I am the Staff Assistant at a small non-profit organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am writing to you today out of frustration from what has happened to the organization here. We are the victims of a fraudulent "toner pirate" company: IDCSERVCO/Imperial Office Systems.
In December I was called by a man named Tim who said he was from our "copier company" and it was time to order toner cartridges again. He seemed friendly at first but as this business relationship would progress he would turn quite pushy and rude. I had been in the office here for about two months and was accustomed to companies calling with such requests and didn't question. Tim faxed a confirmation for the toner cartridge and they sent it within a few weeks. Several months later we get another call, this time from a Barbara Williams, claiming it was time to order more toner cartridge. I explained to her that we were all set but she persisted. She said that we had gotten this great deal ($478.95/cartridge) because we had ordered a case of 12. I told her we were all set and she said they'd just ship two cartridges to us at that point and basically hung up.
Every so often over the past 12 months either Tim or Barbara has called and apologized profusely for the delayed shipment of our toner cartridges and that we'd still get the same rate as promised. So more cartridges were shipped to us. We ended up with more than enough cartridges and I kept telling them that every time they called but they wouldn't stop.
We decided to look into replacing our older model copier and called the company who services our copier. I asked the woman how much it would cost to end the contract and she quoted a price. I asked her where we would need to ship the extra toner cartridges because Tim and Barbara both said that when we went with a new copier they would buy back the unopened cartridges. The woman from our actual copy company said that we hadn't placed an order for toner with them since 2003. I nearly fainted and got that real sick feeling in my stomach as I frantically searched for words to explain the awful situation we found ourselves in. She explained that we were victims of a "toner pirate" and that it happened frequently. People would call them up and try stealing information about accounts and names of employees to make their scams more "official."
We tried contacting Imperial Office Systems in California as they were the "true" company that had been calling us and the first telephone number did not work. I found another telephone number and spoke with the receptionist. She assured me that everything was fine but that Barbara was out sick and would have her call me back when she got back. I explained the situation to the woman and she sounded sympathetic but by that point I was so furious that I didn't believe her. She assured me that we would receive no further calls or orders from their office because everything had to go through her.
I swallowed my pride and told the Executive Director who got the same sick feeling and anger as I had. Together we called the Imperial Office Systems phone number and demanded to speak with Barbara Williams or the next person she would be speaking to would be our attorney. Within 10 minutes, we had received a phone call from the "sick" Barbara Williams who said she was calling from IDCSERVCO. When questioned about her employer she said she worked for Imperial Office Systems. But prior to saying that she had announced she was with IDCSERVCO. After 10 minutes of Barbara's rude non-helpful demeanor she slammed the telephone down, ending the call.
Since this event happened on November 16th, we have received no communication from either IDCSERVCO about their return policy for these bogus toner cartridges nor have we been contacted by Imperial Office Systems to give us a refund.
I checked on the usacomplaints.com website and there are 27 complaints exactly like mine on there about IDCSERVCO.
I feel enraged. I feel cheated. I feel taken advantage of and I am trying to find answers with your help.
Please beware of either of these companies because chances are you probably get free toner with your copier service agreement like we did.
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