A group of friends in Indianapolis have been playing a monthly poker game on the “Bottom’s Up” poker table for 15 years. “Month after month, without fail we’d trade poker chips, stories and good times.”, says Michael Slate, an e-commerce executive in Indianapolis.
This table wasn’t just an ordinary poker table. Jim Brown, a sales executive, had it custom designed, with a dealer seat with a drawer for the money drop, even custom felt with the “Bottom’s Up” logo and custom poker chips to match.
Unfortunately, games on the table came to an end when the table’s owner, Jim Brown, decided to move to Colorado in 2020. “It was truly a sad day, not only losing our friend Jim to Colorado but knowing that games just wouldn’t be the same anymore without the Bottom’s Up table.”, said David Hosei, one of the monthly poker players whose catchphrase is “You gotta believe”.
After some time in Colorado, Jim knew the table really belonged in Indianapolis with the rest of the old poker crew. Jim, knowing nothing about shipping something like that, entrusted his e-commerce friend Michael Slate to figure out the details on shipping.
On Thursday November 30, 2023, Michael’s company contracted with Freight Club to pick up the Bottom’s Up table and chips and deliver the table to its new home in Indianapolis. Of course, being a priceless table, Michael insured it for $5,000. The pickup was quite rough, with Jim texting “I thought you paid for white glove?” and sending Michael pictures of how they scratched the bottom of the table when they were moving it out of the house. Unfortunately, the drivers from Freight Club never gave Jim any paperwork on pickup, which is completely unprofessional. Typically, a Bill of Lading is exchanged.
As I write this article, it is now March 16th, and Freight Club’s response has been dismal. They admit that it was never delivered but refuse to pay out any type of claim or offer any other remedy. How did an entire poker table just disappear? Was it stolen? Lost? Freight club has no idea and doesn’t seem to care. They have never even refunded the shipping amount.
I write this article so that others will avoid Freight Club and to collect stories from others with a similar Freight Club experience.