this is more than I asked for..............

This is a repost from several years ago but I feel it's relevant to my most recent post about Pokemon Nana. I think this shows I approach with caution yet will give the benefit of the doubt. When someone goes above and beyond and is TRULY a great business person, then I reward them by sharing that truth as well. 

I had to buy a dishwasher the other day and had found a suitable unit in a clearance centre which was half price. I was delighted with my find until I asked about delivery and install and discovered that I would have to call an independent guy and it would cost me $175 dollars.

That sounded pretty steep, but seeing as I didn't have a truck of my own or any idea how to install my own dishwasher, I didn't have a lot of other options, besides asking and obliging friends which is something I try to save for emergencies. So I called one of the numbers on the list provided by the store and managed to talk the fellow down to $150.

The delivery fellow did mention that the price discussed was his 'over the phone quote', and could change if there was any extra plumbing to be done but he wouldn't know about it to quote on it, until he got there and took out the old dishwasher.

Right away the red flags started waving. I have been seriously burned in the past by workers "finding" problems after they have already given me a quote, so I must admit, I was wary. Very wary, and I told the guy that I would be there watching to see for myself if there was any damage that needed repair. He said he was fine with that.

It is safe to say that I was very distrusting of the delivery guy I had hired. Before I even met or talked to him, I thought I had him pegged, thought he must be a no good scammer. I prepared myself to hold onto every dollar that he would surely try to pry from my near barren pocketbook.

When he arrived, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but seeing as he was the enemy, I still watched him like a hawk to make sure he wasn't doing something off colour, like bending a pipe that he would have to 'fix'

As we chatted, I warmed up a little, he seemed like a nice guy, courteous, competent, and respectful. He complimented my kids on how well mannered they are. I started to relax.

I mentioned the loose sink fixture to him when he went to turn on the water, and he offered to have a look at it. Even though I was feeling more comfortable about him, I was worried at how much this would cost, but knowing a plumber would charge me $80 just to walk in my door, I decided to let him look at it, seeing as he was here already. I figured it would bump up my bill a bit, I just hoped it wouldn't be too much.

Fixing the fixture turned out to be a bit of trouble but at least it got fixed, and once the dishwasher was in and running, I asked the fellow how much I should make the check out for (and then I braced myself).

My jaw could have fallen on the floor when he said $150, the original price he had quoted. My mind was buzzing, inside I was thinking, What? you mean you aren't going to charge me for the extra work? This is unheard of.....is it possible?..... Can I actually wear my rose colored glasses today and not feel like a total fairy-dust dweeb?

Needless to say, I was impressed that he didn't try to take advantage of me.

So without a word, I wrote the check, but I wrote it for more than $150.

Then I handed it to him,........... he looked at it, clearly confused, and said "This is more than I asked for?"

I looked at him and smiled and said "You did more than you said you would".

We looked at each other in the eyes and the smile that showed up on his face was genuine and priceless, and in one blink of a moment, we saw each other as humans rather than opponents. I was actually hopeful for humanity, and grateful to find that in some ways, in some places, the village still exists.


He took his gear to his truck, and then returned with some items for me to look at, telling me that he and his wife also ran a beauty product company. Then he placed the goodies in my hand and told me, "This is a gift for you".

Clearly he appreciated that I acknowledged his efforts, as much as I appreciated the helping hand without a dollar value attached to it. We were strangers who recognized the humanity in each other, that was the true gift.

Try to see someone today without judging or misunderstanding them. You might be surprised.

warmly, Rach

A true and tragic Pokemon tale. The Pokemon Nana story - Was he going to pay for grading the cards at PSA? A video review of services.

UPDATE!

I would like to respond to his post:

So thats my response to his excuses..... 
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Author Unknown

 

the video is below if you interested.

For those of you supporting me I appreciate you> For the ones who hesitate (for now) I get it, I forgive you,  I can see how he works. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Is this how it works? Inquiring minds want to know.




I'll let the video speak for itself because it's so convoluted, it's nearly impossible to lay out or follow this story if you just walk a straight line. 


The star of the show (the barely famous): "He who shall not be named" flip flops around so many times and with such apparent ease, you get virtual whiplash from all the wondering what the heck?

The real head scratcher is trying to line up his words with his actions.

