Two customers irate with a moving company took their grievances to the airwaves last week, giving interviews to a local television station. Now, that moving company is taking them to court.
All My Sons Moving & Storage of West Palm Beach Inc. filed defamation lawsuits Tuesday against Jeffery Frank and Patricia Rubel, who both appeared on WPEC-Ch. 12 with complaints that the moving company had treated them unfairly.
The company’s owner, Spero Georgedakis, also filed a lawsuit against a man who posted negative comments about All My Sons on the Web site ripoffreport.com.
Attorney John Whittles, who is representing the moving company, said he understands First Amendment rights, but Frank and Rubel made false statements on a newscast that ultimately damaged the company.
“The company did nothing wrong, and it seems like some folks are so quick to jump on a common perception that they let it create preconceptions about what happened before knowing what happened,” Whittles said. “We’re not trying to bully anybody or anything like that, we’re just trying to protect the company and get this kind of thing to stop.”
According to the complaint, Frank called the television station after the moving company informed him that his move would cost an additional $109 because it took longer than anticipated. When Frank refused to pay, despite the fact that the total had not gone over the “not-to-exceed estimate,” the moving crew left his couch under an awning, according to the lawsuit.
Whittles said Frank falsely represented on June 6 that the moving crew had “threateningly demanded undeserved” additional money and that the crew had left his couch on a sidewalk in the rain.
In the case of Rubel, who was moving from West Palm Beach to Sarasota, Rubel also went on television on June 6, saying the company had confiscated her belongings. The company said Rubel intentionally omitted several facts from her account, including that the company eventually had agreed not to charge her for additional items at a storage facility that she had not included when she received her original estimate.
Neither Rubel nor Frank could be reached for comment.
Georgedakis also is seeking damages against Wade Kingsland, who made comments on an Internet message board at ripoffreport.com that said Georgedakis should be sent to prison.
Whittles said business for the company has declined since the television news reports aired. Georgedakis is not suing the Web site or the television station.
“We want people to know that we didn’t do anything wrong,” Whittles said. “We don’t want to have a reputation that is undeserved.”
Thirty complaints have been filed against All My Sons since April 2004, according to the Palm Beach County Consumer Affairs Division. In 17 cases, the agency found there was no violation of the law or county ordinance. In several of those cases, however, mediation was conducted that resulted in an adjustment, refund or repair. Ten cases were referred to another agency and one warning was issued.
Nancy L. OthM-sn can be reached at or 561-228-5502.
