My husband and I are attempting to start our own business, a bakery in Vermont. On 01/27 we visited Tri State Restaurant Equipment to purchase our equipment. We spoke to the owner, Billy Griffin. He told us he was a broker, and anything he didn't have in the warehouse he would order and have shipped to us. On this day we purchased nine pieces of equipment totaling $4,555. We were told we would have our equipment within 10 days.
The delivery timeframe came and went, and we spent over a month waiting for our delivery. We were provided with numerous excuses as to why the delivery was not on time, including but not limited to: the chineese new year, the delivery truck broke down, snow storms prevented delivery (several times), and BOTH his home AND business were flodded. Finally on March 1st, I sent a professional email to him informing of my contact with a lawyer, police, and flagging his advertisements on craigslist. The very next day the equipment arrived - most of it.
The only piece of equipment that did not get delivered on March 2nd was our 20 quart Hobart mixer with the stand. We had previously paid him $1295 for this on 01/27. Billy provided another excuse - it was broken and needed to be fixed then would be overnighted to us. At one point he even stated it would arrive the very next day via overnight delivery. Nothing ever arrived.
I have since filed a complaint with the attorney general for Massachusets but was advised that because I am a business (I haven't had the chance to open yet though due to lack of equipment) they could not help. I was contacted by an "associate" of Billy's named Derrick Hines who advised a certified check would be in the mail. That was a week ago.
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