Complaint Review: Carolina Compost - Camden North Carolina

I am writing  this as a warning to others.  I would really hate for this to happen to anyone else. 

On June 2, 2014, I found Carolina Compost and Silver Star Farms online advertising compost made from horse manure.  I called but only got an answering machine.  I looked all over the website for instructions on how to get a trailer load.  Not finding any, I decided to drive to 191 Lambs Rd in Camden, NC and get a trailer load for my garden in Kill Devil Hills.

This is a 53 mile trip one way so  I took my Border Collie with me for company.

When I got there, no one was at the loading area but I saw an elderly lady in the driveway.  When I asked her about getting some compost, she told me to drive to the house further up the driveway and they would help me.

I told her that I could see large aggressive dogs running up the driveway towards me.  She told me to “ just drive down there and tell them to take care of the dogs”.

I drove to the house.  There were 2 aggressive dogs that immediately jumped on all sides of my vehicle.   They appeared to be Lab-Chow mix.  The owner told me that they didn’t like other dogs.  She made no attempt to stop them or put them away.  I was afraid as they were baring teeth, and definitely trying to get into my vehicle.   I felt that I would have been bitten if I had gotten out of my jeep.

I asked her to please control the dogs.   She said “that’s just how they act when they see another dog”.

Her mother came out & asked her to stop their barking.  She put them in the house for a few minutes.

We discussed why I was there & she said  her husband wasn’t there.  I told her that I really came for a trailer load.  She told me that her children were sick but then her mother said she would watch the children while Mrs. Smith loaded my trailer.  She told me to drive down to the loading area and she would get the tractor and load my trailer with compost.

She went in the house apparently to get her keys and let the dogs back out.  They started barking and jumping on the vehicle again.

As I drove back to the area to get loaded, they came too.  Partway down the driveway, another Lab and a Rottweiler joined them so now there were 4 dogs!

They ran around and in front of the vehicle so that I had to brake often so as not to hit them.  Every time I slowed down, they started jumping on the jeep again.  I even rolled up the windows because they were tall enough to put their heads in the window and trying to jump in.  

I asked her several times to please do something about the dogs.  She would not.

When we got down to the loading area, I was having trouble getting the trailer where she needed it so she could load it.  She got in to help and to drive it for me. 

At that time my vehicle overheated and filled with toxic fumes.  We both agreed that for my safety and the safety of my dog, we needed to get out of the vehicle.  I  told her that I couldn’t get out until she did something to contain the dogs.

She then locked them up in the business restroom.

For over 1 ½ hours my dog and I sat in the horse barn and waited for a Tow truck.  I asked Mrs. Smith for permission to leave my trailer there because the tow truck couldn’t take it.  She said okay and showed me where to put it.  I gave her my card with all my information and told her I would be back to get the trailer as soon as possible after my Jeep gets repaired.

When the Jeep was being unloaded from the tow truck, I saw that it had been badly damaged by the dog attack.

6/3/14- I called my insurance company to ask what I should do.  They said I could file the damage on my policy but I have a $500 deductible and they can’t guarantee that my rate won’t go up.  They suggested that I call the business and file it on their insurance.

I called Carolina Compost and left a message telling them that my Jeep was scratched up by their dogs and asked for them to call me back with their insurance information.

-She called back and said it was my fault for showing up unannounced and that she doesn’t lock her dogs up ever.

She said her website says to call before coming.   I told her it does not say that anywhere and that I was only coming as a paying customer to purchase her advertised product.  In addition, her grandmother told me to drive up to the house and someone would help me.

She said her grandmother has dementia so I shouldn’t have listened to her.  I said I have no way of knowing that and I was only there to buy a product.

I told her that I had asked her repeatedly to put the dogs away.  She repeated that she doesn’t ever lock her dogs up and doesn’t intend to.  She said it was my fault for bringing a dog and showing up unannounced. 

Again, I said your website doesn’t say to make an appointment or not to have a dog in my vehicle.  I had tried to call but only got an answering machine.

She said that this had happened before without anybody ever asking her to pay for damages. 

She said a Florist was there recently and the dogs actually attacked her dog but she  didn’t ask them  to pay for the damages.

She refused to give me the name of her insurance company. 

She said she wasn’t going to pay for my damages and told me I would have to take her to court.  I told her that I would rather handle this nicely and not take it to court.  She said no, I have to take her to court.

 At 4:15 on that same day, her mother, Mrs. Harris called and said I have until 5:00 to remove my trailer or she will have it towed.

I had no way to go get it and even if I did, it takes longer than 45 minutes  for me to drive there.

She had just told me the afternoon before that it would be alright to leave it there until my jeep was fixed and I could come get it.

So I ended up with no compost, a jeep that needs a paint job, a $100 Tow bill for my trailer.