69L71

OK. Its been about a month since I provided an update to my dealings with Lifts Unlimited and Gemini Auto Lifts, and ironically, Monday was the 4 month anniversary since my lift collapsed. As I said in my last message, Crawford (Gemini’s insurance adjuster) had settled up with the repair cost of the 69 ‘vette. Unfortunately it did me no real good because I made my claim through Hagerty who was able to process the claim in relative light speed to the others. So that money gets returned to Hagerty (see my post on 6/9). The rest of the damage to my garage, my wife’s 96 corvette, my belongings, and the value of the lift itself remain unpaid. That’s right... 125 days later and I’m STILL waiting. I’m waiting for Crawford to finish the paperwork for payment for all but the lift.

About in early June I contacted Lifts Unlimited, fist via email and later by phone. I asked that they buy-back my lift as a settlement, at least for the value of the lift, which otherwise would be a complete loss. I spoke to Scott who is Lift Unlimited’s sales manager. I asked to speak to Mitch, who is the company owner, but he was never available. After several attempts, on June 13 Scott agreed to refund my money, which came to $3300. This is apparently what I paid 18 months ago, but is a good $600 less that it would cost to buy it now. So much for ‘replacement value’. Nonetheless, I don’t want a replacement I want my money. Weeks passed with no check and I called again. This time Scott passed me to Angie, who I assume is responsible for cutting checks and the like. Angie said that my payment was approved and that company policy is that all refunds are paid when the lift is picked up by Lifts Unlimited, which wouldn’t be for at least another 12 days since their driver was on the west coast. I asked that the company reconsider their policy in this instance since I’d been waiting well over 3 months already. Later that day I got a call from Angie (the ONLY call I received from ANYONE at Lifts Unlimited in almost 4 months) saying that Mitch had approved sending the check but that I’d need to sign a release saying that I would not dispose of the lift and that it would be available when they came to collect it. I agreed. This was June 28.

Today is July 16 and I’ve heard nothing back from Lifts Unlimited. No check, no release to sign, and no background information. I called Lifts Unlimited today and asked for Angie. By coincidence, Mitch picked up. I told him who I was and why I was calling. I asked why I’d not seen anything and told him that I was well beyond upset with the stonewalling I perceived from his company. Mitch immediately became defensive and condemned me for taking this issue public before they’d had any chance to rectify the situation. I told him I posted the information and pics before I even considered what my follow-up actions were going to be. He informed me that his competition had been telling him (and potential customers) how I’d been flaming him on these threads, even though he himself had not been ‘keeping up with them’, and had even contacted his attorneys about a potential slander suit against me. He also said that his contacts in the industry (like I said before, the residential lift business is EXTREMELY incestuous – everybody knows everybody) felt he was being unfairly tagged because of all the lift collapses (which I didn’t think there were very many) his had to happen to the “one a-hole” (yes, that is a quote except that he didn’t hyphenate) who chose to make an issue of it. This left me dumbfounded. I feel I have been EXTREMELY fair and factual in ALL my posts on this subject, and have been very careful not to be slanderous. How notifying my fellow car enthusiasts of my misfortune, which could have easily gotten me killed, makes me an a-hole, is beyond me. Also, why he would choose to take the work of his competitor rather than taking 15 minutes to read through the posts is beyond me. They’re all listed in my signature line, so its not like he’d have to search that far.
Besides, I still don’t see anything wrong with posting pictures of what happened to my lift in my garage, to my car. This IMHO is my business. I also reminded him that during our initial conversation that I felt that a conscientious follow-up on his part would more than offset any public relations setbacks my posts would have created.

It seems Mitch is far more upset with the public exposure this issue has had then his willingness to follow through to make it better. I have asked for nothing more than a refund of my $3300 and yet this hasn’t yet happened. I’m not fairly convinced it never will.

For the record:

I forwarded the URL for this post in an email to Mitch so I expect that he’ll be reading this. To offset any perceived bias, I am personally inviting Mitch to register (its free) and post a rebuttal to ANYTHING I have said in this or any past post. It is an opportunity for him to deal directly with those he feels I have tainted with my post content. In addition, since I know he’ll be reading this, I invite any and all corvetteforum members to chime in with their thoughts on the subject. I also ask that we keep this topic near the top so everyone gets a chance to get involved. Its time the dialog became public.

