Gordon Pollard of The Mailbox Center (Pollard Postal LLC) in Haines City, FL packaged and shipped two antique dining room chairs that came from my late father's home on 3/24/2014 from FL to NH. The chairs were improperly packed into boxes that were too small for the chairs, resulting in damage to both chairs. There was NO packing material in the boxes, and it has been confirmed by the UPS courier and an expert in furniture construction, repair and refinishing that the damage was caused by the shipper. I contacted my CC company, and they attempted a charge back, but I recently received notification that the charges were going back on my CC because it was for a "service rendered" and a service provided, regardless of the damage to the chairs. My CC company rep was very apologetic, because since they had all of the photos and documentation, she also believed it was shipper error. Additionally, Gordon Pollard deliberately delayed the $200 insurance payment for nearly 2.
5 months. Another issue was a blatant attempt at price gouging. I was initially given an estimate by his employee, Vicki, for a price of $220 per chair to ship the chairs, total $440. This estimate was given to a friend of my late father, who brought the chairs into The Mailbox Center for estimate, then took them back to her home and called me. On her second trip to the Mailbox Center with the chairs, he told her to get them packaged, and she told Gordon that it wasn't her responsibility, so she left the chairs for him to package. He then called me and told me it was going to cost $990. My jaw dropped and I said "WHAT?" He bantered back and forth with Vicki without putting me on hold, she told him he made a mistake, and he then came back with the price of $725.59 to ship both chairs. As he did not put me on hold, I heard their entire conversation. I was stuck in NH with two antique chairs in FL at the shipper, so I paid the $725.59. He told me that if I had the chairs taken back to my father's friend, he would charge me for the materials and his time. When I got the chairs in NH, I asked the UPS courier if I could open the box and inspect them. His first comment was "what, no packing materials?" After bringing the chairs to an expert (35 years) in the furniture business, he confirmed that the shipper caused the damage by putting them into boxes too small for the chairs, and by not using any packing materials whatsoever, and that Mr. Pollard caused further damage by cutting another box of the same size in half and putting it over the top, thus squeezing the arms of the chairs even more. I wrote to Gordon Pollard (email June 24th) and asked him to do "the honorable thing" and credit me the shipping charges for the badly damaged chair, and to send the insurance check, as it had been over 2 months since the claim was approved. I received the $200 (not UPS insurance as they denied the claim) check on July 10th. He ignored my request for a partial refund, of course, as he ignored my request to submit a claim for the second chair, which received damage to the finish. He also ignored my request for the reasons that UPS gave for denying the claim. He did threaten to delay the insurance check (and he did this) because I had my CC company charge back the charges. I have complete and thorough documentation, as well as photographs. I have retained all of my email communications with Mr. Pollard. I have reported his business to the FL Atty General, Pam Bondi, and my complaint can be found on the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida by searching for either The Mailbox Center or Pollard Postal LLC. Mr. Pollard is a very stubborn and unpleasant man to deal with. He has refused to accept responsibility for the damage, and blames UPS. There was no external damage to the boxes, only internal damage from the arms and the base of the chair being squeezed. The boxes are 24", and the arms of the chairs flair out 25 1/4 inches.
Mr Pollard told me by means of email that UPS denied the claim. I recently found out directly from the claims department of UPS the reasons that UPS denied the claim:
1) Internal packaging (there was none)
2) Product placement (box too small)
It was also confirmed to me by a UPS rep that in spite of Mr. Pollard's claim to me that he was following up and disputing the denied claim, UPS confirms that he never did dispute it. Instead, I received an "insurance" check from his business "Pollard Postal LLC."
UPDATE: As of two days ago, I found out that UPS did indeed send Gordon Pollard of The Mailbox Center a check for $369.11. It was sent to him on May 8th, and it appears that he decided to keep it for himself. I confirmed with UPS that it was intended to be a refund that was sent to him on MY BEHALF, and I have not received this check!
I wish I could enter a zero star rating, but 1 star is the lowest Yelp allows.
