DanFoss Couriers is a company based in
Vancouver, BC, Canada.
It is also a prime example of greed and backstabbing in the corporate empire of North America.
HISTORY:
- In 1967, DanFoss Couriers Ltd. opened in Vancouver, under the command of Bob last name unknown. Like most courier companies, it started small. A few bike couriers and a few drivers.
- Around 1968-1970, Bob had two children, Hannah and Dan.
- In the early 70's, DanFoss Couriers began gaining a lot of business. They had at least 50 vans in the company fleet and were doing deliveries in the entire hollywood-north area.
- Around 1975, Al Hashim and Al Vergee (Al & Al) began talks with Bob to fund and open a new branch of the company in the neighboring city, Victoria. Al & Al provided all venture capital, purchased the building, and started a new company entitled "DanFoss Island Ltd.," which was, in essence, a brand new company. (Bob had no control over it)
- The company prosperred for many years. DanFoss Island had started putting Fedex and UPS out of business in Victoria, as their service was examplary and cheap. The relationship between Bob, Al, and Al was a great one - all three were making money off of each other's success. They were great friends, and had drinks together on the weekend.
- Early 1990's, Bob buys 40% Shares in DanFoss Island. Al & Al are pleased to share company with their good friend.
- In 1997, Bob died. His will stated that DanFoss would go to his wife, daughter, and son. Hannah, his daughter, took over management. Dan, his son, took over accounting. His wife opted to not involve herself in the business, instead becoming the primary but silent owner.
I feel it should be noted that NOW is where things started going awry. Here is a son and daughter team, thrust into a million-dollar asset business with a great reputation and hundreds of customers. They have been brought up with this business, they know it inside out, and it has been paying their overly-generous allowances and their mansion up in the hills their whole life. Two spoiled
brats are now in charge.
THE PRESENT:
- Al & Al have major disagreements with Hannah and Dan about how the company is to be handled from here. Al & Al offer to buy back their 40% shares, Hannah declines.
- Relations between DanFoss Couriers and DanFoss Island deteriorate to the point where the two owners will not speak to each other, except via lawyers.
- Hannah offers to buy, several times, DanFoss Island. (DFI). Al & Al refuse; the company makes them bags of money every year.
- In Febuary 2001, Hannah secretly opens a DanFoss Couriers office in Victoria. DFC and DFI signed a "territory" agreement long ago which made this illegal, this was also stupid in the sense of the partnership. What follows is even more ludicrous.
- Hannah, after opening the secret warehouse, payed half of DFI's drivers twice their regular wage to leave without saying anything. They then used the drivers to send fliers around town proclaiming that the office had moved, and send all your cheques to the new address. This was a particularly dumb point, as the cheques weren't made out to DFC - they were made out to DFI. What they were planning on doing with said cheques is still a mystery.
- In the middle of the night, Hannah backed her big rig up to DFI's trailer and towed it to the new DFC office, thereby stealing not only the trailer, but thousands of dollars of freight inside.
- To top all of this off, Hannah calls DFI's bank and manages to convince them that she is the new owner of the company. She immediately puts a stop payment on all of DFI's cheques, and closes the account.
As you can imagine, this wrecked havoc amongst DFI employees. Their bank no longer talked to them, all of their cheques were bouncing (including payroll!), and they could no longer receive payments from
customers. Not only that, but they were missing half their drivers, their customers had stopped calling them, and their trailer was missing along with the days
freight.
If you and your buddy owned 60% of a company, and some chick you barely see owns 40%, do you expect her to do this? What kind of
partnership is she trying to run?
What boggles the
mind further is that the following court proceedings and huge press covereage nearly destroyed the company. And Hannah did all of these actions by choice. She actually sat down with Dan (her brother) and said, "Hey, Let's do this. It'll be goo dfor business." Why is she doing this? Because Bob's will said to "
keep it in the family." Everyone thinks she took it a bit too literally; decide for yourself...
THE OUTCOME:
- DFI filed a gigantic lawsuit against DFC and attempted once again to buy out the 40% of their shares. Hannah declined.
- Hannah, in turn, filed a counter-lawsuit against DFI, claiming (amongst other things) fraudulent business practices, money laundering, and other outrageous claims that will take a long time to prove - thus keeping the court at a standstill.
- A successful injunction prevented DFC to operate within DFI's territory. This royally pissed off hannah - she now had several peices of equipment and staff that couldn't work due to court injunction - bushels of money down the drain.
- Hannah offers an outrageously heretofore-unknown large amount of dollars for DFI. Al & Al cannot pass up this offer; all charges are dropped and the company is sold.
Is it not crazy what one can get away with if you have enough money?