Buyer beware - can anyone help me?

Have you made any efforts to track the freight? It must be somewhere. Was it shipped insured?

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

I have been in conversation with Alan and it is still in his possession, it hasn’t been shipped yet! He keeps telling me he is making progress with it - but how long do you wait?

Meaghan
VINCE letterpress
www.vinceprinters.com.au

Two YEARS? Assuming that he has cashed your check or money order, I would contact the State’s Attorney’s Office in Frenchtown, or wherever the county seat is for Frenchtown.

I paid him by PayPal and yes the money is long gone!
The State’s attorney’s office? That’s a good idea. I contacted a debt collector and asked a few questions, is this the same thing?

You’ll have to consider what it is you really want — the press, your money, or maybe to “get even” with Alan for stringing you along for so long?

If you’re simply at the end of your patience (which would be very understandable), make it clear to Alan that you want a full refund within, say, 10 days. Do this by phone if possible, follow up by e-mail, and send a certified letter if needed.

But if what you really want is a press, then you may have to wait just a bit longer. Even though C&Ps are relatively common, it still isn’t exactly an off-the-shelf item, and there are not very many folks willing to deal with shipping one halfway ’round the world! Did Alan ever say he had one ready to ship? Did he give you a specific timeline? Can you get him to commit to a shipping date that would be satisfactory to you? I’d guess that Alan, like almost everyone else selling letterpress stuff, is just doing this as a part-time thing because of his love of letterpress, and he probably grossly underestimated how soon he could get one ready to ship to you.

And consider your alternatives. See if you can find someone else willing to ship you an equivalent press for a similar price, or see about other options.

Everything that you talked about I have gone through!
I have been patient, I have been angry and I have even asked Alan just to send my money back.

I do really want the press.

Is there anyone that can offer Alan any help or advice?

I don’t know how big the press is, but I shipped a crate about the size of an 8x12 C&P (though half the weight) to Sydney five years ago. It cost $1700 at that time just for the freight from port to port. If the press needs rollers then that’d be about another $400. He’d still be looking at any work the press needed, crating materials, transportation to port, etc.

Alan’s not a guy who’d screw someone over on purpose. He has helped many people get started in printing. Maybe you should give him a call to work out a resolution. I see he has his phone number on his website.

Dan

The Excelsior Press website shows that he has two New Series 8 X 12’s in stock right now. So what’s the hold up?

I’ve had a couple of exchanges with Alan by email and he did warn me “keeping up with email has become quite a challenge since the world began beating a cyber-path to my door…” – I assume this means the stock list on his website maybe out of date as well.

Two years?? C’mon who wants to wait two years for delivery of a product?? Refund the guy’s money.

It is not as simple as buying a mobile phone off a shelf though is it – I get the impression Excelsior is a printing shop/museum which restores and sells printing equipment to fund its museum activities. For all we know meaghan may have bought a complete wreck two years ago and Excelsior have been renovating it part-time for two years to a museum standard and still have to figure how to ship it halfway across the world.

you don’t want a debt collector, they usually charge a fee for collecting the debt somewhere around one-third of the debt. i have never met alan face to face, i have had many conversations with him on the phone, he doesn’t seem like the kind that would just take your money, i know he tries to rescue letterpress equipment, there has been so much stuff in need of rescuing in this area he has been very busy running around. after the holiday i will talk to him and see if i can get him moving on this, he did start working on the press, these 10x15 c&p aren’t easy to ship. dick g.

I recall seeing a few videos on YouTube that Alan posted over a year ago—showing the press he was working on for Meaghan. It was running at the time and it seemed to be in good shape aside from missing feed/delivery boards. It is remarkable that even a year, much less two, has passed since they started this transaction.

Hello, everyone.

Yes, what Meaghen says is true. I made the mistake of accepting full payment from her before the press was crated and ready to ship. This is something I had never done before and will never do again. Believe me, I have learned my lesson about the complexities of overseas shipment of old printing presses. By the time this press is on its way, I will be an expert on the subject.

