Some really pathetic people!




www.rockartpictureshow.com

2280 Sunset Drive, Suite C, Los Osos, CA 93402
1-888-644-4567


Below is a letter that I sent to the Better Business Bureau on Saturday 6-24-2000. I think the letter speaks for itself. Thanks for your reading, Johnny Anderson.

___________________

(Posted Saturday 6-24-2000) On Monday May 1st of 2000, I bought 3 Perspex frames that would display three of my prized albums (records). Inside each frame was a piece of mat board that the record would sit between. I loved these frames and for five weeks my records were on display in my home.

In early June, a good friend of mine, who has sold records for many years, came over to our house. He noticed the frames and asked if he could look at them closer. Upon inspection he pointed out that the frames were warping the record/s inside. The frames when looked at from the side were not perfectly straight and had a curve to them so the record and / or cover (depending on what was on display) were curving also. Horrified, I pulled all three records/album covers out of the frames. Each were arched and far from their original state.

The following day I called up Joey Jetson Music, in Arcadia, CA (where I’d purchased the frames from) and explained what had happened. He told me that I should call the manufactures of the frames. He gave me a toll free number for “Rock Art Picture Show,” in Los Osos, CA.

I left a couple of messages. On Wednesday 6-7-2000, Mary Fryburg returned my call/s. After telling her what had happened she explained that the frames that they had sold Joey Jetson went back to over a year and at that time the contractors (who’d been hired to make the frames) hadn’t allowed them to set properly. Hence they were all warped. She explained many had to be destroyed because of this reason. Since that time they’ve had to mail out replacements to quite a few of their clients. I must admit I was very impressed with their customer service (at that time). When she asked me how many frames I’d purchased, I told her three. She assured me that three replacements would be shipped out the following day. I offered to send her the ones that I had, but she said that they would only be scrapped anyway.

On Friday 6-9-2000 the three replacement frames arrived in the mail. I was very excited and couldn’t wait to hang them up. Even as I unwrapped, them I noticed that now instead of the curvature in the plastic running from the top to bottom of the frame, it was now curving from either side. I took this as being too cautious.

I put two records inside the new frames. By the time I got to the third frame, I decided to keep it sealed as I could see a warp was happening in my records already.

Later that evening, the same friend came over again and confirmed that these frames were not doing my records any good at all! So I called back “The Rock Art Picture Show” and left a message.

On the morning of Monday 6-12-2000, Gary Fryburg (the husband of Mary and I presume the owner of the business) called me back. He sounded irate about the matter, confirming that no one else seemed to have had a problem with the (newer) frames. I asked him how many of his clients had actually checked the condition of their records recently and wondered if his statement would still be as valid then. As I listened to how upset he was he continued by asking how this could be resolved. I politely asked for a refund, as it was obvious to me that this particular frame had a severe design flaw. He said that this would be fine and that he would refund my original $39 along with shipping costs. After giving me a different address (to that of his business) for the frames to be mailed back to, he asked me to include a note with the frames to remind him of what was going on. He concluded that once my package arrived, a refund would be mailed back to me immediately.

That same day I called UPS (what a joke, please feel free to read that story) for a ground pick up (for the 200-mile journey to San Luis Obispo, CA.)

Being misinformed by a UPS operator, the shipment wasn’t picked up until the following day, but it still arrived at Gary Fryburg’s given address at the time originally stated by UPS. There was no extra charge for this as it was simply upgraded by UPS.

I knew that the package arrived and was signed for at 09.40am on Wednesday 6-14-2000 as the UPS tracking number informed me of this.

I expected a check in the mail, maybe Friday, probably Saturday but at the latest by the following Monday. But no check was ever delivered to our home. I called and left two messages on Monday 6-19-2000 and one the following morning requesting a call to let me know what was going on. While at work on that Tuesday, Mary called just after midday leaving a message. She explained that I hadn’t included a receipt with the frames and that every frame inside the package was broken.

I was very upset over this. Firstly Gary had not asked me to send a receipt, period! I specifically asked him on the phone if he wanted one and he said no. He knows Joey Jetson quite well, and has done business with him for years. If he wanted to, he could quite simply have called him up at any moment to confirm my purchase. Secondly, I had used the same UPS shipping box to mail the three frames back in, surrounded them with the same bubble wrap and on top of that had added lots of crumpled up newspaper to protect the contents even further. And thirdly, “if” the frames as they claim arrived broken, wouldn’t it have been professional to have called me that same day, to notify me of the circumstances. Why did it take this company SIX DAYS to finally call me back to tell me of the matter? While in the meantime I’m still expecting their check to arrive in the mail.

