BEAVERFLOOR, EARTHFLOOR, NEAL MARTIN, BEAVERHOME $7,500.00 order NOT YET DELIVERED AFTER 14 MONTHS Gainesville Georgia

Thank you all for contacting me regarding your stories.

He has promised me a tracking number tonight for the flooring that I ordered 14 months ago.

My story is as follows:
I moved into a home in Houston with a carpet over a Concrete slab in AUGUST 2002. I had previously purchased a VERY EXQUISITE Hard Wood floor from BEAVERHOME which arrived as promised. It was a $3,500.00 floor (or so). EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL and worth at least $12,000.00. It only took about 2 1/2 months to arrive and everything happened as Neal Martin stated.

November 2002 we ordered 1400 square feet of Jatoba Trinity Herringbone cut flooring for our new Houston home.

They offered a free Cork sub floor of 1/8" but did not have it in stock.

In order to receive immediate shipment they offered me 1/4" cork sub floor for only .50 more per square foot (or something like that) so that our total price was $8,000.00. I was promised IMMEDIATE SHIPMENT of the CORK Subfloor for my additional $700.00. We got a good deal making the total order of 1400 sq ft of CORK and 1400 sq ft of HERRING BONE CUT TRINITY Jatoba round down
to $8,000.00
I pulled the carpet up out of my home so nothing is left but a concrete slab. That's what my wife and I have been living on for the last 14 months.

After they took my order they didn't ship the cork.

NEAL claimed that since I got such a good deal he couldn't afford to pay for shipping twice and that his guys should not have promised CORK shipment seperate. I conceded. I was told that my floor would be delivered in early to late March 2003.

Beaverhome took 1/2 the payment up front. We paid by ACH withdrawl on our account. We sent authorization for them to withdraw $4,000.00.

Instead of withdrawing $4,000.00 they withdrew $8,000.00 from our account. They did this in November 2002. We had to call them NUMEROUS times to get the UNAUTHORIZED $4,000.00 back. Rather than send the money through ACH, they sent us a check that arrived about 3 weeks later and my bank put a 10 day hold on the check that we were supposed to have used for our XMAS vacation.

The money DID arrive though and the check DID clear.

As March 2003 approached our floor did not arrive ... neither the CORK nor the JATOBA. BEAVERFLOOR DID NOT initiate ANY communication with us to update us on the status.

When I called in, we were MISTREATED by NEAL's PHONE staff which are only friendly to you if you PLACE an order. Sometimes I was just HUNG UP ON. Only NEAL was allowed to provide me with an update to my order. I discovered that it was hard to get a hold of him and that he always EVENTUALLY returns his phone calls when people left messages for him. I suspect that his staff sometimes don't leave messages for him when they say they do. I CALLED PLENTY. HE ALWAYS RESPONDED to my E-mails within 24 HOURS!!!! He had postponed our order for:

Rain Damage which caused delays in manufacturing/processing. He stated that he had some backlog due to leaks in his wharehouse and postponed me to JULY.

When JULY came he told me that he had a Bigger order and asked if he could postpone me for the bigger order. I agreed to let him do it. He told me he'd give me delivery in August. I told him that if it runs into SEPTEMBER then he'd owe me a $150.00 discount that goes to $500.00 discount if it goes into OCTOBER.

He agreed to the discount (in writing) and verbally.

In mid -- OCTOBER 2003 when I called to check up on the status of the floor he said the floor was finished and that it would ship within 2-3 days.
We paid the remaining $3,500.00 via ACH through a seperate account that we opened up with our bank specifically to avoid a REPEAT of the DOUBLE WAMMIE from 2002 when they withdrew $8,000.00 instead of $4,000.00

Unfortunately it didn't ship in 2-3 days to us ... NEAL wanted to look at the floor (I believe that's what he told me) so he had it shipped to his wharehouse in Georgia. On OCT 22 (I believe that was the date) he told me I'd receive it no more than 2 weeks (or that it would ship to me in no more than 2 weeks). He was behind schedule .. .had many palletts to unload ... sort .... so much wood that they have to go to .... to prepare for shipping ....

November came ... no wood .... I called over 30 times. My wife called ....

No wood .... Also He didn't have any CORK in stock.

So he is going to have to ship 2 orders anyways. We ordered the 1/4" CORK in NOV 2002 just so we didn't have to wait for the CORK to ship. We paid extra for that and now .... NONE in stock.

We had numerous delivery promises in NOVEMBER ... none were met.

Finally DECEMBER was coming and he REPEATEDLY promised that the floor would be AT my doorstep before we went on Vacation .... departure 17 DEC.

... Of course no floor arrived ... no tracking number ... no shipment.. only repeated promises ... "You'll be done in 2 days. " ... etc ...

