PC store stealing our business

[acesdeals]

We are in a shopping center and our store is located in the back. There is a PC store up front that focuses on PCs. We do electronic repair and PC repair, so many customers bring us phones, portables, TVs etc.

The shop up front claims to be us, and when the customer asks if Ace, Bria, or Katarina our employees are in, they say that we are not in but they know us.

Customers then call to check the status and find out that we dont have it. The customers obviously get it from them and drop it off to us.

Is there any legal action that can be taken against them??

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

My neighbor is a competitor too, and this happens. and there is typically nothing you can do legally, but I am in no way an expert as I am not a lawyer. In all honesty, it sounds like your location might be hurting you in the face of competition being closer to where clients potentially enter.

If relocating is not in the cards in the future, then I would just suggest being better than they are. I like to send the dregs that I don't want anything to do with next door so they can become an irritant to him. There is much that can be done, but your definition of ethics is probably different than mine, so I cant say what is the best course of action.

 

[PC-MOT]

Im not in the U.S or a legal expert, but there must be something you can do, if a competitor can take legal action for someone calling themselves the same name, then surely standing face to face ith someone and claiming to be another business is far more outrageous.
I would ring them and record a conversation and see if they claim to be you...if that is indeed legal.
If not maybe send the owner a legal/formal looking letter and tell him you have 4 or 5 customers who are willing to witness that they have done this and see if that will stop them?

 

[Martyn]

What about putting a sign up(or floor standing) displaying where you are located? Preferably near the problem store. Certainly have a word with the store in question. I would have thought that they are not allowed to pretend to be another business. I'm sure in the uk you could do something about it.

 

[PCX]

I would honestly do as Martyn says or get a new location. In your case, a small hole in the wall does not sound ideal.

 

[Xander]

I would take it up with the mall management, too. I'm more surprised that they were able to open up shop at all as most malls (IME) have a limit on what types of stores can duplicate. If nothing else, the mall should have some minor leverage in saying that they can not claim to be you.

 

[acesdeals]

Well the funny thing is they dont even know how to do the repairs that we do, they just do pc repair where we repair all electronics

Moving is not an option as we have a 2 yr lease

The landlord will not let me put a sign up, or else i would have already, landlords are very very landlordy i have learned

Yea i have no idea if there is any legal action that can be taken, even if there is obviously injustice going on

A while back there was a guy on craigslist claiming to be us, basically we are in Virginia and he was claiming to be our Maryland location

He was working from home, and after i called him he took down all the ads, however this is a store who obviously is intentionally doing this and we are right around the corner

 

[acesdeals]

I would take it up with the mall management, too. I'm more surprised that they were able to open up shop at all as most malls (IME) have a limit on what types of stores can duplicate. If nothing else, the mall should have some minor leverage in saying that they can not claim to be you.

Its not a mall its a shopping center

The PC there was there before we opened, i believe the landlord let us move in since we were an electronic repair store and not a PC store

Edit:

I was not sure if its news worthy, but if it was having the news go in undercover and get them on tape claiming to be us would definitely be big payback to them and let the world know they are thieves and liars

 

[acscva]

The only recommendation I would make is to maybe get a big cube van and put advertising on it to point to where exactly you are and then park it in front of the mall everyday. ??? I have seen this done a few times for places where they don't allow signs to be put up.

 

[PCX]

I was not sure if its news worthy, but if it was having the news go in undercover and get them on tape claiming to be us would definitely be big payback to them and let the world know they are thieves and liars

That would be pretty awesome and would probably put them out of business. I would do it. If you are in a smaller town, it may be news worthy. Bigger cities though, probably not. Anyways, I would not count on it, but it may be worth a shot.

EDIT: Man, I am amazed more and more how shady people and businesses can be.

 

[Xander]

It is definitely a shady practice but, if I saw this on the local news, I'd be pretty ticked that those resources weren't spent better. "Shady" is not "criminal". You'd also run the risk of backlash (e.g. "sour grapes", "whiners").

You could fall back on the "crisis du jour" and claim they're bullying you. Bullying right now is more newsworthy than murder.

 

[TAPtech]

If this is just ocurring now and isn't a rivalry or anything, maybe you can just go in there and talk to them in a civil manner. Tell them you have no problem if they refer customers to you, but impersonating you is a different matter. Perhaps you would do the same referal if they were more friendly towards you and you felt that they were better suited for the customer needs.

 

[coffee]

Ok, I know how to tick them off and give them the idea that you are wise to them. I have several though.

You could get some friends to help by calling them and asking for either brea or one of your other employees. When they tell you they are not there have them take a message. Then have them keep calling back and escalate it to "Why are they not calling me back!". Then you could even have the friend come in -in person and complain about not getting call backs. Infact, Go online. If they have a online presence you can start complaining there too. Perhaps they will get the idea that what they are doing is not a cool thing and quit. I guess the idea is to complain about them for not calling back or for treating the customer poorly.

Just a thought. This is a "off the top of my head" idea right now. Perhaps someone else can build on it. But you want to be sure to build this idea off a lie they told over the phone.

"I called yesterday for Brea and you said she wasnt in but would give the message. I have waited 2 days for her to call back and Im getting pretty upset!".

