Advanced Auto Part has gone Corporate

[snowbrothers101]

Was it Doug Ding?

[DeereGuy]

Yes, Mr Ding, Is he a friend of yours snowbrothers101.

I did make a couple of calls to a Mr Barnes from Advance facilities mgmt. He did finally call me back but I missed it somehow. He left a message that he would try to make it right so we will see what right is. Too late to call now. Contact is a step in the right direction. Looking around for a replacement lot. Everything in my area seems to be staked out already but I'll keep looking. You just never know is my experience.

[DeereGuy]

What happened Snowbrothers?

So here is what happened with regard to the lost contract. I exchanged info and a phone call with a Mr. Barnes, who is facilities management with Advance Auto. He explained that the company decided to go with a regional this year late in the season and apologized for the lost contract. He agreed to "make it right" and we did. I compromised on my end a bit and he agreed to pay a fair portion of the contract. He mentioned that he was a certified snow contractor through the SIMA course and treated me well I thought.

To say that I was happy with the end result given the possibilities is an understatement. Did I lose some potential dollars? yes absolutely. Given their position, they could have made me go to court for some compensation. A appreciate the fast track to a fair solution. Mr. Barnes asked a great question. Do you think your contract will hold up in court. or, do you have faith in your contract. I do not....

The first money spent on overhead for next season should probably be in the contract language dept. A tough wake up call. I'll be looking at the SIMA info in my spare time this winter. My contract is based on an 8 yr old Sima CD. It just doesnt not pass the test at this point in time.

[framer1901]

Most contracts have some kind of "out" in them. I've seen some 30 days and others 7 days.

I would be grateful that you received anything out of that deal. It seems your contract was cancelled well in advance of any snowfall.

Sorry to come off that way, but it's not like they told you in January.

[shredder]

We had some Advanced Autos here in west michigan last year, same thing, lost out because of corporate. East siders getting the jobs for tripple, subbing it out the lots out on this side of the state to people willing to do it for 25.00 per push.

[DeereGuy]

Can't agree with you there framer. IMO Snowfall has nothing to do with it. I had a signed contract for the seasonal term, date of signature to april 20. No out, No, sorry we changed our mind. It was my contract that they signed, not there's. I'm not sure it would have held up in real court but small claims, perhaps. I do think Mr. Barnes cut me some slack and understood that by waiting to close his regional deal so that he could gain bargaining leverage, getting a better deal, I got burnt. I think that is a reasonable assessment and he responded in a manner conducive to best business practices. Old school, where integrity means something. I was, quite frankly, surprised. No matter what he decided to pay me, his corporate deal is going to save them lots of dough. I took my contract off an old SIMA CD almost 10 years ago. I never showed it to a lawyer. It was not scribbled on a napkin. It had some legalese in it and explained clearly what the deal was. Yes I did plow 2" and salted the week before they terminated it. Not that it matters. I tried to do my due diligence and it paid off..

I think he saved his company a couple grand in the long run on my contract by settling out of court, so we both won. Compromise... He got hundreds of cheap contracts across the board and I got almost half my expected dollars for a broken contract.

This is important. I didn't stop with what the seasonal price was. I expected to make $2730 on salt in addition to the seasonal plow price during an avg winter. 14 events for my neck of the woods. Combine the seasonal plowing amount with the expected avg salt money, less fuel, and my cost of treated salt and that was what I felt we were negotiating for or what I considered my loss to be. I asked for half. All my accounts are estimated out so that I know what kind of money I have to purchase/fix equipment and can justify getting up in the morning. If I'm not making money, I'm going to limit my exposure. That's just me.

And hey, don't be sorry. If you feel I had no right to the money than that's fine. I'm not going to take anything personal on here. Too old to care these days. I've never taken anyone to court by the way, nor has anyone taken me to court so it's not about that. I do a lot of everyday business on verbals. It is about trust. He broke the trust. He broke it inadvertently as the store did get supervisor approval but it was never reported to his dept that I was contracted.