As I posted on June 10, I have discussed this issue with a local attorney. I chose to forgo any further action at that time because Scott agreed to pay up. Since this post will inevitably start another hornet’s nest that might well kill off any intent of Lifts Unlimited to pay me, it appears I now have to get that effort started again.

Thanks…

Chris

BB wowbagger

Dang..Thats some real poopie.. :cry :smash:

Matt Gruber

Small businessmen don't like to give back money.
That's why Wal-mart is so successful.
If something breaks Walmat will smile and keep you as a customer. Small minded's just don't get it.
But, the bright side is when you win in court,you may collect millions. That will make up for it.

Scott78

I've followed your plight since the first post. All I can say is IMHO your posts have not been inflammatory. They've been informative and substantiated with documentation and pictures. Now understandably at times you've been infuriated(I would have been too!!) at the responses you've gotten from the various parties involved in this debacle. But put into context, you've had 2 vehicles and your Home damaged, personally at this point if it was me we would be waiting for the court date :yesnod: .

Scott

Rogue Wave

Being the fair and reasonable person that you are, I would venture to bet that had Lifts Unlimited promptly taken care of this situation that you would be here today praising their response.

Regardless of testing and quality assurance and the whatever, any manufacturer can have an item accidentally fail sometime in the course of doing business. It is a responsible manufacturer that tries to promptly correct the problem.

Being the fair and reasonable person that I am, had I read your post saying there was a problem but Lifts Unlimited came through and took care of it like responsible people, I certainly wouldn't hold it against them.

In fact, because they were responsible I would be more inclined to deal with them. I'd know in case of a problem, they were there to make it right.

I don't know their side of the story, but it taking them over 4 months to resolve their problem is totally unacceptable.

I'm glad no-one was injured by their product. Sorry to hear about the damage it caused and the time and aggrevation you and your wife get to go through to get your lives back together.

As for lifts and any other products, there are responsible manufactures out there and they are the ones that will get my business.

I guess this makes me a member of your a*hole club. Ahhh, so be it.

-- Roger

lbell101

Hey Chris!

I would have had them in court three months ago. You're too nice of a guy. It's time to let a judge decide who will pay for the rest.

:mad

BeachinVette

Spring 2003 I have intention to purchase at least one lift and maybe two lifts for the building I am going to start this fall. I probably would not have black balled Lifts unlimited or Gemini Auto lifts because poopie happens. We don't stop buying cars when Chevy has a recall... As long as they make good. The perception and service that a company gives us is more valueable in some cases than they're product. In my opinion Mitch is cutting his nose off to spite his face. I would have thought he would have sent a truck and a fellow with a check in his hand to your door as soon as he found out about the collapse. Then his quick response to your misfortune would have been the talk of the town!!
Now he is loosing face because of how he is treating his customer. That is what he should be worring about.
We still fly with airlines that have had crashes. But if we get a bunch of BS at the ticket counter, we will spend our money at the "other" airline.

I'm sorry you have to go through this mess.

Bob

Rick C.

Well if Mitch reads this he should know that all you have done here is to keep us all updayted on what happend and what was done in the aftermath.
In all honesty I would not have had any trouble dealing with Lifts Unlimited
even after what happend to you. Things do happen after all, but now with there stonewalling you like they are I will look to other makers when it is time to buy my own lift!
so bottom line Mitch you could be a heal or a hero here choice is yours WE are watching.

KENS78SILVERANNIV

Just for the record. Anything you post on a forum... email or otherwise can be used as evidence in a slander trial. Let it be a lesson to anyone who thinks they can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet that law enforcement uses hard drive information and email all the time to prosecute people.
Not saying that's the case here... just a friendly reminder to think... before you type. ;)

KorbenDallas

Wow! He called you an a-hole directly to you on the phone!!! That would have got me fired up real quick!!! I wouldn't drop anything with the attorney after that. I don't think you're going to get anything until you start suing some people...

:cuss

BigBadRed

I am not sure, but doesn't slander have to be a lie? As long as the facts are stated, I don't think slander is even an issue...

