| ART BRANDS |
| ART BRANDS LLC Larry Lavine and his company sold me thousands of dollars of substandard shirts and refused to make good on them. Blacklick, Ohio |
| 4th of Jun, 2011 by User640877 |
| Purchased 450 shirts from this company. They were to print them in solar inks. On the website they look awesome with the demo graphics they have. Well, what you get from them looks nothing like what you see on the site itself. Then they say will warn you the colors won't look that brilliant but will be close. The colors won't be trust me!!! They looked faded and washed out when you put them in the sun they look nothing like what you see on the site!!! The colors of the decals are not even close to the proof they send you. When the items were shipped they over charged four hundred percent of what they estimated the charge was to be. They also charged the shipping without authorization even though they had made promise to do so first. Do not expect to speak with a human very often as well. They do a majority of their business trough e-mail and text. They also make promises to deliver answers and return correspondence by a certain time and almost never do. Then you will get a late e-mail. When I notified my sales rep of my concerns he just made excuses. Then when I called his supervisor that person never returned my calls. Then I ended up involving the President of the company who made excuses why what the produced was adequate and expected in the solar decals. Then he also did not return several promised phone calls as well. I used my entire budget to purchase the shirts because I am a start up small business. They had no concern for that. When they shipped the items late and grossly over charged for the shipping. I still didn't get them in the promised time. I had to drive over an hour away to get them to an appointment on time where they needed to be seen. They never tried to make good for such large mistakes. In order to make me happy for the 450 poorly printed shirts they only offered to send me two hundred new ones done in a much cheaper process. In my opinion this company has no concept of customer service or the desire to do business in an ethical manner. I was completely shocked that the president of the company. Larry Levine who justified such substandard work as being acceptable. If anyone wants to see the pictures of what I was provided feel free to contact me and I will share what they call so called acceptable work. It looks like a child produced these shirts with a water color makers. They are horrible to put it lightly. In my opinion do not do business with this organization unless you have very low expectations of customer service and quality work. |
|
|
|
|
I am the President of Artbrands llc.
We have been in business for many years and enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide. We have thousands of accounts, major licenses and have won many awards.
I was brought into this situation by Jason Duffer my sales rep. Jason brought me up to speed on this customer.
Let me first address the way that we do business. We employ many inside representatives who do nothing but talk to customers on the telephone. Many of these representatives have been with me for over 10 years plus some 18 years. In fact this particular customer called us spoke to our representative, and was on the phone (based on records) over 10 times. We follow up with emails especially in cases where we do custom work so that there is no miscommunication. We do not do business primarily over email in fact most of our business (except for international) is primarily over the phone.
I got involved in this after my sales person came to me and apprised me of the situation. This order was a custom shirt order. I read every email (some which I will attach if possible) and decided that we indeed did nothing wrong and this customer approved in writing the artwork. I personally viewed the printed shirt in the sun as well and found it to be within norms for this type of product.
As far as not calling him I was traveling for several weeks so I communicated by email. I then offered to have him call me at a particular moment which he did not do.
Solar shirts are essentially designs that are neutral in artificial light (inside) where they only show the outline of the design and then appear when they are taken out into the sun. Sometimes depending on the type of artwork, time of day (UV lights vary from dawn to dusk) the design will be brighter. We have several print methods for solar but chose this one due to the detail and complexity of the artwork submitted. Had we printed this design in separate multiple colors it would have perhaps given this customer colors that were closer however there would not have been the detail in the artwork and it would have had to have been changed dramatically. This particular customer was very concerned about price so doing it in the other method would have been substantially more expensive not even including redoing the artwork.
This customer was told that this particular print will not be as bright as his original artwork and he AGREED IN WRITING here is a copy of the exact email that was sent to this customer and his response. )
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wiggins [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 4:12 PM
To: Jason E. Duffer
Subject: RE: CJ2260_290866 M4M Wear
Like I said it's close enough so go for it...
