On Oct 29, 1:42 am, Guppy the Corpse Pumper bunghole-
wrote:
On Oct 28, 12:30 pm, wrote:





I ordered a truckload of stone (gravel) for my rural driveway. I
phoned in the order and told them I wanted 2 inch stone without the
fines (fines means the sand and small pieces of stone). I was told
that they are currently out of the 2 inch, but they could bring either
3 inch, or common gravel which means a pile of crushed rock of any
size being an inch or smaller. I told them that this is for a hill,
and that "gravel" would be worthless in the next rain storm and told
them to bring the 3 inch without fines.

The truck finally arrives one and a half days after they said they
would come. The driver comes down my hill and gets the truck stuck in
the 2 foot deep rut that was in the roadway from a bad storm we had.
(I should note that although this rut was a definite problem, there
was room to drive next to it, and I had been doing this with my car
for several weeks without problems. But this trucker who seemed to be
a complete idiot drives right into it and gets stuck. Then he asks me
to pull him up the hill with my farm tractor, which I refused to do.
I was not going to wreck my tractor pulling a huge truck with 20 tons
of stone on it.

I should note that at this point I could not see what was in the dump
truck due to the height of the truck. I told the guy to dump a small
part of the load, pull forward further downhill, and I'd use my
tractor loader to spread the stone so he could get back up the hill.
I went to get my tractor while he dumped it. When I get back, I find
that he had not brought the 3" stone without fines, but had instead
brought that gravel, which was at least half sand. I told him he
brought the wrong stuff. He told me that is all they had. Having
little choice since the stuff was already dumped, I proceeded to
spread what he dumped so he could get back up the hill. He gets back
up the hill and even though I told him it was the wrong stuff, he
insisted on dumping the rest of it (since it was already there).

As soon as he dumped it and left, I phoned the company and left a
message for the original person I spoke to. Since then, I have called
several more times and could only leave messages. I have not received
a return call, and that was over 2 weeks ago. Yet, I got a bill in
the mail 3 days after the stuff was delivered.

I do not feel I should have to pay anything for this, since it is not
what I ordered. However, I was willing to pay them about half the
cost since I can use the stuff somewhere, but that means moving all of
it with my tractor loader. But after 2 weeks and no return phone
calls, I have decided to pay nothing at all. Apparently if they are
that uninterested in communication with their customers, then I am not
going to show any interest in paying their bill. How difficult can it
be to read a an order that states "deliver 3 inch without fines".

I am just wondering how others would deal with this matter. I am sure
that if I refuse to pay, this will end up in court and I really do not
need that hassle. Of course they are a large company and these
companies always win in court anyhow. Plus there is no way I can prove
that I left phone messages for them to call me.

I should mention that this gravel has already partially washed out
from rain. It's too small for use on a hill.

Alvin

Unless you plan on driving the 3 in. into the road surface you are
asking for trouble preading it on a hill. You will get NO traction
until you've spun most of it from under your wheels.

What you want is 3 in minus pit run from a pit that has dirty gravel.
(clay mixed with the gravel) Makes an excellent road.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


I agree with the advice to go over to their office as a next step.
Tell them your story and ask to see who took the phone order. Make
sure you tell them the drive said they brought gravel instead because
they didn't have the washed stone. Be nice and it's possible you
might get some mgr there with some brains that will sort it out,
ralize they are wrong and make right on it. The idiot dumping your
phone msgs may be the same person who took the order and realizes they
are the one that screwed up.

One additional question. Did you sign anything when they delivered
it? If offered anything to sign, I would have written "Gravel
delivered instead of 3" washed stone I ordered, unacceptable and must
be returned" Or similar, and then signed it. Failing that, I at
least hope you didn't sign anything at all. And what did the
paperwork say? Gravel or stone?

Regarding allowing them to continue to unload, I have to agree with
Neon, that I would have done everything possible to prevent that from
ever happening.. I would have told the driver to just wait right
there while I call the company about the problem. Or ask him to get
the company, they usually have radio or cell phone contact with the
company themselves. And if he still insists, then I'd tell him if he
dumps anymore of it, I'm calling the police. In fact, if he was in
any way beligerant, I'd just call the cops for assistance. In my
experience, it usually doesn't take too much to **** these guys off
and then they just leave.

I had a similar experience with a local rock company. I was buying
some rocks for landscaping and selected several from their yard. One
was a huge one, but the particular type of rock was the kind that can
usually be split. The yard manager offered to do that, and turn it
into 2 med size pieces. So, I get home one day to find the huge rock
sitting there. I went back to the company and the mgr got the yard
guy over and he said "We couldn't split it"

Well Duh? How dumb can you be to then just send over the whole
thing? They promptly came, took it away and refunded my money.