The $100,000 worth of dining carts planned for the West Campus Plaza have been delayed by production complications and conflict between the University and the manufacturer, Mobile Solutions Foodservice Inc. of Littleton, Colo., sources close to the situation confirmed.
University lawyers are now working to either recover the school's investment or arrange the delivery of the carts, Wulforst said. A best-case scenario would have the carts arriving on campus in October, two months late.
The costs to Duke have been enormous, Wulforst said. He estimated that he has spent 50 hours trying to resolve the issues and now lawyers are working on the University's behalf from both Durham and Denver.
Mobile Solutions owner Bruce Robertson, who was arrested last week in an unrelated incident for larceny, declined to comment Tuesday.
Wulforst said Robertson lied repeatedly about the status of the carts, which were supposed to be delivered Aug. 15.
"When they didn't arrive [Aug. 17], I called him and he told me there was a problem with the doors," Wulforst recalled, adding that Robertson said the carts were otherwise completed.
Wulforst said he spoke on the phone a few weeks later with Robertson and Chuck Courter, who was introduced as the company's director of operations. The pair assured Wulforst the carts would be delivered no later than Sept. 8. "I had e-mails back and forth saying, 'The carts look beautiful, they are complete,'" Wulforst said.
In reality, Courter said production had halted weeks earlier and there were no plans to start up again.
"I really think Jim Wulforst trusted somebody in good faith and got taken," he said.
Courter added that he owns his own company, Team 20, and was acting as a contractor for Mobile Solutions-not an employee.
The design problem with the doors-which Robertson offered as an excuse in the middle of August-were worked out in late July, Courter explained.
Team 20 was re-assigned to another project with Duke's carts only 50 percent complete, and it soon became obvious that something was awry, Courter said.
"Mobile Solutions tried to use me to go along with them in some things that I didn't think were true," Courter said. "Mobile Solutions did not follow through with payment to me."
Robertson told Courter that the University had not paid yet. Wulforst said that he learned after hiring the company that a number of other organizations encountered difficulties with Mobile Solutions.
Ball State University is still waiting for delivery on $70,000 of custom-countertops-an order placed in January through a third party, said Jon Lewis, director of dining at Ball State.
"We were supposed to get delivery Aug. 15 and we have yet to see it," Lewis said, adding that at this point he is not expecting anything.
Duke's carts are too far along toward completion to give up, Wulforst said. They may be delivered in October if the University can make a deal with Courter, who has possession of them. "Financially I could care less whether or not I do it," Courter said. "I think after all Duke has been through I want to see them with their carts."
Until then, students can expect to see more of the "carnival carts" that have been selling food on the plaza temporarily for the past few weeks, Wulforst said.
Those have seen limited success, he added, noting that the Domino's Pizza cart had only $96 of sales last Monday.
"It's not the look I want-I wanted first-class, professional," Wulforst said.
"I promised a uniform look and that was not delivered," he added.
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