Lift nightmare...long | FerrariChat

Lift nightmare...long

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by gustafson, Feb 26, 2008.

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  1. gustafson

    gustafson Rookie

    Dec 21, 2005
    5
    Looked like there were some lift discussion here, so hope it is alright to put this here, I am spreading this far and wide so that no one else goes through this. This is not just a repost, it happened to me. I do not generally post here, just lurk, as am in the trade.
    ------------------------------------------------------


    History of a nightmare, or how America's Pride does business


    In mid September of 2007, I ordered a 2 post 10000 lb lift from America's Pride in Seekonk Ma and paid via bank check. The first lesson in all of this is always pay via credit card, although it will not always protect you I have found out. Prior to paying they spoke as if they had them in stock, although I will not swear they said such a thing. After receiving my check they told me it would be 12 business days, then never returned another phone call for 5 months.

    When in mid October I had received no lift and had spent hours on hold and calls to my salesman [Steve Smith] went unreturned, I finally told the receptionist that I was going to call the Mass Attorney General. You see, part of the attraction, besides a nice website with lots of helpful pictures, was that they were in my home state, so how bad could they be. Oh brother!

    their BBB listing was revoked on 1/7:

    http://reports.bosbbb.org/Boston/Public/Reports/BrandedReport.aspx?firm=24193



    If the link dies they had 109 complaints in the 36 months preceding 2/26

    Well, some minutes later I got a call from someone saying they were the sales manager[ did not get the name] who quite belligerently 'read me a letter' that said that they had had supply problems since July [what happened to 12 days] and since people had pulled orders and cancelled credit card transactions, they had been forced to change bank accounts[hello, fraud alert] and had no lifts, no money to pay for lifts, and no firm idea when they would have either. Very big attitude, like he somehow deserved my money.

    Numerous unanswered phone calls, and a great habit I had never seen in a real company; since they had call ID , they would not answer the phone, just put me straight to hold.

    So I called the AG, filled out the online form, filled out the online form for the BBB, picked up the forms for small claims[but didn't file] and contacted the Seekonk police dept. This was, in the end, the key. I emailed and spoke to one of the detectives there, and he said he would stop in, as it wasn't the first time he had heard this, but was under the impression that they always come through in the end.

    http://www.seekonkpd.com/Roster.htm

    Actually not a bad site for a small town PD. Det P. Was a great help in the end.

    Fast forward a bit, some life intervened in my chasing these guys down, beginning of January I started calling again. Same drill.
    I saw a craigslist posting with a familiar story line and emailed[one of the people gettng this missive] and, yes he had eventually got a lift.

    So I did a roadtrip, and got down to Seekonk and checked out their office at 75 County Rd. Hah! Not so much as a sign at the address listed. No mailbox, nothing. Big sign for "Mike's Dojo" Mike would be Mike Nees, proprietor of America's Pride. DOJO appears to be upstairs and the offices of AMPRO in the basement. I didn't go in, didn't want to cause a fuss just yet.
    http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/t92006/DCP_0466.jpg


    On the way, I called and scammed them into telling me their warehouse address, which, by the way is 13 Conduit st, Central Falls RI

    What a dump

    http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/t92006/13conduitst.jpg



    the place defines 'bombed out'
    http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/t92006/peek3.jpg

    http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/t92006/peeking.jpg



    bottom left is a stack of lifts

    Sorry for the clarity, truck driver was nervous and I was trying not to get chased


    So I call again, on 1/29, and take notes to show how they treat me:

    call 11:45, on hold 31 minutes

    redial
    straight to hold

    hand up redial
    answered, hold 9 minutes

    redial, straight to hold

    redial, answered
    straight to voicemail

    hangup
    redial
    hold 2 minutes

    hangup
    redial,

    Answered, and it is actually the infamous Becky, who holds the secrets of who will get product. Wow.

    I am told that i will get a call on Friday[this is tuesday] to say what day next week my lift will ship. I'll be holding my breath.
    When I come in Wed there is a message on my answering machine from Det. P of Seekonk PD, saying that he had been in to talk with them, and telling me essentially the same story. I am beginning to feel some glimmer of hope.

    Friday comes, no call by 3pm, I call, and miracle of miracles, I am put through in a businesslike timeframe to Becky. It is pretty amazing what little visit from a nice man with a badge will do for people's telephone skills. She tells me Wednesday my lift will ship. Needless to say, i will believe it when I see it. She will call me with a tracking number on Wed.

    Of course, no call by 4 pm wed, so I call, again told I will have to wait jut a few minutes, and less than 3 minutes later she is on the line. no number yet, but she will call me later from her cell, which of course does not happen.

    Thursday, 9:26 AM, for the first time since September, America's Pride calls my office. She gives me a tracking number. Which does not work on Yellow's automated phone system. Arghh

    A person at the freight company clears it up, and yes, a package has shipped. Box of rocks? Old tennis shoes? We will find out.

    Of course, then Yellow proceeds to juggle the shipment[of course, how could they not] and a 80 mile trip takes till Monday.


    http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/t92006/lift.jpg

    Of course the shipping frame leaves about a half inch too short to fit a pallet jack under it, probably the same everywhere, Chinese pallet jacks are probably shorter.

