GEM Enterprises - Computer Repair & IT Solutions

I have never ever been burned by a veteran in my life. I help vets with all my hearts, serve on the state of NJ's Benefits Board, am a DAV officer, it is what I do. I just had a woman whom is a military reservist come into my shop a month ago (4-5-22) with a Surface tablet that was dropped, not turning on and likely a screen issue. I told her I would call ehr and we charge an $80 estimate fee for a Surface tablet as it is a lot of work. we get the estimate fee up front, but in her case I said not to worry, she cam pay when she picks it up. Her dad was with her and said no problem he will put the $80 on it, and those estimate fees ALWAYS towards the repairs. This is written in the contract too.

We open it up, screen, casing looks good and give a quote, but the customer gave us the wrong phone number. I reach out on Facebook for her phone # and thankfully I get in touch with her. She apologized, no issues. She approves the screen quote so we order the screen and install it, and the unit will not work. We see an internal cable from the board is separated, likely damaged at the same time as the impact. The quote is higher and customer declines the repair and we understand that. Customer came to pick up the Surface yesterday and my employee was out due to the death in the family and had the 4 screws for the back in an area. I apologized and asked to pick it up tomorrow. She was very nice.

Today she comes back, gets Surface and asks for her $80 back. I explained that this was an estimate fee, which is also posted on my wall by my intake desk for certain things and trust me a Microsoft Surface is a TOTAL PAIN to deal with. This time the estimate fee was $100 on the Surface units as I changed the price a few weeks back. She insists she does not owe me $80 as I said no money needed to give me now when she came in. Yes, I explained I was doing her a favor not asking for the money up front as I am a veteran which I told her previous and I was literally looking out for her. VERY few people decline repairs here as we are fair and honest with a nice little loyal base of folks. I told her I said that, it is in the contract and also pointed on the sign which is always beside our intake area with a fee schedule. She said I could have just put that up. Anyone that knows me knows that is laughable, money is the last thing that I worship and I give away a lot of my money to charity and do many volunteer positions from veterans to animal charities. She insisted I give her $80 back. The unit was here for 2 weeks when we had the non-approval from her due to the board needing repaired and then sat for 2 weeks waiting to be picked up. She said she was not able to use the laptop for 2 months which was not our fault at all, she must have had it sit a month before she brought it here and she let it sit for weeks after declining the repair. I explained I did not break anything and we had 3 hours into this which was true. I sure hope the $80 made you happy, to me I can emphatically say I am beyond disappointed and while I will continue to help people in the military, I will NEVER EVER waive getting an estimate fee up front again.

Gary

We are closed tomorrow in observation of Veteran's Day. In 25 years I never closed for this, but as a veteran owned business I am closing the doors. We will be open Friday November 12 from 10-7 for any walk in service and to our customers. I am taking the day off. To my sisters and brothers of the US armed forces, you will always be my extended family so enjoy your day and hopefully you will take the day off. To my police friends in this town that are also veterans, try to enjoy your day and know my door is always open to you folks. SemperSquid from this former sailor and GOD bless America. Gary

It is not often we break an item we are getting paid to fix at my business, but it does happen especially when dealing with intricate and delicate parts. When it happens, we own it, and will make it right always. Our one client, Medical Consultants Instructional Training Center located in Millville is owned by Carol, a wonderful person who is really genuine and caring. We had this HP all in one in for an upgrade and some software work. For us, we had to take the entire unit apart even to upgrade the RAM.

Enter the company cat Sandee into the picture who spends his days wandering the warehouse in the lap of luxury with little cat houses. This little cat arrived to me years ago 2 days old by a customer and was not sure if he would live let alone see as his eyes were mostly sealed shut. I raced him to the vet for treatment, bottle fed him, and now he is fine and is partially blind in 1 eye enjoying life here. Sandee is so fine that he decided to eat a ribbon cord on the customer's all in 1 computer.

The issue is that HP does not sell this damaged cable that is only used on this machine, and the only one was in a complete until on Ebay. No issues, we broke it, we will make it right, so I inform Carol and we ordered a complete unit to replace hers. The unit arrived damaged and was not the incorrect model, making this a much bigger problem. No ribbon cord could be found anywhere as it is super long and quite proprietary. We told Carol the additional delay, we damaged it and ended up getting her a faster unit, delivered it and set it up. She was patient and we GREATLY appreciated her demeanor.

Sandee, the company cat (one of a few) is another story entirely. He is not remorseful and will continue to want to play with things here. I've met so many people since moving my business to Millville and really thank the community for their support and especially Carol here for her understanding. Nobody likes delays, much less lies and I have found in my life telling the truth has been the way for decades and how I function personally and professionally. If you see this cat and have a computer with a cable hanging out, just consider running. Seriously he is one of the most playful little creatures on earth and makes me so happy at work and welcomes visitors when they come over to our shop. Thank you Carol for not being mad at us or at him and had to share this story as you are a true good sport and an asset to Millville!

If anyone sells on Ebay, they know how hard it is to keep a reputation this pristine. it is a lot of hard work and I give the kudos to the people that work here and have worked here that have helped build this company. I am very proud of our reputation we have built with 25 years in business and 22 years on Ebay's platform selling parts and services for customers. To be a PowerSeller you need near flawless customer ex*****on and satisfaction and very few carry that label and proud we have achieved and maintained this for decades.