I wrote the company in regards to an issue with their employee, a Mr. Omar Martinez, at my home on Friday, November 03. Locked out of our apartment and not knowing who to call, she got the company's number from Information. My email to them went as follows:
Nicole M., my roommate had called your company for locksmith services on Sunday October 29. Having been given a verbal confirmation on the phone that the services would cost $60, Ms. M. Was prepared to pay the locksmith $60 when he arrived to help her get into our locked apartment.
Upon arrival, Mr. Martinez insisted that he be paid $125 instead of the $60 Nicole M. Was quoted. Panicked, in a new city and scared with no help and no money, the threatening tone Mr. Martinez used with Nicole made her feel forced to use the services of your company at double the rate than what she was quoted.
Nicole told Mr. Martinez up front that she did NOT have $125 and he spent the next 30 minutes harassing her for the money she had already told him she didn't have. He then took her drivers license for collateral and threatened that she wouldn't get it back until he was paid.
Forward to November 3. At approximately 6:30, Mr. Martinez showed up at our apartment to collect the remainder of the double-than-the-original quoted price of the services provided. He knocked aggressively on the door and when I informed him Nicole wasn't there, the response was a "Bullsh*t" and a dirty look. Nicole M. Was on an airplane at the time and was absolutely not in the apartment.
After re-reading a text message from Nicole, Mr. Martinez realized that he was indeed in the wrong and Nicole's plane didn't get in for another hour and a half. He immediately began apologizing for his inappropriate behavior and told me to "have Nicole call me immediately."
After picking Nicole up at the airport, she was home for approximately 20 minutes when there was another knock on the door. Nicole paid Mr. Martinez $80, out of an $85 balance. She did not have a $5 bill and no one in our apartment did either. Mr. Martinez told us he wasn't leaving until he got his $5. Nicole told him once again she didn't have a five dollar bill, he only had a $20 and Mr. Martinez told her he wasn't leaving and he was going to wait all night until he got his $5.
I then commented about how ridiculous it was when she had just paid him $80 and the final price was more than double the original quote. Mr. Martinez then made yet another comment about not leaving and he would take her to get change but he wasn't leaving without his $5. Nicole said "just a minute, " and started to shut the door at which time I had had enough of the harassment at our front door and invited Nicole to call the police. Mr. Martinez then opened the door all the way, threw Nicole's drivers' license into the apartment and said "you need it more than I do" and left immediately.
I have more than a few problems with this situation. The first being, I feel my roommate was preyed upon by the company. I think you took advantage of someone who was in a desperate situation and had no alternative. Secondly, I have never in my life heard of taking someone's photo identification for collateral. If this is a regular activity of your company, I think it's one you should seriously re-think. You don't have to confiscate i.D. To get paid and if your company really thinks that activity necessary, I have to question the legitimacy of your company and its billing / collections practices.
Thirdly, while my roommate is far too upset to complain, I am very angry that I have to deal with being cursed at in my own front door and harassed by someone who knows how to get into my home. I do not feel safe now and I am still considering filing a police report against your employee after his behavior at our doorstep tonight.
From now on, when you give a quote out to someone on the phone, you need to follow through with that original quote instead of taking advantage of people who have no other way out. At the very least, I believe Ms. M., myself and our other roommate deserve an apology for being harassed by your employee at our home. To really make things right, you could follow through with the original quote you gave Nicole M.
The response I got from the company was as follows:
Thank you for your concern about our locksmith and your roommate, but you do not know the entire story.
Your roommate was given the quote of $55.00 for the service call alone when she called us. I happen to be working the phones and was the person she spoke with, Marjo Montalvo, the manager. I also informed her that there was an additional charge for the labor and that it was at discretion of the locksmith what the labor charge would be. He was considerate enough to give her a discount and only charge $120.00 total, including the service call charge, which she agreed to and signed the job order for, i have all the originals if you would like for me to fax them or take to you personally.
Your roommate agreed and signed off on the price, the discounted rate, before the job was performed. After our locksmith unlocked her door she only had $35 in cash. He called me and informed me of this. She promised that she would call us directly and give us a card over the phone since everyone she had already tried to call did not have the money available to lend her.
