Where are the honest decent business people?

I am really so fed up lately. It's like everyone Emilio and I deal with is dishonest. From vendors, to our building developer and even our business landlord I am so sick and tired of dealing with people who have questionable business ethics.
We give them the opportunity to do the right thing and they choose not to do it.

Today Emilio in anger said we need to start doing what they do, my answer is no we aren't that kind of people and he agreed. But we can't let them get away with it either. It's just so tiring to have people take advantage of you.

There are many decent, good and honest customers though. Emilio keeps getting praise for his cakes and I am so proud of him. We appreciate it so much when people come back to say how much they loved the cake Emilio made for them. We're still struggling through the winter though. Come on Spring!

Consumer Protections Warning: London Major Food Equipment

Restaurant Liquidators 2008 has changed their name to London Major Food Equipment. Please read our experiences on this blog with this company and also the below comments from others. I apologize to both these commenters for not seeing their post until today. I wasn't notified of your comments in the archives.

I won my lawsuit, Adam Soufan didn't show up to two hearings and by default I won.
I will continue to make sure the public knows about this company under whatever name it works under.

If anyone out there has the Business ID number under the new name please sent it along, there is no business licence under London Major Food Equipment despite them running the same business under the new name on the internet and Kijiji. Shame on Kijiji once again for not protecting consumers. Also the BBB is useless.


Javamaster said...
Tom, I too just recently purchased equipment from Adam and would love to take part in your Lawsuit. I was consistently promised that the espresso machine would not only be delivered and installed, but they would remove the old ones and fix one of them so I would have a back up. Well that was really nice of him…Anyway he pleaded about needing the deposit before installing it because his partner. I told him I am out of town for a couple of days and couldn’t have the espresso machine down as it is most of my business and gave him $1000 (n credit card). Well a couple of day went by, still promised that he would have it delivered and INSTALLED on Monday. That said, the machine was delivered that was it. After several phone calls to Adam on why he didn’t install it he promised he would be by to hook it up. I returned back and still nothing. A couple of more days went by (It was Thursday now) and John one of Adam’s associated dropped by, but couldn’t hook it up as it didn’t have the proper power…Long story short, John said he could run the proper power but it would cost me and he wouldn’t be able to do it until the next day. That said, Friday John showed, I paid him he ran the power, hooked up the machine and turned on the water. Nothing happened so we took the from panel off and WOW, a massive expansion crack in the tank, I have pictures. So the machine was not just filthy but know useless. I asked him why he told me he tested the unit BEFORE he delivered it, he said he did, finally it admitted he tested it last winter…
He promised to have another unit Deliver that night as I had an event that evening, but no Adam, no machine. Spoke to Adam again, who said the other unit also failed but he found another one that defiantly works and he was going to pick it up Saturday morning and install it that evening. Well 9pm Saturday, No Adam. Called he said I do have the machine, and he was on his way back to his shop to hook it up to double check to see if it works. He asked if it was all possible if he could install it Sunday as he was very exhausted. I being a very patient and fair individual said fine. He said he would be here by noon. Sunday noon, No Adam. Called and left well over a dozen messages on his cell. Finally Dave the GM answered his phone and said Adam wasn’t available, but he was working on my machine as it had a leak and not working. Well, that was the end of it.
Dave said they are more than willing to refund the money. But by this point, it is too late for that I told him as I was down for a complete week, and lost a lot of revenue not to mention the events and the lost sales there. I am a coffee shop with a competitor just around the corner; Guess who got the business…And I know have to try and locate another unit.
So Tom, please contact me and we can discuss it further. Oh yeah, when I mentioned your name to him, well, contact me and I will fill you in.

Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:48:00 PM


Shawarma man said...
Restaurant Liquidators have changed their name to "London Major Food Equipment".
I'm a supplier of food equipment and sold equipment to him for which he never paid.
Story is the same; numerous phone calls, left messages, etc. Adam calls back, says he'll be in town & will pay, doesn't show up, blah, blah, same crap.
I sent this company an email based on their add on Kijiji & was told not contact again with "unsavoury comments" because it is a new company, with new employees, I don't buy it.
Another supplier has told me that Adam keeps Incorporating the companies he opens to limit personal liability, and this is definately not the first time he has changed names.
Let me know if you plan on pursuing the law suit, you can only go after him & his assets, do not file against "Restaurant Liquidators" as it'll get you nowhere due to rights of corporations.

Friday, October 02, 2009 4:04:00 PM

Life Update

Emilio and I celebrated 8 years together on the 13th. We had a nice prime rib dinner at the Keg Mansion.

The store has been slow as we expected this time of year. We might close for another week in February. It's nice to get a break and why sit in a store with no customers? We know summer will be killer again just like last year. Emilio has been doing some really great thing with his cakes and I am so proud of him. He's learned so much and continues his culinary education.

