I've always have been sensitive to the needs of customers especially when their bikes are in service. They want their bikes back on the road and that's understandable. So when a previous customer of mine named Bruce Horne of Knoxville, TN who I also know from the various Bonneville Forums and always had a good working relationship with, contacted me and explained that he needed on of my rear fenders overnighted to his dealer and he would send me a money order for the part plus enough to cover shipping, I immediately dropped everything and accomondated his request. Pushing his order ahead of others who had already ordered on-line, I made a special trip to the PO and overnight shipped the fender to his dealer; Kingsport Cycles.
True to his word, Mr. Horne sent me a money order, however he a) shorted me $12 and b) made the check payable to BellaCorse. The problem with the latter is that my company name is SEL-MOTION Motorsports, not BellaCorse. This is all very clearly spelled out on my web site. I took the check to my bank and showed them my business card with the BellaCorse & SEL-MOTION logos and tried to explain to them that the check is indeed intended for me, but they refused to cash it. I can certainly understand their position. They don't know me by personally and I could have stolen a check made out to any company and for $10 had a bunch of fake business cards made-up to try and cash it.
So I mailed the check back to Mr. Horne and VM'ed & emailed him that the check needs to be made out to SEL-MOTION. Here's were it gets ugly. Mr. Horne emails me back stating that my bank should have cashed my check regardless of the name on it and that he's not going to pay twice. He also went on to say that he had lost the receipt for the check, so he will not be able to cash it. His rational throughout this whole ordeal is that he doesn't think it's fair for him to have to pay twice. Explaining to him that -I- did nothing wrong here and that -I- should not have to take the loss because -he- wrote the wrong name and lost the receipt, is falling on deaf ears & blind eyes.
After several emails trying to politely impress on the man that I did nothing wrong and simply want to be paid for the product he received, he then offers to "settle-up" for 50%. Funny, he won't pay twice, but 1-1/2 times is OK... hmmmm. This clearly implied to me that he got the check and had cashed it and now is weaseling for a 1/2 off deal. I refused his offer and insisted that he pays me in-full promply. He counters by saying he'll send me the check back for me to endorse and once he cashes it, he'll pay me. Nope I told him, you got to first pay me what you owe me and after I'm paid in full, if you want to mail me the check back to me to endorse it, I will. I knew this was BS, because anyone can sign the name BellaCorse on the back of check, so no bank would ever accept it. And now he's claiming he never got the check back from me. More BS.
I know I'll never see any money out to this guy. As I wrote in my final email to him, "Your rudeness, veiled accusations that somehow I'm cheating you out of more money and his constant contradictions to his story speaks volumes for the kind of man he is."
I post this story not out of spite, but rather to serve as a notice to would-be rip-off artists that I will not tolorate this type of behavior and that I will never again ship anything without being fully paid in advance. Let's hope the next Blog isn't such as downer.
posted by RaceDweeb @ 12:40 PM
