On March 7, Brad Ginsberg, owner of Decor 8, placed an order with my company for drapery hardware to be installed in his customer's home. The order totaled $1,238.72, which included shipping charges. He received the order on March 10.
A friend who was working at one of my competitors referred him to me. I don't normally process orders without payment, however I was assured he was trustworthy and would pay the invoice.
He also placed several other orders, which were also shipped to him with an understanding that he would pay the invoices within 15 days of receipt of the product.
After several calls and faxes, threatening to turn over his account to an attorney for collection, he finally paid all of the invoices except the one totaling $1,238.72.
On May 3, almost two months after he received the order, he sent me a fax, calling me a lunatic because I had expected him to pay for the products he ordered. He stated that he had been shipped the wrong color brackets and he would deduct the amount of the brackets ($81.60) from the invoice or I could send him the correct brackets and he would pay the entire invoice.
All orders have a notation on the bottom of the packing list which states "Please note: All orders must be checked upon arrival and damages MUST BE noted before carrier leaves in order to receive a replacement at no charge to you. All shortages, damages or problems must be reported within 10 days of receipt of goods."
I faxed him a letter and told him that I would make an exception regarding the 10-day rule and if he returned the brackets he was sent in error I would deduct $81.60 from his invoice, leaving a balance of $1,157.12. However, I was not going to send him any additional products until he paid for what he had received.
On May 31 I had not heard anything from him, nor had I received a check. I sent him a certified, return receipt requested letter, advising I was going to turn his account over to a collection agency and interest in the amount of 1-1/2% would be added to his open invoice each month. The post office attempted to deliver the letter to him 3 times and then returned it to me.
I did some checking with other vendors and learned that he was known in the industry as a deadbeat and never paid his bills on time. I also checked with a service called Credit Link, and learned that he had been reported by other companies and was not considered a good risk.
On August 30, I turned his account over to a collection agency, called House of Adjustments. He ignored all of their letters and refused to return their calls.
On November 8, House of Adjustments turned the account over to a law firm for assistance in the collection of the debt.
On November 26, Brad Ginsberg replied to the letter from the attorney, stating, "Angela Rose Distributing shipped the wrong color merchandise for one order tagged for our client Kenna. We gave Angela Rose ample opportunity to correct this error and ship the correct product. She refused, so we contacted another vendor to correct the error". Mr. Ginsberg also stated in his response to the attorney that I had lied about the pricing structure and misrepresented the discount. This was totally absurd! After he faxed his order to me, he was faxed a confirmation of the order which included the price and discounts of the products he ordered. He was the one who was lying, trying to justify the fact that he ordered a product, installed it in his customer's home, charged his customer double what he was charged and then decided not to pay for it.
First of all, Decor 8 did not notify me that they had received the wrong color product until 2 months after they received the order and I was pressing them for payment. I made an exception on and offered to allow them to return the "alleged" wrong color brackets. However, I never received any response from this offer.
Since this debt was less than $1,500.00, it did not make sense for me to file a lawsuit, incurring more expense than I already had.
The bottom line is, Brad Ginsberg the owner of Decor 8, is a rip-off con artist. If he in fact was shipped the wrong product and purchased replacements elsewhere, what happened to the $1,238.72 order that I sent him and he didn't pay for? Why didn't he return it? Why did he wait until I pressed him for payment to state that he received the wrong product? He ordered a product from me, installed it in his client, Mr. Kenna's home, charged him double what he was billed for the product and never paid one dime for any of it.
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