He touts himself a well respected professional but  He took her Pikachu binder giving her the expectation he was giving a valuation. When he was too busy to give her a valuation after several days of him not getting back to her, apologizing that he had been too busy to look yet, she asked for her binder back.     He asked if he could call her in about an hour.
He did not call her.     She tried again next day  saying she waited for the call.

He finally got back to her and gave her the news that he had sent some cards to PSA for her.

She was shocked, she still had no valuation.
She asked for her binder back again. 

He gave her several excuses and dragged his feet but eventually returned it with  cards not only in the  wrong order, but random cards were missing and he apologized alot but offered  no  accounting of what was missing.....  

Which is where I entered the picture, I showed up to support my Mom getting her binder back since she had been waiting on his doorstep in the dead of night while he was inside putting the binder back together.....(I took the video of us on his doorstep, and let's note that I walked into this unknowing so  giving him the benefit of the doubt) 

We left his house asking him to account for the cards he took and trusting that  a list would follow us home via text...but it took a full day and a half of us asking and eventually threats of going to the police. Initially he offered only lengthy, wild excuses before he actually sent any of the photo evidence of what he took. And when he finally, made an accounting of the missing cards, he was short accounting for 10 cards. 

My Mother had to do the work of lining up the cards back in her binder and with that, she showed  him in photographic evidence, the 10 cards that were still missing. Only then did he come clean and say those cards were still on his desk at home, he had been so rushed he forgot to include them. 

Even though he was 100% sure where those cards were, it took yet another full day PLUS eventually police intervention to get only 6 of those cards back, 4 of which  had magically changed places and gone from his card sorter at home, to his shop in Richmond for cleaning, cards including the Birthday Pikachu referenced in the video as an example of one of the best cards he kept........ had now suddenly gone to his office instead of being at home.......it took another couple of days and another police officer's help to retrieve only 2 of those four cards. 

In the meantime the police assisted in retrieving the cards that were sent back from PSA.

As of this writing, two cards have still not been returned to my Mom. 

Of  the original 10 that Alex did account for, one card  (in the video you will see him talk about this card, promising it will come back sealed/unopened ) came back from PSA unsealed.

So those are some of the highlights.  Other things I find fascinating?

The LOOOOOOOONG texts from him that I scroll through in this video?  Are not of the list that we asked him to produce, over and over (to account for what he took from her binder).
Incredible right? He tells us right in the video that he would send the list, that he had already mailed PSA, so a list should be handy, easy to find. 
INstead of sending them,   those texts are all  his excuses justifying what he did  and they strongly feature  self declarations of what a professional he is. 



So, I would like to ask the Pokemon community, is this how you all do business? Because we were told this is how it's done. And all I can see is that. He has broken my Mom's little Pokemon heart. 

Rachael 

Why am I doing this this way?

The police told her  that Alex told them he  would find the missing cards 

or compensate her for the full value.  
Alex has blocked us so we can't contact him, he needs to contact us. 

It's been a week and we have heard nothing. 



UPDATE: He posted this in his group.  Lets see how it lines up with reality...

You see the thing about texts and timelines...... they are unalterable.  (response above)

So right here, I can prove you don't have the timeline right, Alex. 
As you said to me during our last communication, in January...."Go call the police, lets see what social media thinks of this?"
Let's go then.  I gave you until March.

Aside from your small group, so far it seem's like this is Pokemon's #metoo movement, a lot of people resonate with this experience. 

Anyhow when you do call the police, I have the texts in neatly a timeline that crap all over your excuses. 

UPDATE 2025-03-24
Finally, as the dust settles around this case,  as I wait for the police to get back to ME regarding the comment he says they made,.........  I realized while taking notes off of my own video that I could be helpful to you Pokemon Collectors by making you a  

 ....got Pokemon?  

Tshirt    ( just made it virtually for the images ) 

I loved my Got Hotwheels shirt from back when I was collecting redlines, I bet it would work for some of you for your sport.   

You can't actually buy these, not from me at least.  I just mocked this up to created an image for it then deleted it from the platform.  

Now it can be 1000000000000000000% clear I am taking not even a penny from this situation....and in fact am giving back. 
 
If you want the text file for free I'll gladly give it to you!