Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Danny

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Law
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Posted by Danny on December 06, 2005 at 11:26:33:

Alfie,

Great to hear from you! It?s been over two months since I flew out to Maryland to meet you at my abandoned home so you could resume moving it. But of course you did not show up, did not return phone calls, nor send me the subsequent agreed upon partial refund. We have a few things to talk about.

Again, the SYNOPSIS: I paid you an $8800 down payment to move my home from MA to CA. It got as far as Maryland, where it has sat abandoned for 6 months. You will not complete the move and refuse to refund any of my money.

Now allow me to expose the lies you posted a few weeks ago. The story about this driver who pulled my home from MA to MD and lied about it?s whereabouts is a half truth at best. I guess you never thought I would meet Warren McKeel, the man you subcontracted to move my home to a truck stop in Maryland. From the beginning you hired him to move my home to Maryland and leave it. Warren sent me the bill of lading and emails between the two of you to prove this. You agreed to pay him about $2800, but he has not seen one red cent from you. I guess this is what you mean by ?I fired him?. You complain about how much this move has cost you, even boast you earned the money I paid you, but this move has cost you nothing!! You took my $8800 and have done nothing but arrange to have my home abandoned 3000 miles away from where it is supposed to be. This is why I called you a criminal, and I am sure most people reading this would agree. Mr. McKeel is very eager to talk to you.

You also imply that I ?fired? you immediately after you abandoned my home. Not true. The first time I said I did not want you to touch my home was 13 July, a full 3 months after my home left MA. Even after horrible service I displayed the patience of a saint and agreed to give you a few more chances, and of course you failed. This is why my home sat 3000 miles from me for 6 months. Our contract states my home was due in CA by 20 March. It is a bit late.

You reference some crazy ?stipulations? I was demanding from you. The only stipulation I ever held you to was for you to get my home to CA, i.e. fulfill our contract. I did not pay you to move my home to Maryland. You could have moved my home from Maryland to CA as agreed in the contract at any time. There is no snow May through September.

Every response Mr. Raines posts is simply an effort to guarantee he has future ?customers? to take advantage of.

If anyone still has any doubts that Alfie Raines? business practices, all you have to do is make a few phone calls. First call the Benton, TN police Department and talk to Detective Ken Rittenaur (423-338-5733 x306). He has known about Mr. Raines for a long time and has a list of hundreds of victims. Alfie has been ripping people off for 20 years, this is about all he does. He learned how to do it from his father who did it for years. Now Alfie is teaching his son how to get a lifetime of free money. This is all information directly from the police department. Talk to just about any lawyer in Cleveland, TN. They are familiar with him. Mr. Raines knows our laws concerning white collar crime are basically ineffective.

I don?t feel bad at all posting all this. Scott Allen Raines has stolen $10,000 dollars from me. I feel it is my duty to warn you.

Danny

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Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Danny

Posted by Danny on October 08, 2005 at 18:04:27:

SYNOPSIS: I hired a company to move my mobile home from MA to my new duty station in CA. They abandoned my home and refuse to even partially refund my money.

In January of this year I hired Alfie?s Mobile Home Transport (http://alfiesmhtransport.com/pages/1/index.htm) to move my singlewide home from Hanscom AFB, MA to my next duty station, Los Angeles AFB, CA. He was to pick it up originally on 28 Feb 05 and store it at his business? homebase in Cleveland, TN until I completed necessary construction on the lot I had secured in CA. We agreed the move would be completed for $13,000. I paid a $1000 deposit and 65% of the remaining amount ($7800) was paid when the mover picked the home up. The remaining 35% ($4200) is to be paid when the home reaches its destination. The DoD has paid approximately $10,000 of this move.

After a few delays (one due to snow), the home was eventually moved from Hanscom on 11 Apr 05. At this time I was on my way to Los Angeles, arriving on or about the last week in April. For the next few weeks I assumed my home was safe in Tennessee until I requested some ID numbers from the home itself required by the new park.