The Mailbox Center Reviews
Gordon Pollard of The Mailbox Center (Pollard Postal LLC) in Haines City, FL packaged and shipped two antique dining room chairs that came from my late father's home on 3/24/2014 from FL to NH. The chairs were improperly packed into boxes that were too small for the chairs, resulting in damage to both chairs. There was NO packing material in the boxes, and it has been confirmed by the UPS courier and an expert in furniture construction, repair and refinishing that the damage was caused by the shipper. I contacted my CC company, and they attempted a charge back, but I recently received notification that the charges were going back on my CC because it was for a "service rendered" and a service provided, regardless of the damage to the chairs. My CC company rep was very apologetic, because since they had all of the photos and documentation, she also believed it was shipper error. Additionally, Gordon Pollard deliberately delayed the $200 insurance payment for nearly 2.
5 months. Another issue was a blatant attempt at price gouging. I was initially given an estimate by his employee, Vicki, for a price of $220 per chair to ship the chairs, total $440. This estimate was given to a friend of my late father, who brought the chairs into The Mailbox Center for estimate, then took them back to her home and called me. On her second trip to the Mailbox Center with the chairs, he told her to get them packaged, and she told Gordon that it wasn't her responsibility, so she left the chairs for him to package. He then called me and told me it was going to cost $990. My jaw dropped and I said "WHAT?" He bantered back and forth with Vicki without putting me on hold, she told him he made a mistake, and he then came back with the price of $725.59 to ship both chairs. As he did not put me on hold, I heard their entire conversation. I was stuck in NH with two antique chairs in FL at the shipper, so I paid the $725.59. He told me that if I had the chairs taken back to my father's friend, he would charge me for the materials and his time. When I got the chairs in NH, I asked the UPS courier if I could open the box and inspect them. His first comment was "what, no packing materials?" After bringing the chairs to an expert (35 years) in the furniture business, he confirmed that the shipper caused the damage by putting them into boxes too small for the chairs, and by not using any packing materials whatsoever, and that Mr. Pollard caused further damage by cutting another box of the same size in half and putting it over the top, thus squeezing the arms of the chairs even more. I wrote to Gordon Pollard (email June 24th) and asked him to do "the honorable thing" and credit me the shipping charges for the badly damaged chair, and to send the insurance check, as it had been over 2 months since the claim was approved. I received the $200 (not UPS insurance as they denied the claim) check on July 10th. He ignored my request for a partial refund, of course, as he ignored my request to submit a claim for the second chair, which received damage to the finish. He also ignored my request for the reasons that UPS gave for denying the claim. He did threaten to delay the insurance check (and he did this) because I had my CC company charge back the charges. I have complete and thorough documentation, as well as photographs. I have retained all of my email communications with Mr. Pollard. I have reported his business to the FL Atty General, Pam Bondi, and my complaint can be found on the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida by searching for either The Mailbox Center or Pollard Postal LLC. Mr. Pollard is a very stubborn and unpleasant man to deal with. He has refused to accept responsibility for the damage, and blames UPS. There was no external damage to the boxes, only internal damage from the arms and the base of the chair being squeezed. The boxes are 24", and the arms of the chairs flair out 25 1/4 inches.
Mr Pollard told me by means of email that UPS denied the claim. I recently found out directly from the claims department of UPS the reasons that UPS denied the claim:
1) Internal packaging (there was none)
2) Product placement (box too small)
It was also confirmed to me by a UPS rep that in spite of Mr. Pollard's claim to me that he was following up and disputing the denied claim, UPS confirms that he never did dispute it. Instead, I received an "insurance" check from his business "Pollard Postal LLC."
UPDATE: As of two days ago, I found out that UPS did indeed send Gordon Pollard of The Mailbox Center a check for $369.11. It was sent to him on May 8th, and it appears that he decided to keep it for himself. I confirmed with UPS that it was intended to be a refund that was sent to him on MY BEHALF, and I have not received this check!
I wish I could enter a zero star rating, but 1 star is the lowest Yelp allows.