69L71

I bet most of you who have followed this have thought, "Gee, I haven't heard about that poor SOB who's lift fell down and almost killed him. I guess Lifts Unlimited and Gemini finally came through".

Not so fast Spanky....

No.. Its now been 222 days since that fateful day and these two companies are still stonewalling and hoping I'd go away. I would have posted sooner but I've been busy with other more pressing domestic issues but I also thought if I didn't post soon we'd all forget.

The latest: About 6 weeks ago I got a call from Gemini's Liability Insurance adjuster. They completed their analysis and were prepared to cut me a check for the damages to my garage, its contents, and the damage to the 96 Corvette. As a reminder, I fixed my garage and had the '96 repairs out of pocket. It was now 5+ months later that I was going to receive my reimbursement. HOWEVER.... One contingency of receiving the check was that I was to sign a release saying that I would not seek further action against Gemini Auto Lifts (or any subsidiary, vendor, customer, cousin, illegitimate child....) for this issue. This would have been fine, but remember, no one has yet reimbursed me for the $3300 value of the lift. Signing the release would surely guarantee that I would never see that money. Its unclear if the release would cover Lifts Unlimited, who I still hold primarily responsible for the failure, but it would surely give me less latitude.

The Insurance agent, who is in the same city at Gemini, and who has been pretty helpful in moving this sloth of a process along has contacted Gemini repeatedly about settling with me so the claim could be closed. So has the adjuster in California. In fact, the lawyer who sent me the email to stop 'slandering' Lifts Unlimited, who was hired BY Lifts Unlimited, said they should pay up. It seems the whole world feels that these two companies should live up to their obligation and reimburse me for their product that completely self-destructed after a year of use and caused nearly $30K worth of damage. Too bad they don't.

I've looked into legal action and the picture is foggy. There is no doubt I would win. No lawyer I've spoken to doubted that, but there's no guarantee that they'd pay. There's also no provision to recover legal fees in a civil case. The liklihood that I'd be throwing good money after bad is quite high. I have been advised that I could file for $2500 in Maryland small claims court and at least get a judgement against them, even though its unlikely they'd respond. That would keep my costs and level of effort low but is it really worth it?

Keep spreading the word about these two companies. Even if I never see a penny its nice knowing its costing them!

PRNDL

So you are not accepting a roughly $30k settlement because it does not include $3300 for the lift? I understand the principle, but given the difficulty of getting that last $3300 why don't you go ahead and take the insurance settlement and continue to apply "moral suasion" to try to get them to reimburse you for their faulty product? It's the old 90/10 rule plain as day! :) MJ

GTR1999

Thats too bad. Since this started I have given up the thought of a lift. I'll stay with jack stands and the Kwiklift for now. I'll put that $ into something else or a business that will stand behind their products without hiding behind them.
Who's to say they won't close and open up under a different name with the same service and poor product?
Good luck,
Gary

Tom73

With a judgement against them you could attach their assets, i.e., bank accounts, inventory, property, etc. Who knows, if you attach the assets and they go belly up, you could end up with a warehouse full of lifts. Then you could sell those to forum members at a huge discount :D

tom...

69L71

No Jack. I received about $10k in insurance money so far (from MY policy), and I sold the car for $13k and change. The settlement is for $4700. I take the $4700 and I say goodbye to the $3300. I should be seeing $8000.

I've never been out to profit on this ordeal. All I've wanted is for the manufacturer (Gemini) and retailer (Lifts Unlimited) to reimburse me for the end result of the failure of their product. To date they (the companies and their insurance agents) have paid me exactly $0.


[Modified by 69L71, 4:19 PM 10/23/2002]

68shark

I've followed the posts and this case really is outrageous. Having said that, the liability insurer is not responsible for the faulty lift, only for the resultant damage. Perhaps you can have the release amended to exempt "damage to the lift itself" from the release agreement? If so, that would end the claim but preserve your right to go after your $3,300. As damage to the lift isn't covered by the insurance anyway....the insurer's may not object. Push come to shove....I'd take the $30k settlement and put this in your rear view mirror....basically exactly what Mark suggested.