    So from the bill of lading, this is a National Auto Tools NT9 floor plate lift. Go to their website and it is a 9000 lb lift, available for 300 bucks less, probably would have had it in September! NAT paid the freight too, must pay their rent to Ampro in lifts.

    So it is setup and runs, has a car up on it as I type. Has some of the nice features that made me decide on the lift in the first place, but it cdoes not have the wheeled carriage that was originally listed[website apparently has changed] Lesson number two, when you are beginning to doubt a company, save copies of their web pages. I plan on chasing them for the 300 bucks. What the hell.

    Now, I consider myself a intelligent consumer, I saw no complaints online when I placed the order[although I did not openly solicit them] Perhaps it was my own arrogance and being sick of people telling me I must buy the most expensive item to get a serviceable product.Hell, my main use for this will be to lift cars less than 2000lbs! the BBB still listed them as acceptable even a month after I ordered. They had an ebay identity[auto-lift-king] had crappy feedback , but very small sample. They still have items listed there and on Amazon.


    The saddest thing about it is that I was in no real hurry. If they sent the lift I ordered with some kind of normal customer service I may just have waited. After all, they had much better info online than anyone. Everyone shows just one stock photo of a generic 2 post lift, not real close up pics like AMPRO did. How about trusting the customer, saying, hey we can't get things till January, throw us 500 bucks and we will order on for you? Many would pass, but with a good product, some would not. I run a business, sometimes I have supply issues. They appear unable to act honestly. If I had not enlisted the authorities, would I have a lift at all, even an overpriced cheapo lift? I don't really know.

    --------------------------------------

    So I found out a lot of fun info.

    http://rejournal.com/ne/sections/salesandleases/SL/Sept.pdf

    Mike Nees bought the warehouse, for 400k at the same time as having no money to ship lifts

    He or his associates own the building on County St in Seekonk, some company called 'real relief LLC' address the same has some financial dealings, putting money in, taking it out, I cannot tell, since I am not an expert on registry of deeds documents.


    Mr Nees appears to live in neighboring Rehoboth, but I cannot confirm that.

    associated websites:

    www.fridgesolutions.com
    scam? dunno

    http://www.sea-plies.com/
    trouble? dunno

    www.americasprideonline.com
    shady? yup

    www.carliftswarehouse.com
    ditto
    www.hvacplace.com
    honest? maybe?

    www.liftsUSA.com
    scammers? you decide

    www.e-paintbooths.com
    dishonest? can't say

    http://www.e-pipebenders.com/
    caution

    http://www.e-tirechangers.com/
    caution

    http://www.e-brakelathes.com/
    be careful

    http://www.wasteoilheat.com/
    might be a waste of money

    http://www.e-circleoflife.com/
    do you really want to wait?

    http://www.conveniencerefrigeration.com/
    be careful

    http://www.gorillahammers.com/
    don't be a gorilla

    http://www.uniwashers.com/
    caution

    Any way watch out for Ampro lifts!!!!!!
     
  2. gsjohnson

    gsjohnson Formula 3

    Feb 25, 2008
    2,291
    Woodland Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    GS Johnson
    It could be worse... I understand that Yellow Freight has gone through bankruptsy.
     
  3. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,465
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    Wow! Thanks... Glad you finally got something.
     
  4. BT

    BT F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Mar 21, 2005
    15,291
    FL / GA
    Full Name:
    Bill Tracy
    I debated the lift scenario for a few weeks and went to order through All American Lifts. After discussing the purchase with the wife, she said it was a nogo, so Earl kindly cancelled the order. Then the wife secretly ordered me another lift through AC Lifts that is very similar, and I picked it up yesterday a few miles from home. Very tricky to load onto the trailer with the available equipment, but I should have it installed by the weekend or so. Thanks for the info, I'm glad I did not go through the same company you had to deal with.
    BT
     
  5. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Apr 3, 2001
    11,238
    Austin, TX
    Full Name:
    Randy
    Can you fix your links? It appears you copied and pasted the truncated urls. Thanks!
     
  6. gustafson

    gustafson Rookie

    Dec 21, 2005
    5
    Trucking companies are always living on the edge, wasn't there some scam that they would go under, and the buyer of their assets could bill out for millions in uncollected discounts? If you have never looked at a freight bill , the 'list' price is twice what you pay.

    Anyway obviously I was relieved to get something, much better to tell the wife that you 'almost' got ripped off.
     
  7. gustafson

    gustafson Rookie

    Dec 21, 2005
    5
    sorry, was correcting some spelling/grammer while posting on another site and must have messed them up
     
  8. KKRace

    KKRace Formula 3

    Aug 6, 2007
    1,052
    Rockville/Olney MD
    Full Name:
    Kevin
    Thanks for the warning. I think you should sue in small claims since they did not send the right lift, the casters and other problems as well as lost wages chasing them around. I'm not a big fan of BS civil suits but I think this guy has it coming. I'm a big fan of Bend Pak lifts in home garages for what it's worth. Cheaper than Rotary but the quality is very good and the company has been around a long time.
     
  9. bpu699

    bpu699 F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Dec 9, 2003
    17,699
    wisconsin/chicago
    Full Name:
    bo
    Put this behind you... lesson learned. I always order from the big chains, even if it costs a bit more... Why did you pay by check by the way?
     

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