Ace Industrial Supply Charged and harrassed for unrecieved items Burbank California

Last year I was contacted over the phone by a salesman acting on Ace's behalf. He was offering a package deal of saw blades- 15 for $118 dollars. I hesitated to do business just over the phone like that, but he didn't ask for credit card information, just that I pay the invoice within 30 days of recieving the blades. It's a good deal, and I decided to trust him. Over a month went by, and I had almost forgotten about it when I recieved a letter from Ace- surprise, surprise it was an invoice and an OVERDUE notice! I quickly called Ace, let them know I had never recieved any of their products, and no notice of delivery or even attempted delivery was ever left at my door. There also seemed to be some confusion on their part as to what company was doing the shipping- Fed-Ex or Ups. After several more bills sent to me and several more phone calls, I managed to speak with someone in Ace who told me they were sending ANOTHER box of blades. I told him I didn't want them, NOT to ship them, and that I did not like my dealings with his company so far. He blithely informed me that the blades were already on their way. Now their legal department is suing me for fraud, and claiming they have me on tape saying I was "messing with their company" and that I did in fact have their blades. Their legal representative refused to let me listen to that tape or share their alleged information from UPS (who they're now claiming shipped the original box when they had at first told me to contact FedEx). I have good credit, pay my bills, and I've never cheated anyone out of their money. They're asking for $75 dollars- far less than the cost of a lawyer and far more money than they've spent in man hours harrassing me and in shipping costs for blades I've never even seen. Online they appear reputable, and I know they can swing far more legal muscle than I can. I certainly can't afford to take them to court and fight it out over this. But I'm afraid that if I pay them the $75 to make them go away, they'll just use it as leverage to try to come after me for more.

Anonymous
North Smithfield, Rhode Island
U.S.A.