Through his high school years at Montgomery Academy, Tim Michalak was known as “the mayor.” Michalak, who still sports a boyish face and wide grin, even at 27, has always been outgoing and friendly, his parents say.
He’s also impulsive, and can’t always think through the consequences of things like a major purchase — or in this case, a major sale.
It’s all part of what makes Tim, Tim, his parents say. Michalak was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD as a child and bipolar disorder as an adult, they said.
“In some areas he is very high functioning,” his dad Marty Michalak said. “For example, he is able to drive. In other areas he needs a lot of assistance with life skills, independent living and medication management.”
Tim lives in his own apartment in Hillsborough, with help, and while he can work, “his impulsiveness and intellectual disabilities” make keeping a job a challenge, Michalak said. He’s prone to exaggerations and avoiding telling his parents about things he thinks might get him in trouble, he said.
Which brings us to May 24, when Tim called his mother from someone else’s phone saying he thought his iPhone was stolen. Marty Michalak was able to track the phone, and saw it was at a GameStop in Bridgewater. After a little cajoling, Tim said he sold the phone to the store for $196.32.
Michalak asked why.
“Tim said it was because he wanted money for gas for his car because he didn’t want to bug (his mother) who had already given him about $100 for gas during the week,” Michalak said. “It is clear that his impulsiveness was a key factor and he doesn’t think of consequences.”
About 5:30 p.m., less than an hour after the phone was sold, the father and son returned to the store to ask it to undo the transaction. Michalak said he explained that Tim has special needs, he made a mistake and his parents still had $400 of outstanding payments to their carrier for the phone.
“(The employee) explained that he was not able to return the phone to us because of store policy,” Michalak said. “He indicated that the store was a trade-and-hold store — that the policy he had to follow required the phone to be held for seven days in the store in case it was stolen or someone had lost it.”
And, the employee said, his colleague had already wiped the phone clean.
Michalak asked to speak to a manager. The store manager wasn’t available, the employee said, but he could email the district manager. The employee also called a GameStop employee support line, a customer service ticket was opened and he gave Michalak the customer support number.
Three days passed with no word, so Michalak returned to the store and saw the same employee, who said the district manager hadn’t responded to the email. He sent another email, and also said the store manager was still not available but he’d be in the store the next day.
The next day passed without word from the manager, so Michalak called the store and spoke to an assistant store manager. This person said he was aware of the situation and emailed the district manager again. He also said the store had to hold onto the phone for nine days.
“I explained that my son had special needs and still owed money on the phone,” Michalak said. He called the assistant manager, who refused to provide his last name, “very defensive and unhelpful.”
Michalak said he called the customer service number at 6:20 p.m. that evening, choosing to get a callback rather than wait on hold. The call didn’t come until 10 p.m., but Michalak missed it because he was asleep.
Which brings us to Friday, May 30, when Michalak called Game Stop’s corporate number. Someone in escalations said all sales are final. He’d contact the district manager to see if anything could be done, but “not to expect anything.”
“It has now been close to a week during which my son has been without a phone that is critical to his being safe, cared for, and to handle any emergencies,” Michalak said. “The phone sits locked up in the back of the store because of a combination of very rigid policies, centralized decision making, ridiculous inability for an employee to call the district manager when an issue can’t be resolved, and lack of response from both the store and district managers.”
Michalak emailed Bamboozled and asked for help.
We called Michalak that night around 6 p.m.
While we were on the phone, Michalak got a call from GameStop at 6:11 p.m. but it went to voicemail.
It was the escalations representative. He said he’d spoken to the district manager who said the sale was final. That’s the policy. The end.
Everyone agreed the phone was still in the store. Whatever the company policy was — and yes, the website says all sales are final — what about extenuating circumstances?
Even though it was after hours on a Friday night, we hoped someone at GameStop was around. We sent an email to GameStop at 6:22 p.m. asking for immediate attention.
A mere 37 minutes later, Michalak got a call from the previously elusive district manager.
Come to the store and get the phone, he said.
Back at GameStop, Tim confirmed which phone was his, and the employee “made sure he understood that this was a one-time exception and that he should not do something like this again,” Marty Michalak said.
Tim Michalak is reunited with his iPhone outside of the Bridgewater GameStop store.Courtesy Marty Michalak
For its part, we’re glad GameStop did the right thing in the end. It did not respond to several requests for comment about its policies and what happened in this case.
Still, the family is relieved the phone incident is over, but they said they’re angry that no one at any level at GameStop took Tim’s challenges into consideration.
“It’s frustrating how Tim did not have a phone during this time which is key to his safety and emotional well-being,” Michalak said. “Also frustrating is all the time and effort it took to follow up on this and that it took an email to Bamboozled to resolve the issue.”
Stories by Karin Price Mueller
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on X at @KPMueller.