Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/27/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hired Postal Connections to pick up, package and ship auction winnings from *********************** in Harrisburg, PA. They picked up the items and gave me a total price for the transaction. I called Postal Connections and gave them my credit card info and I also spoke with the owner about taking off some extra surcharges that increased the price of the transaction. The owner, Forrest B*********, was hostile, said he wouldn’t change anything and then said he didn’t want to go through with the transaction and he would be returning the items to the auction house. I was ok with this. But now he has had my property for seven days. I told him to return the items on Monday, September 26. They were not returned. The big issue now is that he will not respond to my emails and has blocked my phone number so that I am unable to speak with him. I do not know where my property is (the auction house said on Tuesday morning they haven’t received anything) and am worried the items are missing. 

  Business Response

  Date: 10/05/2022

  September 29, 2022 
  In regards to the above noted file, here is my response. 
  First off, I was not hired by this individual as I am a not for hire operation. I ship for auction houses and customers request shipping to their locations on as needed basis. This person contacted me by email requesting a cost to ship numerous vintage documents valued at approximately $630.00 to $640.00 as per the auction house invoice. 
  In this instance I do not provide cost prior to picking up the lots of which there were a total of six lots. The reason being the auction house provides no sizes or weights of these items and that can cause the shipping cost to vary significantly. 
  The customer agreed, to which the lots were released from to me and were picked up on September 21st, 2022. Now this is three days after a two-day auction and I receive between up to 30 emails a day and picking up for as many as 20 or more customers a day I'm busy taking care of the customers. 
  Right away the individual starting emailing wanting to know if I had the lots. Then wanting to know when I would have a cost to ship. I responded when I could ask for patience that I would have it done as soon as I could. 
  I emailed a cost to ship on the 23rd and did not hear back from the customer concerning payment information that was requested. 
  As noted above the value of the items was in the $600.00 plus range and my insurer requires all items to be insured over $100 and any value over $500.00 have a signature requirement. The cost of said items a grand total of $12.56 that was included in the total shipping cost of $57.02. I told the individual that I would not remove the insured value or the signature requirement because I was not able to write a check for $640.00 plus the shipping cost. 
  I have been in this business long enough to know when these types of requests are made, I'm being set up for a claim and I have every right to refuse to do so. I indicated to this person he can use the 
  alternate shipper who may or may not include the insured value and the signature requirement. I told this person that to do so was to ship in an unprofessional manner. 
  At this point this person started name calling me on emails to which I refused to answer. I told this. person if he continued, he would be blocked, and no further contact would be made. Again, this is my right not to deal with harassing emails to which I told this person. 
  In the meantime, on Monday the 26th I emailed the auction house that I would be returning the lots to them. This is their procedure; they need 24 hours notices of any returns. The lots were returned the next day Tuesday the 27th as per my contractual agreement with the auction house somewhere around 12:30 or so. 
  So today I receive this inquiry stating that he doesn't know where his items. Again, another falsehood as I saw them sitting on the alternate shippers table this morning. Which by the way will probably be sitting there for several more days as they do not pick up daily as I do. 
  This person has made repeated falsehoods and has constantly overreacted to every situation. This person has made threats about a google review which again was replete with falsehoods. 
  This is my last response to this inquiry as I have wasted already too much time for a $57.00 shipment. 
  Sincerely, 
  Forrest B******** Owner 
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/05/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  

  I am rejecting this response for a number of reasons, the primary reason is because his actions during the transaction and the number of abject lies contained in his first response here elicit the Better Business Bureaus attention in order to prevent any other customer from having to go through what I experienced with this business. 

  
  

  This issue may be trivial but it is worth mentioning. Forrest continually quoted an insurance total of $640 when the invoice total was $576. The invoice is in black and white with that amount. The difference between insuring the two different amounts may not result in the customer paying more money but when I asked Forrest why the extra insurance was included he did not provide a satisfactory answer. He said that is the value of the items which is a lie. 

  
  

  The issue of Signature Requirement. I asked him to remove it from the bill. He refused. Every shipper I have used, and I've used close to fifty different ones, has agreed to remove this requirement. It is not an issue of being set up for a claim as the business owner says but rather because someone is at my home 24 hours a day and because it adds cost to an already expensive bill. His response to my request for this removal was hostility by the business owner. 

  
  

  He says in his response Right away the individual started emailing wanting to know if I had the lots. Then wanting to know when I would have a cost.  This is an abject lie. I sent an initial email asking to pick up the items and three days later I sent a brief email asking him the lots have been picked up. I did not ask anything about the cost for he had already given me an estimate. His response was completely unprofessional and hostile, telling me to stop emailing him (it was not in his words asking for patience.). As a result I did not email him again and waited for him to contact me. As an aside, unless I hear otherwise I always ask a shipper after 3-5 days agreeing to release the items to them if they have picked them up. I do this because there are three parties involved (the auction house, shipper and customer) and many times communication gets crossed and items get left behind. I have NEVER received such an unprofessional response from a shipping company to this question. Every other shipper simply answers either yes or no. He basically told me to shut up and wait. At that point I knew I was dealing with an aggressive and unprofessional businessman. 

  
  

  Despite my misgivings I called his business on Saturday the 24th and spoke to a rep and gave my credit card information to pay for the transaction. The owner claims he emailed me on the 23rd and did not hear back from the customer concerning payment.  This is false. As stated I called the next morning and gave the rep my credit card numbers. 

  
  

  As soon as I have my credit card info I emailed the business owner and asked to remove the excess insurance cost (as the declared value he entered was significantly higher than the actual invoice total) and to remove the signature requirement. Again, the business became hostile. 

  
  

  I never threatened to leave a bad ****** review. The only time I mentioned ****** to him was when I told him that I can now realize why he has so many bad reviews, which reviews include the adjectives unprofessional, mean, unpleasant, etc. 

  
  

  So after giving my credit card for payment and requesting some changes to the bill the owner said he was returning the items to the auction house and never responded my questions of when they would be returned. He had possession of my property and my credit card info for days without answering any of my questions. 

  
  

  In summary I feel the business owners actions were both unprofessional and bordering on the illegal and so I have proceeded with this process through the BBB to hopefully prevent any other customer from having to go through what I did. 

  
  

  Thank you,

  
  

  *********************