When the owner of the moving company, Alfie Raines, had difficulty getting me these ID numbers I became suspicious. Sure enough, at the end of May I received a certified letter from a trucking company in Maryland stating they had what appeared to be my home abandoned in their parking lot. This company used a piece of mail addressed to me I had happened to leave in my home to track down my new (temporary) address in CA. I now believe Mr. Raines intended this trucking company to not be able to identify the home?s owner, at which point they would have been able to seize $45,000 worth of my property. After some heated emails and phone calls, Alfie?s Mobile Home Transport promised they would resume moving my home on 13 Jun 05.

13 Jun 05 came and went without anyone from Mr. Raines? company bothering to show up or even call me. Shortly thereafter I decided to essentially fire Mr. Raines and have the DoD move my home. When told this, Mr. Raines begged to let me give him one more chance, which I reluctantly did. A date of 15 Sep 05 was set since I was scheduled to be in the area on business and could meet him at my home in person. Once again, Mr. Raines was a no show and refused to answer multiple phone calls.

I have now made up my mind to wash my hands of Mr. Raines and have the DoD hire a contractor of their choice to move my home. This means I had to refund the $10,000 they gave me, most of which I subsequently paid to Mr. Raines. My problem now is that Mr. Raines will not refund me any money, let alone the ~ $4500 I reluctantly agreed to. In addition, I am having a difficult time recovering any portion of the $8800 I paid him, or even getting him to answer emails or phone calls. This means the move will cost me about $15,000, in addition to the government fronting $10,000.

After speaking to a few attorneys, I have since learned a few disturbing facts about Mr. Raines. He has doing this for years, just ask Detective Ken Rittenaur (423-338-5733) of the Benton, TN Police Department or just about any lawyer in that area. A few months ago Mr. Raines changed the name of his company to Associated Movers probably in an attempt to avoid prosecution.

My intent in posting this story is twofold. First, I want to tell as many people as possible about Mr. Raines? business practices. I know it sounds trite, but I would sincerely hate to see other ?financially strapped? people go through the headaches I have for the last 6 months. I cannot say how much sleep I have lost over this, but I can say it has definitely hurt my job performance. Second, I want Americans to know that our legal system can work against law abiding citizens and harbor those whose intent it is to get money underhandedly. It seems we have produced an entire subculture devoted to manipulating the system and making an illegitimate living simply because our legal system allows it. As a country I think we need to concentrate on strengthening laws we already have in place rather than thinking about creating new ones.

My free advice to you is avoid Mr. Raines? company like the plague. Please feel free to contact me with any and all questions. Alfie, if you read this we would all love to hear from you, though I don?t normally converse with criminals. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Capt Danny Mehl, USAF

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Warren McKeel

Posted by Warren McKeel on November 04, 2005 at 23:37:02:

Danny I got the best one for you , Alfie Didn’t pull your home out of hascom, I DID!!! He told me he rarely gets up to new england and asked me to bring it to Maryland and he had a truck there to meet me and take it to texas, where he was going to drop it and some one else was going to take it to san diego. He asked me what it would be to bring it to the truckstop half way across maryland and I told hiom a price. he said Ok he would send a check up with his driver. I called him when I was about an hour away and he said his driver just callled and said his truck blew up in harrisonburg Va. He then told me to just drop it and he would have his driver go in the truck stop and put my check in an envelope and send it to me. So this is what I did, I took the man for his word and have been chasing the sob down ever since

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Thanks for the heads up! nt - Posted by patsears

Posted by patsears on October 11, 2005 at 22:17:28:

nt

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Sailor

Posted by Sailor on October 09, 2005 at 19:14:12:

Danny, thank you for taking the time to warn the rest of us so we can avoid that moving co. I’m sorry you had such an awful problem in making your move & certain that you didn’t need that kind of person in your life.

I am very grateful to the Air Force. Through the GI Bill (Korean War), it helped Rocket Man go to college, who in turn, put me through school. Basically, everything we have today is the result of that benefit. Thanks, kid, for serving us so well, especially in these trying times.

BTW, the Benton TN PD, even w/the aid of the county DA, probably isn’t equiped to handle the likes of Raines. He has violated the laws of interstate commerce. I’d contact DOT + your congressman if you can’t get resolution through AF legal assistance. At no time is it pc to rip off servicemen, & certainly not in time of war. I’d also make friends w/a TN newspaper reporter.

