Dan Terrico, Decoy Safe: Big big problems

Zoosh · May 28, 2001, 08:54 PM

I just want to warn everyone out there on the Internet.
Never ever do business with a man named Dan Terrico.
He created a product called the Decoy Safe. It's a
wonderful thing. It looks just like a high-quality
armoire, but it's a secure, high-quality safe on the
inside. I ordered one two years ago, and my problems
began.

First, I got the largest model, in mahogany, for about
$6000 (including shipping). It showed up. It was
beautiful, a great design. However, it had been
badly damaged during shipping.

This is not a problem. That's what we have insurance
for, right? I had paid for insurance. It should be ok.
So I went to submit an insurance claim. Problem:
You need to have the actual invoice to submit the claim.
Fine, I paid for the safe, so I should have the invoice,
right? Well, somehow, no invoice was shipped with my
safe, and so my problems began.

I called Decoy Safe literally hundreds of times over
the next 9 months, leaving dozens of messages for Dan
Terrico. He never called back. Not one single time.
Ever. Needless to say, he did not mail me the invoice.
Just one little piece of paper and a stamp, and he
wouldn't mail it to me. The insurance contract says
that the claim is limited to 9 months. I finally
called and left a message on every mailbox in their
voicemail system, saying that I was going to sue
Decoy Safe and get the invoice during the discovery
process. That finally got a result. One of their
employees (the only one there who has ever acted
honorably) called me up and mailed it to me by
express mail. But by then it was too late.

So I've been trying to get in contact with Mr. Terrico
for the past two years to see what he could do to
resolve my situation. I have called hundreds of times,
left dozens of messages. None are ever returned. No
apology, no call back, nothing. Ever. Finally, out
of desperation, I got his home phone number, and I have
called there. He's "never home", no one ever knows
when he'll be back, his wife hangs up on me now.
I have always been polite. Always, until today. Finally,
I am sick of it, so I left a message on his answering
machine saying that he has acted dishonorably, and is
scum. I don't like to be impolite, but I can say now,
as a fact, that he is scum, because this is how scum
behaves.

So now I am out $6k, with no apologies, no communication,
nothing, all so Mr. Terrico wouldn't have to waste his
time putting something in the mail. The thing was
fully insured, so it would not have cost Mr. Terrico
anything to fix this, but he didn't want to do it.

I have been burned, but this may serve as a lesson to
all of you: DON'T EVER DEAL WITH DAN TERRICO. Ever.

Here's the basic info on him:

Decoy Safe
Last known business address:
355 N. Ivey Lane, Orlando FL 32811

Home address:
6312 Cheryl St, Orlando FL 32819

Again, if you do business with this man, you'll regret
it.

I'm going to put together a full website describing
my experience later. Be careful who you do business
with. There are some real scum out there.

Contact me at [email protected] if you have any
questions, especially if you live in the Orlando area.

CassandraComplex · May 30, 2001, 05:40 PM

The internet is a very powerful tool for the individual person. Let it be known far and wide on every forum what has happened to you, and this person's business will be devastated. It will cost him a LOT of business for his arrogance and mistreatment of you.
It sounds like nothing will get your money back though. Sorry about that. Perhaps Dan Terrico and Decoy Safes will see the amount of business this is going to cost him, and he will pay some sort of retribution to you for his malpractice.

I have a number of friends looking for home safes and I an sure they will steer clear of Decoy Safe or Dan Terrico.

No longer can companies screw customers and hope that word does not get out.

