Print the value of index0
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
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.
19 Updates & Rebuttals
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
You should make more Teletubies because it suits your maturity level..
#20Author of original report
Fri, July 01, 2011
I would have not complitmented your company by accident or on purpose..... You are not even worth replying to anymore. You have proven yourself to be a joke. Go away!!! Get a life... In my opinion anyone who does business with an organization that repsonds to a customer in this manner? YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!!! This guy has lost it. Any president of a large company who replies to an unsatified customer's issue in this insane and unprofessional manner should be embarrassed. GET A CLUE!!! OR MAY BLUE'S CLUES???? Finally if you did make this my decal how come what you gave me looks like you used a cayola to design it? If you did make the Frog Decal then it shows you intentionally did poor quality work on what you provided me in the hopes I would find it acceptable...
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Thank you for proving our point.
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Thu, June 30, 2011
Whoever you got that transfer from bought it from us. We are the only company authorized to make that into a transfer. We sell to thousands of accounts worldwide. It is not a question of if we made the transfer we did. You called it a quality product. Thank you.
You may want to call that person and ask them where they got the transfer. There are only one of a few options.
1. They got it either directly from us or through a distributor or customer who purchased it through us.
2. They made the transfer illegally and they are up for trademark and copyrite prosecution which can cost them over 100000 in fines.
Once again you said that it was a quality product. Our products are very high quality. We highly suggested that your logo was not suitable to be reproduced in the colors that you wanted at that time. You are new in the business you didn't take our written and verbal suggestions and now you want your money back after we did what we said that we would do.
Please go online at www.artbrands.com and you can view that particular image in several places 1. solartrans section and our main catalog.
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
AGAIN PARAPHRASING is a LIE!!!
#20Author of original report
Tue, June 28, 2011
No!!! I did not get that image from your company and you did not produce it. It was given to me by another company. So, you still don't know what you are talking about! I guess you can sue and berate that company as well for providing something they must have paid to use.
So, again you twist my words so, as to say something they do not... I never said what you produced was good. If you produced those frogs in my opinion they would look like a decal viewed through a frosted tinted glass....
Besmirch would mean that I lied or made untrue statements about your company, so as to ruin your reputation Get a dictionary check out the definitions..... You have besmirched your own reputaton with your with your unprofessional statements backing up what is obviously poor quality work and customer service.... All I did was describe your actions without lies or exaggerations, nothing more. Everything I have said was true. I would take an oath and a lie detector test and gladly back all my statements up... I don't believe you would be willing to do the same so as to back up the distorted statements you have written on this and other sites.
If my words are actionable, I suggest you should start filing a suit now, otherwise shut up and stop lying to the public!!! You are nothing but bully in a school yard or a toothless lion... All roar and no bite. Take it to your lawyers and you will learn I have done nothing wrong. All I am, and have been doing is stating my opinions and fighting for my rights as a consumer
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
That is our transfer on those websites, Royce McClure is our artist under contract.
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Tue, June 28, 2011
That transfer is produced by Artbrands under license from Royce McClure which is under contract by Artbrands llc I am the President of who produced it. Thank you for saying that our transfers are of great quality. You may want to check with that "person" to see where they got that transfer. I can assure you that it is ours. If they produced it then it is illegal , bootlegged, copyright infringed . Check your facts next time. You have slandered us for the last time.
We were notified today of M4M wears disputing the charges. They automatically take the money out of our account. That is a fact. We are going to file an answer immediately. Your comments are actionable and we are not going to stand by and let you besmirch our name.
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
This man couldn't present the truth is it stuck hiim like lighting!!!
#20Author of original report
Mon, June 27, 2011
The image came from another company that I am having replace the lousy shirts I received from Art Brands. So, this man does not know what is even out there in the market. I have seen that image on at least four or five other sites that offer solar trans it is a licensed image copyrighted by Royce McClure.
No I have not received my money back from the credit card company and Art Brands LLC will be sued for the time and money lost until these shirts can be replaced.
Slander means that I presented untruths about Art Brands LLC and Larry Levine. I have not done that at all. All I have done is fight back after this company has spent consider amounts of time distorting facts about what they produced and what I said so as to excuse their poor work and customer service. They have never admitted to doing anything wrong in this entire situation.
Their idea of customer service is to tell the customer that the shirts are not that bad and will sell, then offering less then half of what was purchased in a less expensive format as compensation. That is ludicrous.
When my money is returned it will go to replace these shirts with a much more reputable company who knows what customer service is and won't berate a customer who is not satified because they won't settle for anything less that what they paid for.