Think I’d also check w/the legal discussion group on this site. It isn’t that difficult to file suit (though the local claims limit in small claims court might necessitate suing for deposit & payment separately).
Again, thanks for sharing, & do keep us posted on this–

Tye

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one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by Eli

Posted by Eli on October 09, 2005 at 24:20:17:

And to anyone else out there reading this, there is another lesson to be learned, DONT move a home all the way across country. Across a small state or two maybe under the right circumstances, but not coast to coast. Mobile homes are NOT that “mobile.” And to you Danny thanks for spending 10,000 of our hard earned tax dollars that we have entrusted to the government and please next time just sell the house and then buy one in california (or just a hint buy it in AZ and move it to CA it will save a few thousnad in the long run) but please dont go spending gov dollars frivolously just because they are not yours, because they ARE ours…

I wish you the best in getting back your, I mean OUR tax dollars from this criminal.

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Danny

Posted by Danny on October 09, 2005 at 19:51:38:

Thanks for the advice, Sailor. I am trying to get Mr. Raines on a Federal charge because he obviously doesn’t care if he gets sued successfully. He simply just never pays the judgements against him.

I will check the legal discusion group here like you recommended. Unfortunately my JAG unit will not advise me since I hired Mr. Raines of my own accord.

Proud to serve,
Danny

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Phil-TX

Posted by Phil-TX on October 09, 2005 at 19:32:31:

I second what Sailor said. Perhaps there is an attorney out there that realizes what great freedoms we have that will appreciate your part in protecting them who will offer their services to you pro bono. I think that would be a good cause.

Sailor, who is Rocket Man and how did he get his name?

Phil

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Re: one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by Danny

Posted by Danny on October 09, 2005 at 19:46:07:

Eli-

Thanks for taking the time to respond, but I think you need to know more facts before you pass judgement. The gov paid me $10k if I move my max allowable weight based on my rank and marital status. It does NOT matter at all to the government what I move (of course a MH in my case).

In addition, the reason why I decided to move my home at all is because the USAF CLOSED our MH park. It was either move it or pay to dispose of it. Do you really think I did not know I could buy a MH in CA???

Thanks to everyone else for the well wishes. I know I will most likely not be able to get MY money (not the government’s) back from Alfie, but I will certainly try my best. Criminals will press on until someone stops them.

Danny

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Re: one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by Tom (WA)

Posted by Tom (WA) on October 09, 2005 at 11:21:37:

Eli,

I think your comments and criticism are totally inappropriate. And to Danny, we appreciate your service to our country and I think it is very appropiate for the DoD to move your home if that is what works best for you.

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Re: one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by jp(sc)

Posted by jp(sc) on October 09, 2005 at 07:56:14:

Eli,
As a prior-military guy, I can tell you that moving mobile homes, while wasteful, is the least of your worries as a taxpayer. Millions, and millions and millions of dollars are flushed down the toilet every year on ridiculous wasteful idiotic crap. One of the reasons I left is because of the waste I saw, and did not want to be a party to. There’s nothing we can do about it though. The government machine is too big and has been grinding along for too long to ever be stopped. Enjoy the freedoms you still have while you still can.

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Sailor

Posted by Sailor on October 09, 2005 at 21:16:14:

Ah, but that is the advantage of having a judgment–he doesn’t have to pay you because you get to take the $$$ from him (bank account is the easiest). If he is a serial defendant he probably doesn’t bother to show up in court, so you win just for appearing yourself (I’d opt for uniform). Note that in some small claims courts there is a limit, but that does not include punitive damages. If you can round up other victims or records of a pattern of behavior that could result in an award of damages that exceed the small claims limit. If Raines is smart enough to scam $$$ from a bunch of folks, he’s probably done something simple to hide his resources. However, you’ve already paid a ton of $$$ for your education so you might as well make the most of it & get the guy where it hurts.