Smokehouse69

Your saga has certainly killed all desire I had for a 4 post lift. If this is what a person has to look forward to when dealing with these guys, how do I (or anyone else) know that another lift manufacturer/reseller wouldn't try the same thing to me? I don't know and will never know. It is too bad that we have reached the state in out society that a business that is covered by insurance for just such occurences as this, refuse to cooperate and accept resposibility for their faulty products.
I've come to the conclusion that insurance is a farce (particularly auto insurance and home owners), since the most I've ever recieved from an insurance company was a replacement windshield for my truck. Let someone back into your car in a parking lot and do $3000 worth of damage, and then claim you ran into them! It doesn't matter if you have 15 wittnesses that saw what happened and signed statements you'll never get their insurance company to pay for the damage. So you have to absorb it, pay the deductable and have the higher insurance premium.
Sorry for the rant! I guess I'm just in a bad mood! I hate insurance companys and I hate lawyers (although some of my best friends are lawyers.)
I think we need to fall back to the old Anglo-Saxon court tradition where your peers listen to the evidence and make a judgement! If the other guy doesn't pay, you get to whack off an ear or something more useful!
I have a judgement against an individual here in Texas, he has no real property (in his name!) so I have no chance of ever recovering any part of the money he owes me. It isn't like he doesn't have the money either, he's filthy rich. I wish instead of the judgement the award would have been, that I got to go over to his residence and beat $4000.00 worth of hide off his posterior. I can't imagine what good a judgement in another state would do me or anyone else.
Sorry again for the rant!

rambler323

BlueL36

Without committing to signing it, have the adjuster send you the release so you can read the wording. It wouldn't be too costly to have your counsel review it and possibly modify the release in a manner that might be satisfactory to both you and the insurer. Good Luck!

Paul Borowski

All is true what you said Chris-but you can sue big time for "mental anguish" Tell them you can't have sex anymore, can't pull in your garage without thinking about it anymore, you can't have sex anymore, you can't drive your Corvette without thinking about it anymore, you can't have sex anymore, you can't work on your Corvettes anymore without thinking about it, you can't have sex anymore, you're afraid to get under a Corvette anymore, you can't have sex anymore....... You get the picture!!!! Big $$$$$$$$$ award coming-wait it out. Have you asked your lawyer about this????

Jim-K

It appears this accident could have seriously injured you or even killed you. These companies should pay for your car, your garage, your lift, your laywers, + interest and any other expenses lost by you and consider themselves extremly lucky the accident wasn't worse then it currently is.

69L71

It appears this accident could have seriously injured you or even killed you. These companies should pay for your car, your garage, your lift, your laywers, + interest and any other expenses lost by you and consider themselves extremly lucky the accident wasn't worse then it currently is.

Yeah, but it didn't. If it were worse and there was personal injury or death I'm quite sure they would have jumped through hoops to settle so I wouldn't sue them for millions. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're me) the damage was limited to material items.

Supposedly they're mad at me for posting the info on the 'net in the first place. Anyone care to guess if this would have een taken care of if there wasn't public knowledge? I happen to know of 15 lifts orders that did not go to Lifts Unlimited because of this. That's $50k - $60k worth of sales, and there's probably more I'm not aware of; yet they won't budge.

BlueL36: I have read the language in the release. I spoke to the adjuster about changing it. He was all for it but said it would require a revision from the insurance company's legal department and that was highly unlikely. He's anxious to get the claim closed and send me the $4700.

I like your thinking Paul but after consulting a few lawyers about this it seems clear the mental anguish angle is a great conversation topic but not too strategic. Besides, I'd get tested and show I'm just fine.... :p:


[Modified by 69L71, 4:58 PM 10/23/2002]

Tom73

That has to potental to be fun :rolleyes:

Rogue Wave

Add another one to the list. I'm going elsewhere.

Sorry to hear you're [still] having so much trouble. Good luck.

C3 Shark Tank

TTT

The more that see what scumbags you are dealing with the better. I'm all for the one suggestion of going back to the old days, except you get to beat the money out of them, especially that Mitch guy who said you were an a-hole.

joe73vette

In all my insurance claims, the insurance agent was anxious to clear the books on them after about a year, and willing to deal. It must go into a different pile then. So, only 8 more months. Joe

Brett K

Good god man. I can't believe they are still dragging this on for you. I know every time I see a post about garage lifts, I throw a link in to your post for them to consider in deciding what manufacturer to go with. I suppose you have to think about how much of a hit you could accept in order to put this all behind you. Best of Luck!

Desertdawg

Sorry to hear that you can't have sex anymore Chris :cry :cry :cry

I still don't believe that they haven't paid you your $3,300 bucks yet :mad

I'm sure they won't ever see a dime from me...(because I'm broke :lol: )

GaryS

Uhm, Paul, you want to talk about this problem? Wasn't there a baseball player up in Boston or New England with the same problem? :D

Gary

SLICKMAN

Well, add anther one to the list again! I was giving some thought about purchasing this but, because of the way these companies are jurking you around, NO WAY!!! I'll go purchase a quick lift!!