CLEAN FLOORS
ENT. INC.
7215 N. LAGOON
DR
PANAMA CITY
BEACH,FL. 32408
Hi Bob,
I previously tried to
contact you in reference to Express Lanes decision to terminate my
use as a vendor for your floor care,i have sent you an e-mail,wishing
to discuss the matter and also called numerous times at the office.
As the president of Express Lane,i thought that you would show more
interest in the situation or at least want to hear both sides of the
story. This letter is to give you a little more info about situations
you may be unaware of.
Mark, your operations
manager has been trying to bring the same floor company in for some
time, even previous to the buy out. However, I am the one who had to
replace them because of the quality of their work, in stores who had
managers familiar with both companies work. Mark , also stated that
their wax held up better, so I bought a different wax ,tried it at xl
37,that wax held up from the time I was told to stop doing the floors
there by Reid Lewis till they tore it down. Mark was aware of this
and even though he told me that I was going to get Tallahassee stores
back,kept the other company. The sad thing here is that whenever I
would do store 20,the other stores would be complaining of the work
the other company was doing. I , suggested, not Mark,we do behind the
counters,backrooms and bathrooms, Mark then told me it was not going
to be allowed due to extra cost. Imagine,my surprise, a few weeks
later, when I discover that the other company , has been told by the
D.M., to start doing that exact work. Upon addressing the situation
with Mark, he told me their contract was different, if so why had it
not been done before. After the Kroger situation, Mark told me to
just do the floors for Express Lane, that it would be easier on me
and I would not have to worry. Foolishly, I concede, I thought about
it and decided that would probably be best . At the end of June
2012,Mark requested a meeting with me, he then informed me the stores
would only be done once a month, they would be done for 105.00 mth,
and if I did not like it he would hire another company. I was quite
simply shocked, I wrote Jim Lewis a letter , based on the fact I
thought the company might be hurting financially,which you can ask
him about. I also asked Mark about any extra work , scrubbing ceramic
floors, painting,etc.,any thing that would generate extra income. To
which he replied he would try to see if he could find any. Like most
people, I live on a budget, determined by the income I have coming in
, this played hell with ability to pay my bills. In Nov. I told Mark
, that if he was trying to put me out of business, he had pretty well
succeeded, and that I could not afford to keep doing the stores .
This evidently, upset him , after further discussion, we agreed that
I would strip all the floors , as was usual practice for the end of
the year. It was during this time I first heard that the company may
be bought out,which was a shocker for me. One of the thoughts that
crossed my mind toward the end was why were we stripping the floors
if being bought. A lot of people stated that it was not a sure thing
so I figured Express lane was trying to ensure stores looked good
for the holidays as norm.
When I went in to pick up my
last check from the strips , while in the office I heard that the
Lewis s where wondering why the stores where being stripped. I was
upset, I thought they knew and in addition did not want to have them
think I was taking advantage of the situation. I waited over an hour
for them to finish their meeting and met with Reid after wards. I
told him about Marks and my previous meeting , where he authorized
the strips, and Reid stated he believed me and was wondering what
Mark was up to. While I was in the lobby after meeting Reid,about 15
mins. Later Mark walks in to tell me to stop all floor work. On
asking why he states its due to the fact I am not on same service
plan as the other company . Duhhhh. I have been ,but ok.. The next
time I see him is when you and I met for the first
time,accidentally at the store down the street from my house. I guess
that was convenient for Mark, you know.
So we have our meeting, I am
sure you recall, and then after wards, Mark and I go to his office.
He tells me to go right to work, knowing it has been rough on me
financially and he would get me a check asap. I tell him I don’t
have the money for gas and he loans me 50 dollars, I put in my tank.
Then I turn in the invoices and call for my check at which time Holly
tells me it will be about a mth or so. She doesn’t understand why
Mark did not inform me , as this is SOP for Lehigh. Then I get
another phone call from Holly asking me about my work orders, I
explain no one said anything about them and that you and Mark had
told me to get stores done so that’s what I was doing. She then
informed me without the proper paperwork, I would not get paid. All
this is new to me, no one had said anything previous to this
conversation, she told me to wait till I got the paperwork from
office ,which is what I did. I never got paid for 1 or 2 stores due
to this. I called Mark and it was then he started to get paperwork
done. I noticed on my paperwork that the it was only authorized up
to June 30th , which I thought was kinda strange,middle of
the season you know. I even thought it might be standard ,however I
learned later, maybe erroneously, that other companies had yearly
contracts, oh well . We shall see.
Sopchoppy, I really don’t
know what you were told. I can assure you of this, the truth about
that situation is going to be forthcoming. Mark, has lied to people
in your office, that know me and it has left me with a bad taste in
my mouth, in addition he tells me he is gonna give me a good
recommendation and that just does not add up. The final nail in the
coffin,is your new floor company, I ran into them at about 8-8:30 in
the morning doing Express Lane 1,stripping the floor. They had not
finished so I went back later, a little nervous to scope out their
finished product ,fearful it might be better then mine. Oh yeah,
first they don’t put down as many coats as I do and there edge
work was not as good. They also told the store personnel,and manager
they would be back that Friday and never showed. Then I heard from
one of your customers about them stripping the store on Jenks ave.
on a Saturday night, one of your busier nights and how the entire
store was blocked off with the exception of the register area, at
7pm. When customers wanted something it was either no, or they were
told to walk on the stripper,setting everyone up for a lawsuit, that
is so unprofessional. When I did the stores I always, always put the
customers first, if they could not get to merchandise,either myself
or the clerks made sure they got what they wanted. Never would I
allow a customer to be placed at risk by having them walk on stripper
or wax, and if I had to redo a section to make sure the customer was
taken care of, that’s one of the things that go with doing stores
while they are open.
Wrapping all this up, I realize
you don't know me, I was favorably impressed with you agreeing to meet
with me at the office and taking the time to discuss the floor care
program. The only thing that bothered me during our conversation was
that I personally don’t think you ask the question ,why, enough to
get to the heart of a matter. Who am I to say though, I do realize
that things can be misunderstood or misrepresented, especially if the
other person such as yourself is not present ,or too busy to take
matters into your own hands, that is after all the reason for other
to help take up the slack or various duties. I have been working on
this, I even briefly brought it up to Rep. Patronis ,while discussing
another matter,in addition I have been advised to bring the situation
to court,that will have to wait till I can afford a lawyer, if
necessary. The one thing I will be doing for sure is bringing this
matter to the attention of Lehigh's stock holders, one of the things
about having a public company is that the shareholders have a right
to know what is going on in the company. I do want to say thanks for
giving me the opportunity to demonstrate my work to you,and granting
me some of your time. One last thing why did Mark state to you that
the floors had been done a couple of weeks before,when he had
terminated my services before Xmas, leaving me to be the one who was
honest with you,at XL 44.
Sincerely yours,
Marino Vorrosso
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