Vitaly Borker was born in Russian and moved to the United States with his family as a small child. After graduating from college, he held a smattering of jobs, none of which he was particularly passionate about. After a stint in law enforcement, he “gravitated to Wall Street” and held down gigs at “a variety of firms,” including Lehman Brothers. But working back office the pay wasn’t great and he decided to supplement his income by running the online component of a friend’s eyeglass store. He got sued a few times for hocking counterfeits but it was no sweat of Borker’s sack– his internet business did just fine and he was able to maintain the site while working on Wall Street “for years” and in fact expanded his online venture to include several destination for peddling his wares, the flagship being DecorMyEyes. Unfortunately his successful side job soon left little time for Lehman Brothers and several months before the firm went under, Borker quit to focus solely on his burgeoning pet project (obviously setting LEH up for a fall, given that he was holding that place up like Atlas).
This weekend Borker’s business was the subject of a Times profile. He says he’s “fantastically profitable,” and the secret to his success? Threatening to put his boot up customers’ asses, which, following their vocal complaints, helps makes his online storefront a popular Google result. Here’s a glimpse into the process (Borker, when interfacing with customers, uses the name Tony Russo):
* When a woman complained about having placed an order only to be told they were out of her brand of choice:
Russo called to say that DecorMyEyes had run out of the Ciba Visions. Pick another brand, he advised a little brusquely. “I told him that I didn’t want another brand,” recalls Ms. Rodriguez, who lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. “And I asked for a refund. He got rude, really obnoxious. ‘What’s the big deal? Choose another brand!’ ”
* When she received a pair of frames that were clearly counterfeits, that she was overcharged $125 for, which she told Russo she would be disputing with her credit card company:
Until that moment, Mr. Russo was merely ornery. Now he erupted. “Listen, bitch,” he fumed, according to Ms. Rodriguez. “I know your address. I’m one bridge over” — a reference, it turned out, to the company’s office in Brooklyn. Then, she said, he threatened to find her and commit an act of sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper.
* And later:
He began an increasingly nasty campaign to persuade her to contact Citibank and withdraw her dispute. “Call me back or I’m going to drag you to small-claims court,” he wrote in an e-mail on Sept. 27. “You have one hour to call me back or I’m filing online.”
* And after that:
Two days later, she received another e-mail from Mr. Russo. “Close the dispute with the credit card company if you know whats good for you,” he wrote. “Do the right thing and everyone goes away. I AM WATCHING YOU!”
* On inspirations:
Despite the fear he has inspired, Mr. Borker doesn’t regard himself as a terror. He prefers to think of himself as the Howard Stern of online commerce — an outsize character prone to shocking utterances. Except that Howard Stern doesn’t issue threats, I say. “People overreact,” he pshaws, often because they’re unaccustomed to plain speaking, New York-style. Anyway, he adds, if somebody messes with you, and you mess back, “how is that a threat?”
* On dealing with unhappy clients:
When he first heard about Get Satisfaction, it was by e-mail from one of the site’s employees, who was trying to mediate on behalf of unhappy customers. “They wrote to me, ‘We’d like to talk to you; we should take a proactive approach.’ ” Mr. Borker sneers and rolls his eyes. “I sent him a photograph of this,” he says, raising his middle finger.
* On drumming up new business:
When online fury about DecorMyEyes drops off, he dreams up new ways to stoke it. He briefly considered fabricating a story that Tony Russo had committed a murder — where he would have posted this story he doesn’t say — which he then planned to link anonymously to Get Satisfaction.Nah, he ultimately decided. Too far.
So, let’s just cut the chase– Wall Street needs to win this guy back. Obviously it’s not going to be easy, given the amount of money he’s supposedly making but surely some firm can woo him away for the right price (or even let him keep his business going on the side). The question is, where do we see him? With his talents he could probably fit in anywhere. He could take over for Brian Moynihan at Bank of America and put this whole mortgage mess situation to bed in one fell swoop while effectively dealing with trouble employees who’ll soon be bitching about bad bonuses (by informing them “I should fire you and burn down your house”). He could be the new Ari Kiev at SAC motivating people in his own unique way (i.e. flurries of IMs that go, “Listen bitch, you better make it rain out there– I am one desk over and I will rape you where the sun don’t shine in the likely scenario you don’t). He could work well with Steve Eisman, harassing companies on conference calls and telling their CEO’s “I will make you drink my piss.” The options are limitless.
