Blue Dog Ranch LLC Elk Creek Trailers Elk Creek Builders Wildland Sink Trailers 8 months late on trailer build, will not pay invoice on reimbursement agreement Overgaard Arizona

Preface;

 Agreement between Elk Creek Trailers – Blue Dog Ranch LLC, and Grants Custom Enterprises.

Blue Dog Ranch LLC [BDR]            Elk Creek Trailers [ECT]                  Grants Custom Enterprises LLC [GCE]    

Paul Meacham                                  Russ Ricca                                            Doug & Kelly Grant

2740 Hwy. 260                                   2740 Hwy. 260                                   25232 N. Ramsey Rd

Overgaard, AZ 85933-2440           Overgaard, AZ 85933-2440           Athol, ID  83801

(928) 535-5252                                   (928) 535-5252                                   (208) 687-1795

Paul@nustarinfo.com                    russ@elkcreekbuilders.com        dnkgrant@gmail.com

On March 4th, 2021 Grants Custom Enterprises [GCE] entered into an agreement with Paul Meacham [BDR] to purchase a specialty trailer to be built for a contract with the United States Forest Service.  They received our down payment on March 11th, 2021.  Along with the Invoice was paperwork that defined the parameters of the agreement which were both verbal and in writing. 

Our primary complaint is the amount of times they did not follow any parameters of their verbal and written commitments to us. Meacham’s, original commitment verbal and in writing states this trailer comes with about a two week lead time.  This was the primary discussion to determine whether or not we went with them to build the trailer.  Meacham stated he was intimately familiar with the forest service contracts that we were seeking, and played an instrumental part in assisting us in obtaining our contract. 

It was an open and precise discussion. It was Meacham himself that informed us through his knowledge of these Forest Service contracts [20+years] that we would most definitely need the build to be completed by June of 2021, the start of the wildfire season.  Stating also that they were    “ready to go” as soon as we gave them the down payment.

Meacham acknowledged receipt of the down payment on March 11th, 2021.  This would set a due date on or near March 25th, 2021.  After two months I emailed the builder Russ Ricca [ECT] on May 25th, 2021 where he stated “your trailer will be completed in 6 weeks”; setting another due date on or near July 6th, 2021.

On July 2nd we were notified by the builder our trailer would not even be started until October 1st, 2021. I informed him that this due date would nullify the entire first year of our contract, costing our company over fifty thousand dollars in revenue. At this time I was forced to give up our contract to the Forest Service for the 2021 fire season, after they attempted to dispatch us several times.    

On August 27th, 2021 we received an email from Meacham [BDR] informing us of another delay, and another due date “Your trailer should be ready for pickup September 13th, possibly sooner”. Eight days after this due date on September 21st, I get a return email from Meacham stating more excuses and setting another due date of September 29th.  On September 27th, we receive notice from Ricca that our trailer is complete, and can be picked up on Friday October 1st. What follows creates our second complaint.

We arrived on Friday October 1st, 2021 at 8am, after paying the balance of our commitment to them on Wednesday September 29th, 2021.  Upon arrival we are told the trailer will be ready by this afternoon.  At 4pm on the same day Ricca [ECT] admits to us that the trailer is NOT done, and it would take at least another week.  We had now traveled 1800 miles from North Idaho to their business in Arizona to take possession of a trailer that was supposedly already complete.

 Ricca at this time makes us an offer signed, and in writing to pay for our trip Food, Gas, and Lodging; in addition they would ship the trailer to us at their expense.  Trailer arrives on October 11, 2021, Thirty weeks from the original due date set by Meacham with Blue Dog Ranch LLC.

On October 6th, I send Ricca an itemized statement of our expenses, informing him that because our deal was not made until our trip was half over I would use a per-diem format for the trip down. He replies “OK no problem.  On Nov. 1st, four weeks later after numerous emails Ricca states he cannot write the check, I would have to contact Meacham. I email Meacham the next day; states he is reviewing receipts and would send a check the next day. 

We receive a check from Meacham a week later on Nov 8th, with all food and partial gas omitted, and unpaid from our itemized statement at the sum of $644.12 It now has been 90 days with all inquires ignored and unpaid in regards to Invoice # 11152021-001 from Grants Custom Enterprises LLC.

Summary;

Mr. Meacham was instrumental in assisting us in obtaining our Forest Service contract, through his years of personal experience with the Forest Service.  This confirms to us that he was well aware of the timeframes we had to work with when he commits to us a two week lead time. It is well documented that it would ultimately take over thirty weeks to complete a two week process, including many more missed commitments and constantly changing the due dates by both Elk Creek Trailers/Builders, and Paul Meacham Blue Dog Ranch LLC, directly resulting in Grants Custom Enterprises LLC losing an entire year of revenue for their contract to the Forest Service, totaling over fifty thousand dollars.

Mr.Ricca Elk Creek Trailers/Builders personally offers us a deal in compensation due to the fact that he missed another due date after he specifically told us the trailer was done, and we drove 1800 miles to receive the trailer.  Mr. Ricca drew up the deal and we both signed it on October 1st, 2021. 

He paid only a portion of the agreement, and since has been unwilling to pay the remainder of the invoice #11152021-001 totaling $644.12; while refusing to even respond to any of our inquiries to this matter, and has allowed the debt to extend beyond 90 days.

Grants Custom Enterprises has over 50 pages of well documented material that supports every claim we have made.  Please review the attached timeline, and we are more than willing to send any or all of the documents if it is deemed necessary.

Thank You in advance for your time, while we seek resolutions

Doug & Kelly Grant

Grants Custom Enterprises