Terry Schmidt, Lilawasta Cartworks failed to provide the purchased item within a reasonable time, was frequently nonresponsive to emails and calls, failed to replace a defective portion of the item as promised Cameron Park, California

At the very end of March, 2010, I paid Terry Schmidt of Lilawasta Cartworks $474 for a dog cart, dog harness, and shipping charges.  He told me it would take two or three weeks before the cart would arrive. 

Two or three weeks passed, and the dog cart never arrived.  I kept in touch with Mr. Schmidt and he generally answered emails and phone calls quickly.  He said that the company that made his harnesses had the harnesses on back order and that was the reason for the delay.  After several more days, Mr. Schmidt said that he was going to change harness companies, and that he should be able to get my purchase to me soon.  He seemed very nice, and the harness delay was out of his control, so I told him that it was not a problem. 

Well, even after changing harness companies, my dog cart still did not arrive.  At this point, I had trouble getting in touch with Mr. Schmidt.  Finally, he said that he had been out of town.  He said that two dog carts had accidentally been sent to the same customer instead of one dog cart for them and the second dog cart sent to me.  He said that UPS caught the mistake and was sending the second dog cart back to him.  He said that he had another dog cart in his shop that he would finish and get out to me as soon as possible.  Although still nice about things, I did notice that Mr. Schmidt never apologized for the delays...he explained the delays, but never said that he was sorry. 

The dog cart still never arrived.  He had given me an approximate date that the cart would be finished and shipped, and I waited, and waited, and the cart never arrived.  At this point, I started calling and emailing him, and Mr. Schmidt stopped responding.  It had now been one and a half to two months since I had initially ordered the cart from him.  I started making reports of consumer fraud to the Kansas and California district attorneys, among other organizations.  I asked a friend to email Mr. Schmidt and interestingly, Mr. Schmidt responded right away.  At that point, I knew for sure that Mr. Schmidt was simply ignoring me.  My husband then used my friend's email to tell Mr. Schmidt that he had until that afternoon to send me a UPS tracking number.  Surprisingly, Mr. Schmidt did send me a UPS tracking number that day. 

I waited for the package.  Meanwhile, I contacted Mr. Schmidt and reminded him that he had originally told me that he would send his carts out in two packages because they were too big to send all together.  I did receive the first package, and it contained the body of the cart, the four wheels, and the four side rails.  Meanwhile, Mr. Schmidt shipped out the second package.  It arrived and contained the harness and two long rails (that would attach the dog/harness to the cart). 

Unfortunately, the four side rails did not attach properly to the cart.  Also, one of the side rails fell apart upon unpacking it from the box.  Also, the harness had one strap that was measured MUCH too short for my dog.  I got in touch with Mr. Schmidt.  At this point, he was responding to my calls and emails.  He said that the strap that was much too short was not necessarily needed, and so I was able to cut it off and make the harness work just fine for my dog.  He had also said that he would send me a set of replacement rails. 

Once again, we started playing the game of me calling/emailing him asking when he would send the replacement rails.  He responded quickly for awhile, but then he once again stopped responding completely.  It has now been almost three and a half months since I first ordered the cart.  My last email to Mr. Schmidt was to tell him that if I did not have a UPS tracking number for the replacement rails by the end of that day, I would begin my pursuit of making sure that no other consumers were taken advantage of by Lilawasta Cartworks. 

At this point, I am asking Mr. Schmidt for a refund for the four side rails.  I am also requesting a 25% discount off of the original cost of the cart and shipping.