On Wednesday 6-21-2000, I called Gary Fryburg at 12.45pm. His first words to me were, “you’re bordering harassment.” I was dumbfounded. I’d called three times in two days because the check that they had promised HADN’T arrived. Would you call that harassment? I’d call it being concerned! He then went on to say that ‘this was taking up too much of their time.’ When I asked him why they hadn’t called a week prior to simply inform me about the broken goods, he said, ‘we’ve got lots of things going on and we’ve been dealing on how to handle this.’ He continued by saying that he didn’t want me to buy anything from him again and that he wasn’t going to credit me the $39 (as originally agreed upon) and that now all they were going to reimburse me for was $8.50 for each frame. He said that I would have to get the remainder from Joey Jetson myself. I asked him when he was going to mail the check to me and he said that day or Thursday 6-22-2000.

I was appalled. Firstly he couldn’t be bothered to call. Then he tells me that he had no intentions of sending a reimbursement when he said he would. Then he has the audacity to inform me that I’m bordering harassment (which incidentally was three phone calls because I was concerned that their check hadn’t arrived yet). And after all that he totally backs out on his agreement. He had promised me a FULL refund. Now his conclusion is that I’ve got to go and hassle Joey Jetson for the remainder of the money. Why should I have to do that? Apart from the verbal agreement that he’s not validating at all, I don’t’ see why Joey Jetson should have to reimburse me for something that’s quite simply their faulty product.

I’m sorry, but I was bought up with principles. If two individuals regarding a business or even personal matter reach upon an agreement, then it should be followed through, no questions asked. Gary Fryburg and his business have not kept to their side of the agreement.

I’ve conducted this letter hoping that it will give you some exposure into how “Rock Art Picture Show” is handling its business. I hope that by investigating this further, it will stop them from doing the same thing to other innocent buyers.

Thanking you, Johnny Anderson.

UPDATE Today is Wednesday 7-29-2000. A week ago I got a letter from the BBB and along with it a 3-page response from Rock Art Picture Show. Gary had drawn up his letter into 12 different paragraphs. He made his company look so Grand concluding that NO ONE had ever had any problems with their product. (I wonder how many customers have actually pulled out their records and observed them to see if any warping had occurred, so I find his statement rather ridiculous!) He also lied, saying that I'd had the frames for over a year. (I'd purchased them on May 1st, 2000.) He also said that I would talk to each of them at different times and not tell the other what had been said. This of course is complete hog wash. He mentioned twice that I WASN'T their customer. (Hey, if you buy a Ford car from a dealership, let me tell you, you're a customer of Ford.) He still wouldn't admit that he'd gone back on his word and hadn't refunded me the FULL amount that I'd paid, as he'd promised to do. He said a few times that I HAD BEEN PAID. Yes, I'd been paid but not what he'd said he'd pay me? He made a point that I'd hung onto the original frames like I was gaining something out of it. I'd offered to send these back to Mary in our very first phone call, but she had assured me that they'd only be scrapped like so many others had been already. At that time she even explained to me how their first batch of these frames were a disaster and had all been made with a warp in them, hence having to be scrapped. He made it sound like I wanted more out of them by requesting circular mats instead of rectangular ones when Mary was going to ship the three frames to me. Mary had had no issue with this at all. When she sent the rectangular mats to me by mistake, I simply called her and said that it was OK, I didn't mind. The most humorous part of his letter was when he stated that I'd made eleven calls to them in a few days. You bet I did? They received the frames on a Tuesday morning at 09.41am and I still hadn't got my promised check by the Saturday. So I called numerous times leaving messages and asking what was going on. He had the audacity in his letter to say that he had "promptly responded with a refund check." What a joke, it took them SIX DAYS just to call me back to say that NO CHECK had been sent out and that the frames had arrived broken. And their phone call to me was only after I'd called many times asking what was going on. And he calls that being PROMPT. I'd dread to think what being SLOW is to these people? His whole letter was a JOKE!

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