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ONE CASE HISTORY and a few others concerning Gary Headlee Motherboard Repair Cases of LOST MONEY and LOST CARDS, NON-REPAIRED ITEMS, and SLOW SERVICE
Report by Neil Slade
Update March 13, 2005 Although Gary Headlee apparently done good work in repairing computer components, he's also treated many customers badly per the email reports below. My case is documented below- it took seven weeks to get my card and money back. As recently as today, I heard from another unfortunate person who sent into his card and money, only to have both go missing (check was cashed) with no apparent response or satisfactory explanation from Gary Headlee.
STORY #1: Gary Headlee Motherboard Repair "Motherboard Repair at Component Level"
(phone number only obtained later after the police were enlisted to follow up
on missing money and computer part) Headlee asks for ADVANCE CASH PAYMENT or MONEY ORDER payment for "repairs", yet 1) Does not give a phone number on his web site, 2) Uses an un-listed untraceable anonymous registration for his web page that does not have any contact information 3) Apparently refuses to reply to any email communications except under threat of law enforcement.
Summary Of My Case: Gary Headlee Motherboard Repair ripped me off $50 for a "claimed" repair of my ATI 9700 PRO video card, and further made me wait over SIX WEEKS before the card was returned to me, still non-functional. The card is valued at around $200, with a new replacement ATI card costing nearly $300. The card also was fitted with a Zalman silent heat sink valued at $40. He apparently lied, and made conflicting repair stories about the card on two occasions-- first stating that "I've already spent a couple of hours on your card and haven't figured out what is wrong". See the actual email regarding this below. Then several weeks later, apparently forgetting his first story, stating, "Your card works fine, I couldn't find anything wrong, but will let it run for a while to make sure its okay." When the card was finally returned to me after repeated phone calls over a SIX WEEK period, it was still not operational, and Headlee kept the $50 I had sent him in advance for the repair. Use of another ATI card in my computer's AGP slot produces an expected monitor result without any adjustment. Use of the "repaired" card produces absolutely NOTHING on the monitor- the card is DEAD. All of my motherboard's latest drivers and chipset drivers have been installed. It's not my computer- its the card- it's DEAD and every bit of information I have points to Headlee lying about it working while he had the card. Independent inspection of the card by a professional computer repair technician on the following day it finally arrived here six weeks after sending to Headlee substantiated that the card was still not operational.
The owner/registrar of www.motherboardrepair.com (Headlee's website) is anonymous, blank and has no contact information- a search on www.whois.com brings up the following information: Registration Service Provided By: Registerfly.com CASE HISTORY: JANUARY 4, 2005 The first week of January 2005 I sent in my video card for repair after viewing Headlee's web site at http://www.motherboardrepair.com/ It looked like a respectable web site, and well documented. I sent Headlee an email regarding my possible card repair, but did not receive a reply. None the less (and a VERY STUPID MOVE, I must admit) I followed the instructions on the web site for video card repair and sent. I sent it in with delivery confirmation via priority mail on Jan 4, 2005, and the requested $50 repair fee in cash- the excess which would be refunded if the repair did not require a lot of work. The web site stated 1-2 day turn-around for repairs. Delivery confirmation showed that Headlee received the card two days later on Jan 6. JANUARY 17, 2005 After waiting TWO WEEKS and not receiving ANY replies to my emails, nor receiving my card back, or ANY COMMUNICATION whatsoever, I set out to find a phone number for Headlee. Headlee's phone is untraceable, and unlisted, and can not be found anywhere on the Internet. My last resort was to call The Midvale Utah Police and report what had happened. They instructed me to contact my local Denver Police and report THEFT OF SERVICES. They then told me to have my local police contact them, and they would contact Headlee if possible and look into the matter. My local police then contacted the police in MIDVALE UTAH, who then contacted Headlee immediately- and FINALLY apparently under threat of law enforcement action he contacted me by phone. He then offered a number of excuses why he had not looked at my card yet. He then said he would look at it in 3-4 days and would email me with the results. This was around January 17. A week went by and Headlee made absolutely no contact again. FEBRUARY 4, 2005 I began sending a series of emails to Headlee's email address (from his web site) capman@att.net since he did not leave a phone number when he called back. After sending at least a dozen emails, and finally an EXPRESS MAIL TRACKABLE LETTER DEMANDING RETURN OF MY CARD Headlee finally replied with an email, and left his phone number. I then called him to see what was going on, and he claimed to have already spent a couple hours working on my card, but to no avail, and that he would try to complete work on it in the following week.
Here are his original emails sent to me on Feb. 4:
----- Original Message -----
From: capman@att.net
To: Neil
Slade
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: WHERE IS MY VIDEO CARD PLEASE?
I do understand the way you feel (I have been in the electronics repair buis
for 35+ years), will do my best to stay in contact and repair your card.
Working out of the home has some big drawbacks..... number one drawback is
that the family doesn't think I am at work, so they ask questions & favors
several times each work day, add a few freinds dropping by, an emergency or
two and the day is gone with no real work produced. Today alone I spent 3
hours at the vet as a favor to my son and his sick cat............... If I add
the vet bill alone with lost wages for the 3 hours...........the cat had more
money this week than I did.
Sorry for the poor comunications,
Gary--
Don't forget to put my website in your favorites: http://www.motherboardrepair.com My home phone # is 801-567-9150 I am usually available between 10:30am ~5:30pm MST
Message -----
From: capman@att.net
To: Neil
Slade
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: WHERE IS MY VIDEO CARD PLEASE?
