to be returned to HH Gregg for a full refund. I helped MY customer get a new PC and made Windows 8 easier for her to use just like 7! So, there is a very happy ending to this story!
Thanks for reading,
Dragon
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