5 stars for quality of work / 1 star for everything else
-To be clear, Markel DOES do really nice shoe repair work.-
BUT...Wow, what a difference a year makes.
I visited Markel's nearly a year ago. At that time, Markel was personable and pleasant! He took time to explain what needed to be done on a complicated boot repair. He called me when they were ready.
Nearly a year later, my two separate interactions with him (drop off & pick-up) were the complete opposite.
Like I mentioned at the top of my review, he does do great shoe repair work. However, it's no longer worth the 35-40 minute drive for me each way because of his change in personality and for two big reasons, which may/may not be a big deal for you:
MY BIG REASON 1. While his hours are listed on the door as 10 am to 6 pm Monday - Friday, the reality is it's a real gamble if he'll even be there when you show up during posted business hours. It's in your best interest, especially if you are coming from far away, to call first to verify he will be there or if during business hours, he's actually there. And then, you should verify that your item is even ready for pick-up. Just because you have a claim ticket with a pick-up date doesn't mean it will be ready when he opens/arrives on that date. Evidently, as I learned the hard way, pick-ups are not available until after 2:30 pm?? Nothing visible within the store or on my claim ticket mentions this important detail, nor did he share this with me two weeks earlier after I pre-paid at drop off.
MY REALLY BIG REASON 2: You should know that Markel charges a hidden 7% surcharge fee if you decide to pay for services with a credit card. Yes, services do need to be paid in advance (there IS a sign in the shop for that) but nowhere is it posted in his shop that there is a 7% credit card surcharge fee. I only found out about the fee when I looked at the e-receipt once I returned home from the prepay drop-off. Typically, I have no problem paying a 3% surcharge fee if I know about it BEFORE paying, as I like the convenience of using my credit card and the card points I accumulate. But I personally draw the line at anything over 3% and 7% is definitely a no-go for me. Unfortunately I was never given this choice because there is nothing in his shop that states he will be charging you this surcharge. (And contrary to what he claimed during our pick-up convo, he NEVER mentioned it to me at drop off.)
As an informed consumer, you should know that if a vendor chooses to accept credit cards, credit card network rules (Visa, Mastercard, Discovery, and American Express) REQUIRE a vendor to post signage within their store or physical location, on their website, at their point of entry, and at their point of sale terminal/register that discloses to all cardholders and customers that they apply a surcharge on credit card transactions. (It can't be just one of these places, it has to be ALL those places.) The merchant is also supposed to notify Visa & MC in advance if they want to charge a surcharge.
The afternoon at pick-up (my third time returning to his shop that day, see above REASON 1) I brought up the surprise 7% surcharge and calmly pointed out he didn't have any signage notifying customers of this. Markel became quite agitated and defensive! He declared that he is able to charge whatever fees he wants, without it being clearly posted or even posted at all, because it is his business! Furthermore, he continued, the credit card company charges him whatever they want and therefore he can charge whatever he wants, too!
As an informed consumer you should ALSO KNOW that within the US, the surcharge amount a merchant can charge may not exceed the merchant's processing fees, AND cannot exceed 3% of the total transaction amount. https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5671-can-i-apply-a-surcharge-to-square-sales
As an informed consumer, you should know that merchants are not allowed to charge a 7% surcharge if you want to use your credit card, even if they decide to post within their store that they charge a 7% surcharge fee. However, this is exploited by unscrupulous merchants because as I have discovered, credit card companies will not push the issue with Visa due to the typically low dollar amount a 7% surcharge nets within certain businesses.
Finally, as an informed consumer, you should know that YOU can exploit your own loophole on these secret overcharges, as I have discovered, by disputing it with your credit card company! It's a PITA but keep and submit the receipt when you contact your card company to dispute the fee and more than likely your credit card company will refund the full amount of the surcharge that was elusively tacked on to your bill. (Nordy Visa will credit you!) Then, you can decide if you want to post social media reviews (Yelp + Google) of your experience to serve as a cautionary tale for others, and if you want to do business with that merchant again in the future. read more