Turtle Wings

Turtle Wings is a funny name for a cool service. Is your home or business space filled up with old computer and electronics equipment that you don't know what to do with? Are you tempted by the idea of hiring a fly-by-night junk man to pick it all up and toss it on the side of the road somewhere? OR, are you hoping to get rid of it all AND still be able to live with yourself? Call Turtle Wings.

Turtle Wings is a woman-owned business that serves Baltimore, Washington DC and Northern Virginia. They pick up your electronic equipment, recycle what they can, and properly dispose of the rest. They charge you for this service, but the charge is minimal, and it's worth it (to me at least) to know I'm not dumping lead, cadmium, lead oxide, barium and mercury into landfills.

They have a data cleansing process to wipe off your information, and they can also provide certification of data destruction.

I've used them several times. It's really easy -- I email them a list of the items I'm getting rid of (which I compile anyway for my equipment records), and they give me a quote. On the agreed upon day, they show up with two young, strong men and a truck. These guys are great -- they are smart and personable, and conscientious. They compare what they are taking with your list, then you sign it and they are gone. We get an invoice in the mail a few days later.

Clean office, clean conscience. Turtle Wings rocks!

I was clearing my late friend's house and had a lot of outdated electronics to get rid of. One flat fee. All the carloads I could bring in during the day I had reserved. From what I understand, rare metals from the electronics are recycled. Bonus!

As a prior law firm operator, destruction of old computer equipment is of utmost importance to me. This company was efficient, reasonably priced and thorough. They were also friendly and easy to deal with. I first used them several years ago. Now that I've shut down my practice, I'm about to return for the information destruction of several more computers. I highly recommend them.

Doesn't look like Turtle Wings has been reviewed recently, so here's some updated info for those who might come by it.

My company has been a long-time customer, to the tune of at least 10 years. We utilize their electronics recycling service 2-3 times a year. I personally love that it is a woman-owned/founded company.

I'd say about two years ago their service went downhill. I believe they've merged with other companies in the area, so the scheduled pickup is not Turtle Wings but others that the job gets "handed off" to. I end up communicating with our TW account rep, then another rep at the company the job is scheduled with. Those companies have not lived up to the Turtle Wings standard I was used to as far as timely arrival and communication when their schedule is running behind. I've always had to reach out to our account manager to ask why pickup is so late. I type this as I'm on the phone with the account manager at the OTHER company, who is being super helpful and apologetic about a two-hour delay that has now been rescheduled to the next day.

Their account managers are always very nice and helpful, but the truck drivers seem like they need to do a better job of checking in with updates. If my pickup was two hours late and rescheduled to the next day, this must mean that rep is calling other clients to reschedule, also. Yes, I know DMV traffic sucks in all the wrong ways, but it has to take less than three minutes to call and let me know you're really behind and need to reschedule, without me having to call and try to find you.

Otherwise, keep up the great work of helping keep the environment free of electronic waste! We will remain a customer unless something drastic changes.

You don't THROW your electronics away with the garbage do you!?! Well, if you have, you're one of millions, if not billions that have as well. It's not necessarily your fault, it's just that no one told you. Now you know that you can call Turtle Wings. Turtle Wings will come and pick up your old and decrepit electronics for a reasonable fee. Don't feel bad about them making a huge out of their way trip. They will schedule a stop with you when they are in your area.

I looked into shipping a broken laptop back to HP to recycle and they wanted to charge me $26 and wanted me to pay for shipping. I decided to be lazy and call Turtle Wings instead to come get it along with a few other craptastic electronic pieces I had that had well, crapped out. They will pick up most anything electronic minus the super large items like dishwashers, driers and radioactive material. Oh, and other than laptop batteries and light bulbs they can't do, but Shady Grove can.

If you're willing to go for a drive, you can also take electronics to Shady Grove yourself: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/dpwt/solidwaste/collectionservices/material_detail.asp?categoryID=53&utm_source=website&utm_medium=link&utm_content=homepage&utm_campaign=electronics

Now that you know, will you be able to live with yourself if you keep chucking your dead electronics the old way? I hope not!

Pretty neat place, it's a really neat place considering its in the miffed of an industrial park. They take all of your electronic waste five days a week. Plus! Great guest service, you can't beat that.

My experience as an Interviewee
NOT A CUSTOMER

A couple of months ago, I did an over-the-phone interview with this company and it went poorly. It started off great until the person who I was interviewing with put me on hold and then returned and said she would call me back because the call was very urgent. I excused her actions even though it's very unprofessional to put an interviewee on hold in the middle of an interview. However, a couple of hours later, a representative of the company called me back and told me a little too much of the interviewers personal information. I didn't allow the representative to continue to make up excuses, instead I hung up the phone and listed their company numbers under the do not answer category. I expect every company that I interview with to show me the same type of professionalism that I display or it's not the company for me. Due to the outcome of the interview, I wouldn't refer anyone I know to the company be it for employment or to dispose electronics. It is true that the "first impression is the last impression."

Tips for Employers

* Be professional at all times
* Keep your personal life out of the workplace
* Don't take phone calls during an over-the-phone interview (you may lose a star player)
* Be organized
* Regard interviewees as potential/current customers
* Remember that your actions are a reflection of the entire company
* Don't compare your skills to those of a potential employee (you're not in a competition)

The job market is tough, but it is even tougher with unprofessional employers. Many of us need employment, but what's the use of settling for less when you're probably going to end up at a company that you dread going to and will eventually quit or get fired and end up back where you started.

After a short search, Turtle Wings (love the name) was the only place willing to take my e-waste, free of charge, and accept it five days a week. It was a little bit of a drive and the location was a rugged industrial park. Nonetheless, I arrived with a crate full of stuff, walked in the door, and they happily took it off my hands. Everything should be so simple.

To an earlier post concerning what appears to be a disgruntled job applicant, the office I saw was admittedly several steps shy of an idyllic office space, but the people where friendly and helpful.

Needed degaussing on a portable hard drive being returned on a deadline under warranty. In order to meet the deadline I needed the drive degaussed and then sent asap to the final destination for warranty return. Data Killers degaussed the drive and turned it back over to UPS for ship out the same day they received it. They also provided a certificate of degaussing for the operation and stayed on top of things from the moment I contacted them by phone to when the hard drive went back out their door. It's important to mention that this was not a large order, it was just a single hard drive. They only charged about $35 to degauss it. In my experience it's unusual to find this level of service for low volume orders like this one in a specialized industry where the company really is not making much money. In closing, I am extremely pleased with this company and their service and will not hesitate to use them again and highly recommend them to anyone needing data destruction services.