Zoosh · May 30, 2001, 06:42 PM

Thanks for your kind words CassandraComplex. No,
I'll never get my money back from this. Fortunately,
the current owner of the Decoy Safe design is
a company called Custom Safes, and they actually
seem to be conducting themselves honorably, and have
agreed to fix the safe. Still, I'm out a lot of money
shipping this thing back and forth, and it has taken
two years and days of my time and a lot of stress.
So, I have some tips for buying safes, or almost
anything like this:
1. Pay by credit card. If there's a problem,
stop payment. Doesn't always work, but it's possible.
2. If something shows up obviously damanged, whatever
it is, DO NOT ACCEPT SHIPMENT. Don't sign that
you received it and make them take it away. The delivery
guy will be upset and try to make you feel guilty,
whatever, it doesn't matter, JUST DON'T ACCEPT IT
IF IT'S DAMAGED, no matter how inconvenient it is,
because it's a lot more convenient than the alternatives.
3. If you can't resolve a dispute within a month
by making a few phonecalls, make a decision. Either
accept to yourself that this thing is going to be
a loss, and forget about it, or turn it over to your
lawyer. If, 30 days after you have first attempted
to contact the company, they are still saying things
like, "oh, yeah, insurance claim is processing, just
wait a little longer", they're lying, or if they don't
call you back when you leave message, it means
they're scum. Don't believe
it and get a lawyer involved. The sooner the better.
Speaking of lying, one of the salesmen you should
avoid who used to work for Dan Terrico is named
Peter Curtis or Pete Curtis. He's a liar. He'll
make commitments which never happen ("we'll get it
fixed; they're coming to pick it up on Monday"),
or he never returns calls. I've left probably about
a hundred phone messages for him, and he has only
ever dialed my number maybe twice.
I know that it will probably cost $500 or so to have
a good lawyer write a letter, and you may think to
yourself, "well, he said that it's going to be taken
care of, so I don't want to waste $500", but do it.
Otherwise you'll lose a lot more.
One good thing about the Internet is that losers like
Dan Terrico and Peter Curtis can't hide. This post
will be archived and searchable to anyone buying a safe
in the future. I'm sure that over the years, a dozen
people will search for "Dan Terrico" and read this post,
and then take their business elsewhere. I may never
get my money back, but Dan Terrico will also lose. In
fact, I'm going to put together a website detailing
this whole thing, and then it will get picked up
by search engines, and then Dan Terrico will never
be in business again. All because he couldn't take
the time out of his busy schedule to call me up
and say, "I'm sorry". I've tried calling him
at his home, and someone else (wife or daughter I guess)
answers the phone and always says, "he's not here".
He's not even man enough to answer his own phone. He's
not man enough to call me or deal with the problem.
Disgusting.
What's also disgusting is that this whole thing was fully
insured. There was no reason for any of this stress.
All I needed was a copy of the invoice, which was
rightfully mine anyway. Insurance would have paid
EVERYTHING.
Learn from me: use a credit card, don't sign for damaged
goods, get a lawyer involved if you can't solve it
in 30 days, and never deal with Dan Terrico or Peter
Curtis.
It makes me feel good that over 60 people have read
this topic so far. That's 60 more people who will never
deal with Mr. Terrico.

blades67 · May 30, 2001, 09:52 PM

Thanks for the warning.

May 30, 2001, 06:42 PM	#3
Zoosh Member Join Date: February 26, 2001 Location: San Francisco Posts: 30	Thanks Thanks for your kind words CassandraComplex. No, I'll never get my money back from this. Fortunately, the current owner of the Decoy Safe design is a company called Custom Safes, and they actually seem to be conducting themselves honorably, and have agreed to fix the safe. Still, I'm out a lot of money shipping this thing back and forth, and it has taken two years and days of my time and a lot of stress. So, I have some tips for buying safes, or almost anything like this: 1. Pay by credit card. If there's a problem, stop payment. Doesn't always work, but it's possible. 2. If something shows up obviously damanged, whatever it is, DO NOT ACCEPT SHIPMENT. Don't sign that you received it and make them take it away. The delivery guy will be upset and try to make you feel guilty, whatever, it doesn't matter, JUST DON'T ACCEPT IT IF IT'S DAMAGED, no matter how inconvenient it is, because it's a lot more convenient than the alternatives. 3. If you can't resolve a dispute within a month by making a few phonecalls, make a decision. Either accept to yourself that this thing is going to be a loss, and forget about it, or turn it over to your lawyer. If, 30 days after you have first attempted to contact the company, they are still saying things like, "oh, yeah, insurance claim is processing, just wait a little longer", they're lying, or if they don't call you back when you leave message, it means they're scum. Don't believe it and get a lawyer involved. The sooner the better. Speaking of lying, one of the salesmen you should avoid who used to work for Dan Terrico is named Peter Curtis or Pete Curtis. He's a liar. He'll make commitments which never happen ("we'll get it fixed; they're coming to pick it up on Monday"), or he never returns calls. I've left probably about a hundred phone messages for him, and he has only ever dialed my number maybe twice. I know that it will probably cost $500 or so to have a good lawyer write a letter, and you may think to yourself, "well, he said that it's going to be taken care of, so I don't want to waste $500", but do it. Otherwise you'll lose a lot more. One good thing about the Internet is that losers like Dan Terrico and Peter Curtis can't hide. This post will be archived and searchable to anyone buying a safe in the future. I'm sure that over the years, a dozen people will search for "Dan Terrico" and read this post, and then take their business elsewhere. I may never get my money back, but Dan Terrico will also lose. In fact, I'm going to put together a website detailing this whole thing, and then it will get picked up by search engines, and then Dan Terrico will never be in business again. All because he couldn't take the time out of his busy schedule to call me up and say, "I'm sorry". I've tried calling him at his home, and someone else (wife or daughter I guess) answers the phone and always says, "he's not here". He's not even man enough to answer his own phone. He's not man enough to call me or deal with the problem. Disgusting. What's also disgusting is that this whole thing was fully insured. There was no reason for any of this stress. All I needed was a copy of the invoice, which was rightfully mine anyway. Insurance would have paid EVERYTHING. Learn from me: use a credit card, don't sign for damaged goods, get a lawyer involved if you can't solve it in 30 days, and never deal with Dan Terrico or Peter Curtis. It makes me feel good that over 60 people have read this topic so far. That's 60 more people who will never deal with Mr. Terrico.

