Milman bristled at the allegations against his Syracuse-based company, notably a former employee's claim that she was fired for promising a refund to an elderly woman who, like Foley, thought she had dialed Best Buy's "The Geek Squad" (their number is 800-GEEK-SQU; RescueCom registered 800-GEEK-SQA). Milman said the employee actually resigned, adding he has never fired anyone for promising a refund.

That employee, "Anna," spoke to CBS 5's Steve Flamisch on condition of anonymity. Though CBS 5 will not reveal her identity, Milman believes he knows who she really is -- and produced emails in which a former customer service representative expressed dissatisfaction to her direct superior. That representative never stated in the emails that she intended to quit, but her supervisor wished her "Best of Luck" in one response and spoke about her employment in the past tense.

CBS 5 will continue to follow-up on this story, on air and online. If you have ever had a bad experience with RescueCom, email sflamisch@wtvh.com.

Additionally, CEO David Milman requests dissatisfied customers and former employees to contact him directly at 315-882-1100.

From 1/8/08:

The Syracuse-based computer repair company RescueCom is ripping-off its customers, according to an ex-employee.

"Anna," a former customer service representative, claims she was instructed to deceive dissatisfied clients into believing they would get reimbursed for incomplete or insufficient service.

"It was just blatant that they don't care," Anna said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The only thing that I was allowed to say is, 'We referred your information to the franchise owner who will then get in touch with you.'"

They never do, said disgruntled customer Sam Rosenfeld. The Chicago-area small business owner claims RescueCom did not fix his computer problem, but refuses to refund his money.

"They bounced me from one person to another, and this has been going-on for almost a month and a half," he said. "I've never gotten a call back."

RescueCom CEO David Milman insists all customer service complaints are investigated. He said reimbursements are issued, when warranted, and he denied Anna's allegation that employees can be terminated for refunding money.

"I don't have any problem with giving a refund to a customer that we didn't properly service" Milman told CBS 5's Steve Flamisch. "We want every single customer to have a flawless experience with RescueCom, and we want to find-out why they had that experience."

Anna, who claims she was terminated for promising an elderly customer that she would get her money back, acknowledged she did break one company rule: she mentioned a competitor's name. Anna claims many people who reach RescueCom intended to dial Best Buy's "The Geek Squad."

Geek Squad's number is 1-800-GEEK-SQU; RescueCom has registered 1-800-GEEK-SQA.

"Certainly, it's a very competitive environment," Milman said of the proximity in numbers, "but we want to make sure that customers know who they're dealing with."

He denied Anna's claims that RescueCom dupes customers into believing they have reached The Geek Squad. In addition, he encouraged Rosenfeld, the frustrated small business owner, and any other dissatisfied customers to contact him directly at 882-1100.