As they appeared first on search engine, I decided to drop my external hard drive off. Challenging…read moreto locate their premises; turns out that they don't have a 'Temple Quay Data Recovery Lab' as stated on their home page. After chatting with the guy on the desk at Regus, with whom BDR have a delivery agreement, I hesitated as I wasn't clear where my drive would be sent. However, I went for it. The quote I got back - £350 plus VAT of £50 was much higher than I expected - but then I had no idea of cost, hence why I wanted a quote. I checked with a genuinely local business, who said that seemed OK. However, it was more than I had earmarked for potential recovery. When I advised this via email, and asked for my disk to be dropped back at Regus, I got the following email reply from Tony Smyth, who I learned is the 'manager' (in fairness the other two staff I spoke to were helpful);
Smyth; "Drive should not have been sent into us if you could not pay.
We charge £20+vat for return shipping fee or we can dispose of drive free of charge.
Contact us tomorrow to make payment with a card over the phone".
Me; "Hey, this smells like a scam...your offer is a no quibble check and quote. This is a really pissy way to deal with people. Send the drive back to the office where I dropped in Bristol or expect a very serious course of action against you. I warn you now, I am a former solicitor.
I expect the drive posted by return and an email telling me that is ready for collection".
Smyth; "You have slandered our company on no grounds and making threats against us.
Obviously you had no intention of paying and wanted the drive diagnosed for free.
At no stage did we offer you a collection service or free shipping return of your media.
Your job has now been closed, if you want the parts of your hard drive reassembled and sent back to you ensure you contact us before 1pm on Friday 29th January and pay £20+vat shipping fee otherwise hard drive parts will be disposed as we are not a storage company".
Me; "Smyth, I am utterly appalled that any company allows their employees to send messages like your last two.
FYI I called yesterday and awaiting resolution from somebody who understands how to respect their potential users.
Never message me again
I am awaiting resolution with a senior manager"
Smyth; "You have slandered our company on no grounds and making threats against us.
Obviously you had no intention of paying and wanted the drive diagnosed for free.
At no stage did we offer you a collection service or free shipping return of your media.
Your job has now been closed, if you want the parts of your hard drive reassembled and sent back to you ensure you contact us before 1pm on Friday 29th January and pay £20+vat shipping fee otherwise hard drive parts will be disposed as we are not a storage company".
Me; "The manager? Really???
On your website the process of drop off of drives etc is described.
A reasonable person can assume that getting a quote, as described on your website, is a step in a process with no obligation.
No warning was given that if a quote is much larger than anticipated, that there would be a fee to return the customer's legal property, especially not £20 plus VAT, which is extortionate and over inflated.
There is at least one probable untruth written on your website; I know for a fact from speaking to you and from your drop off service at Regus, that there is no 'Temple Quay Data Recovery Lab'. Having also searched Companies House, I'm curious to know what the status of the business is, legally speaking, as neither a search for Bristol Data Recovery, nor Data Recovery yield local addresses.
Very well, then
Here is what will happen next
Unless you notify me that my drive is ready for collection by the end of the week, free of charge I will do the following
Contact Which? Consumer assistance for further steps
Create honest reviews of my experience of you personally as 'manager' and the false and misleading claims that you have made in correspondence in your business on sites such as Google, Yelp and any other relevant sites.
If you dispose of my drive, I will take an action for recovery of estimated loss of intellectual property against you
Oh, and FYI Tony, before you start using words you clearly don't understand, look them up;
Defamation is split into two legalbases that a person can sue for: slander and libel. Slander is defamation of a person through a transient form of communication, generally speech. Libel is defamation of a person through a permanent form of communication, mostly the written word
And for either to occur, there has to be proven intent in the public domain AND the words used have to be proven false
I await notification that my drive will be at the Regus desk this coming Friday for my collection"
Three emails later, and the drive has been posted back "To get rid of you we will post back via a signed service free of charge". You have been warned!