And, I have also learned not to accept payment in full until any press I sell is ready to ship. For someone who had lost their main source of income and was struggling to avoid losing their home, accepting pre-payment in full on a press sale was a financial trap - one which I fell into and which I am still climbing out of.

And, for the record, Meaghan has been wonderfully understanding and patient as I have repeatedly assured her that this task will be accomplished while my family & I have endured a series of health, housing and financial setbacks during the past few years. Since our only contact has been by email or her phone calls from Australia, I am not surprised that she has lost confidence in my repeated promises to “get it done soon.”

Furthermore, as our many visitors to the shop during the past two years can attest, the press is in great shape; I have printed on it and it is spiffed up and ready to go. And, there are indeed photos and videos of the press in operation on the web site and on Youtube.

The press will be ready to ship as soon as I complete construction of a sturdy crate made of especially treated wood acceptable for import into Australia. I have finally found a pallet company that can treat the wood I bought to built the world’s best - and safest - C&P crate - one which will endure possibly rough handling in transit and get the press to her safely. Too many presses are damaged in transit and my goal is to make sure that this one arrives in Australia ready to use..

When I accepted her payment, we were about to lose our home and I was confident that I could have the press ready to go very quickly. But I was overly optimistic and things did not work out as I had expected. We did indeed lose our home and almost lost the shop as well. A tolerant and understanding landlord who has rented to me - through ups and downs for over 23 years - has enabled us to keep the shop & press and type collections intact. The home is gone, the great income from a major corporate client is gone, my personal income is 1/4 of what it was just a few years ago, but the Excelsior Press hangs on through the funds we can generate doing printing and in helping folks with all sorts of letterpress issues. We have been making double rent payments for much of this year and have regained the confidence of our landlord. Now it’s time to regain Meaghen’s trust.

Rather than go into the complicated details of how such a thing did or could happen, I suppose the most important thing I can do at this time is to publicly acknowledge my error, the debt I owe Meaghan, and my willingness and intention to make it up to her.

The current plan is to use the money we are earning now to replace what was lost and to send it all back for her to hold until the press is indeed properly and safely crated and ready for an ocean voyage to Australia. This is the promise I made to her when we last spoke about two weeks ago.

Once the money is back in her hands and the press is crated and ready to ship, Meaghen can make her own choice to resume the transaction or not.

After twenty + years of being an avocation - supported by outside work, the Excelsior Press Museum Print Shop now must again pay its own way as it did in the past. And it is doing so once again. Doing letterpress printing for the trade, packing up starter kits for small press users and doing repairs and restorations of small presses, helping Lou sell his restored table top presses and teaching new printers the mysteries and techniques and history of letterpress printing are all much simpler tasks (for me, at least) than something I had never done before - preparing a large old press for safe shipment halfway around the world - which, frankly became more and more intimidating to me as I got into this project.

We are now earning enough to pay the shop’s rent - and are paying double rent, in fact, to clear up the back rent - and, with increased income, we can now begin getting Meaghan’s money back to her for safekeeping until the press is ready to ship.

Thanks to all of you who know me and have expressed confidence in both my intentions and ability. The reputation I have is the one I have earned and although the story of Meaghan’s Press is a sad one to date, it is not over and I intend to restore her confidence in me and in my competence and in my personal integrity.

- Alan Runfeldt
Excelsior Press

I held off commenting until Alan was able to reply directly as I knew he would and what he wrote speaks for itself. I can personally attest to Alan’s commitment to making this right with Meaghan who, as he wrote, has been incredibly decent about the whole thing.

I’ve known Alan for several years and he is a good friend who has always done right by me and others I have experienced him interacting with. I can certainly confirm the truth of what he wrote, having direct knowledge since I live only three miles from him and am in regular contact.

Personally I have every confidence that Alan not only has good intentions but will in fact follow through on them. I’ve offered my own help in crate building or in whatever way might be needful.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com

Meaghan —
Please keep us posted. Your inquiry here seems to have done some good. I understand the seller’s situation, but you are far more patient than most people would have been.

Thank you Alan for taking the time to reply.

Now everyone knows what I have been going through for the last 2 years.

