SUMMIT VAN LINES DO NOT US THE GREAT RIPOFF ARTIST--SUMMIT VAN LINES Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

1. We did not receive an inventory for this move at origin or at delivery. We are hereby demanding a copy of the inventory, if one was made, or a statement that there was no inventory made, if one was not made. Summit still has not provided this.

2. We requested verification of the weight of our shipment, and Summit refused to provide this. We are hereby demanding the weight records for our shipment. Summit still has not provided this.

3. We did not receive the brochure explaining our rights and responsibilities at the origin. We understand that Summit is required to provide this brochure by the Federal Government. We are hereby demanding a copy of this brochure. Summit still has not provided this.

4. Summit's delivery information form, which we completed and returned to Summit by fax and by email on July 14, 2011 (we have receipts for both the fax and the e-mail deliveries of this form), states that the driver must contact us "...at least 24 hours prior to the delivery in order to inform you [us] of his arrival." This was not done. The first call we received from Summit regarding the delivery time was from the driver. The telephone number from which the driver called was 954-865-1978. The caller ID came up as Gonzalo Servo. He called at 4:18 PM on Thursday, July 21, 2011 (hereinafter, Thursday will refer to Thursday, July 21, 2011), at which time he informed us that he would deliver our possessions on Saturday or Sunday. He said he would call us back to give us an exact day and time.

We told him this was acceptable, that we were generally free on Saturday and Sunday, and that the delivery would have to be made between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM because the storage facility to which our delivery was being made (hereinafter, facility refers to the storage facility to which our delivery was being made) was locked up and inaccessible between 7:00 PM and 7:00 AM every day. The second call we received from Summit was also from the driver. He called at 5:08 PM on Thursday. He informed us that he would deliver our possessions between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM on Friday, July 22, 2011 (hereinafter, Friday will refer to Friday, July 22, 2011). We told him that he had not given us the required 24-hour advance notice of the delivery day and time, that we already had commitments on Friday morning, that we could not accept the shipment at that time, and that we would be available in the early afternoon prior to 4:00 PM on Friday, if he wanted to make my delivery at that time. The driver told us that he would call us back with an exact day and time for our delivery.

The third call we received from Summit was also from the driver. He called at 2:36 PM on Friday. He informed us that he would make our delivery at 6:00 PM on Friday. We informed him that he had not given us the required 24-hour advance notice of the delivery day and time, that we already had a dinner commitment in Watsonville for which we had to leave at 4:30 PM on Friday, and that we could not accept the delivery at that time. He said he would call us back with the day and time for our delivery. The fourth call we received from Summit was also from the driver. He called at 2:37 PM on Friday. He informed us that he would make our delivery at 7:00 AM on Saturday, July 23, 2011 (hereinafter, Saturday will refer to Saturday, July 23, 2011).

We informed him that he still had not given us the required 24-hour advance notice of the day and time for our delivery, and that despite his failure to give us the required notice, we would accept the delivery at 7:00 AM on Saturday. However, we asked the driver if he could make the delivery a little later in the morning on Saturday. He informed us that he could not make the delivery later in the morning because he had another appointment. We agreed on a delivery day and time of 7:00 AM on Saturday. The foregoing calls were all on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of each of the above conversations.

The next call we received from Summit was from someone who identified himself as David. He refused to give us his last name or his position with Summit. His telephone number was 954-448-2034. He called at 2:56 PM on Friday. He informed us that our delivery would be made at 6:00 PM on Friday. We informed him that we had already made plans with the driver for a delivery on Saturday at 7:00 AM.

He informed us that he did not care. He went on to say that we would be charged and extra $1,000.00 to put our possessions into storage if we did not accept the delivery at 6:00 PM on Friday. We informed him that we had not received the required 24-hour notice of the day and time of the delivery, that we already had plans for Friday evening, that we could not accept the delivery at 6:00 PM on Friday, and that the delivery would have to be made at the time upon which the driver had already agreed with us, which was 7:00 AM on Saturday.