About her drivers license, she promised over the phone and in person to our locksmith that she would have the money by 5 o'clock that evening on Oct. 29th, as she signed on the contract and she insisted that we take her driver's license or a credit card in collateral. We informed her that we were not comfortable doing so and she insisted to our locksmith to take her drivers license because she was a person of her word. She even offered Mr. Martinez a buddy pass because she worked for an airline and could pay him in that manner, i explained that he was not allowed to do so.
Ms. Cammie, I completely understand how Mr. Martinez reacted when he was finally able to collect the monies owed and not even fully paid. I had told him personally to charge her the $55 service call since he ended up going by there 3 times after he received her text message on the evening of November 3. Your roommate may have made it seem like she was a victim, but she was not.
When our collections manager contacted her about the monies owed after she had already left a message she hung up on her. I also left a message and she did not reply. The same way she text-ed Mr. Martinez to go pick up the money she could have text-ed him and informed him that she was out of town if that to be the case. It was obvious that after nearly a week this matter that had to escalate.
Your roommate signed a contract and agreed to the price BEFORE the job was performed, then she refused any contact with our company for nearly a week, Mr. M artinez was already deducted that money from his pay, he had to go there 3 times and he called her personally multiple times, yes he was very upset to say the least, but this does not mean that we took advantage of your roommate. Your roommate is very lucky that Mr. Martinez did not call the police to press charges immediately like we have instructed our lock-smiths to do when a customers refuses to pay.
Next time you want to defend your roommate please either be a witness like i was or get both sides of the story.
This is a respectable company and so is Mr. Martinez, if you feel like you were insulted or harassed do what you feel is necessary, but in 12 years that i have been working with Mr. Martinez never has a situation like this happened. As a first hand witness I understand how upset Mr. Martinez felt after being deceived for payment by your roommate. You may also want to seek counseling by an attorney about what harrassment is. Collecting or attempting to collect a debt is not harrassment. The way he reacted was not professional but it was human nature after being deceived by your roommate for payment and deprive him and his family of his percentage for the call. You believe what you must, but she did sign and agreed to the price before the job was performed.
Should this matter require further attention please call me directly.
Marjo Montalvo
After contacting three other locksmiths in the area, the MOST my roommate should have been charged for this was $65. After asking about the behavior of the locksmith and company in question, I've been told by other companies in the area that incidents like this are typical for them.
I assure you, had she thought she would have had to pay double the original quoted amount, she would have NEVER used this company. After I contacted the Better Business Bureau about this problem, the manager, Marjo Montalvo, sent them an email insinuating my roommates and I have been threatening Mr. Martinez with harassing phone calls. We have all been working all week, unable to use our phones. Two of us have never even seen the man's phone number, much less dialed it.
Marjo Montalvo also insisted I instigated the harassment by attacking Omar Martinez's character and claims there was a co-worker with him when I allegedly abused him, although the night he came to our door, he was completely and totally alone. Two other people can testify there was nobody but him at our doorstep that night.
Ms. Montalvo wants to insinuate that I was a third party to the incident. I was a firsthand witness, dragged into the situation when their employee chose to cuss me out on my doorstep. I am appalled at this company's business practices, extremely at defending an employee EVER cussing out a customer.
Also, as an employee of an airline who desperately needs her ID on her at all times, there is no way my roommate would have ever volunteered to give up her identification as collateral for a payment. Nor would she have offered a "buddy pass" to a stranger, and she won't even have access to any for six months! To say that she spent a week without contacting them is asinine as she was out flying on trips—working—and unable to contact them.
And let's not overlook a couple of things about the company in general. They don't even have a physical address. All they have is a Post Office box. And what kind of a company takes customers' bills out of its employees paychecks as Ms. Montalvo insinuated they did to Mr. Martinez? What kind of a reputable commpany is that, and why would anyone work for a company who pratices those kinds of actions?
I have yet to receive any kind of an apology from Advanced Locksmith, LLC or any of its employees, despite Ms. Montalvo's insistance that I was sent a letter of apology. Beware when you need locksmith services in Aurora, CO.
0 comments