--marc

killain

I also have been following your posts since the incident, and personally I feel it was an accident, something that can happen to anyone. The company shouldn't feel like their victinized. Accidents happen. Nobody got hurt and I'm sure they sell plenty of perfectly good lifts and that the number of failures is tiny. I think since I've read all your posts that none of them were in any way perticularly negitive to the company who sold or built the lift, Things happen, They should just finish up the deal and move on, IMHO ! :yesnod:

dogboy

Like Matt Gruber said. SMALL MINDED. If his reputation is hanging on this one incident than you would think he would make it right. Especially if its such an incestuous group.
Get the best lawyer you can afford at this point. This is rediculous. Call the Insurance board in your state and report this to them also. It sounds as if both insurance co & lift biz guy is trying to BS you to death.

A C

Mitch, if you are reading this....just cut him the check and put it in the mail. Jeez. :mad

AC

SmokedTires

Your info here has been informative and an eye opener to what to expect if someone else buys from this same company and has the same unfortunate luck as you. I'm suprised that if they know your publicly informing others of how they handle your claim that they still drag their feet. It is very unprofessional on their part to result to name calling when they "seem to be sooooo worried about their public reputation". :confused: :nonod:

427V8

What REALLY anoys me, and makes me think that I will probably NEVER buy from Lifts Unlimited is the fact that Mitch LIED when he PROMISED to send you a check!

If he would have said, No, I'm sorry I can't do that, it was an accident...it would have been different, but this crap with OK I'll send you a check and NOT is a LIE

( assuming what you have told us is true )

PRNDL

1. Wow, what great service from Haggerty!! No, "It's not our responsibility", "that's not covered under this policy", "Your homeowners should cover this", "Lift owner is liable for this".... they just paid.

2. The sharing of information via the corvetteforum is an incredibly powerful tool, which is a threat to anyone that would prefer that certain information not get around. A GM dealer can tell individual owners, "Gee, nobody ever had that problem before" and there is little you can say in response..... unless you are on the forum and you know 25 other members that have the exact same problem.

I am sure the lift manufacturer would rather not have your experience publicized on the internet, but now that it's out there the issue is service and how it is handled.

3. I think you are entitled to your money back or your lift replaced, but you are not owed the now higher dollar value of a new lift.

Good luck getting this amicably resolved. :) MJ

ddecart

Wow. What a saga. Really sucks.

Right from the get-go the ball was in their court. They could have handled everythign expeditiously and we all would have been going "wow. poopie happens, but look at the way they came through with great customer service!" In that event, a negative incident would have turned into positive publicity.

Unfortunately, the foot dragging and the "check is in the mail" stores have dragged on so long that I think the chance of anyone here buying from them is pretty slim. Sucks that you're in the middle of it all. 4 months is ridiculous.

Dave

Frank75

Just incredible!

I'm not sure what Mitch thinks he is accomplishing, but the comments here should be some indication to him that he's probably pursuing the wrong path in terms of customer relations and future sales.

I have personally found all your posts to be helpful and informative. Hopefully this will be resolved soon to your full and complete satisfaction.

Fevre

From a product liability stand point, they are opening themselves up to a wrongful death suit and here is why:

If they have a flaw in their design and they have the means to research it and fix it, they have the legal obligation to do it in an expediant manor. Since your lift collapsed and they know about it, they should have had it picked up and studied for design flaws as soon as possible. If there is a design flaw (again that is if) and someone is killed by it happaning again, their lack of action in picking up your lift and studying why if failed could be construde as negligent and possible some form of manslaughter. That has nothing to do with them paying you it has everything to do with concern, or lack there of, for the safety of those who buy their product.

I don't recall if they actually came out and looked at your lift or had any engineers look at but if I owned a company that had a product fail which could have taken life, I would have had that lift picked up ASAP and studied immediately for design flaws. I am uncertain why their insurance company did/does not require it. This is a product designed for people to get underneath it, and the 3500+lbs car, on a regular basis so the chance for loss of life or bodily injury in the event of lift failure is very high.

I am not saying there is a design flaw but until your lift is studied to see why it failed, then we/they can never be sure. It brings to mind things like the Chevrolet sidesaddle gas tank and the Ford Pinto gas tank.

BTW They should have paid you by now too.


[Modified by Fevre, 7:50 PM 7/16/2002]