David told us that he did not care what the contract said, that the driver would make my delivery at 6:00 PM on Friday, and that we would be charged $1,000.00 to put our possessions into storage if we did not accept the delivery at that time. The next call from Summit was also from David. He called at 3:08 PM on Friday. The conversation mirrored the conversation we had already had with David at 2:56 PM on Friday. Notably, he again informed us that he did not care what the contract said or what arrangements the driver had made with us for the delivery. The foregoing calls were all on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of each of the above conversations. Subsequently, at about 3:30 PM on Friday, we found two messages on my cell phone from Summit. The first message had been left at 2:46 PM on Friday.

Following is an exact transcript of this message:
"Yeah, hi. This message is for Jeff. This is Vito [we could not hear the name clearly, so the name may be incorrect] from Summit Van Lines, the moving company. Calling to confirm your delivery today between six and seven, and I just spoke to the driver and apparently you will be unable to receive it. So, we already rescheduled your delivery twice, and ah basically if the driver will be there between six and seven and you won't be able to receive the shipment, the shipment will go to the storage and the redelivery fee will cost you more than the move itself. Please call me back as soon as possible at 954-712-1453. My extension is 4520 [we could not hear the extension number well, so this my be incorrect]. Thank you."

The second message had been left at 2:56 PM on Friday. Following is an exact transcript of that message:
"Hi Jeff this is David from Summit Van Lines. The driver spoke with you a few times regarding the delivery. The driver's gonna be there today. If you're don't gonna be able to receive the delivery today, it's gonna be a ah he's gonna have to put it into storage. Gonna be a charge for storage and redelivery. You're looking at about a thousand dollar additional. Please give me a call as soon as possible. 954-914-2838. Thank you." The foregoing two messages were listened to by three witnesses who also read the above two transcripts. These witnesses can confirm the accuracy of the foregoing two transcripts.

After having become extremely upset as a result of having to dealing with the people at Summit who "...do not care what the contract says...," and who are obviously professional extortionists and blackmailers, we decided to change our plans for Friday evening so we could accept the delivery of our shipment and get Summit and its band of extortionists and blackmailers out of our lives. We called "David" at 954-448-2034 at 3:33 PM on Friday. We told him that we would accept the delivery on Friday between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.

We also informed him that the driver would have to arrive no later than 7:00 PM because the facility was locked up and inaccessible after 7:00 PM. We also told him that the delivery instructions we had sent to Summit stated that the delivery could not be accepted between 7:01 PM to 6:59 AM seven days a week. This form was sent to Summit by e-mail and by fax on July 14, 2011. David informed us again that he did not care what the contract said and that there would be an extra charge of $1,000.00 if we did not accept the delivery on Friday evening. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of the above conversation.

We called the driver on Friday at 3:38 PM to inform him of our conversations with David. He told us there was nothing he could do, even though we had agreed upon a delivery day and time of 7:00 AM on Saturday, because he had to follow his boss's instructions. We informed him again that the facility was locked up and inaccessible after 7:00 PM and that there would be no access to the facility until 7:00 AM on the following morning (Saturday).

The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of the above conversation.

We made additional calls to the driver on Friday at 5:03 PM, 5:51 PM, 5:53 PM, 5:57 PM, and 6:01 PM. We got the driver's voicemail. We asked the driver to call us back to give us his location so we could estimate the time of his arrival. We finally reached the driver at 6:09 PM on Friday. We asked the driver where he was. He said he was about sixty miles away and was stuck in traffic. We told him it would be impossible for him to make it to the facility prior to 7:00 PM and that the facility was locked up and inaccessible after 7:00 PM. He said his instructions were to make the delivery at whatever time he arrived at the facility on Friday.

The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there were three witnesses to both sides of the above conversation, as well as to the messages we left on the drivers voicemail.

At 7:00 PM on Friday, the driver called us. He told us that he would be at the facility sometime soon. We told him the delivery site would already be locked up and inaccessible until 7:00 AM on Saturday. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there were three witnesses to both sides of the above conversation.

At 7:02 PM on Friday, we left the facility with our three witnesses after having confirmed that the facility was already locked up and inaccessible.