On 15 December I wrote him a DEMAND LETTER .... Demanding REPAYMENT of $7,500.00 and notifying him that the order was cancelled and that under the laws of TEXAS and GEORGIA he had violated the "REASONABLE" time clause for a merchant to deliver promised goods and also that we were demanding a full refund to be delivered in 30 days otherwise we'd initiate legal action.

He informed me that "HE WONT CANCEL my custom order as it was the only HERRINGBONE CUT TRINITY order he'd ever done. He also told me that what I thought about TEXAS law didn't matter ... it's what his web site policy stated. He promised me that he'd have my flooring delivered to me so that when I returned back from vacation it would be at my doorstep.

I went to www.beaverfloor.com to print out a copy of his DELIVERY policy which stated that I could get a refund if my delivery deadline was missed.

He CHANGED the WEB PAGE after he talked to me so that "CUSTOM" orders CANNOT be cancelled. Fortunately for me I printed out a copy of his OLD delivery policy prior to the WEB SITE CHANGE. Contact me if you need me to forward it to you.

Of course I returned back from vacation on JAN 2nd .... no floor ... no tracking number ... no messages on my machine from BEAVERHOME or NEAL Martin. Also I had no refund check. No $7,500.00

I called him and offered to fly to GEORGIA to help him sort out his WHAREHOUSE problems at no charge as my wife was demanding that I RENT a TRUCK to drive from HOUSTON to GEORGIA to get my floor. My wife is Italian and it turns out that she has long lost Italian relatives about 35 miles from NEAL's place in Georgia. We are still in the process of contacting them as he runs a construction company to see if they wouldn't mind going on down to his plant and seeing first hand (in a non-threatening manner) what kind of business operation is going on there.

Of course, Neal didn't want my help. He told me that he basically had so many orders than he couldn't handle mine individually until they get caught up on them all and is ALMOST caught up because they've made the necessary changes to handle their increased volume and that I'm one of the very few with long term problems and that He DIDN"T want to charge me a 15% re-stock fee for cancelling my order. ... he wanted to ship it.
He had the floor ... it was only a matter of time before they dredged it out of the wharehouse and shipped it.

He promised me that it would ship by "WED or THUR" of this week with arrival no later than 2 weeks (or the 15th of JAN, the date I promised to take legal action).

Now it's THURSDAY and I don't have a TRACKING number yet.

I spoke to NEAL today and he promised to get one to me LATE tonight or by TOMORROW morning.

He promised that he'll place an EMERGENCY order in for my CORK which will ship from CANADA factory near NEW YORK where his former office was. He promised that the CORK would ship NO LATER than TUESDAY of next week but he is depending on the people who own the factory for meeting the shipment delivery promise.

I have placed over 50 phone calls to Beaverhome//Neal// and have an e-mail chain with numerous broken delivery promises.

I will update you guys with the ending of this saga.

On 15 JAN I plan to file a law suit in both Georgia and in Texas and start writing letters to Attorney Generals /// Congressmen/women /// US Military representatives /// BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU // etc ... if I don't have a tracking number or receive $7,500.00 payment refund.

I am happy to continue taking e-mails to discuss my experience with BEAVERFLOOR and help anyone having difficulty with them find sufficient recourse with their problems.

My Name is David Hunter.
My telephone number is: 713-334-1157
My e-mail address is: davidrhunter2002@yahoo.com

Good luck to everyone with delivery issues.

The law is on your side.

My strong advice is to pay with your credit card (even if it is a 2-3% mark up ... at least they might provide protection against false purchases) and GET A DELIVERY DATE PROMISE IN WRITING FROM THESE PEOPLE. DON'T PAY UNTIL YOU GET A BILL FROM THEM THAT HAS YOUR PRODUCT INFORMATION ON IT.


Here is a simple demand letter that will likely work in any court of law: Send it by certified mail, or by e-mail .... it is likely valid if acknowledged.

Dear Mr. Cornellius Martin II (or Neal Martin),
CC: Beaverhome.com
EARTHFLOOR.COM
BEAVERFLOOR.COM

As you know, you have promised to deliver 1400 square feet of ****** by *****.

In good faith I paid you $$$$$ as I trusted you and your company to provide the promised goods by the promised time.

I am hereby cancelling my order and demanding full payment of $$$$ by DDDDD (30 days from delivery of the letter).

You can send payment to the following address by certified check:



Sincerely,


(Your name)


Once you send this demand letter you will likely have met the requirements to file a law suit in either Georgia or in the state you live if you fail to receive payment in the specified time.


My local court only charges $65.00 for filing a lawsuit. If you win your case (and you likely will especially if they don't get on an airplane ... spend money to sleep in your town at the local hotel ... and show up for the court date) then you can start to subponea his bank accounts and company property if he fails to pay as the court demands (depending upon the rules of the court in which you file and their jurisdiction and the cooperation that you'll get with Georgia when you have a valid order from your state court).


Good luck .... I've received plenty of e-mails so far ... I'll let you know if my wood actually arrives or not.

David
HOUSTON, Texas
U.S.A.

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