I have been getting these very long emails from Alan about his financial problems and my heart does go out to him every time I receive one and this is why I have been so patient and given Alan the benefit of the doubt. All of these financial wows were only revealed to me after I transferred the $3000.

It has now been 3 weeks since I asked Alan if I could have my money back and I have had no contact from him at all.

I would love to have the press but I just don’t think that it is going to happen. If Alan could send me something perhaps it would restore my confidence?

Alan mentioned he had bought some rollers that he was going to send separately. Could you send me these rollers Alan?

Can any of Alan’s friends help us in any way? Financial or with labour?

If there is no other way to do it, Alan ought to sell off some of his intact type and press collection to send Meaghan’s money back to her *immediately* (and ideally with some interest, since as it turns out, he has had the loan of her money for two years).

Until he makes this right for Meaghan, how can anyone with common sense do business with Alan from afar, knowing how this transaction has gone? Most of us don’t know him personally; we just know the facts of this matter, which are not in dispute.

Two years is a ridiculous amount of time to have this situation drag on. Waiting two years to build a crate doesn’t impress me as a good enough excuse to put a good-hearted customer (or anyone, for that matter) through something like this.

Oh and that does remind me, I forgot to mention that I don’t have this kind of money just lying around, I actually took out a loan to buy this press from Alan. So I am paying interest on a loan for a press I don’t have!
Thanks for your comment Clothdog, you reminded me of this fact and thank you all for your support on this.

I agree with clothdog. This press if it worth the price should be sold to refund the money asap. Meaghan I don’t know why you could not find something in Australia. $3000.00 for a hand fed press is a lot of money you could probably get a working Heidelberg for that price.
Mike

It’s not the press that’s worth $3K; it’s the press to delivered to her doorstep. So selling it off to someone else raises a little bit of money for Alan and puts a lot of money in the hands of some shipping company.

Preston

Then Alan should liquidate whatever assets he does have, immediately, to make this right. It is not Meaghan’s responsibility to fund Alan; it is totally his responsibility to complete the transaction for which he accepted her money two years ago.

Let’s see some action, Alan.

Sounds like Alan has several debts and is working to pay them off. Selling everything immediately, a fire sale, might not raise enough to pay off anyone. I guess he could declare bankruptcy to get out from under his debts, or keep working to pay them.

Lots of people these days have money troubles. Yelling at them never helps.

Preston

It is very true that many people have money trouble, but it is no solution if one person foists his problem onto another and causes her money trouble as well.

Two years is far, far too long to wait for a transaction to be completed. Alan simply needs to get this settled now.

(I wasn’t yelling…were you?)

Indeed, it does sound like you’re yelling at Alan.

You use the word “simply”; but I don’t think it’s simple for him. If it was simple, he’d fix it. I expect it’s pretty complex, much like the rest of life.

About the only simple thing he could do, and I think he really should do, is to communicate a lot more regularly with Meaghan.

I’ll butt out now.

Preston

Money problems are never simple. I just finished a five year Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the kind where you have to pay the creditors and still somehow pay the mortgage, buy food, etc. I still don’t know how I was able to do it. One thing I can tell you is that thanks to many, but especially thanks to Alan, I was able to continue my involvement in letterpress printing in spite of that.

Meaghan is completely justified in her feelings and desire to have things made right, especially after all this time. She has been immensely patient or, to use an older word meaning the same thing but more properly descriptive, longsuffering.

Alan himself has said as much and is being held accountable by his own positive track record and by all of you and others who know him and with whom he has interacted and helped for more than 40 years. I know he values the good opinion of him you’ve always expressed.

My point in writing this is not to explain away the situation, excuse it, plead for more patience, etc. It’s not my place to do that in any case. I do think it’s right that even in the midst of this kind of unacceptable situation we remember all the good, all the time and effort Alan has given to our community, and view him within that context.

Meaghan deserves our unqualified support. If we can also support Alan, not in what he allowed to happen but in his efforts at making things right, we will help her and our community. I’ve been in touch with Alan and fortunately living only a few miles away was able to offer to help with the crate, or in some other way.