May 30, 2001, 09:52 PM	#4
blades67 Senior Member Join Date: April 22, 1999 Location: Chandler, Arizona, USA Posts: 6,014	Thanks for the warning. __________________ Guns cause crime like spoons cause Rosie O'Donnell to be fat! I hunt, therefore I am.

May 28, 2001, 08:54 PM	#1
Zoosh Member Join Date: February 26, 2001 Location: San Francisco Posts: 30	I just want to warn everyone out there on the Internet. Never ever do business with a man named Dan Terrico. He created a product called the Decoy Safe. It's a wonderful thing. It looks just like a high-quality armoire, but it's a secure, high-quality safe on the inside. I ordered one two years ago, and my problems began. First, I got the largest model, in mahogany, for about $6000 (including shipping). It showed up. It was beautiful, a great design. However, it had been badly damaged during shipping. This is not a problem. That's what we have insurance for, right? I had paid for insurance. It should be ok. So I went to submit an insurance claim. Problem: You need to have the actual invoice to submit the claim. Fine, I paid for the safe, so I should have the invoice, right? Well, somehow, no invoice was shipped with my safe, and so my problems began. I called Decoy Safe literally hundreds of times over the next 9 months, leaving dozens of messages for Dan Terrico. He never called back. Not one single time. Ever. Needless to say, he did not mail me the invoice. Just one little piece of paper and a stamp, and he wouldn't mail it to me. The insurance contract says that the claim is limited to 9 months. I finally called and left a message on every mailbox in their voicemail system, saying that I was going to sue Decoy Safe and get the invoice during the discovery process. That finally got a result. One of their employees (the only one there who has ever acted honorably) called me up and mailed it to me by express mail. But by then it was too late. So I've been trying to get in contact with Mr. Terrico for the past two years to see what he could do to resolve my situation. I have called hundreds of times, left dozens of messages. None are ever returned. No apology, no call back, nothing. Ever. Finally, out of desperation, I got his home phone number, and I have called there. He's "never home", no one ever knows when he'll be back, his wife hangs up on me now. I have always been polite. Always, until today. Finally, I am sick of it, so I left a message on his answering machine saying that he has acted dishonorably, and is scum. I don't like to be impolite, but I can say now, as a fact, that he is scum, because this is how scum behaves. So now I am out $6k, with no apologies, no communication, nothing, all so Mr. Terrico wouldn't have to waste his time putting something in the mail. The thing was fully insured, so it would not have cost Mr. Terrico anything to fix this, but he didn't want to do it. I have been burned, but this may serve as a lesson to all of you: DON'T EVER DEAL WITH DAN TERRICO. Ever. Here's the basic info on him: Decoy Safe Last known business address: 355 N. Ivey Lane, Orlando FL 32811 Home address: 6312 Cheryl St, Orlando FL 32819 Again, if you do business with this man, you'll regret it. I'm going to put together a full website describing my experience later. Be careful who you do business with. There are some real scum out there. Contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions, especially if you live in the Orlando area.

May 30, 2001, 05:40 PM	#2
CassandraComplex Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2000 Posts: 208	The internet is a very powerful tool for the individual person. Let it be known far and wide on every forum what has happened to you, and this person's business will be devastated. It will cost him a LOT of business for his arrogance and mistreatment of you. It sounds like nothing will get your money back though. Sorry about that. Perhaps Dan Terrico and Decoy Safes will see the amount of business this is going to cost him, and he will pay some sort of retribution to you for his malpractice. I have a number of friends looking for home safes and I an sure they will steer clear of Decoy Safe or Dan Terrico. No longer can companies screw customers and hope that word does not get out.