FREEDOM COMPUTER PRODUCTS Co. Becareful, if you do business with this company you will end up getting low grade product. The company Bribes who ever gives order via gift card to gain business. The guy Steve will go at all levels to make sure he gets to your bosses if you don't listen to him. Same product he tries to sell, is easily available at half of the price. West Hills California

From Mike--CA

I have been one of Steve's vendors for over 15 years. We go back when he was an employee, then independent contractor, and now the owner of his company for two years. We have had nothing but an honest, professional relationship. I can assure ANYONE, that he knows this industry like the back of his hand. The customer base that Steve has is very large and impressive with constant reorders from multiple newspaper and medical facility customers for many years. 

The difference between China/Mexico made/refills sub-standard quality vs the USA made compatibles is very obvious based on the defect/return rate. And that is the case with most other vendors as well. This person did this RipOff Report based on email replies and blatantly lying about paying $21.00 each for HP CE505A OEM toners? Why couldn't he have just been honest about using refills, not wasted time, and above all, Not Do This Disgraceful Act!!   

From Mike--CA

I have been one of Steve's vendors for over 15 years. We go back when he was an employee, then independent contractor, and now the owner of his company for two years. We have had nothing but an honest, professional relationship. I can assure ANYONE, that he knows this industry like the back of his hand. The customer base that Steve has is very large and impressive with constant reorders from multiple newspaper and medical facility customers for many years. 

The difference between China/Mexico made/refills sub-standard quality vs the USA made compatibles is very obvious based on the defect/return rate. And that is the case with most other vendors as well. This person did this RipOff Report based on email replies and blatantly lying about paying $21.00 each for HP CE505A OEM toners? Why couldn't he have just been honest about using refills, not wasted time, and above all, Not Do This Disgraceful Act!!   

I've been doing business with Steve for over a decade now and never had any problems. Originally I was ordering cases of HP toner cartridges to get the volume discount, but when I needed a mixed bag of 1's and 2's, Steve worked the pricing out for me much to my surprise. All of the toner cartridges performed beautifully for all the different printers. I shopped around and went through several other suppliers, but always ended up calling Steve after the others failed to deliver the service or prices I'd gotten used to. Brother toner was another item that I couldn't find anyone that could compete with Steve's pricing.

When I needed barcode printer ribbons but didn't know what kind or size, Steve got me samples to play with so I could figure out which one would be right for the project before I placed my order. Then when corporate finally approved the PO, I needed the ribbons immediately. I called Steve after 5pm Eastern time and he still managed to get me a case out overnight. I'm not sure how, but I was very happy for the excellent customer service.

Gift card? Those are a new addition to the excellent prices Steve has always given. Just shows he's keeping up with the times. Is there still a company that isn't giving some kind of loyalty reward?

I Hardly think that Steve has been Bribing, Overcharging, or has Low Grade Products!

I've been dealing with Steve for over 5 years, when he was working for another company. I use him  because he is customer focused, and has competitive pricing. Steve stends behinf his products. He only sells me quality USA products that outperform OEM.

This person who put these RipOff Reports out, has a real problem with honesty and commonsense. On every invoice that is done with a set of color toners,(large expensive printer)he saves my employer over $400 with the same exact quality as name brand. If you can get better pricing elsewhere, for the same quality, that's good. But not a reason to Post bogus reports about a guy making an honest living.

If your company has policy against accpting gratuities, fine, don't accept them. You can still do business with him.

I deal with Steve for te excellent customer service, and did so long before he offered anything like that.

Sincerely,

danny

I have been a customer of Freedom Computer Products since it started doing business. I have been purchasing from Steve for longer than that and I personally vouch for his character. I have put up with a lot of toner salesmen and Steve is the least pushiest one I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with. No harassment and he most certainly has not ever threatened to go over my head to get business from my company. 

When I first started purchasing toner from Steve, I was all for the cheap chinese refills. Then I had two fax machines quit functioning correctly (to the point of replacement) and a handful more reject the low-quality toner. Steve and I must have tried 4 or 5 different sources before we finally realized that cheaper does not equal better. Through trial and error, he found some excellent, high-quality, American-made, affordable toner. Steve goes out of his way to make you happy because he understands the importance of good customer service that will keep him in business.