I’m not trying to justify what isn’t justifiable. The responsibility rests with Alan alone as he acknowledges. But I do hope that as a community we can all pull together and help bring musch deserved resolution to Meaghan and reconciliation all around.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com

I agree. It is our responsibility as a community to support both of our members to resolve this dilemma. Siding with either party just hurts what we have built here.

I have known Alan for many years and he has helped numerous printer’s start their shops even when they may not have had the means to pay him. I still owe Alan $80. Moving large presses is no small feat even domestically. Many times spending more on shipment then what the press is actually worth.

I have personally witnessed the complete restoration of Meagan’s press and the shipping ordeal that Alan has been working through to make this thing happen.

Meagan, I understand being in this situation may make you feel somewhat vulnerable. Your press and cash is halfway around the world and Alan is not the best at getting right back to you, but Excelsior Press is a passion and not a business. You made an investment on an international scale and the return is going to take somewhat longer then expected.

Be assured that Alan will make good on your press or refund you your cash. As a letterpress advocate and supporter of what Alan is trying to accomplish, I for one will gladly offer Alan any help I can give to help resolve the situation.

To my fellow members; How many of you have ever shipped a 1300 pound “ARN” giant halfway across the world, let alone across the country? If this feat is accomplished it will be one for the record.

To my fellow members; How many of you have ever shipped a 1300 pound “ARN” giant halfway across the world, let alone across the country? If this feat is accomplished it will be one for the record.

I’ve helped ship and move things that are thousands of pounds and/or worth 5+ figures…Art, film equipment…Enough so that I’m in the process of become a TSA ‘known shipper’ for air freight…But it is part of my day job, and not something that most people should have to know.

Alan is dealing with things I’ve not had to, like crating with import-certified wood (plastic pallets are often used to avoid this, but makes little sense for a press), and dealing with export/import paperwork…I’ve only had carnet paperwork.

I don’t envy the job, and I wish everyone luck in resolving this amicably. It seems like its headed that way.

Put it to rest
Obviously the biggest part of this deal is crating and transport not the press.I have bought and sold internationally and do not get involved unless all the logistics are clear. The seller has the press and the money. The buyer has nothing. Money received for shipping has been spent elsewhere. Good intentions aside the press should be sold locally.Proceeds to buyer then regular payments arranged to clear the debt.This is not about keeping letterpress alive but a simple business situation made difficult in this economy that is not going to change anytime soon. We should not let love for letterpress cloud the issue. I really don’t want to read anymore about this.
Mike

I had the great pleasure of meeting Alan this past summer when I purchased a restored Victor and spent two days training with him. I remember him showing me the press and describing the challenges of getting it shipped. I feel that Alan will do what he can to satisfy this situation.

Could we as members of the letterpress community start a fund to clear this up? and move forward! It would only take 300 of us at $10 each. It is an unfortunate situation for Maeghan and Alan.

Dennis, Nicholas, Rich and others -

Thanks for your support. And I do appreciate Dennis’ suggestion. However, money is not the problem now. It certainly was for quite a while, but I’ve got that covered now. And, all the technical challenges of designing and building the ‘world-class’ crate are resolved as well. And, the biggest hurdle - figuring out Australia’s regulations regarding wood used for crating - and meeting their requirements - has also been resolved.

So now, we have a final, workable, practical plan in place and I look forward to updating this thread as I make the progress we have all been waiting so long to see.

And, now Meaghan knows she’s not alone in her concern, and she also has the benefit of knowing that I am who I have presented myself to be - a good printer, a rescuer and restorer of old presses, but maybe not such an efficient, organized or well-capitalized businessman…

Of course, getting this taken care - of which really should only take 3-4 days’ time now - days which will spread over more than a week I am sure, also means that I will also have to hold off on so many of the little things I’ve been doing to get by - like classes, making new press parts, refinishing cabinets, putting together our increasingly popular starter kits, etc…

But they have served their purpose and have funded our return to ‘practicability’ as far as keeping the shop alive and all, and will be a mainstay of supporting the collection as time goes on into the future of letterpress printing.

