Michael Kaplan
Sykesville,#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, August 04, 2009
My name is Michael Kaplan. I own Genesis Flooring America. My single purpose in doing business is to earn the respect and appreciation of our customers. I know that by doing this all our needs will be met. What you have read in this complaint is misrepresentation at best. This customer, Larry Bushard owns a company called Aspen Beauty Academy of Laurel, 301-490-8580, located at 3535 Ft. Meade Road in Laurel Maryland. It was at this business that the said materials were needed. Mr. Bushard, in a recent phone conversation, acknowledged to both myself as well as one of my employees, that he had written the complaint. During a visit to our showroom to discuss his product needs, he mentioned to our sales staff that he had recently moved from California and was on an extremely limited budget. As a matter of fact, after selecting a special order product, being told that it was non returnable, and being quoted a well discounted labor rate, he baulked and asked if there was any other labor arrangement that could be made that would save him some money. In order to help a new business in need, we suggested that maybe he could pay our installer directly for services rendered. Now seeing that no good deed goes unpunished, we will never offer this again. Evidently when our installer showed up to perform the work the job-site was a mess and in no way ready for work. Our installer decided to move things out of his way in order to proceed. Upon completion, Mr. Bushard mentioned that he would want more product and more work to be done under the same scenario. Our installer clearly indicated to Mr. Bushard that if this was to be, he must be more prepared. About a week later Mr. Bushard called to order more product and asked if we could send that same installer back to be paid directly. Once again when our installer arrived on a Sunday morning, the area was a mess and in no way ready for work. This time our installer was on a limited timeline and decided to leave the job-site. Mr. Bushard offered to begin moving everything himself but our installer simply did not have the time to wait. Admittedly our installer was frustrated having wasted a trip on a Sunday, especially after communicating his earlier request for job-site readiness, and said "I'm out of here". Out of the $464.28 worth of product that Mr. Bushard purchased only $186.28 worth of product was returned (at Mr. Bushard's request) with our installer. This product was special ordered and non returnable to our distributor. We began a process of trying to return the product but with minimum restock charges in amounts higher than the value of the products, we had no leg to stand on. Our sales manager explained this to Mr. Bushard and requested that he pick up his products at our warehouse. About a month ago I discussed this entire incident with Mr. Bushard and told him that I would be happy to personally absorb the cost and refund him for the products in my warehouse. I told him how important my good reputation is to me and that I needed him to remove this negative report. I suggested that I could hand deliver a check to him and at that time we could look at what he would have written to clear our good name. We have heard nothing from Mr. Bushard since then. After leaving at least four messages for Mr. Bushard with no response, we can only assume that his legal council has advised him to back away from any admission of liable. After all there were unfounded inferences of cash flow problems and a lack of business viability. These comments are anything but true. Genesis has expanded in a down market and is now successfully operating several new divisions as well as proudly maintaining our primary flooring division. Genesis Flooring America has an APlus rating with the B.B.B. and stands ready to serve our good customers for generations to come.