I have read all of the email correspondance and I don't believe someone is finding good, quality USABLE toner for $21 a cartridge. If you are- be prepared to replace your printer/fax. Freedom Computer Products has saved my company a lot of money without the hassle and I don't appreciate my information being plastered on the internet because somebody doesn't want to purchase toner from a company. 

Rebuttal from Steve Ortkiese to Farhat Ali's Rip Off Report about Freedom Computer Products Co.

Funny thing... I went to the Newegg site and looked at the HP OEM 05A, and guess what!

Right at the top it said "$30 gift card with purchase of HP Toner"!

So I guess Newegg and HP 'bribe' people with gift cards too!

I looked for this company to check out its credibility. However after reading the comments from users here are my two cents.

 I am working for a company, we have over 30 locations in three states and normally we purchase in bulk and have direct contract with big vendors. My company doesn’t not purchase from office depot or Staples since we have better deals from other vendors. For toner purchase we go from Original HP, to Comparable or remanufactured depending upon the need and use of the toner. Every time I make a new order I always check prices over the internet to get better deal for my company. After all that is why my company hired me, to save money.

That being said, my first impression about Steve at Freedom Computers Products is he does not have the sense of dealing nor he is professional with customers. Why in the first place he had to contact him back along with his superior when he was clearly told that they are not interested in his prices? That is really shameful act and unethical thing to do by Steve.

Now let’s get back to the facts and figures. Let’s assume I am purchasing the similar product today and I do not have any special discount from HP which is normally around 30% of their pricing for us. Here is what I have found

Price offered by Steve $79 for 10 units 10 = $790

 Via new egg original HP toner = $139 for two = Total $695

That is simple savings of $100. Furthermore current promotion from Newegg makes it further down to $590 which is another $100 savings. There is current rebate offers available which will make the prices even lower.

My common sense says I will purchase from Newegg and save my company $200 over Steve at Freedom Computers. It is be simply unessential and illegal for me to purchase the product from Steve to utilize his gift card for my personal use.

It took me less than 10 minutes of my time to get the suitable pricing over internet. I don’t believe any big companies would hire mentioned people for their buying department as it makes it very clear by their choice they prefer their personal needs over company.

I am posting a rebuttal to this report because my name, company name, and phone number have been placed on this website by Ali - Houston, Texas.

First of all, the bottom line with any product is "You Get What You Pay For"!

I've been a Customer of Steve's for over 12 years, and have been maintaining printers for over 20 years. I have always gotten good products at a fair price, 1 year warranty, and saved my company thousands of dollars.

It looks like "Ali" has never actually "done business" with Freedom Computer Products, and is obviously just upset over email exchanges. I don't think he fully understands the difference between an OEM toner cartridge that retails for $90.99 versus a low quality China "Compatible" that sells for $21.99. I can guarantee you that he's not buying OEM for that price!

If you're sitting at home, printing a few pages a day, the China cheapie will probably work OK. But in a commercial environment, you need a better quality cartridge. And a cheap cartridge can ruin a printer when it fails! I have experienced as much as an 80% failure rate from some of these so called compatibles!

This vendor offers a full range of options based on your needs, including OEM, as well as quality compatibles from USA, Mexico, and China. Personally, we use only USA manufactured compatibles, which I have tested and found to meet OEM specifications.

The gift card program is also optional. It's not a 'bribe', it's a 'Thank You' for doing business with them! From a business standpoint, it's an incentive to re-order product when needed, rather than having to follow up with customers for re-order business. Also, as long as I have done business with Steve, I have found that he believes in common sense and being brutally honest.

Because Ali has never actually been a customer and used the products, and his conclusions are based on emails and misunderstandings, he shouldn't accuse this vendor of being a Rip-Off! Steve has always been a professional, and stands behind his word.

 I have been doing business with Steve at Freedom Computer Products for a few years now, and have absolutely NO complaints about the products I receive, the company itself or Steve.  I have always been treated respectfully, and the pricing I have been quoted was VERY reasonable -  A LOT less than Office Depot or Staples or buying through HP direct. At no time in our discussions did Steve ever say he wanted to go "over my head" to my "superiors" in order to get our company to buy product from him.  It took me awhile to decide to purchase from Freedom Computer Products, and he Steve was never pushy etc. I will continue to do business with Freedom Computer Products.