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
It is our image ( Royce McClure)
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Mon, June 27, 2011
The image that MM4M wear posted is indeed our licensed image. If anybody else produced it in color change they are illegally manufacturing and selling it. It is on page 85 of our catalog and is featured prominently online.
http://www.artbrands.com/page_Files/cat_solartrans.htm past and click this link and you will see it on the second row of the solartrans images from www.artbrands.com
This customer finally took it to the proper venue which is now the credit card company. He initially has received his money back but we are going to fight it. Even though it will be decided by the credit card company and he has his money back he is still slandering us. Art brands has been in business now for over 5 years and has NO complaints but this gentleman. Do we make mistakes ? Yes we do but when we are wrong we take care of it. Our strong record of satisfied customers proves that.
Once again the image that he posted is ours. If it is a reprint of our image then it is illegal .
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
Another set of untruths from this company...
#20Author of original report
Mon, June 27, 2011
The second decal is not one of theirs.. It came from another company that does quality work. We wouldn't have reversed the charges if this company had been reasonable and wasn't standing behind lousy work, then berating the customer on the internet with distorted quotes from what I wrote and said. I have never said what they produced was good. I only stated once that a retain they sent me in a picture of looked good because it looked way better then what I got on 450 shirts I ordered. I looked closer at the image at second glance and it's pretty low quality too. They obviously do not know what quality work is and good customer service is. In my opinion you should avoid doing business with any company that could treat a customer in this manner.
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Both images are ours
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Mon, June 27, 2011
1. This consumer received a reversal of charges ( temporarily) from the credit card company. We are appealing it.
2. Both images are from our company so what is his point?
The image that was attached by us was not altered in any way. I cannot say the same for this "gentleman" . We had dozens of people witness us take the picture of the shirt. I will be attaching a video of it changing color.
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
This speaks for itself...
#20Author of original report
Sun, June 26, 2011
This is the difference between a quality job and what I got....
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
Paraphrasing someone's e-mails is to mean something they don't is still a lie.
#20Author of original report
Fri, June 10, 2011
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????
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
You are arguing about your own emails. You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Fri, June 10, 2011
From: Mark Wiggins [mailto:WIGGINSC]
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" <jduffer> 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.
ARE YOU DISPUTING YOUR OWN EMAILS? I CAN FIND NO QUOTE WHERE YOU SAID AS LONG AS IT LOOKS LIKE THE PROOF.
YOU WERE TOLD THAT IT CANNOT BE DONE AS A SOLAR IN THIS EMAIL. IN ANOTHER EMAIL YOU WERE TOLD THAT IT WOULD BE DULLER. I HAVE EVERY EMAIL. I KNOW I SAID THAT I WOULDNT' RESPOND BUT YOU ARE GETTING MORE OUTRAGEOUS BY THE MINUTE.
>
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
Go through is quotes of my e-mails!!!!
#20Author of original report
Thu, June 09, 2011
What I said was even though the colors are not exact they are close enough. So, as long as the shirts look like the proof you sent me they would be acceptable. So, you assertion that I ever said the were a good job is an outrageous unprofessional lie not worth of a president of company. Not to mention any can read the quote above in his message and see that is exactly what I said. So keep making a fool out of yourself and your company. It only makes me case stronger... Thanks for your help!!!
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Post your "experts"
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Wed, June 08, 2011
Let us get a post from your "experts" . How about this one. Our "experts" our sales person told you that the product that we were going to make was not going to be as bright as the original. Our expert told you that you should use another method of printing to get what you want. You refused and you accepted it .
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
Look at my pictures. The President Justifies the lousy work you see in the Photos.. Would you buy from a company that finds that acceptable???
#20Author of original report
Wed, June 08, 2011
Look at my pictures then look at the words of Larry Levine. I don't think it takes a lot to see how badly these were done. I have had experts tell me this work is beyond substandard. Then to add insult after buying three thousand worth of shirts and being grossly over charged for shipping,(also shipped late) they offer me 200 shirts in a cheaper process to replace 450 done in a more expensive process....
Would you accept that as a solution to a poorly done job? By the way all the shirts they wanted to replace my solar shirts with were to be white. (cheapest color) Then have the nerve to tell me they were worth $2000.00.. I paid far less per shirt for the better process.
Tell me who sounds like the rational on in this situation? Do you want to go through this drama with a company to get what you ordered and payed for?
I have made my point and if you read they made my point for me as well....
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Proof and email prove our point
#20REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, June 08, 2011
I totally agree that the print doesnt' look like the proof . We always send a copy of the artwork to make sure that things are spelled right the size is correct etc. It says right on the proof that the colors will not be exact an that we didnt gaurantee it. That is why the sales person spelled it out specifically telling him that it would be duller than the original.