"Jason E. Duffer" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Just so we are 100% clear, it's not an issue of us
changing the colors on our software programs, but like I stated it's the fact
that it can't be done as a solar changing transfer. We must work with the proof
I sent you. We could use those colors and it would look much brighter as a
regular transfer but not as a solar changing transfer.
>
>So we must work with the proof I sent you, just
please confirm that is acceptable and we will get this started.
> . My sales person wanted to make sure that this customer understood clearly that we would not be able to get his bright colors exactly with this particular method of printing. He even suggested that he not do it in a solar transferred shirt but as a regular t shirt print with our standard printing methods which are of the highest quality, and he refused.
I sent him a picture from two cameras. His answer was that they must have been reprinted. They weren't, and in fact were from the same run of t shirts that he received. I will attach the photo that I sent to him.
The problem is that in returning these shirts to us we would not be able to re sell them since it is a custom. I made the decision to not refund this customers money but instead offered him a very generous "win win" solution. We felt that he could sell his shirts since the color changing design that we saw was very saleable, and that we would send him an ADDITIONAL 200 shirts printed in our HIGHEST QUALITY printing methods which would insure bright colors (not color changing). We would charge at least 10 dollars a shirt wholesale for this kind of printing.
This customer refused the offer and threatened us with law suits and that he would ruin our reputation. He then countered and wanted 300 shirts that are in color not white. Note that his order was printed and priced on white t shirts which is the least expensive. He then wanted a product that he didn’t order and was quite a bit more expensive. We said no.
Mark misrepresents many things in his note including our customer service (10 calls plus, is quite a bit) this doesn’t include the dozens of emails sent to and from him and to and my email conversations with him, and he misrepresents the offer that was made to him by saying that we offered him an inferior quality garment, and printing method.
Most of the time the customer is always right is applicable. That is why even though we did nothing wrong and the product from what we saw was good we offered him the 200 shirts to help him get started and to try and make him happy. In this situation the customer is not right and we cannot make him happy. We are considering our legal options on filing a slander suit. I support websites like this so that the consumer has a voice, however your website makes us "guilty until proven innocent' and is legally extortion by offering to have us pay 2000 dollars on a 3000 dollar order to clear our name. That is a RIPOFF. We have an impeccable reputation and I sincerely trust that whomever reads this will do further research into us and find that we are an excellent company.
Sincerely
Larry Levine
President
Artbrands llc |
|
|
|
First of all. Let me tell you what really happen. I never received and actual proof. What I received was a computer generate image. I never received an photo of my decal or an actual physical proof before all the shirts were printed.
Second of all Larry Levine the President of the company is not the one I dealt with at the company until after the job was completely botched. All Larry did was justify why the substandard work should be acceptable and why the four hundred percent I was over charged was acceptable even though I was quoted much less. Not to mention shipped only four days before they were due, and sent them via ground freight.
Then after I got the shirts which you can plainly see are very poorly done he kept telling my customers would not notice the issues in the decal and would find them amazing any way. I disagree that if you pay three thousand dollars you should have to sell a product that is substandard to your customers and then hope that they won't notice the major defects in the quality till they get it home our put it in the sun.
I was also promised a phone call to handle this issue by Larry Levine. I actually only got to speak to him once on the phone. All the other correspondence was conducted with e-mails through his Iphone which is a lot more time consuming then answering via actual voice calls.
Larry quoted my approval of my proof, which actually makes my point. I clearly expressed my desire that the decals resemble the pride rainbow colors. The proof was close enough to them that I found them acceptable. What I actually got looks nothing like those colors.
Pastel blue is not blue, Pastel Green is not green, Orange is not red printed over yellow. Violet is not pastel purple printed over blue in blotches. They do not look anything like the pride colors I requested.
I consulted an professional in the color change industry. What they believe they did was take two primary colors and attempted to make secondary colors. What this person told me is in order to get the proper colors in the decals they would have to be put on the decal one at a time. What they did was print colors over colors in order get them to make the secondary colors that are suppose to be. The expert said they needed to be mixed prior to the decal and put on one at a time not one color over another which is obvious in my photos.