‘Like’
Brillant Tags Ha!
I think a certain bank that sucks could utilize his unique skill set
That does it. I am officially changing my last name to “Borker.”
Dear Ireland,
Please make note.
Regards,
EU
Borker? I barely know her
Regardless, a career with the police wasn’t for him, he decided. So he spent six months at a rather unusual computer programming school. The courses were in English, but all the teachers and students were Russian immigrants, he says. You would learn the bare minimum to land a job, and the school would help you fake a résumé filled with previous experience.
“There were a lot of schools like this,” he says. “They’ve all been shut down.”
Vitaly Borker. The man whose name you’d love to touch!
-Max Power
The Bank That Shall Not Be Named?
This is no big deal? We’ve been raping our clients for their money for years
A Bridge Too Far:
The Vitaly Borker Story
The FBI should hire this guy to bust Oregon-based expert networks.
OptionsTrader, you are the worst. At least change your URL when you plan on sneaking back through the door.
In Soviet Russia, eyeglasses choose you
This just makes me miss Aleksey Vayner more. Who’s continuing his winning streak, having now founded NetBusinessGrowth.com and recast himself as “Alex Vayner” (alexvayner.com).
Vitaly, learn from the master.
Everyone should use “it’s no sweat off my sack” by COB today.
10 plus comments until we got here…DB Commentariat is growing up.
Lloyd Blankfein and Borker are locked in a room together. A pool cue is broken in half, and the sharp end is left in the room. They have twenty minutes.
I can’t believe we let this guy go.
-Dick Fuld
The guy has his weightlifting track record on his website. Unbelievable. Needledick learned absolutely nothing from his very public flogging.
“I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse my friend. He’s a little slow. The town’s back THAT way.”
You suck. You know that, right?
pity this Borker, he has zero chance. The Blankfein has no need for verbal threat.
Next thing you know he’ll be selling waffles online…brilliant.
I am pretty sure next thing we know his wife will be explaining to his child that daddy has gone on a trip for a while.
Know what else is growing up? Reach your hand in my pocket here, I’ll show ya.
Wouldn’t both halves have sharp ends?
This is a great exploit but has a limited distance. I can tripple your sales and make it last. Who where we talking about again?
Find me any time… Kyle Radtke CA
http://www.whitepages.com/dir/ny/borker/vitaly
called him and when he answered i told him i was only one bridge over, for some reason he failed to see the humor and hung up
I find it quite amazing how Ms. Rodriguez was bashed by so many people for not reviewing the website. I think people forget that the internet has become second nature to many. If you have faith in your institution in this case, Citi Bank to protect you when the time is necessary one should not have to lose sleep over merchants like this one. Everyone seems to become a legal expert with their sly comments about this poor lady making things up. For example, I read that she made the TMobile and Citi Bank stories up. People are ridiculous. And some even said if she couldn’t afford designer eyewear she should not buy designer stuff. It is called bargains and I am sure that the idiots who said this would not pass up 50-75 dollars off of something if they had the chance. The rich don’t always get rich by buying big- they initially get rich by being frugal. And for those who said she deserved this for being stupid and it is not fair for the Times to waste ink on her mistakes, I hope you swallow all your words for the feds would not get involved as quickly as they did- see the NEWS? if they thought that this was a drama queen trying to get some attention. This girl was bold and she did something that most likely all of those who criticized her would not have the guts to do. And Mr. Segal I am sure would not jeopardize his job by taking in any story just because the girl is cute. She had emails, voice messages and paper trails, what more do you need? Read the news and don’t judge until you know the facts. No one wants to be singled out by the people- all of you- who are too, consumers and one day could go through the same thing, even at a Gap store. You never know. Btw. no one commented anything here, I just wanted to share.