At 7:10 PM on Friday, the driver called to tell us that he had just arrived at the facility. We told him that it was too late, that the facility was already locked up and inaccessible until 7:00 AM on Saturday, that there was nothing whatsoever we could do about it, and that we would see him at the facility at 7:00 AM on Saturday. He confirmed that he would meet us at the facility at 7:00 AM on Saturday, and that there would be an extra charge of $500.00 because we could not accept the delivery at 7:10 PM on Friday. We told him we would refuse to pay the extra $500.00 charge. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there were three witnesses to both sides of the above conversation.

We called David again at 3:38 PM on Friday. Our conversation mirrored the conversation we had when we had called him previously at 3:33 PM on Friday. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of the above  conversation.

We made the following additional calls to David on Friday: 5:04 PM, 5:49 PM, 5:53 PM, 5:59 PM, 6:07 PM, and 6:12 PM. The substance of each conversation was the same. We asked where the driver was  located, and we were told he would arrive by 7:00 PM. We stated that the facility would be locked up and inaccessible after 7:00 PM, and we were told that we would be charged $1,000.00 for storage and redelivery if we did not accept the delivery on Friday. The foregoing calls were on a speakerphone at our end and there were three witnesses to both sides of each of the above conversations.

The next series of calls were made to David on Friday at 8:53 PM, 9:05 PM, 9:07 PM, 9:08 PM, and 10:49 PM. The substance of each conversation was the same. We stated that we expected our delivery at 7:00 AM on Saturday, and we were told there would be an additional charge of $500.00 because we could not accept the delivery at 7:10 PM on Friday. We stated that we wanted a clear confirmation that the driver would meet us at 7:00 AM on Saturday. We further stated that we would not pay the $500.00 charge because we did not owe it and that we would call the police, if necessary.

David refused to confirm that the driver would make our delivery at 7:00 AM on Saturday unless we agreed to pay the extra $500.00, which we did not owe. The foregoing calls were on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of each of the above conversations.

Unbeknownst to us until approximately 10:40 PM on Friday, we received a text message from an unknown individual at Summit, which had been sent at 8:57 PM on Friday. Following is an exact transcript of the text message: "9544482034: Driver will be at 7 am u will need to pay him $625 plus $500 over night fee cash or postal money order only Tks". Following is an exact transcript of our reply, which was sent at 10:46 PM on Friday, to Summit's text message to us: "Me: I suggest you read this before you dig a deeper hole for yourself." We attached to our reply a copy of our Summit delivery information document in which Summit stated that the driver had to call us "...at least 24 hours prior to the delivery in order to inform you [us] of his arrival," and in which we specified the hours during which the facility would be locked up and inaccessible namely from 7:01 PM through 6:59 AM every day. There are three witnesses who read the abovereferenced text messages and the above transcripts thereof who will confirm the accuracy of the transcripts.

At 10:49 PM on Friday, we called David. We got his voicemail. We left a message in which we told him to read the text message we had just sent him, and particularly the attachment to our text message.

The driver arrived with our delivery at approximately 7:10 AM on Saturday. While the driver alleged that he was at the facility on Friday evening, it is interesting that he could not find the facility on Saturday morning. He drove past the facility on Saturday morning as if he had never seen it or been there previously.

When we saw the driver drive by the facility on Saturday morning, we called him at 7:06 AM to tell him he had just driven past the facility. We stayed on the telephone with him to direct him while he turned around and drove back to the facility.

When we saw him driving past the facility yet again, we were still on the telephone with him and told him he had arrived at the facility and to stop. It is certainly strange that a professional driver would drive by a facility twice after having allegedly driven to the facility less than twelve hours earlier. There was a witness to the fact that the driver drove by the facility twice on Saturday morning and could only find the facility after we told him that he had arrived there. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of the above conversation.

The driver refused to do anything before we paid him the $625 we owed Summit plus the $500.00 extra charge, which we did not owe. We called the police and two cars responded. The driver confirmed to the officers that he would not unload our delivery until he was paid, including the $500.00 we did not owe.

