What would you do?

ArchieWhite · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 2923

So we book this little shipment for an elderly, possibly infirm lady, when it gets halfway to California ( from Georgia) she decides she wants it to go to Boston, but after a lot of discussion, phone calls, finagling, she decides to let it go on the California. Then, ( wouldn't you know it) it gets there, and she has no money to pay for it.....I don't mean she can't pay for it all, she has no money and can't pay for any of it. So we put it in storage, 3-4 months go by, she still can't pay, but she needs her electric wheel chair, and wants us to give it to her. She owes about 5K now, what with the shipping and 3-4 months storage, and the entire shipment is not worth that, but if we refuse to give her her chair, we look bad, and if we give it to her, thats the last we'll ever see or hear from her.

What would you do?
( and I won't even bring up the part about her calling the police to report her wheel chair stolen, while it was sitting in the storage vault at the agent in California)

MusicMom · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 18779 Location: DC Metro

Well, if you know you're not going to get anything from her at all anyway, just give her her chair. You're right, YOU'll look bad if you don't.

I don't know how you're going to get your money back. Will she consent to a payment plan before you give her the chair?

aubie2 · Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Posts: 78 Location: Alabama

I would give her the chair also. I don't know why, but I would.

ArchieWhite · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 2923

You guys are softies.......Next thing you know, she will get some local TV station in on it and the headlines for the show will go " Tune in at 6 to hear about how a big bad moving company is holding this nice little old lady's wheelchair hostage"

I hope nobody from headquarters is monitoring this site, as if they get wind of it, they will give her the wheelchair, her entire shipment, air tickets and hotel lodging for a week in Hawaii, for free, and and charge it all to me.

rydog444 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1022

I have no idea what I would do. Try to get some money out of her while giving up the scooter.
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My job is to give the best domestic and international moving services to my corporate clients by using the best movers in the world, regardless of vanline affiliation.

ArchieWhite · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 2923

She gets the scooter, gratis, and I get charged back 5K from my home office....sounds fair to me.

Auri · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: Chicago, IL

If she can't pay, she can't pay. Ask her for the shipping fee to send the wheelchair and then you'll send it. If she refuses to pay it, then don't send it.
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ArchieWhite · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 2923

What she should do is declare bankruptcy, and then by law we would have to 'give' her everything.

Rick · Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 3270

Be careful what you wish for, Arch. Big Brother spends quite a bit of time here lurking over your shoulder.

You need to speak to your legal department. Goin’ way, way……..way back to before the demise of the ICC, the FHA and DOJ ruled that if a carrier releases one item from a shipment without collecting the total actual charges (or est. & 10%), they’re required to release every item on the bill of lading without collecting. Back then the customer had to pay the “audited” charges within 30 days. That ruling became the basis for the argument why the “doors weren’t opened until the bill had been paid”.

Coincidentally, there’s a new handbook rocketing to the top of the best sellars list that might interest those who live life using the "10-step program to [anus]ism". http://tinyurl.com/3wmhj3 “Walking, Talking Über Sphincter”. Yeah, I’m having some tee shirts made. I’ll be taking orders Monday.

Fred0844 · Guest

Terminate the move with the van lines. Have it put on a freighter back to your warehouse immediately if you do not have one of your own trucks in the area. Get it out of a warehouse that is costing you money and back to where you control it. Now you can use whatever legal action you can to recoup your losses (ie auction). Then if you want to be nice she can pick up the wheelchair for whatever (if any) amount you decide.

Big Dog · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 401 Location: Colorado Mountains

I'd get an auctioneer lined up A.S.A.P.& sell it all. You've got to collect what you can. I just had this happen to me (sort of). I packed & picked up a "TV star" to ship to CA via Allied. The shipment got to our w/hse @ origin (shuttled) I emailed the invoice to the shipper's assistant (I had an
uneasy feeling about the "TV star") & lo & behold the "TV star" said, "I didn't budget this amount for the shipment", it's $11,000.00, & I can't pay. He said he'd get back to me on what he wants to do with the shipment. I gave him 2 days to decide & then the stoage $$ will start. I'm glad I had that "uneasy feeling". At least I still have possession of the shipment. The "TV star" is "Sony Crockett" Cool

rydog444 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1022

okay, I'll bite, I just widipedia'd Sony Crockett and it came up short. Who is he?
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My job is to give the best domestic and international moving services to my corporate clients by using the best movers in the world, regardless of vanline affiliation.

Big Dog · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 401 Location: Colorado Mountains

Miami Vice Don John--- Cool

Auri · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: Chicago, IL

Sonny Crockett was the character that Don Johnson played in Miami Vice.

God I'm a TV dork Smile

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Industry Professional in Chicago

rydog444 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1022

Yeah, and to think I would have known that when I was 7 or 8 years old cause I used to love that show
_________________
My job is to give the best domestic and international moving services to my corporate clients by using the best movers in the world, regardless of vanline affiliation.