Business ProfileforDilworth Packing Company

On April 18, 2021, I bought an antique Singer sewing machine with treadle for $189.88 off an eBay seller in Charlotte, NC. Since I live in San Francisco, I contacted Deborah S***** of Dilworth Packing Company to arrange shipment. She was very pleasant; when I remarked on her friendly nature, she laughed and said she was 'country'. However, I was uneasy when she refused to insure the Singer for more than $100. I offered to pay for more insurance but she refused. On April 20, Ms. S***** packaged and shipped my Singer, via Fed Ex Ground, from Charlotte to San Francisco; the charge was $623.22. On April 28, my Singer arrived in my apartment. I was shocked to discover the fragile antique had been packed upside down inside a cheap cardboard box, the incredibly heavy cast iron legs and treadle on top, their weight crushing the Singer's fragile wooden top resting beneath them on the bottom of the box. When the Singer was taken out of the box, the fragile wooden top began disintegrating in front of me. Two friends of mine helped me unpack it and both were stupefied as to why anyone would package a fragile antique in such a ridiculous manner. On April 30, I phoned Ms. S*****' office and spoke to a sweet young woman, explaining my Singer had been packed upside down; I then emailed photos of the Singer resting upside down inside its box. The woman chirped, "I got your email. Wow!" Then she said Ms. S***** was out but would phone me on Monday. But Monday and Tuesday passed with no phone call from Ms. S*****. Finally, on Wednesday, I called her - and I got the shock of my life. The laughing, friendly Ms. S***** had vanished and in her place was a hostile woman snapping she'd never gotten my message of the previous Friday, nor the emailed pictures. Then, w/o giving me time to speak, she snapped she'd been forced to pack the Singer upside down because the cast iron legs were too "weak" and "fragile" to support the wooden top. (My first thought was, 'How do you know what my message said - i.e., my Singer was packed upside down - if you didn't GET my message?') Her hostility was so bad I reacted as I always do in times of stress - my voice goes low and soft. "The legs of the Singer are not fragile," I said evenly, "they're strong enough to support ten wooden tops." There was dead silence on the other end and my first thought was I'd spoken too low, she hadn't heard me. But then her screams exploded in my ear. "HEY! DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH LANGUAGE LIKE THAT! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Ms. S***** screamed and screamed. And that's when it hit me. She was embarrassed and ashamed; she'd done the stupidest thing in the world packaging a fragile antique upside down and she was insane to avoid being blamed for her stupidity. My voice was low again. "The legs of the Singer are not fragile." I repeated. Snap! Her screaming stopped. There was silence as Ms. S***** realized from my tone of voice that she could not intimidate me. Now she babbled into my ear. "I need to see your pictures." She babbled her email address and, as she was still on the phone, I emailed my pics to her. "Okay, I see them." she replied. Then she inhaled to start her battle again. "I packed the Singer upside down," she said, "to keep the center of gravity within the box." I was stunned by this ridiculous claim but managed to reply, again in my low voice. "Your bad packaging caused damage to my Singer. I want a refund." Silence. "Hey," snapped Ms. S*****, "your Singer was already damaged when I got it from the eBay seller." My low voice continued, "And packaging the Singer upside down made that 'damage' better? I want a refund." Silence. "Okay," snapped Ms. S*****, "call up Fed Ex and get the $100 from them." I protested that was her job, not mine. Silence. "Okay, fine!" snapped Ms. S*****. "I'll do it myself." SLAM! She hung up on me. That was May 5th. She never called back, so on June 7th I phoned her. She defiantly informed she had NOT filed a claim with Fed Ex because I had not sent her pictures of the Singer in its box. Iow, she was blaming ME for her doing nothing. I struggled to not get upset. "I sent them to you twice but I'll send them a third time. What is your email?" She gave it and, while she was still on the phone, I emailed the pics to her. "Yeah." she replied. I was struggling at this time to remain civil and, believe it or not, I succeeded. I kept my voice low, did not use abusive language and never once spoke disrespectfully. In that vein, I asked her to explain a mysterious $53 she'd charged to my credit card, in addition to the $623.22 she'd already charged me. "I don't know." she snapped. "I'll have to ask Accounting." (As it turned out, Ms. S***** had badly screwed up the Fed Ex packing invoice; when Fed Ex printed a new one, they charged her $53. She then slapped the $53 charge on my credit card without notifying me.) By this time, I was almost in tears but I kept them back as I asked her to explain why she'd only insured my Singer for $100, despite my paying $189.88 for it. Her answer stunned me. "Your machine wasn't worth any more than that." SLAM! She hung up on me. She never phoned me again. I have written this truth down in hopes others will avoid my unpleasant experience.

