Open Letter to Gray's Disposal Company, Nashville, TN

Photo of a smaller Electrolized-Electroweld cabinet with more rust and wear from online source

Gray's Disposal Company
PO Box 40491
Nashville, TN 37204-0491


Dear Mr. Gray,

In May of 2013, your disposal men removed my mother's antique white metal Electrolized-Electroweld storage cabinet from my premises, even though it was not close to the trash can. I had it sitting next to the sidewalk to my back door while I cleared a space out in my utility room. I immediately called you the day it happened and you confirmed your men had taken it. I asked that it be returned but when I finally reached you again, you said the antique cabinet had been disposed of and could not be recovered.

You said you would pay for a new one if I could find one, so I spent several days driving across Middle Tennessee and calling various antique and salvage stores trying to find one. When I suggested it might be quicker and more affordable for you to also help me search, your man Darius said as a small, family-owned business you wouldn't have time to help look for one.

On June 2 after leaving several messages with your phone service, I sent you an email with a link to the only similar cabinet I had found, one that was smaller and not in as pristine shape as mine was.

On June 26, I sent you another email stating I had spoken to Linda Marksberry at Goodlettesville Antique Mall who said I should expect to pay at least $300 for an Electrolized-Electroweld cabinet in relatively good condition, more for one in real good condition, and would then have the additional cost of having someone move it for me. She suggested $450 as a total for replacement, tax, and delivery of an Electrolized-Electroweld cabinet in good condition.

On July 7, after not hearing from you in over a month and having you not reply to my several messages with your phone service, I sent you the June 2nd email again and asked for a response. I continued calling until I reached you and you said you would send me a check for $450.

Since July 7, 2013, I have attempted to follow up with you countless times every month. My phone records will show numerous monthly calls over an 8-month period to your number both during business hours and after hours as I repeatedly called to find out when you would be sending me the promised check.

You turned bad customer service into a "the check is in the mail" farce as you have promised me for EIGHT MONTHS you would be taking care of this every time I was lucky enough to catch you in the office. EVERY TIME we have spoken, you have PROMISED ME the check was going in the mail "next week." And every time I have spoken to the woman who answers your phone, she tells me she is just your answering service and that she is passing on all my messages to you.

That antique cabinet had sentimental value that can never be replaced, but it was also a working storage cabinet which had some of my possessions in it when your men hauled it away without permission. I have not been able to replace it in all this time because you have never sent the check you have promised. Eight months of promises have turned into lies.

When I spoke to you at the end of 2013, I told you that if you did not pay me within a week. the next time you heard from me it would be a certified letter and that I would be attaching interest to what has turned into an 8-month loan that I never agreed to. It is now January 12 and you still haven't paid me. The prime rate for your 8-month loan is 3.25%.  

You have apparently mistaken patience and kindness for stupidity and lack of purpose because I have bent over backwards to give you every opportunity to keep your word out of respect for your father and grandmother. You may think I am some kind of stupid, but I am not the one who has forgotten to mail a check every week for 32 weeks.

When I spoke to you yesterday, you once again claimed to have "forgotten" to mail it. You really must think I am stupid, because you once again said you would put the check in the mail. I said that would no longer work and said we would have to meet for you to hand deliver a check. You said you would bring it to where I work on Sunday, Jan. 12 between 10 and 3. When I left work at 3:08 today, Sunday, Jan. 12, you had once again not kept your word.

When I called you just now, you informed me that you put the check in the mail today, Sunday, Jan. 12 even though I told you during our conversation yesterday that I didn't want to wait for a check to be mailed any longer and you said you would bring it to me. You have said it will be in my hands on Tuesday. If I do not have the check from Gray's Disposal Company for $450 in my hands on Tuesday, I am starting small claims proceedings ON TUESDAY.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Darden