The Restoration Studios

4/20/2015Dear *** ***,After providing an estimate and making arrangements for pick-up/delivery and refinishing services vic e-mail with ***, The Restoration Studio LLC picked up a desk from an office in Bethlehem, PA on March 19, This required two trips, a total of six
man-hours, and approximately miles on our truckAn additional trip was warranted offer we inspected the desk, and determined that due to its very large size, excessive weight, the fact that it did not come apart into pieces to make it easier to move, and the fact that it was on the 4th floor of a building whose elevator, for all intents and purposes was too small for the desk to fit in, it required a special removal methodDue to the logistics of the desk and building, the piwas extremely difficult, even for two seasoned professionals who have been operating a successful, award winningbusiness for over years.The Restoration Studio LLC's initial estimate was just thaton estimate, and was based on our evaluation of pictures and ***'s description of the deskOur revised estimate once we picked up the desk was based on these extra incurred costs and difficulties with the desk.*** *** refused our revised estimate, and proposed that we either agree to our original estimate, or be paid nothing for our time and services directly providedDuring a phone conversation on Monday March 23, 2015, The Restoration Studio LLC agreed to be paid nothing for our time and effort, in exchange for the desk being picked up OR we would deliver FREE within the next hours*** refused, and then offered $for US to store the desk for two weeksThe Restoration Studio LLC accepted, and then actually lowered that cost to $100, for which he expressed his gratefulness.The Restoration Studio LLC then stored and was liable for the desk for (over) two weeksThe Moving Company had called and made arrangements to come and pick up the desk a few days later, but then cancelled stating they didn't have a truck availableWe accommodated their request to wait an additional two weeksWe made ourselves available, and assisted them in the loading of their truck when they come and picked up the desk on April 3, 2015.The slanderous accusations of extortion and threats made by *** are egregiously falseAt no time did we “threaten" or "force" him to do anythingWe simply asked to come to a fair settlement for compensation of our timeThese are allegations taken very seriously by The Restoration Studio LLC, upon which *** could be held accountableWe hove been in business for over yearsWe have thousands of satisfied customers who can attest to our impeccable standards, fair pricing, and upstanding business practices.In conclusion, The Restoration Studio LLC picked up and then agreed to deliver the desk FREE of chargeto which *** refusedWe provided a service, whether or not *** feels that service is of “value" to him or not is irrelevantThe fact remains that we didWe expended six man hours of labor, stored and were responsible for the desk for over two weeks, and have countless hours of “discussion” all for $We have a business to run, not a charityWe will not be giving *** a refund.Thank you for your attention to closing this matter.Kind RegardsRodney KOwnerThe Restoration Studio LLC

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The response from the business owner, **K[redacted], does not address the fundamental issueHe personally saw the desk at the pilocation, and was able to assess fully the moving and restoration job PRIOR to moving the deskHowever, he did no communicate the revised quote for restoration until AFTER he moved the deskNor did he inform me that there would be a separate picharge until AFTER he picked up the desk, and had it in his possession. In one e-mail, he even tried to blame his wife for not knowing/understanding what was involved with the job[e-mail of March from ** K[redacted]: "The reason I am contacting you instead of
Jen is that there were things she didn't/couldn't know, such as the difficulty
in the pick up, etc." However, it turned out **K[redacted] was at the pilocation himself, and had every opportunity to assess the size of the desk, logistics, etchimself
He refused to release the desk without first receiving payment for moving the desk, although he was never engaged for that service on a stand alone basisThe e-mails (attached) make this absolutely clear. In his response, **K[redacted] refers to my complaint as "slanderous" and makes a vague threat that "**[redacted] could be held accountable"However, for an accusation to be slanderous it must be untrue; given the documentation of every detail of my complaint, there is no basis for alleging slanderBut, from my experience of this man, this seems characteristic of his response to a legitimate complaint lodged in a legitimate forum-- i.e., a pathetic attempt at intimidationHis offer to deliver the desk "free of charge" is not exactly true-- he offered to deliver the desk within a relatively small 30-mile radius without charge over and above the $pickup charge he arbitrarily tried to assess, without discussion, for a service he was not asked to performHe knew full well that I have no location to which he was willing to deliver the desk; I would have had to rent a storage locker or similar on short notice, at additional costWhen we made arrangements for the pickup of the desk, I needed to get the exact pickup location for the moversIt took two days to get a response from the K[redacted]s, after several e-mails, texts and messagesI finally got the address from **sK[redacted], along with a gratuitously snotty note from **K[redacted] (see e-mail of March 24)I finally got the desk, at considerable extra cost, owing to the unpleasant, dishonest dealings of **K[redacted]
Regards,
[redacted]