The colors are in fact not as bright as his artwork. That is not the point. He approved it knowing that fact and he turned down our suggestion to do it in another process. That is the point. That is why I offered him 200 shirts printed in another method ( non color change) and he refused it. That doesnt mean that it is saleable.
The artwork that he just would have been better produced in a regular non solar print.
Sorry but I had to answer this. I will not post another rebuttal. If you want many references jsut check out our website we will supply them and we will supply samples to qualified customers. We are well known have been around for a long time and can give thousands of references minus one of course :)
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
Let Art Brands LLC produce one or unprofessional I ever sent them!!!
#20Author of original report
Wed, June 08, 2011
I don't need to be nasty or unprofessional in any way. The photographs I provided speak for themselves. If you find those photos acceptable at all then I suggest you ignore my posts. If you don't find them a professional job, I would pass the word on to others where and where not to do business and with whom....
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Artbrands last rebuttal
#20REBUTTAL Individual responds
Tue, June 07, 2011
We have received dozens upon dozens of emails and phone calls from this gentleman. Most of them were harrassing, nasty and unprofessional. I expect that he will do the same here so this is our last rebuttal.
My previous rebuttal stands. I am a fair businessman with a long history of excellence in this industry and great customer relations. We make mistakes, however not this time and there is nothing short of us taking a loss that will satisfy this customer.
Unfortunately situations happen and you can only try your best to make everyone happy. Sometimes it doesnt work.
Thank you.
Larry Levine
President
Artbrands llc
M4MWEAR
Palm Springs,California,
USA
What Art Brand LLC say is not true at all!!
#20Author of original report
Tue, June 07, 2011
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.
Larry Levine
Ohio,United States of America
Artbrands/solartees good business practices
#20UPDATE Employee
Tue, June 07, 2011
I am the
President of Artbrands llc.
I have been in this business for many years and enjoy
an excellent reputation worldwide. Artbrands has 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 as well as meet them in person at trade shows etc.. 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.
This order was a custom shirt order. I took the time and read every email (some which I will attach if possible) to and from my sales representative 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. It has always been our company policy if we make a mistake we take care of our customers that is why we have so many customers for so many years.
As far as not calling him I was traveling for several weeks so I communicated by email while I was traveling. I then offered to have him call me ata particular moment which he did not do.
Solar tee 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.
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.
This is a thread so you need to read from bottom to top to understand the sequence.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wiggins [mailto:WIGGINSC]
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" <jduffer> 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.
>
>________________________________
>From: WIGGINSCA@aol.com [mailto:WIGGINSC]
>Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 8:41 AM
>To: Jason E. Duffer
>Subject: Re: CJ2260_290866 M4M Wear
>
>Well, the colors are off but they are close enough..
I would check one more time to see if they can be made closer to the actual
flag colors. For example the violet in the bottom stripe looks purple. But it
is definitely off from the true colors. I was thinking it just may be a file
difference or monitor quality issue. If that is the case it's cool. If not? It
just off a bit and acceptable. I brighten the colors just by using my software
with Microsoft Publisher. It's real easy to change without changing the logo in
any other way. It would take seconds. If not? Like I said it's close enough.
>
>Thanks,
>Mark
>
>In a message dated 5/5/2011 06:27:06 A.M. Pacific
Daylight Time, jduffer
writes:
>No we can't use the attached flag colors you sent us
in this email. We could have with a regular high definition transfer but not a
solar.
>
> Jason Duffer With solar inks it is not going to be as bright as a
high definition ink ( a regular transfer).So yes it will not be as bright as
you want it.
>
> Jason Duffer: The proof I sent you is what we need to work with. We
can't make any more changes to it at all. We can't add any colors, make it
bigger or brighter.
>
>Jason Duffer Bottom line is that I need you to be aware that the
inks in our solar transfer will not be as bright as our high definition
transfers.
>
> Jason Duffer: Before we go any further at all, I need you to tell
me to go forward with this ( by email confirmation ). What would you like to
do?
>
This needs to be read in the correct order. Our sales person clearly told this customer that the colors would not be as bright as his original in this email. This customer accepted it and we printed based on that .
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.
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!
In a message dated
5/26/2011 08:10:25 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, larry writes:
That
is an actual picture from a piece of cloth that I saw printed.
From: M4MWEAR@aol.com [mailto:M4MWEAR@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 11:09 AM
To: Larry
Subject: Re: FW:
It my
shirts looked anything like that I would have been thrilled!!! Those look
great!!!
I took pictures of the product with 8 people all standing there. The product looks like the pictures.
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. The value of this was at cost 2000 dollars. Retail woudl have been at least 4000 dollars on top of the shirts that he purchased and kept.
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 didnt 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 doesnt
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 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