I dont know. Just a thought. But you know, From what you said they where the first there. Perhaps they feel threatened by your business and maybe a "lunch meeting" is in order to clear things up.

Best Regards,

coffee

 

[gikstar]

With regards to going online... I'd suggest you use Yelp and all of the other review sites to the best of your advantage.

 

[nightkingdoms]

I'm going to prefix this by saying I'm not a lawyer and I'm not giving anyone any legal advice regarding legal maneuvers or actual rights. Consult an attorney, local authorities and your local laws for the best course of action. That being said...

What you have here is called fraud. Pretending to be someone or something else in order to gain the trust of someone for monetary or other gain, basically. If you want to get fancy, it's fraud, misrepresentation and possibly even false advertising (the latter two being civil charges you can sue for).

If it was me, I'd first -- unless you already have a lawyer then I'd highly recommend that they do it -- send a cease and desist letter to the owner. In it I would detail that they are fraudulently misrepresenting themselves as my business and that if they don't immediately cease the activity I will ensure that all newcomers are fully aware that they are not doing business with the correct company, that I will pursue any and all legal remedies to recover the revenue in lost business due to their misrepresentation, and that I will launch a public advertising campaign and provide to news media information and witness proof of their deceptive practices within the week.

Then again, I'm kind of evil.

 

[TenYardFight]

It is definitely a shady practice but, if I saw this on the local news, I'd be pretty ticked that those resources weren't spent better. "Shady" is not "criminal". You'd also run the risk of backlash (e.g. "sour grapes", "whiners").

You could fall back on the "crisis du jour" and claim they're bullying you. Bullying right now is more newsworthy than murder.

Does the Canadian government run the news?

...resources spent better? The news agencies in ny area spend their resources on whatever will get them the most eyeballs. And yes, the news in my area sucks!

 

[Xander]

Does the Canadian government run the news?

No, we don't have Fox/CNN here. (I can't remember which one's leftie/rightie, I just know they're propaganda machines.) CBC, however, is government funded but autonomous.

...resources spent better? The news agencies in ny area spend their resources on whatever will get them the most eyeballs. And yes, the news in my area sucks!

What would you rather see in your paper? An article about how city hall is spending tax dollars (good or bad), or how some business is complaining that they are losing business to another company? The news won't touch the latter without hard proof as it would be libelous and most local news really can't bother with "undercover journalism".

 

[acesdeals]

I would have to agree that this seems to be the best course of action. I believe i have the opportunity to sue.

Posting reviews for them would only have them post them back for us. Thus causing a war.

There is no need to tell them to stop or meet with them, they are not kids they are aware of the actions they are taking and yes they probably are threatened which is why they are taking things in they have no idea how to fix, i actually did go in there when i moved in and told them i would refer people with Macs to them since i hate that OS.

If they were taking our customers that came in for virus removal or PC repair i would understand. However they are taking in electronics and game consoles that they definitely do not work on nor do they advertise that they do. So despite them being there before us i can not understand the reasoning behind it. Aside from wasting our customers time.

The reason i brought up news was, i have watched in the past channels going undercover and testing IT companies ie; Microcenter, Best Buy, Circuit City. There are also others i have watched but cannot remember.

Moving is not an option or something i would consider. I should not have to move, i am operating a fair business and our customers are very happy. I will however open new locations in the future. I chose this location due to it having a garage door, so i could do car alarms in the future.

I'm going to prefix this by saying I'm not a lawyer and I'm not giving anyone any legal advice regarding legal maneuvers or actual rights. Consult an attorney, local authorities and your local laws for the best course of action. That being said...

What you have here is called fraud. Pretending to be someone or something else in order to gain the trust of someone for monetary or other gain, basically. If you want to get fancy, it's fraud, misrepresentation and possibly even false advertising (the latter two being civil charges you can sue for).

If it was me, I'd first -- unless you already have a lawyer then I'd highly recommend that they do it -- send a cease and desist letter to the owner. In it I would detail that they are fraudulently misrepresenting themselves as my business and that if they don't immediately cease the activity I will ensure that all newcomers are fully aware that they are not doing business with the correct company, that I will pursue any and all legal remedies to recover the revenue in lost business due to their misrepresentation, and that I will launch a public advertising campaign and provide to news media information and witness proof of their deceptive practices within the week.

Then again, I'm kind of evil.

 

[Mendija's Repair]

I would say to first go have a chat with them. If the actions do not cease, I would suggest getting a lawyer to help you deal with the problem. It is illegal for another business to claim that they are you.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Pay a guy with a sign advertising your store and plant him well in front of their store.

I don't know what to tell you man, basically a ****** position to be in, personally & physically. If I was him I would do the same thing, If I was you I would do what you are doing.

You mean to tell me that if someone walked into your store, you spent 15 minutes with them explaining how they have a virus on their system ... let's use Anti-Virus 2012 for example (very easy to fix), then they mention billy-bob who works at the other store ... you are going to be like yeah that's not us sorry we wont take your money.

Any accusations you have is purely he said she said. You say Joe called us for an update on his computer, and you took him when he meant to come to us. They say what are you talking about he didn't mention anything about you guys, he must have mistaken our phone number with the other 10 computer companies he priced out this morning.

Dog eat Dog, welcome to competition 101, location may not be everything but it is pretty important.