Bugger it, I'm going to reword it for you, so in future you know how to handle yourself slightly more professionally.
p.s. If you need help in future BEFORE you release a public statement, feel free to give me a call on 021 031 7454. $30 an hour or some beers and pizza. As a business owner, never communicate in anger.Hi Everyone,
I am Shahil Chand, owner and director of Transpro. I have been running this company for over 3 years during which my team has [been paid to help] hundreds of riders through the safe handling and transportation of bikes - to date we do not have a single complaint by way of damage to bikes and have maintained a 100% track record. We have transported anything and everything from rolling-body wrecks to customized $250,000 imports and have had a rapid rise in reputation and market share against our competitors, many of whom have been doing this far longer than us.
On the 31st of October, one of our tandem axle transporter trailers (being towed behind an 8-tonne Isuzu) ran into problems while on the Southern Motorway between East Tamaki and Highbrooke Exit (which the police later on termed "Section 33"). Both tyres on the left hand were punctured on the trailer and our driver was forced to park his truck on the side of the road as the trailer was grounded due to the 2.5 tonne load (There was another Subaru Legacy in the trailer as well). The driver ensured the trailer was parked safely and contacted me to organize a tow while he carried on with other drop-offs - which I did with Fairfax towing (there aren't many towing companies in Auckland area which have trucks large enough to cater for a 8 metre 2.5 tonne covered trailer apparently). At around 1-2 PM, the owner of the towing company contacted me to advise that he hadn't located the trailer in the area advised. I contact the police on 111 and spoke with NorthComms and AucklandComms to see if any of their officers had authorised a tow. They had a note on their system saying that our trailer had been sighted in section 33 by an officer as stranded and it had been stickered for a tow after 24 hours if hadnt been removed. There were no tow authorities logged, hence the police hadnt organised anyone to tow it. The operator from NorthComms also rang around the authorised towing companies servicing that area and apparently none of them had towed it away. That only left the possibilty of it being stolen and after nearly 3 hours of searching, I personally went into Porirua police station and filed a theft report. I had also contacted "Grasshoporus" [text deleted due to threatening tone] to inform him of these developments and provided him with a Case number within an hour after logging it.
After about 3 days of no contact from the police, I rang up again and enquired. Apparently a note had appeared on their system relating to a tow done by Onehunga Towing Services (OTS) authorised by an officer from Henderson. This had occurred 1.5 hours of the trailer being left behind (when in fact we technically had 24 hours to do so and there was no danger to traffic by any means). I was informed that the officer only logged this event on the system about 2 days later and the operator apologised that no one had bothered calling us to advise of this.
I called OTS and they assured me trailer was safe in their custody. I called "Grasshopperus" to advise him of the outcome and assured him delivery within a few days when my next truck was there. Prior to finding out that it hadnt been stolen, I had been in constant contact with Grasshopperus and even assured him that I would try my best to see if my insurance company would compensate over and above the $1500 carriers liability. The bike was handed over to Grasshopperus yesterday morning in the same exact condition in which it was received. [Hooray for all involved].
This whole experience has been quite stressful to all parties involved, including myself. It costs over $20 K to replace a trailer of this nature and especially with the modifications done to it. I had spent a significant amount of time and resources in search activity for nearly 3 days for this trailer and had despatched 5 teams of people in the Auckland area to find the trailer - all because of shortcomings on the part of the police.
[Deleted "However"] Alls well that ends well and I am glad that its over. [nothing wrong with four pages of posts about an incident, deleted] A few posters have gone to the length of posting out my home address and suggesting they "make noise" outside my property.
I do note that Grasshoperus has posted some updates of the event - however, not as clearly as it perhaps could[should changed to could] have been.
In this day and age when a company's repuation is pivotal and ever so easily tarnished, [I have signed up to these forums as I understand now how Kiwibiker could have an effect on reputation, and possibly be an excellent marketing tool, and am determined to give my side of the story].
[(replacement paragraph for finalé) I hope that there will be some apologies coming my way from a couple of posters who I feel have taken it too far. I hope you understand I am very sorry for being a large part of this stressful situation, and will endeavour to prevent something similar happening in the future.]
[DELETE entire paragraph, replaced above] I highly doubt that there would be any apologies coming my way from some of the posters - all I would like to emphasise is little knowledge can be a dangerous thing (just a point NEVER SUGGEST TO LIMITING THE KNOWLEDGE OF OTHER PEOPLE. THE PERSON WHO WOULD KEEP INFORMATION FROM YOU BELIEVES HIMSELF YOUR MASTER) and jumping to conclusions and making judgement calls (WHEN A BIKE IS STOLEN, SORRY HYPOTHESES NEED TO BE FORMED QUICKLY AND JUDGEMENT CALLS NEED TO BE MADE, IT'S A MOOT POINT WHETHER WHAT WAS REACHED WAS HYPOTHESES THAT WERE BEING TESTED OR CONCLUSIONS AS YOU STATE) without fully knowing the situation is a very sad reflection on anyone's character. (I'M AFRAID YOUR RESPONSE IS A REFLECTION OF YOUR CHARACTER).
Regards,
Shahil.
(edits by Jason)
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