This company has handled this issue so unprofessionally in every aspect of this job. In my opinion anyone who reads this should think twice before doing business with this organization. |
|
|
|
This will be my last rebuttal on this page. This guy has slandered us on several and he will be hearing from our attorneys. The emails speak for themselves and the supposed "expert' is in fact a competitor. I asked him to have that "competitor " call us to tell us what we did wrong but he didnt' produce them.
While we worked with him he has bombarded our company ( before the dispute ) with emails, phone calls etc. There are some customers that will not and cannot be happy. He was told that this process for his artwork will not be as bright as the original. It is on the emails above. He was told he was also told that another process woudl be better for him. He agreed to it on the email and several times on the phone as well. I am sure that this site will receive many emails so this will be our last. We are a reputable company adn have thousands of customers and many years in the business to prove it. While we make mistakes we are very fair and in this case was more than fair. Thank you.
Sincerely
Larry Levine
Our website is www.artbrands.com If you need references we have thousands of them minus 1 of course. |
|
|
|
First of all. Let me tell you what really happen. I never received and actual proof. What I received was a computer generate image. I never received an photo of my decal or an actual physical proof before all the shirts were printed.
Second of all Larry Levine the President of the company is not the one I dealt with at the company until after the job was completely botched. All Larry did was justify why the substandard work should be acceptable and why the four hundred percent I was over charged was acceptable even though I was quoted much less. Not to mention shipped only four days before they were due, and sent them via ground freight.
Then after I got the shirts which you can plainly see are very poorly done he kept telling my customers would not notice the issues in the decal and would find them amazing any way. I disagree that if you pay three thousand dollars you should have to sell a product that is substandard to your customers and then hope that they won't notice the major defects in the quality till they get it home our put it in the sun.
I was also promised a phone call to handle this issue by Larry Levine. I actually only got to speak to him once on the phone. All the other correspondence was conducted with e-mails through his Iphone which is a lot more time consuming then answering via actual voice calls.
Larry quoted my approval of my proof, which actually makes my point. I clearly expressed my desire that the decals resemble the pride rainbow colors. The proof was close enough to them that I found them acceptable. What I actually got looks nothing like those colors.
Pastel blue is not blue, Pastel Green is not green, Orange is not red printed over yellow. Violet is not pastel purple printed over blue in blotches. They do not look anything like the pride colors I requested.
I consulted an professional in the color change industry. What they believe they did was take two primary colors and attempted to make secondary colors. What this person told me is in order to get the proper colors in the decals they would have to be put on the decal one at a time. What they did was print colors over colors in order get them to make the secondary colors that are suppose to be. The expert said they needed to be mixed prior to the decal and put on one at a time not one color over another which is obvious in my photos.
This company has handled this issue so unprofessionally in every aspect of this job. In my opinion anyone who reads this should think twice before doing business with this organization. |
|
|
|
This will be my last rebuttal on this page. This guy has slandered us on several and he will be hearing from our attorneys. The emails speak for themselves and the supposed "expert' is in fact a competitor. I asked him to have that "competitor " call us to tell us what we did wrong but he didnt' produce them.
While we worked with him he has bombarded our company ( before the dispute ) with emails, phone calls etc. There are some customers that will not and cannot be happy. He was told that this process for his artwork will not be as bright as the original. It is on the emails above. He was told he was also told that another process woudl be better for him. He agreed to it on the email and several times on the phone as well. I am sure that this site will receive many emails so this will be our last. We are a reputable company adn have thousands of customers and many years in the business to prove it. While we make mistakes we are very fair and in this case was more than fair. Thank you.
Sincerely
Larry Levine
Our website is www.artbrands.com If you need references we have thousands of them minus 1 of course. |
|
|
|
Let Larry Levine produce the bombarded e-mails. Let him produce any e-mail that was less then unprofessional. Look up any my posts they are all a matter of opinion. He will soon find out you cannot be sued for your honest opinion unless anything is untrue or malicious. Take a look at any of the other posts with the photos I provided and anyone can see I have the truth on my side of this situation and how unprofessional this has been handled by this company. Not to mention the extreme poor quality of the work provided.