But I should have gotten Meaghan’s press to her long ago, of that there is no doubt.

I hope to have news within the next few weeks which will put us all at ease.

In the meantime, here’s a link to the “Meaghan’s Press” page on my web site - http://www.excelsiorpress.org/forsale/meaghan/
which gives more of the story than has been written about here.

- Alan

P.S. Dennis - I will send out the plate base I made for your Victor before I begin holding off on new orders… ;)

Frankly, I’m way more concerned about Meaghan’s business than Alan’s. She’s the one who’s still out $3,000 and she’s still the one doesn’t have her press. While she’s waiting for two years, Alan is shooting videos of it for Youtube, making parts, refinishing cabinets and and “putting together our increasingly popular starter kits.” In two years he could have floated the bloody thing to Australia on a pile of inner tubes.

Every person here has expressed unequivical support for Meaghan including Alan, who has himself made clear his responsibility and intention to make things right. He has spent a lifetime helping countless letterpress printers and others and of dealing honestly with them. He has acknowledged his error and there is no reason to believe he will not follow through with his commitment, especially when one considers his track record.

How can anyone read and participate in this thread and at this point have nothing to offer except to heap fuel on a fire that is well on the way to being put out? It brings to mind Matthew 7:2-5.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com

Meagan I am still in total shock after reading this string! You’ve really been taken for a ride. Try to get your money back asap. I should be able to help you out with exactly the same machine, but located here in Melbourne, Australia. Probably best to contact me offline so you can vent your frustrations.

Hm, this sounds like the same Alan and his firm where I enquired about purchasing press furniture etc. and did not get any reply.
I have run my own firm for 30 years now and I learned early on that if I look after the sales (and get the stuff out of the door), the rest takes care of itself (almost).
I still would like to buy from him - maybe even more so now to help - knowing he has had to face some hard times. But there is more to business than good intentions.
Hugo

Maybe this explains why I lost $629 to Alan and Louis (the asshole who restored my press.)

I paid for my press… sent them $629 to ship it….ended up driving from Kentucky to New Jersey in November 2009 to pick up the press myself….. and they would not refund me the $629 shipping charge!!! I never agreed to give them $629 so I could drive there and pick up the press myself. This is how they conduct business. After reading about Meaghan’s plight, it all makes perfect sense now.

I will not be doing business with them again and I highly recommend everyone on this forum follows my lead.

Allison

Alison - This is pretty shocking. I thought you came to NJ to spend two days with me in the shop learning how to use your press - not just to ‘pick it up’ - and that the shipping fees were applied to pay Louis for his 10-hour round trip when he drove 5 hours from Rhode Island to bring the Pilot press here for you to use, rather than crate and ship it to Ky.

I know you had some reservations about the shipping issue, and I tried to make it up to you. But you left here in very high spirits and seemed very pleased all around. What has changed since then? Do you feel that I overcharged you for the training - or that you did not get enough out of it?

- Alan

Alan,

I don’t even know where to start. We have discussed this on the phone already and you know how upset I am with the entire situation. You and I both agreed, yes, that Louis overcharged me for delivering the press. Good luck getting me any kind of refund. That money is LONG GONE! UPS and FEDEX both agreed that he was overcharging me for shipping the damn thing anyway. So I felt as if maybe I had been scammed. I tried to put it behind me but then I read the posts about the Aussie and I was infuriated! Now I KNOW I was scammed!

I did, indeed, come to NJ to spend 2 days in the shop with you for training. During those 2 days, 3 of your friends showed up to socialize (which I handled quite well) and then you had someone come by and pick up a press during my training. I believe she was in the shop talking to you (during my training) for well over an hour. I think I handled that quite well also. Nonetheless, these interruptions made me feel as if I did not learn all the skills necessary to even get started printing.

Also…………..while I was in the shop, you showed me the press that you were getting ready to crate and ship to Australia. That was in November. And the girl still does not have her press????? Good grief! That raised a major red flag in my mind.

