"I'm a reporter for the Maryland Gazette and I'm working on a story about layoffs at Commerce Corporation. I'm including in my report information about an ongoing lawsuit involving the company. I saw your name in a previous news story and I was hoping to chat with you a little about how the industry has changed. Can you give me a call this afternoon and I can fill you in on the lawsuit."
Just received this information from another reporter. Supposedly Cork took out alone of $250,000 and is being sued for return of the money.
Employee interviewed at Commerce MD warehouse said company not telling employees what is going on
Garden advice you can dig!
Of course the company is not telling them anything. Lessans is making sure he comes out OK after all of this. Starting next week the company will be contacting customers to see if they can fill their early orders out of their warehouse. They are doing this after they fired the entire sales staff to avoid paying any commission. He also knew two week prior to your posting that Scotts was dropping Commerce but waited to tell everyone after it happened. This really tells you what kind of company Commerce was. Loyalty, team work and customer oriented…I don’t think so.. I would say arrogant, pompous, and egocentric, out for #1 Mr. Lessans. Thanks for leaving all of us with nothing. You let this company go over 7 years ago when you took on Malcomb Cork and decided to just sit back and do nothing. Well now it has come back to bite you and the rest of us in the ass. Lesson learned, never take you eye off the ball or it may hit you right in the face. Thanks for ruining what I thought was a great career.
ReplyDeleteI sent you the post below. Are you going to post this info. This is important to the industry.
ReplyDeleteOf course the company is not telling them anything. Lessans is making sure he comes out OK after all of this. Starting next week the company will be contacting customers to see if they can fill their early orders out of warehouse. They are doing this after they fired the sales staff to avoid paying any commission. He also knew two week prior to your posting that Scotts was dropping Commerce but waited to tell everyone after it happened. This really tells you what kind of company Commerce was, loyalty, team work and customer oriented…I don’t think so.. I would say arrogant, pompous, and egocentric, out for #1 Mr. Lessans. Thanks for leaving all of us with nothing. You let this company go over 7 years ago when you took on Malcomb Cork and decided to just sit back and do nothing. Well now it has come back to bite you and the rest of us in the ass. Lesson learned, never take you eye off the ball or it may hit you right in the face. Thanks for ruining what I thought was a great career.
It is posted...............
DeleteI was fired by this scumbag early this year for a supposed administrative error that threatened customer relationships by making them pay their legally owed taxes. I also use to handle the executive credit cards and was responsible for cutting checks so I can tell you the theft and shadiness has been going on for some time and I believe it went even deeper than people know. My concern over these issues was met with a "sweep it under the rug" attitude by my superiors and everything was always very hush hush when it came to his financial matters. Its a shame to see greed and corruption cause the downfall of a family business.
ReplyDeleteOh and you can view public information about the commerce corp vs. Malcomb c. Cork lawsuit by searching md judiciary case search.
ReplyDeleteYeah and you can see that they settled months ago. Nothing new against Cork. Guess he walked away with over $15,000,000 as the rumors say. This is what brought Commerce to its knees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteWHAT!!!!!! If this is the case then I consider Richard Lessans as much responsible as Cork. "Eyes Wide Shut", what a shame. Well I am sure he will be taken care of when all is said and done but the rest of his employees will just have to suffer for his ignorance.
DeleteIt's closer to $30,000,000
DeleteIN REGARD TO: MALCOMB CORK,
Delete“INTEGRITY, EXCELLENCE and RESPECT for all we serve and our fellow team members.” I actually took this to heart you -------. I hope when you have to answer to GOD he will forgive you for what you have done to all that you have affected with your actions. It has become clear that you only care about yourself (WIT)* for yourself and screw everyone else. Thanks for taking what we thought were your true feelings about the company and each individual and making us all looks like fools. I hope your new company see’s you for who you really are, a person who only cares about himself that you jump from position to position to just better your bank account. Someday you might grow up and realize what an insensitive, egocentric, selfish, manipulative, narcissistic and lonely man that you are and ask for forgiveness. You sent out the following quote; “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” By Malcolm X. Nice saying, if you had thought about it yourself or gave credit where credit was do but you actually used White Out to change the name at the bottom of the quote to make it seem as if you thought of it and as if it came from you. Shame on you and GOD help the people that “work for you” now, they are in for a very rude awakening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Money is evidently your only motivator and I am sure this company has promised you a lot and you have fed them a mound of Bull Sh-- so they will give it to you and in five to seven years or less you will take them for what you can and move on just as you have done in the past. Good luck in your latest conquest and may you be forgiven for what you have done to all in the past.
