T.O. Repoter Fights Back!
Toronto Reporter Lays Smackdown On Optician!
As a reporter, I do not hype stories up. I call it objectively, fair and accurate while reporting…but I am not reporting at this moment. I saw this on CNN and went to the stations’ website and saw every video out of curiosity. This is a great story.
Let me take you to Toronto, Ontario, Canada…for the Homer Simpson’s reading this posting, America Junior.
CITY-TV Reporter Peter Silverman has been helping consumers for a very long time against rip offs and otherwise crooked stuff. For those of you in Washington, Silverman does the type of stories that Ross McLaughlin on Channel 7 does.
This story, believe it or not, begins on October 3 of last year when a man wanted money back for a pair of prescription sunglasses, that were he thought was Oakley, but a month later, he finds out they were not Oakley. To the point, that Oakley themselves said that they were not Oakley. When they went to the store to confront Adam Plimmer, he was quite snug to say the least. But that probably quickly disappeared when the bank credited back the guy’s VISA card for the full amount.
Hold on folks, this gets a lot better than this….
Two weeks later, CITY gets calls about the signs in Plimmer’s store that saw “Free Eye Test.” The problem is that in the province of Ontario, Opticians are not licensed to give eye exams. Plimmer, an Optician, did said eye exam illegal with undercover camera rolling. It cracked me up that the optometrist could not read his scribbling of a prescription. BTW, notice the temper escalating with Plimmer.
Fast forward to December 19, Oakley hires a lawyer and orders Plimmer to stop selling the knock off Oakley’s.
New year, new brand to knock off…Gucci. January 18, A woman got an eye exam (illegally mind you according to the College of Opticians,) and paid money for Gucci frames and prescription lenses that were giving her a headache. Oddly enough, Lorne Lipkus is not just the lawyer for Oakley, but is also a lawyer for Gucci as well. Shocker, Lipkus says they are fake Gucci’s, while Plimmer says they are.
Then this past week…February 7….I preface this by saying that Peter Silverman is 75-years-old. 75-year-old Silverman, who should be following the path of recently retired Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran, went down to Plimmer’s store to talk about the recent complaints about his services. And as you will see, he makes the case of why he should not have to retire. And yes, Silverman responded in a ‘City’-like fashion. Oh, and word to the wise…NEVER EVER TELL THE POLICE ‘F--- YOU.’ Not only did he go after Silverman, but a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) worker with snowballs.
You can imagine the response this got…T.O. stood up and cheered! Except for one person, which was the only one who said that Silverman ought to be ashamed of himself. A local morning show interviewed him and gave him kudos.
But you have to wonder, signs of Plimmer’s temper was there over these months, Why would Silverman go to this snooty, snug nut job. Well like everything else in life, it starts with a phone call…and a claim that he had found God…along with an invitation to come down to talk things over. Then we get to see more of the attack, which includes spitting and said snowballs. And in case you missed it in the video above, pay attention to his response to Plimmer when he sarcastically asked “Are You Going To Hit Me?”
This weekend, Anderson Cooper picked up on the story for CNN.
And in a major twist, Plimmer changed the name from ‘King West Opticians’ to ‘Adam Paul and Associates.’
I think this is beyond sweeps month, this is just a great story of how one dishonest guy could not handle the pressure of being called to the carpet. Plus I think this is the season of hard as nails reporters, especially after one guy in San Diego was ambushed by a guy with a worse temper than that dork.
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