I paid $629 to ship my press. It was not shipped… I picked it up. How much did you charge the girl from NYC to ship her press? Oh that’s right…. Louis dropped it off at your shop when he dropped off my press. How much did you charge her for Louis dropping it off? $629? No! You told me that she wasn’t charged for that service so I guess I paid for the delivery of both my press and her press. Why was I charged for Louis delivering my press but she was not charged for the same service? And you wonder why I’m so pissed off?

I am also just very disappointed…….. I thought I had found 2 guys that would be true to their word….. I was required to send a deposit…..which I did…… and then I sent the remainder of the balance (after you guys changed the price on me several times!) The confusion involved in the entire transaction was ridiculous! And I kept my word at every turn.

By the way….. where’s my starter kit? I left your shop in November…. you promised you would send it to me……… and you still haven’t sent it to me. Don’t bother though. I bought one elsewhere.

My advice to you has not changed… if you want to continue to sell presses etc…, you need to make sure you and Louis are on the same page. Also, if someone sends you money for a press or anything else, send them the paid-for product. That’s just good business.

What I have learned from this experience is that you cannnot trust people. My old motto was “Trust people until they give you a reason not to.” Believe me, my motto has changed!

Allison

Hasn’t anybody heard of “escrow” when dealing in these matters. There are indent agents for these situations.
Having imported much paper in my time, a machine is the same, transactions have to be done properly and commercially.
Friendships and personal situations have no place in commerce, as we have just read.
William Amer, Australian

Allison -

I’d rather not stray off topic, but since you brought it up here, I feel as though I should answer your concerns here as well.

If you are not satisfied with the value of the instruction you received during your two days with me in the shop, I will refund whatever you paid.

You learned to set type, lock up your form, make ready the press and print. Then you learned to score the cards you printed properly for folding. You printed two jobs on your own press - from beginning to end while you were here.

I wish we’d had more time to spend together, but you said you’d be back to learn more.

Then I did not hear from you at all about the training - until you jumped on Meaghan’s post the other day and shocked me with your apparent dissatisfaction. Next time, please tell me in person first so that I can do something about it.

And, yes, I know we discussed the shipping you had paid for - which had nothing to do with me. But, since Lou did drive down from R.I. to bring the presses to my shop, and I was able to spend an evening adjusting the platen and the rollers and everything, you were able to use - and take home a fine-tuned press that you had already printed with - which is my preferred way of selling a press - especially to someone who had no prior knowledge of printing - or how to set up a new press.

And I know that we had some visitors during the two days you were at my shop. But they respected the fact that we were working and left quickly.

But that “someone” you refer to did not come to pick up a press as you say. She came only to see both your cast-iron Pilot and the Aluminum Pilot side-by-side so that she could decide which style to purchase. She drove nearly 2 hours to come see the two presses and I could not turn her away.

She realized we were focused on your training, so she left us alone and came back the *following* weekend to spend an afternoon using the press before she made her final decision to take it.

I think one lesson I can take from your post is that I need to follow-up more closely after any sale or training to make sure that the apparent satisfaction I experience in person is not replaced by some disappointment after the fact.

- Alan

Man what a small world. I live in Milford, NJ the next town over from Frenchtown, NJ, I will look up this man and see what I can find out about him. I have friends in the Police Department as well. I can’t stand these people ripping other people off. Do you have documentation on your payment ? I will lwt you know what I find out.
Regards,

PP -

If you have friends in the Frenchtown Police Department (all 4 of them), - just ask them about me. I’ve lived here for years. They know me - and will likely say nicer things than folks who know of me only through Meaghan’s posts…

http://frenchtown.com/police

Besides, I think they like the posters I print for their picnic every year - and for the Lions Club car show - http://www.excelsiorpress.org/printing/posters.html

Better yet, contact me off forum and I’ll give you my phone number. Come visit me in the shop to see the press and meet me in person. Then you can decide for yourself if I am as bad a person as some folks who don’t know me at all seem to think…

- Alan

Hi Alan,
I owe you an appology I read everything about you and found you have been working very hard to help many people. I was shocked when I read what had happened to Meaghan, and reacted to quickly. I know you are trying to get this situation resolved, and I hope you do.
I would like to meet you, and I may pop into your shop one day.
Sorry for the quick reaction, I hope you will accept my appology. I know you will do right with Meaghan.
Best regards,
Ken

“…money is not the problem now.” —Alan Runfeldt

I think he meant to write, “not my problem.”

