17 March: I contacted Aaron Rovner at Wellington Companies, LLC, by telephone to obtain the Defendant's corporate federal express account number to ship gold and silver (itemized below), hereinafter "Gold" for appraisal.
17 March: I shipped Gold to Wellington Companies, LLC, at 472 Second Street Pike, #314, Southhampton, PA.
18 March: Federal Express confirmed shipment arrival at Defendant's place of business.
19 March: Aaron Rovner, the Customer Service Manager, called me with an offer for my Gold for approximately $500.00. I asked for a line-by-line explanation of the offer for the Gold, which Rovner provided as below:
Necklace 18k 14.30 $19.18
Necklace 22K 7.70 $23.44
Bracelet 18K 6.50 $19.18
Earrings 18K 3.00 $19.18
Earrings 14K 2.90 $14.91
Earrings 22K 2.40 $23.44
Earrings 14K 1.20 $14.91
Earrings 22K 2.10 $23.44
Earrings 22K 0.80 $23.44
Earrings 22K 1.20 $23.44
Earrings 22K 3.20 $23.44
Charm 22K 0.80 $23.44
Scrap SILVER 29.75 $5.00
Scrap Gold Filled 38.30 $0.05
I informed Mr. Rovner that the first three lines of items alone exceeded $500.00 in value. Mr. Rovner checked the math and informed me that he would need to call me back after consulting "his IT department."
19 March: Mr. Rovner called me, thanked me for discovering the software glitch, explained that the problem had been fixed and verbally offered $1,094.89 for her Gold, as well as emailed an Excel spreadsheet setting forth the offer:
Necklace 18k 14.30 $19.18 $274.27
Necklace 22K 7.70 $23.44 $180.49
Bracelet 18K 6.50 $19.18 $124.67
Earrings 18K 3.00 $19.18 $57.54
Earrings 14K 2.90 $14.91 $43.24
Earrings 22K 2.40 $23.44 $56.26
Earrings 14K 1.20 $14.91 $17.89
Earrings 22K 2.10 $23.44 $49.22
Earrings 22K 0.80 $23.44 $18.75
Earrings 22K 1.20 $23.44 $28.13
Earrings 22K 3.20 $23.44 $75.01
Charm 22K 0.80 $23.44 $18.75
Scrap SILVER 29.75 $5.00 $148.75
Scrap Gold Filled 38.30 $0.05 $1.92
$1,094.89
19 March: I rejected the offer, explaining that Greenforgold.com had offered $1,975.38 for the same items, based on the prevailing market price for gold on 19 March 1998. Mr. Rovner explained that they could not match that amount and that he would return the Gold to me.
21 March: I called Mr. Rovner to inform him that I had not received my Gold as promised. He explained that return shipments were sent on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that it would be shipped that day.
I asked for a tracking number, and Rovner explained that they returned Gold to customers using insured USPS, each package insured for $5,000.00. If the package were subsequently lost, I would "receive" $5,000 from the postal service. He said that delivery usually took 2-3 days.
21 March: I called Mr. Rovner to request that items be sent to me via federal express at my own cost. I was placed on hold for over 20 minutes; I hung up and sent an email (12:27 P.M.) to Mr. Rovner with federal express instructions and payment information, requesting a Saturday delivery.
24 March: When package was not delivered on Saturday, 22 March or Monday, 24 March, I called Mr. Rovner who said that the package was shipped last week via regular USPS and that I should receive it by the end of the week. When queried as to the reason that the Gold had not been shipped via Federal Express as requested, Mr. Rovner explained that the employee who does the returns had 25 of them to do at once and he simply could not take the time to go to the Federal Express office. This, despite the fact that I have been continuously assured that Wellington has regular daily Fed Ex pick-ups.
I expressed disbelief; Mr. Rovner assured me that the Gold had been shipped and would arrive at the end of the week.
28 March: I called and asked to speak to Aaron Rovner. Carl Reed informed me that he "have your Gold right here, but we just can't ship it overnight." I explained that I wanted it shipped via fed exp at my expense and, if that were not possible, that the Gold be shipped with a tracking number and insured for $2,000.00, approximately the value of the second appraisal she had received.
Mr. Reed said that he did not feel comfortable using my Visa credit card, and said that he would ship the Gold via Wellington Companies' federal express account, via three day ground. I asked him to give me a tracking number; Mr. Reed then generated a shipping label using fedex.com, and provided the following tracking no: 8043 5901 0000 04.
29 March: I called Federal Express to inquire about the status of the shipment, and was informed that a shipping airbill had been generated using the on-line system, but that no package had been picked up or scanned into the system.
31 March 1998: I spoke with Carl Reed, who said that,
"for whatever reason, " the package was not picked up by Federal Express on Friday." He confirmed that he had the package of Gold in his physical possession and that it would be picked up by Fed Ex during their normal pick-up around 1:00 pm. He deeply apologized for the problems with customer service. When asked what I should do if the package is not picked up, he said that "that would never be the case."
3:00 P.M. I checked Fed Ex on-line with the tracking no and was told that there was no pick-up scheduled for 472 Second Street Pike or for Wellington Companies. I scheduled a pick-up for this afternoon before 5:00 P.M. The pick-up confirmation number was #339.
5:20 P.M. I called Fed Ex and was informed that the driver responded to the location at 4:34 and was told that there was no packagte.
5:27 P.M. I spoke with Len Gelman, President, who informed me that the Fed Ex driver had not arrived. When I relayed the information I obtained from Fed Ex, he asked what location I had given Fed Ex. He then said that the package was not at the 472 Second Street Pike location, that "we have three locations, " and it will be picked up by 6:00, although "sometimes the driver comes as late as 7:00."
5:30 P.M. I called Fed Ex which said that the tracking no (above) was no longer in the system and that he could not tell whether a pick-up was scheduled for this account (Fed Ex account no 4145 0728 0).
Given the numerous misrepresentations and falsehoods, I can only conclude that this too is a falsehood. There are limited civil remedies available since the terms and conditions of their on-line business mandates arbitration before litigation before J.A.M.S. Of Philadelphia, which requires a $400.00 filing fee; each party to bear his own costs.
5:59 P.M. I spoke with Len Gelman, the President, who told me that, as we were speaking, Fed Exp picked up the package to ship back to me. He could not give me a tracking number to verify this, but suggested that I call the following morning to ask someone to look it up in the computer.
7:30 P.M. I spoke with Federal Express customer service. They do not have a package in their system to be delivered to me at my home address, period. They also do not have any packages in the system for delivery for the Wellington Companies" federal express account number.
I simply cannot believe the utter lack of shame' persistent, multiple lies, misrepresentations and falsehoods. I am in the process of filing a criminal complaint for fraud against the corporate officers, as civil remedies are severely limited.
K m xxxxxxxx
Natick, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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