An independent arbitration was ruled in our favor that the client had bought a damaged machine from a eBay seller unseen and we're did nothing wrong'. We had photos of the machine prior to shipping showing the damage' , and the client was advised of such damage.

On 9/9/21 I submitted a complaint about Deborah ******' unprofessional and abusive treatment of me. She replied that my Singer had been damaged before she sent it to me, therefore "we're did nothing wrong". As you can clearly see, her reply has nothing to do with my complaint. I did not complain about my damaged Singer. I complained about something totally different - her unprofessional and abusive treatment of me. Ms. ******' unprofessionalism started with her choosing to package my antique Singer sewing machine inside a flimsy cardboard box ---- upside down. This caused the heavy cast iron legs and treadle to crush down on the fragile wooden case underneath them. Worse, placing the fragile wooden case on the bottom of the cardboard box meant the wooden case absorbed all the blows, jolts and drops during its long journey from Charlotte, NC to San Francisco, CA. This was especially dangerous because the wooden case was in no condition to withstand brutal treatment. It was in an advanced state of decay because the previous owner had left it outdoors (the cast iron legs were sound but the wooden case was in terrible shape). Ms. ****** knew this because, before shipping it, she first phoned me twice to tell me the wooden case was disintegrating. (I replied I already knew that because the seller had told me and I didn't care.) Yet, despite Ms. ****** knowing the fragility of the case, she still stubbornly packaged it --- upside down. NO reputable packing company would package a fragile antique in the stupid manner she did; i.e., placing the weakest part on the bottom with the heaviest part on top. Her packaging defied logic and sheer common sense. Unfortunately for me, her stupidity didn't stop there. After packaging my machine (in the worst possible way), she then filled out the Fed Ex Ground shipping label so sloppily that Fed Ex had to issue a new one, for which they charged her $53. Without telling me, Ms. ****** slapped the $53 on my credit card. Again, no reputable packing company would do that. Firstly, they wouldn't sloppily fill out a packing slip the wrong way; secondly, they'd never make a customer pay for something that wasn't the customer's fault. Ms. ******' final display of unprofessionalism was her reaction when confronted with the stupid way she'd packaged my antique Singer. Instead of apologizing or offering to refund her packaging costs, without showing any kindness or sympathy whatsoever, she defiantly said she'd HAD to pack the Singer upside down because ---- the legs were too 'fragile' and 'weak' to support the wooden case. This is not true. The eBay picture of the Singer clearly shows it resting firmly on strong cast iron legs that clearly were NOT 'weak' and 'fragile'. The seller also testified the legs were sound. My two friends in San Francisco who unpacked the Singer also saw the legs were strong and sturdy. Lastly, I saw the legs to be sound as a bell. In short, the cast iron legs were NOT to blame for Ms. ****** packaging the Singer the wrong way. She alone was to blame. Unfortunately, she refused to admit that and began concocting fibs. When I made it clear I wouldn't accept her untruths, she began screaming at me over the phone, no doubt hoping I'd hang up and leave her alone. I did not; instead, I asked for a refund. (Ironically, I hadn't started out wanting money from her, only an apology. But after she snarled and screamed at me, money was my only option.) No, she snapped. She would not give me a penny in refund; if I wanted any money, I'd have to file a claim with Fed Ex. When I said this claim was her job, she snapped "Fine!" and slammed the phone down on me. More than a month passed (May 5th to June 7th) with no word from her about the Fed Ex claim. Finally I called her. To my shock, she defiantly informed she hadn't contacted Fed Ex at all. When I pressed her, she snapped, okay, all right, she'd put in a Fed Ex claim - but only for $100. I was incredulous! I'd paid $189.88 for the machine, why was she only going for $100? Her irritated voice snapped in my ear. "It's because your machine isn't worth any more than that!" Slam! She hung up on me. She never phoned me again. This is the truth of what happened - and Ms. ****** proves it's the truth by not contesting a single word of my complaint. Instead she goes on about a completely different subject - the damaged Singer. As I said earlier, I was fine with the Singer being damaged before shipment. I was not fine, however, with Ms. ******' disastrous packaging of the damaged item nor her abusive response once she was confronted with how badly she'd botched things.

We will not comment or respond to this client. Case Closed.