I don't usually--ever--write "reviews" of businesses, but I felt I needed to say something about this place. I bought an old Olivetti-Underwood portable on Ebay and it worked quite well for a while, but ultimately, the ribbon return mechanism failed. I brought the machine to the DeBarth store. He charged me $65 for an estimate and then told me I would need to pay an additional $295.00 to have the machine repaired (with no return of estimate costs), for a total of $360.00.
When I protested that all I needed was to have the ribbon return mechanism repaired, he gave me a vague answer about a "general servicing" that they "always" perform, and stated that the entire $295 was related to labor costs, with no parts replaced. When I again protested that all I needed or was asking for was a repair of the ribbon return mechanism he launched into a lecture about how difficult it was to keep his business going and how much money it required. I replied that if it were going to cost me $1,000,000 to keep a barber business going, should I then charge my two customers $500,000 each for a haircut?
I added that the real reason he could charge me this outrageous fee is that there simply is no other typewriter repair shop anywhere in Pennsylvania or New Jersey (I think the Gramercy shop still exists in New York). In other words, he has his customers by the throat. He replied "Wouldn't you like to have a business that is the only one of its kind?"
Finally, the work is only warrantied for 30 days.
I leave you to your own conclusions about a place like this. read more