We are honoured to be asked to be Godfathers again. Which in latin culture is a very big honour. Our employee Luis, who we actually think of as family now has a little brother and his Mom asked us. Emilio explained we are no longer believers but she wants us despite this. She feels we are great role models for her kids. So nice to hear that.

I spent some time reading our archives and found myself crying. I love that I recorded a bit of history of our life here and can share it with others. I think it is healthy to remember painful experiences, it makes your current everyday stresses lighter in comparison.

I was defriended again on facebook, I wear it as a badge of honor, you don't like me or my politics, then screw you! There are those of us who speak out for ourselves and others and there are those who don't out of fear. I have no respect for anyone being afraid to speak their mind and say nothing about injustices or abuses of power. Those people are the reason things like genocides happen all over the world, yet sadly these same people also seem to skate through life and obtain things easier than us loud mouths.

I had a wonderful discussion last night with a customer who used to be a member of parliament, he says he lost by 1800 votes because 10 years ago he refused to denigrate gays in his northern ontario riding. His opponent used god, gays and guns to win. We talked about US politics and me finding one Republican politician I liked, Lincoln Chafee, it turns out he actually knew Lincoln Chafee from horse shows. Very interesting man to speak with, he even met Bush when he was an advisor to Chretien. In tying this together with the above defriending, he does not regret doing the right thing and losing the election as I do not regret speaking out and losing friends. I am proud of it.

My comment to CTV-Better late then never

I am requesting you stop your relationship with The Salvation Army. I am certain partnering with them goes against your human resources policy for LBGT employees. If you do not know that any of your LGBT employees are banned from working on your annual Christmas Project, then I am glad to provide you with the Army's own website explaining this information.

I moved here from the US and while they do good for some, they have refused help to LGBT families after the 9/11 attacks and have worked for years against equality in terms of housing, employment, adoption and civil rights. There are reports of them refusing to help undocumented families in Texas and abusing trans people in their shelters. You can also research stories how they worked directly with the Bush administration on anti gay initiatives.

I hope next year you will consider a new partner or handle the holiday project yourself.

"The Army regards the origins of a homosexual orientation as a mystery and does not regard a homosexual disposition as blameworthy in itself or rectifiable at will. Nevertheless, while we are not responsible for what we are, we are accountable for what we do; and homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, is controllable and may be morally evaluated therefore in the light of scriptural teaching.

For this reason such practices, if unrenounced, render a person ineligible for Salvation Army soldiership, in the same way that unrenounced heterosexual misconduct is a bar to soldiership. The Army recognises the strength of feeling about sexual identity, and the difficulty many find in expressing this identity in keeping with scriptural standards."

The Government is not Canada

I need to separate the two so my head will not explode. Just like The Government is not the US as I must remind many people when talking badly about things happening in my former nation.

Harper and the Governor General have done something I believe is far worse than George Bush ever did. They literally make the government cease to function for months. Proroguing Parliament as a way to avoid facing scrutiny is beyond the lying the way George Bush and his team did. I just hope this turns out the way it did in the US when Republicans shut down the government in the 90's. The backlash was extraordinary.

Back to training our 3 months old puppies, it takes time, effort and vigilance the same thing we need to do to train our politicians into remembering they work for us.

THE YEAR OF WORK

I am calling this the year of WORK. 7 days a week with two full time jobs has been difficult to say the least. We're still in our first year of business and it's had it's ups and downs. Emilio and I decided we need a break so next week we are closing the store and going to be a normal family again for one full week. I am looking forward to his home cooking again.

This is the year we lost our Katie, who still comes to my mind every single day, sometimes with a smile and sometimes with a tear but always with love. Now we have the boys and I tell them about their sister and have them doing cute things she used to do, like running frantically down the hallway to our home. Makes me laugh every time. Puppies are WORK! More than I anticipated. I hope soon they will treat their big kitty brother Buster with the same respect Katie did. Buster is so patient and passive and the best cat in the world.

The WORK that really needs to be done is bringing immigration back to fairness. I know of more than a few declined applications. It is breaking my heart that the beacon of hope that was Canada for this binational couple no longer exists. It used to be a process where you had the points, the background checks and the money, then you waited in line for your turn. That system no longer exists and might have prevented us from coming here had we applied two years later. Starting a new life, creating jobs with a business and proudly paying every cent of taxes owed to this nation might not have happened. It pains me to tell other binational couples to look elsewhere for a home because of the changes to immigration and the extremely narrow 38 professions allowed in. Too many Toms and Emilios are not being allowed the chance and IT NEEDS TO STOP!

Let's make the change needed in 2010. Canada needs to be less like the USA in the coming year.

Happy Holidays!