Direct USA Meats ripoff greedy scamming dishonest fraudulent Austin Texas
Ok,... wow I just found this site and there are a couple of businesses that I need tovent about. Now, in early March I was sitting at home with my husband and mother in law-ish. Then Two men came to the door. They were way out of shape and were walking everywhere with boxes of meat trying to find a potential customer. I was excited because that would cut down on the shopping, right? But then they told me the prices. Now I remember that I already spent too much money on groceries the day before so I told them to come when we got paid.
But they wouldn't listen. "I SAID NOOOOO MON-NEY!" Well at least I thought it and just said it politely. They still kept trying me,... dropping the price lower and lower. Then one of them got a little lightbulb, they told me that because my husband was in the military, we would get a discount or write a post-dated check for three days from then. I told them no matter how much they lower the prices I have to more money to just spend out of budget. I told them I could write a check and post-date it to the middle of the month but not before the 14th of March. So Micheal, his hand was injured probably by an irrate customer that spoted him on the street, called his supervisor to make sure that I could write a check post dated out that long. His supervisor confirmed, only if micheal could front the box that I was about to buy until the 14th.
Micheal said everything was ok and that I could post date the check, but he haggled with me with the date. He wanted it to be sooner. I was about to rip up the check and kicked him out until he gave in. But before I would even fill out the check my mother-ish wrote his phone number down for me. And I gave him mine. I told him that I would write this check but if he would call me to make sure that I had made it to the bank before him to throw in some cash-pay day. He said absolutely.
Less than a week later he cashed the check. The worst part was that it was well before payday, I had a bill to pay, and I didn't find out from him. The bank called to tell me that because he cashed it, 120 dollars, and another transaction, plus fees I was in the hole. Over 200 in the hole. Now I am a college student who is married to a soldier. That $200 was what I needed to pay my bills and gas. I had to borrow money and move in a roommate. I tried to call Micheal. But he said that he would take care of me. He didn't. He avoided tell me the numbers "I" needed to straighten it out by myself. My bank wouldn't help either. I never recieved a returned call. He never took my information. He just said that he remembered me. Not to mention the quality of the steaks were nowhere near how they dress them up. And I do feed them to the dogs. I contacted BBB and am getting ahold of my lawyer to see what I can do if they don't give me some money for all that crap they put me through. They don't know who they are messing with. I fight to win. And I DO win.
Olisa
Killeen, Texas
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Joe
Cape Coral,Florida,
U.S.A.
Good 'Ol Direct USA
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, June 27, 2006
i used to work for this company....right out of high school...17 years old...i worked for them for 3 years! what a job...what an experience!! what a way to make some pretty good money (at my age at least)...easily make $100-$200 a day....in a matter of a couple sales....i'm not going to go on and on......but if you bought meat from Direct USA, Midwester MEats, Northern Meats, or any other door to door salesman trying to sell meat....you probably paid between $138 - $178 for the case of meat...a case consists of 5 boxes..a box of t-bones, a box of delmonicos, a box of skewers, a box of chopped steak, and a box of bacon wrapped filets! REMEMBER these are whatever the salesman says these are....ALL OF THIS MEAT IN THIS CASE is utility beef...some very cheap sirloin...for example...the bacon wrapped filet mignons you bought...are simply cheap sirlion wrapped w/ bacon...etc, etc, etc....and as an "INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR" we get the box for around $93 - $103 a case (can get as low as $80something depending on how many we sold for the day.....so selling the case for around $150+ is a profit of $50 or more for us....three, four deals in a span of 5 hours of knocking on 100+ doors EQUALS $150 -$200+ in our pocket...it's really a numbers game...we have to knock on over a hundred doors to make at least $100 & change......anyway....I remember working for a guy who sold meat out of his house w/ a couple of guys who had their own trucks and small freezers, etc....the owners of these kind of places get this CASE of 70-80 cuts of steaks for around $40. so they make $50-$70 off each CASE that WE (independent contractors) SELL/BUY off them.....because we get them for $90-$105 & pay them that for it...so it's really ours on consignment from them....and d**n they make a killing....our little office in Cape Coral (DIRECT USA) when it was there back in '99-'02 we would sell AT LEAST 60-100 CASES a day...i would think...because we had 10 trucks going out every day w/ two contractors on each...and each contractor would sell at least a couple at worst & more like 3 or 4 CASES a peice.....so for the month 2,000 -3,000 CASES at $50-$60 profit from the contractors!! WHAT A BUSINESS TO RUN!!!!!!!!!!! BUT WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?? it's not like they're forcing people to buy the stuff....a little tip to you: if someone comes knocking on the door trying to sell something....just say you don't have the time & have a good one (and just close the door)....they will go away....it's just a numbers game to them, it's not like they're going to get pissed because you slammed the door on them...they know they're going to get 100 slammed doors a day...it's the 2, 3, 4 doors that don't get slammed are the ones that they take advantage of. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY NO & HAVE A NICE DAY! CLOSE THE DOOR! and about the meat being bad?? you can imagine working there for a few years being 17, 18, 19, 20 years old....and being my own boss...i would stop at home for lunch and take a couple steaks out of a case and eat a couple before going out for the day to work! i've eating HUNDREDS of these steaks and there's nothing wrong with them. they're just not worth the price most people pay for them......unless you pay around $50-$75 for the CASE of meat the independent contractor has....it's pretty much a rip off......most people pay around $150 for a case (which i told you the boxes & cuts earlier) and the majority of the cuts (25 of the 80 out of case) are chopped steak..(hamburger patties)....and total the CASE is only 19 LBS of sirloin......that's all i'm going to say about this.
Aafes
Viernheim,Europe,
U.S.A.
I don't know which is more disturbing
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, May 30, 2006
I don't know which is more disturbing. That you buy meat from a door to door "meat man" or that you are upset you wrote a "post dated" check and it was cashed early.
The post dated check. In all honesty is no more than a "myth". You rely solely on the person receiving the check to keep their word and not cash it before the date you indicated. Check cashing is regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code in most states. The last time I checked this subject all states allow the bank to cash the check prior to the date you indicated UNLESS you have notified the bank in advance - If you do so they will flag your account and not process the check early.
Buying meat from a door to door "meat man" is questionable at best. With diseases like Mad Cow and E-coli tainted meat appearing routinely in this industry it is certainly not a practice I would endorse. For goodness sake, they could sell you horse meat and you would not know different.
I am not posting to slam you, I know you were trying to get a good deal, just be wary of any situation that seems too good to be true. If you want a good deal on beef or other meat, and want to buy large quantities you can go to a local fair, participate in the 4H auction and buy an entire cow. There are commercial butchering/freezer facilities that will process and store the beef for a fee.