Even if this guy has some street smarts, he’s no flyboy, so I bet you can do better than just learn from this experience. Do continue to share so we can all learn–

Tye

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Re: Beware - MH moving Scammer - Posted by Sailor

Posted by Sailor on October 09, 2005 at 20:18:31:

I claim spousal privilege on that one–

Tye

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Re: one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by alfie raines

Posted by alfie raines on November 17, 2005 at 11:56:15:

i have been reading the comments posted on the web site by danny, first of all. we came up to move this home, i can not help it because it snowed and we can not move in bad weather. i am sorry it snowed. we did however contract another truck to come back up and get the home(1500 miles from our place to the home)the driver dropped the home in the virginia line area. telling me that he had put the home in the storage area in cleveland tn. which was a lie,. i had told danny the same thing. that driver was FIRED very quickly. danny told me that he would not let me move this home. after a long time begging to still fifnish the home. there was so many stipulations on us finishing the job that i gave up. and the money we recieved was earned in full for the work performed!!! how dare you call someone a criminal. it is not my fault have to pay more to move it because you have to do it youre way!! remember? you even told me that you changed youre mind and that it was going to cost you too much to put it in california. i have all emails between us .anyone who wants to know more can email me or call me at 423-364-0346.
i realize things went wrong with this move.
i have however had a couple of problems with different moves, i have changed things as to make easier to move(10% up front versus 50%,better stipulations as to what happens if it snows, etc)
no one is perfect, and i would be the first to tell you we as a company have had a terrible year with help and management(me). i am doing the best that i can to correct any problems to assure that in the future , it is limited.
as far as military, i have really tried hard to accomadate military moves at a reduced rate, i have several references from lots of military moves that i have taken care of in the past. i am a firm believer that these guys deserve a lot more that just a moving allowance. they earn all they get and a lot less than they should , i have several family members in the military, one is a helicopter mechanic in iraq(area)several are state side, one in germany,two more scattered in spain. so i have not in my opinion ripped off the military.
thank you,
alfie raines

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Re: one more lesson to be learned… - Posted by alfie raines

Posted by alfie raines on November 17, 2005 at 11:55:39:

i have been reading the comments posted on the web site by danny, first of all. we came up to move this home, i can not help it because it snowed and we can not move in bad weather. i am sorry it snowed. we did however contract another truck to come back up and get the home(1500 miles from our place to the home)the driver dropped the home in the virginia line area. telling me that he had put the home in the storage area in cleveland tn. which was a lie,. i had told danny the same thing. that driver was FIRED very quickly. danny told me that he would not let me move this home. after a long time begging to still fifnish the home. there was so many stipulations on us finishing the job that i gave up. and the money we recieved was earned in full for the work performed!!! how dare you call someone a criminal. it is not my fault have to pay more to move it because you have to do it youre way!! remember? you even told me that you changed youre mind and that it was going to cost you too much to put it in california. i have all emails between us .anyone who wants to know more can email me or call me at 423-364-0346.
i realize things went wrong with this move.
i have however had a couple of problems with different moves, i have changed things as to make easier to move(10% up front versus 50%,better stipulations as to what happens if it snows, etc)
no one is perfect, and i would be the first to tell you we as a company have had a terrible year with help and management(me). i am doing the best that i can to correct any problems to assure that in the future , it is limited.
as far as military, i have really tried hard to accomadater military moves at a reduced rate, i have several references from lots of military moves that i have taken care of in the past. i am a firm believer that these guys deserve a lot more that just a moving allowance. they earn all they get and a lot less than they should , i have several family members in the military, one is a helicopter mechanic in iraq(area)several are state side, one in germany,two more scattered in spain. so i have not in my opinion ripped off the military.
thank you,
alfie raines

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thanks to all those in the service - Posted by Eli

Posted by Eli on October 09, 2005 at 12:59:06:

You are right this commment might have been aimed at the wrong person and I might bave been taking out my frustrations with our gov spending on an inocent serviceman that is doing our country a GREAT SERVICE. So Danny I want to personaly thank you for serving our country. You along with all the other incredible people are the ones that make it possible for us to enjoy all the great freedoms we have. I for one do appreciate it TREMENDOUSLY. Having lived years in other countries, i truely appreciate what we have here in the great USA. After living overseas I cant hear the national anthem or see a bunch of serviceman without a tear coming to my eye so I thank you for for all you have given.

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