I went to ABC Custom Framing about 3 weeks ago, to have a painting I did framed for a customer. They had told me over the phone they could work with me if they had scrap, give a discount for first time customers, etc. They seemed really on the up and up, and like nice guys. When I went in even and met with Ryan, he seemed really cool, and even showed me his fantastic art. We talked for a bit, he gave me a really big discount, and told me that they were out of the framing material I wanted, and it'd take a couple weeks. Which I was fine with. I also learned that management was transferring to Justin, and that his father was in the process of completing ownership transfer of the business, after buying it from the previous owner.
All was well, until I went to pick up the painting, which had a chip on one side of the frame. When I brought it up to Justin he said; "Well Ryan gave you a cash discount, and we don't even normally do that, and it was probably scrap, and we personally ordered it for your frame, so we don't even have any left. You'll have to wait another two weeks, or let me patch it." First of all, the material I had gotten was their 1 1/2 inch black framing that most people order, at most frame shops, because it is the cheapest. They had to make a fairly big order of it to keep it in stock, and sitting right next to my painting on the wall, was a print freshly framed in the same exact material, proving it was not ordered for me alone. So Justin guilt-tripped me about their mistake, and then claimed he couldn't re-frame it for ANOTHER 2 weeks. Which, during the course of waiting on the frame, Ryan kept in touch with me via e-mail, and told me that this was not the norm at all, and apologized profusely saying that it's usually just a 2-3 day wait. The day I went to pick it up, after agreeing to have Justin cover the ding, Ryan e-mailed me saying he'd had the entire thing re-framed, and apologized profusely again. When I came in though, the frame had been patched, and then VARNISHED(and poorly at that, I might add), ruining the beautiful flat black patina it had originally sported. So not only had it not been re-framed, but I was given a completely different look than the material originally shown to me. I refused to go in and have it fixed, after being lied to, guilt tripped, and treated so unprofessionally, and although I was given a large discount, the service was so awful I would have rather paid full price somewhere else.
I am honestly too paranoid to bring the painting back to ABC, as I do not want it damaged at all in spite. I wrote Ryan after all of this, and told him I really did not want to get into all the details, but I was upset at their lying and poor customer service skills. He then got defensive, and told me not to write his 'personal account', and instead write their business account, even though he had started the conversation himself and was using his personal account AS a business account. Needless to say, I'll not be back, and I highly recommend choosing another business, since clearly the new ownership is not very kind, or professional. read more