Hello,
I tried to call you 2 times today, however the line was busy.
I have spent a couple of hours on your video card, the problem seems to be
quite elusive.
I hope to make progress within a few more days.
Video cards take last priority over all my other work, that is the only way I
can maintain a 2~3 days turn-around for my motherboard customers.
After I finish your card, I will no longer accept video cards for repair
and will remove the video card section from my web page. You are correct, I am
not able to provide a high quality of service for my video card customers and
no hobby is worth having the police come to my door. I know of no-one
else that even attempts to repair video cards...... now there will be none.
I will be home late this afternoon if you wish to call me,
Gary Headlee
--
Don't forget to put my website in your favorites: http://www.motherboardrepair.com My home phone # is 801-567-9150 I am usually available between 10:30am ~5:30pm MST
FEBRUARY 16, 2005 Still no card, no news from Headlee. I send him the following email, to which I receive no reply.
ATI 9700 Pro card with Zalman
cooler
I finally got Headlee to answer his phone, and he said my card would be looked at right after he finished his current other repair job. There was no mention of his claimed previous "couple of hours spent on the card repair" from January. I called two days later- and Headlee had STILL NOT TRIED TO REPAIR MY CARD. His excuse this time was "I had to spent the weekend with my girlfriend for Valentine's Day". He said he now would look at the card. I called the following day, and Headlee claimed the card was working perfectly (no mention of any work done save his claim that he spotted loose solder connections that day, which he claimed to repair.) There was no claim or mention of previous "couple hours work", since he apparently forgot his previous email and claim that he couldn't get the card to work. He said he would let the card run for a while to make sure it was okay, and then send it back. The card arrived via priority mail on February 19, 2005 forty five days after it arrived at his home. The card shows no evidence of repair of solder connections anywhere, and the card still does not function. This has been confirmed by an independent professional computer repair tech- the card is DEAD, still. Headlee sent no email explaining the so-called repair, sent no invoice, and kept the entire $50 cash sent to him by me. I have demanded the full return of my $50 payment, as there is no mention of a $50 diagnosis fee for an un-repaired card by Headlee on his site. Upon final contact, Headlee refuses to honor his so-called ONE YEAR GUARANTEE, and refuses to refund my $50.
FEBRUARY 20 Eventually, Carey Holzman, a personal friend of Headlee, who has been posting a link to his repair service page for years, convinced him that he needed to refund my money or lose his referrals from www.CareyHolzman.com , Headlee finally sent my refund 7 weeks later with somewhat of an apology, but no real acknowledgement that work had never been performed on the card (which it clearly had not) I sent the card in for repair to the manufacture, and within a week, it was returned to me- this time working immiedately upon trial, not a lame excuse. The day it arrive, I got another email from another out of state customer, exactly the same kind of victim as I-- Only he never even got his card back, and never got a refund, and never got ANY correspondence from Headlee. His case remains unresolved.
Ready to take your gamble? If anyone has had similar experiences with Headlee, please contact: Denver, CO
ANOTHER RECENT SIMILAR CASE:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gino Micheletti" <ginos1@sonic.net>
To: <neil@neilslade.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 7:54 AM
Subject: Gary Headlee
> Headlee aand his dishonesty anf fruadulent business practices. My very > similar circumstances began on December 29, '04 when I sent him a mother > board for repairs with a $50 cashier's check. The check was cashed on > January 14 but I have not had any answers to my emails requesting > information about the repairs or the return of the mother board and > money. > > I filed a complaint with the Utah Better Business Bureau and they > emailed back that they contacted Gary about the matter and would follow > up if they had no resolution from him by Feb.22. Well, I'm still waiting > for a reply from them and for my mother board and $50. > > I believe that since interstate commerce is involved we have a good case > to file under mail fraud provisions of the US Postal Service and the > Federal Trade Commission. Have you tried that yet? > > Gino Micheletti > Sebastopol, California A WEEK LATER:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carey Holzman" <Carey@careyholzman.com>
To: "'Neil Slade'" <neil@neilslade.com>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 12:20 PM
Subject: RE: Ripoff- Gary Headlee
Motherboard Repair
> > Thanks for the update. I'm sorry that all this has happened. How did you > find Gary in the first place? Was it on my web-page? > > I've received a reply from Gary and I find it unsatisfactory. I have sent > him a reply, however, I doubt he is going to have a change of heart. > > I would suggest you wait no further and proceed with filing charges against > him. Do whatever you can to wake him up to the responsibility he owes to his > customers. > > While he appears to be a very talented technician when it comes to fixing > motherboards, he has no clue how to fix people, and that's 50% of running a > business. Now he can spend even more than your refund defending himself, > requiring time taken away from other money-making work, and reducing the > work as people learn of this story and take their business else where. > > In short, he is unwilling to invest $50 in his business, which to me, is a > sign of someone planning to shut the business down. To stand by a policy he > has, that you did not sign or agree to, rather than just make the customer > happy, is to me, immature and irresponsible. I have a conscience and I have > no idea how he can sleep at night. > Story #3 -----Original Message----- *** STORY #4 > -----Original Message----- *** -----Original Message-----
*** > -----Original Message----- If you've got another Headlee the Headless Repairman Story- send it- neil@neilslade.com
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