I would like to make a complaint about a company named Surplus Canada which is a division of Matelas Acces Direct Inc. The addresss I have is 805, Boulevard Wilfred Lavigne, Gatineau, Quebec, J9J 1V2. This company also has a warehouse at 13055 Kittle Road, Chesterville, Ontario. It's contact numbers are Phone: 819-682-4876; 613-448-1880 fax: 819-682-3966. The name of the contact person is Daniel St-Amour.
I met this company through the IMASD website. Below is an account of my experience with this company. I purchased a 40ft container of filing cabinets from this company and paid all funds of USD6, 102 up front which included shipping charges of USD3, 352. This payment was made on the 02/02/06 from my bank in Trinidad and Tobago.
This company used a freight forwarder, named Advantex Express Inc, who they initially told me they had a relationship with but when I contacted Advantex they told me that Surplus Canada was doing business with them for the first time. In fact Surplus Canada applied for credit with them using false references. This can be verified by calling Advantex Express Inc at 514-631-6000. You can speak to either Sandy Terrio or Henry Auclair.
Surplus Canada was very deceitful in their dealings with me from the onset but I did not find out till late. After making payment for the shipment I have continuously asked for the shipping documents to clear the container, which as we speak is lying at the Port of Port of Spain in Trinidad, but I have been fed lies all the time. I was always told they were sent with a courier and if I did not receive it as yet. When the container was close to arriving in Trinidad I contacted Advantex who told me that Mr. St-Amour was refusing to make payment.
After numerous attempts by Advantex and myself Surplus Canada has said blatantly that they are not going to make payment to the freight forwarder. The issue is that the freight forwarder has the shipping documents and they would not release it to me until they receive payment from Surplus Canada. It should be noted as I indicated above that I already paid Surplus Canada for shipping. I have asked and pleaded with both Surplus Canada and Advantex to release the documents to me but to date I have no documents to clear the container while charges start to accumulate.
Right now I am without my money and now my goods. I need whatever assistance I can get to have the documents released to me to clear the container. As I said before it has become very difficult to contact Mr. St-Amour. I even reported him through the RECOL website in Canada. He was eventually contacted by a police officer on my behalf, as they deemed it a civil matter, but he was rude to the officer, lied to the officer and even slammed the phone down on the officer. This can be verified at this number 613-993-6156 by Mr. Stefan.
I have also contacted the Consul General of Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Toronto, Mr. Michael Lashley at 416-495-9442 and [email protected] and the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in Ottawa at [email protected] to seek their assistance in this matter. In fact they have tried to contact Mr. St-Amour but they cannot seem to get through to him as he is deliberately avoiding contact.
Mr. St-Amour was supposed to pay the shipping charges over to Advantex on COD basis and this has not happened as yet. Advantex has also said they cannot release the documents to me till they get paid. I am currently in the process of trying to accumulate funds to pay the shipping in the interim as Surplus Canada is not taking my calls and not responding to my e-mails.
In addition to the sum I paid over to Surplus Canada for shipping I have to find USD2, 281 to pay Advantex now to get the documents to collect my goods which started attracting charges since Tuesday 4th April 2006. Despite several e-mails and conversations with Advantex to make some sort of concessions for me to get the documents to clear my goods they have indicated that I must pay the USD2, 281 to get the documents.
Mr. St-Amour has my money for shipping which I paid to him and he has put me in a very terrible situation. It should be noted that Mr. St-Amour via e-mail was deceitful to me by saying to me that Advantex was trying to charge him USD2000 more for shipping than the quoted price. At that time I knew this was not the truth as I had a copy of the fax, which was sent by Advantex on 20/03/06, that was sent to him stating the total charges. When I said this to him he never replied to me till this date. I sent that e-mail on 23/03/06.
I want you to know about this Dealer and his fraudulent dealings. I also need him to make that payment to Advantex if you can help in any way. If the payment is made to Advantex I can as per agreemnet with Advantex have it returned to me.
Premchand
San Juan
Trinidad and Tobago
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