The Screwbox

Untrustworthy beware

Well since my review keeps mysteriously vanishing from yelp, i'll try again. Here's the long story...I connected with Steve in June. I live in California and my parents live in Florida. I was going to be visiting and my dad had taken his computer to Steve before. I wouldn't need my computer on my trip so I figured it would be perfect timing. I explained to Steve that I was on a time crunch for dropping my computer off on August 1st and he said it would be fine as long as I paid for the parts up front so he could have them ready. He sent me an invoice for parts and service, which I paid. I asked if he needed anything else from me and he said no (he made no attempt to schedule an appointment or tell me that I should schedule an appointment and he did not tell me that I would never see my money again if we were somehow not able to meet). Anyways, on August 1st my father and I drove with our computers to the address listed on Steve's website (he has since updated it and now only does mobile service, hmm...) and the address listed on the invoice. You can imagine our surprise when we arrive to an empty house that is locked and for sale and Steve is definitely not there. We try to call, no answer. I text him. he finally responds to say that he was called out to an "emergency" and we should've made an appointment. I tell him I was unaware I needed to make an appointment. My father had even spoken to him days before about dropping off and no appointment seemed necessary. I remind him that I am not able to stay in the Tampa area for hours as I have other appointments that day and then am headed to a family vacation. He says he will refund me. Days later...no refund. I text him a reminder. He says he will work on it. Days later...no refund. I text him again and he totally ignores me. So I decide after a couple weeks to dispute the charge. I mean I literally received nothing. My credit card company tells me that since Steve doesn't have a refund policy on his site or his invoice and all of my proof is via text message, they can't pursue the dispute. They explain that their policy is not to accept texts as proof. Obviously they agree that Steve is in the wrong and their policy sucks, but their hands are tied. They suggest I reach back out to Steve. So I text him to say that I really think he should make this right. His response to my card company from my dispute is that the parts were "unique to my computer" and therefore couldn't be exchanged. He says during that response that he would refund me at least $200 for the services that were not rendered. I reach out to see if he would do at least that...no response. Finally I get online and post some negative reviews, I mean he scammed me. Magically within 5-10 minutes of leaving reviews I get a text back. I get a story about Steve having a heart attack and his sister handling his affairs. I decide to give them the benefit of the doubt, I feel bad that he may be unwell. She says she had no idea about the details and promises a refund. The refund apparently won't go through and we spend at least 3 weeks back and forth because "she" says that the processor refuses to refund while there is an open dispute. I contact my card company and ask them to cancel my dispute. They won't honor the texts anyways so why not. I provide her a letter saying they will be cancelling the dispute. Still nothing. I reach out again because this is becoming absurd...no response. I decide to post some negative reviews again. Magically within minutes I get a text saying that "she" was on vacation. She promises again that the refund will go through as soon as the card processor receives the dispute closure. I doubt this is true and decide not to take down my reviews until I receive my money. Then I receive a text from the business number showing a picture of my card company deciding in the business' favor regarding the dispute and a simple text saying such. Yeah...duh...i cancelled the dispute and they wouldn't honor the text responses anyways. No response besides this...they have won based on a loophole. Yelp keeps sorting or taking away reviews and that is unfortunate. There are other low rated reviews on here where this company seems to not honor their word. If they had been easier to see I might have proceeded differently. Now he has a "mobile" service where I would imagine he has even more ability to take pre-payments and deliver shoddy service or no service at all. I truly hope no one else suffers at this guys' hands. I'm a young woman and $464 is a lot of money to me. I mean I would've been happy to receive a refund for $200 no service rendered and for him to mail me the parts that he ordered that apparently won't work in anyone else's computer anyways. Instead I handed over my money for nothing. Please BEWARE!