Tituss Burgess Review Not Recommended By Yelp

Just because you have appeared in Broadway musicals, star in a Netflix original series and have been nominated for two Emmy awards doesn’t mean you can’t write a scathing Yelp review.

Tituss Burgess did just that after Brooklyn based Franks Express Moving failed to turn up on time, and then demanded a positive Yelp review before they would turn up at all.

My name is Tituss Burgess. Im an Emmy Nominated Actor for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt currently streaming on netflix. Thats besides the point.But watch it. These guys are the absolute most UNPROFESSIONAL workers I have EVER DEALT WITH. I called this man this morning. We chatted. He said he could move my couch at 1pm which was the time I requested. 1:30 still no movers. I called back and he says I will give you a discount…I said ok. He says but you have to post a review on yelp. I said when you complete the job i will complete the review. FOR THE FOLLOWING I HAVE THE ENTIRE TEXT EXCHANGE SAVED. He texts saying no review no show. This went on for about 45 minutes. It Completely threw my entire day. I called him about 9 times but he wouldnt pick up but he somehow was capable of texting. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Im going to post this to twitter to my instagram to my facebook. You messed with the wrong Queen.

What’s interesting is that Yelp have subsequently demoted his review to a section labelled “…reviews that are not currently recommended”.

Yelp claim to “…use automated software to recommend the reviews we think will be the most helpful to the Yelp community based primarily on quality, reliability and the reviewer’s activity on Yelp.”

Clearly Tituss’s few choice words did not make the cut. We don’t know why, anybody want to take a guess?

Noem Israeli
Wanted For: Fraud Involving Moving Company
Charges: Conspiracy and grand theft
DOB: 04.29.1983
Age: 32
Height: 6′ 1″
Weight: 180 lbs.
NCIC No: W807218457

As we reported in April 2013 after a four year investigation by local and federal authorities a grand jury in Santa Clara County, California, charged eight individuals who owned and/or were employed by ASAP Relocations, Incorporated (ASAP), San Jose, California, for their respective roles in a scheme to defraud customers who had hired ASAP to move their household goods.

The individuals charged were: Moaz Kadesh, ASAP Foreman and Office Manager; Roni Hayon, ASAP owner and Chief Executive Officer; Adii Therese Karter, Hayon’s wife; Adalinda Reyna-Mendoza, ASAP Customer Service and Dispatch Manager; Wayne Allen, ASAP Sales Manager; Elazar Nisanov, ASAP Foreman; Ido Or, ASAP Foreman and Office Manager; and Noam Israeli, ASAP Foreman and Office Manager. The charges included conspiracy to commit grand theft, extortion, money laundering, tax fraud, and filing false employment tax returns.

The good news is that after 33 months on the run Noam Israeli was arrested after police in Washington State received an unrelated complaint about an erratic driver. Officers from the Arlington, Washington Police Department investigated the complaint and discovered that the perpetrator, Israeli, was wanted in California by State authorities, Department of Transport, Office of the Inspector General and FBI. He was living and working at a local business near Arlington. He is being held in Snohomish County Washington pending extradition to California to face charges for his alleged involvement in a household goods moving fraud scheme.

Two court updates this week.

Last week moving company scammer Tasheen Pickett of Fulton County pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property related to a scheme to rob customers of their household possessions in U.S. District Court, Atlanta, GA.

Pickett owned and operated J and P Moving, a company that claimed to provide moving services even though they had no authority from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to do so. They would load up customers possessions and hold them hostage or never return them.

U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General agents identified thirty-four victims of stolen or hostage loads taken by Pickett. Fortunately they were able to reunite twenty of the victims with most but not all of their possessions. Pickett is scheduled to be sentenced January 6, 2016.

January 20th, 2016 Update: After pleading guilty Tasheen Pickett has been sentenced to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He is also ordered to pay more than $400,000 in restitution, court documents reveal.

Also last week Louis Massaro of Scottsdale, AZ and Pompano Beach, FL pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and failure to return household goods.

Massaro owned and operated Moving and Storage Inc., which did business as Neighbors Moving and Storage. Although the company advertised as a mover of household goods they actually operated as a broker and without notifying their clients passed jobs onto other carriers.

Massaro and his co-conspirator (the actual carrier) operated a bait and switch scam in which Neighbors Moving and Storage would provide lowball estimates and falsely tell customers that upon payment of a deposit and a binding fee the price would be guaranteed.

After customers made initial payments Massaro and his co-conspirators would obtain more money from them in ways that are very familiar to regular readers. These include lying about the number of items to be moved and or the weight of those items. Afterwards the price of the move would increase by thousands of dollars and drivers were directed not to deliver any goods until all the money was collected.

If a customer refused to pay they were told that their household goods would be placed in storage and that they would have to pay before their goods would be delivered including an additional amount of money for storage fees. If they failed to do so, their items would be sold at auction.

Federal authorities said that victims lost more than $112,000 over the lifespan of Massaro’s scam which lasted for just over two years.

Massaro’s activities are mentioned in an interesting article on The Mafia and The Moving & Storage Industry in Florida.

Massaro is scheduled to be sentenced February 9, 2016.