If you see the photos of what they produced. It's my opinion that you would not want to do business with the company. Especially when they threaten you with litigation because you don't accept their substandard work and they will not make good on what you contracted with them for.
THE TRUTH SPEAKS FOR IT'S SELF!!! |
|
|
|
| We have the photos and we have his response where he said that they looked great. This is just pure harassment. |
|
|
|
| If you have such an e-mail produce it!!! |
|
|
|
I sent him a picture from two cameras. His answer
was that they must have been reprinted. They weren't, and in fact were from the
same run of t shirts that he received. I will attach the photo that I sent to
him. Here are his exact comments when he received the photo.
Your email .
Mark Wiggins: I know you think I am
being unreasonable but if my shirts looked anything like that image I would be
happy and praising your company! I love the image you sent. My shirts do not
look like that! |
|
|
|
| Again another lie!!! I never stated they were reprinted. Not once did I ever say that. What I said was.. "I wish my shirts looked as good as the photos you sent me of the "Retain" print because the shirts I got don't look half as good as the photos he sent." Then in second site I looked even close at those pictures of the "Retains" and they are not really great quality as well. If my shirts looked as good as those though I wouldn't have complained, I just wouldn't have ordered from Art Brands LLc again. What i got is so lousy I want my money back and I will never purchase from them again. Not only that I wish I had researched a little more before I hired this lousy company that stands behind lousy work and, then insults the customer when the don't find it acceptable.Look at all the pictures closely I posted and they posted and anyone who looks at them can see they are substandard work. |
|
|
|
Your inference is that the retains are somehow different than what we sent you. I sent you two pictures from two different cameras and you liked them both. Now you are looking for flaws and are back tracking as far as what you said. A retain is exactly that a sample of the run that we did for you. it is THE produce that you received . You saw two pictures and said both times that if yours looked like those you would be happy.
THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT THOSE ARE WHAT YOU RECEIVED.. I also dont' like being accused of lying which you have done constantly. You ask for an email then I post it and you say that I am lying.
THOSE WERE YOUR EMAILS, READ THEM AGAIN PLEASE . |
|
|
|
| Where is your "experts" opinion . What makes them an expert and where is the report ? |
|
|
|
Paraphrasing someone's e-mails is to mean something they don't is still a lie. My expert is sending me not only my shirts back but an explanation why the work at Art Brands LLC is substandard. They are also sending me a sample of what the work should look like. All good material for the law suit that Art Brands LLC will be facing after this harassment and series of twisted unprofessional behavior.
They will be paying me for not only the lousy shirt costs but the cost of internet business, and local business over the last weeks and upcoming weeks till I can resolve this issue. . I will also include the costs for the expert opinion expenses along with legal. I appreciate Larry Levine President of Art Brands LLC for providing me with my case with the bizarre childish replies that anyone with a third grade reading level and above can see who is distorting the truth and who is harassing whom!!!
Even if these shirts would you put up with a company that handles issues in this manner???? |
|
|
|
| Those are your exact emails you are paraphrasing them. |
|
|
|
| larry levine makes his living suing and threatening people -check him out on line. He is a nasty sob who thinks he is always right ! Beware of him ! don't trust anything he tells you, beause he's a lying piece of crap |
|
|
|
This complaint was awarded to Artbrands by the credit card company. Unfortunately anybody can say anything about anybody on the internet. Our BBB record is spotless and our customers know and trust us.
As far as the last comment . We know who wrote it we have traced it and other threatening, nasty comments from this individual. What she is referring to is a trademark dispute that we have with this person. We vigorously protect our copyrights and trademarks. In short if someone steals from us we defend it. This particular person who says she is Bob is infringing on both our trademarks and copyrights and has been put on notice. She has admitted to going to our website and stealing our concepts, artwork and trademark. Unfortunately on the net people can write things indiscriminately and it is hard to defend one self.
Sincerely
Larry Levine |
|
|
Post your Comment
|
|
|