“Your loyal Team Member!!!!!!”
*WIT stands for “Whatever It Takes” Careful... you may want to think twice about having this man on your staff. Just some advice to whoever reads this.
I would not be surprised if the total was that high over the course of some years. Lots of concealing paperwork and "losing" bills that were supposed to be on file tracking his credit purchases... I'd be interested to see if any additional charges are filed, but probably not. The damage is done apparently. Commerce stopped paying their bills a long time ago, folks in finance could see this coming a mile away. They were only paying when orders were being held, dodging phone calls, and holding checks that were supposed to be mailed for weeks at a time. It was only a matter of time before suppliers got tired of the excuses.
ReplyDeletehow can you contact customers about shipping early orders when you have no customer servivce, how can you ship early orders when you have no shipping department?
ReplyDeleteLessans claims customer service is open and they are answering phones.
DeleteI held a position in the Lincoln RI facility for several years and saw major waste in the company. All efforts to change the operation to increese profitibility and increase efficiency were always met with extream opposition.
ReplyDeleteI guess its a lot easier to hide how bad you're doing when you have your entire staff running around chasing their tails
ALL OF THE PHUCT UP SHIT IN THE RECENT MEDIA FRENZY ABOUT LAW SUITS W/ THE FORMER PREZ AND BIG WIGS IS JUST A DROP IN THE BUCKET. THERE'S SO MANY MORE WORSE THINGS ABOUT THIS COMPANY THAT DOESN'T MAKE THE MEDIA...... THIS IS PROBABLY THE WORSE COMPANIES I EVER WORKED FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY'RE THE MOST SLIMEY BACK STABBING PIECES OF SHIT ANYONE COULD ASSOCIATE WITH. ANYONE THAT IS MANAGEMENT HAS NO WORRIES FOR THE MOST PART. THEY KEEP ALL NON-MANAGEMENT LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN THE DARK ABOUT ANY AND ALL COMPANY ISSUES LIKE YOU SEE IN THE MEDIA CURRENTLY. THE ONLY THING TOLD TO REGULAR EMPLOYEES IS NOTHING BUT BULLSHIT LIES AND SHIT THEY TELL THEIR EMPLOYEES ( BE IT TRUTH OR LIES, MOSTLY LIES) JUST TO APPEASE OR SHUT THEM UP. THE MNGMNT ISN'T JUST CRUDDY MNGMNT, BUT CRUDDY HUMANBEINGS ALL TOGETHER. IN REGARDS TO THESE PEOPLE, I'M SO SO HAPPY TO SEE THE FALL OF THIS SHITTY COMPANY. I HOPE THE RESCENT EVENTS CAUSE THESE PEOPLE LOTS AND LOTS OF PROBLEMS IN THEIR LIVES IF NOT COMPLETLY DESTROY THEIR LIVES. AND I MEAN THAT FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!!!! AS FOR THEIR NON-MNGMNT EMPLOYEES, I HOPE THAT THINGS WORK OUT FOR THEM AND I'LL KEEP THEM IN MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very sad situation and has affected the entire L&G industry. The latest news release says Mr. Lessons has now been hired on with BFG to consult the business with his relationships. Note: Mr. Lessons has very few good standing relationships in this industry. He sat back while 100's of manufacturers were being screwed to the wall and lost $1000's. Damn near putting many out of business. All while collecting $1000's for shows that would never be able to ship orders. He allowed people like Allen Mobray to belittle people when that guy never sold a damn thing in his red neck life. I wish BFG & The sales team nothing but the best. But get Mr. lessons a job in a garden center so he can learn the industry that he screwed right in the A**.
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