Exactly.
It’s also worth noting that Alan Runfeldt thinks his local police department can be bought for the price of some picnic posters.
Bottom line: He should sell his computer, a couple of his own presses, and Meaghan’s press, to raise the $3,000 that he owes Meaghan.
This is a sad commentary on how little value some people place on their good name …

Elizabeth, at Briar Press,
Isn’t most of this correspondence verging on, if not actually, libel and slander?
What is Briar Press’ policy on this dialogue.
It seems to me that this has gone too far and should be held off site.
William Amer, Australian

I am completely new to this forum but I have a few thoughts and maybe I am way off but I’ll say them anyway.

There is more than one thread on this issue and I have read through both. I feel for both parties - Alan has been in the letterpress for 40+ years and is highly respected for his knowledge and his help, Meaghan paid for a press she has waited to get for two years and hasn’t received.

My understanding is that Meaghan sent Alan $3000 and Alan has sent her back $1000 according to the other discussion. My understanding is also that Meaghan is getting married and overspent on her wedding and can no longer afford the press (and has learned to use the one she already has) and no longer wants this press, just a refund. I am not sure how much of the $3000 was product and how much was shipping but what if someone who wants this beautiful press pays the difference for it? Meaning, go to NJ and pick up the press and hand Alan a check payable to Meaghan for the press. Meaghan gets her money back, Alan doesn’t have to deal with the shipping, you have a beautiful press and this over discussed topic is resolved and over?

Like I said, I may be way off base so please don’t attack me. Just my thoughts and I appreciate your feedback.

Thank you!

Interesting how people see two sides of a coin. It looks to me like Alan has spent his career taking advantage of novice printers, and Meaghan would have been one if she hadn’t started making noise. If Meaghan gets all her original investment returned I will be surprised. I would say that he owes her interest for not shipping the press in a timely way. By bringing up how Meaghan spends her wedding money Alan has tried to paint her as an inept money manager, which is a feeble attempt to divert attention from his own failure(s). Any contract that they might have had is certainly void because of his willingness to accept the money, yet failing to deliver. Alan may be a knowledgeable printer, but I doubt he is so highly respected. I had contact with him a number of years ago, and had the good sense not to do business with him. I’m only sorry that others were not able to be so discerning.

Paul

William - This is a sad situation for sure. I do hope some good comes from the public airing in the Discussion and that meaghan and Alan can settle this matter soon. I’ll leave the thread open while this hope persists.

Hey Alan: Why don’t you quit trying to convince us how respectable and honest you are and just refund the damn money already?

Ella - If it were simply a matter of “getting the money from somewhere”, it would have been done already.

People that know me already know how respectable and honest I am. It’s all of you ignorant busy-buddies that I’ve been wasting my time trying to educate…

The simple fact is that the reason I agreed to sell this press is that I had lost my job & was about to lose my home and was just trying to raise money to keep our home and the print shop.

Well, we lost our home and kept the shop and since January, I have be able to earn and send Meaghan over $2,500 of the $3,000 she initially sent to me. Soon, this issue will have been resolved - although it still hurts quite bit to see some of the comments left by strangers who don’t know either of us - or, for that matter, the full story behind the mistakes we both made.

- Alan

Elizabeth at Briar Press,
this stream has gone on long enough.
Please stop it.
If there is a problem, let it be sorted out in the courts of the land.
This has nothing to do with the technology of Letterpress Printing
William Amer, Australian

William and all - I closed commenting on a similar topic in April. With now going on 47,000 registered members, we are unable to keep up with all the posts. Although we don’t want this to be a monitored site, we do appreciate it when people bring inappropriate material to our attention. We hope that the community will monitor itself, but on occasion we will step in.

This topic has been aired and is being resolved. We ask all parties to refrain from reopening this discussion.