After the police officers received assurances from the driver that we would receive a paid receipt for the $625 and the extra $500, which we did not owe, they informed us that they could not help and that we should pursue this situation in the civil court.

They also told us it would probably be better for us to pay the $500.00, get our receipt for the payment, and then sue the company to get my $500.00 back, rather than let the company put our possessions into their storage facility. We agreed.

After the police left, the driver approached us with the paperwork for our shipment and insisted that he be paid, including the $500.00 which we did not owe, and that we complete the paperwork prior to his unloading. We insisted that the driver note on the paperwork the time of his alleged arrival at the facility on Friday evening. He wrote that he arrived at the facility at 7:05 PM on Friday.

While his actual arrival time (if he actually went to the facility at all) was 7:10 PM on Friday, the five-minute difference is academic; the facility was locked up and inaccessible after 7:00 PM. The driver insisted that we sign the bill of lading before he unloaded. We pointed out that we could not sign to confirm the following statement on the bill of lading without first seeing our possessions: DELIVERY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: SHIPMENT WAS RECEIVED IN APPARENT GOOD CONDITION EXCEPT AS NOTED ON THE INVENTORY, AND SERVICES ORDERED WERE PERFORMED. The driver refused to unload unless we would first sign the foregoing statement on the bill of lading. He finally agreed to unload without our first signing the foregoing statement when we started to call the police again.

While the driver and his helper were unloading our possessions, unwrapping them, and placing them in our storage unit, we went to our car to make some telephone calls and read. When everything had been placed in our storage unit, we locked the door thereto and left. We did not sign the foregoing statement on the bill of lading after our possessions were put into our storage unit because the driver did not want to wait for us to inspect the shipment for damage and completeness. We got our copies of the bill of lading and the Summit delivery instructions, upon which the driver had written his alleged arrival time at the facility on Friday evening, and left.

We received as call from the driver at 12:35 PM on Saturday. The driver accused us of having stolen his wallet. He told us he was stuck at the facility and could not leave because he did not have his drivers license, which was in his wallet.

We told him that we had never seen his wallet, that we had no interest whatsoever in his wallet, and that he was confirming our belief in God since his missing wallet must have been the result of divine justice. He said he would have to call the police.

We invited him to do so and told him we did not care since we had nothing to do with the missing wallet. The foregoing call was on a speakerphone at our end and there was a witness to both sides of the conversation.

When the driver called at 12:35 PM on Saturday, we were in our car and had just pulled out of our driveway. We drove by the facility at approximately 12:40 PM on Saturday. The Summit van was not there at that time. Obviously, the driver had found his walletthe one he had accused us of stealingbetween 12:35 PM and 12:40 PM on Saturday.

We are hereby demanding the immediate refund of the $500.00 that was extorted from us by Summit. Our delivery instructions to Summit clearly stated that the facility would be locked up and inaccessible from 7:01 PM through 6:59 AM every day. The driver signed a statement confirming that he arrived at the facility after 7:00 PM on Friday (if he actually went to the facility at all on Friday evening).

So, it was Summits fault, not ours, that the delivery could not be accepted on Friday evening. For the record, we took a photograph of the big sign in front of the entrance gate to the facility. The sign clearly states that the facility is
locked up and inaccessible from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM every day.

Absent an immediate refund of the $500.00 Summit extorted from us, we will ask our attorney to find every cause of action possible and file litigation against Summit as well as David and the driver, both of whom engaged in tortuous behavior. We believe we have ample evidence to allege fraud, extortion, intimidation, blackmail, civil theft (there are treble damages for civil theft), and/or breach of contract, but the attorney will have to make the final determination as to the appropriate causes of action and the appropriate defendants. Moreover, given the apparent expertise of Summit in extortion, intimidation, blackmail, fraud, and theft, we are sure our attorney will be able to find other customers of Summit, from whom Summit stole money, to join in our litigation as plaintiffs. Summit still has not refunded our $500.00. We will also identify appropriate regulatory bodies and file complaints against Summit with them during the coming week.

Our thanks to the entire Summit team for having made our move the move from hell! JEFF, PEBBLE BEACH, CA