Alan Runfeldt - where are you?

My last correspondence with Alan was via this forum, and 6 weeks has now past with no update on progress. I don’t know what else to do?

Alan Runfeldt sold me an new style C&P, I gave him $3000 AUD over 2 years ago now and I have no press and no sign of seeing it or my money any time soon.

I don’t know what else to do? This is devastating :(.

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If Alan wants to regain or retain the respect of his letterpress comrades, I believe he must have and meet a deadline for shipping that press.

Some of us were irked many weeks ago upon hearing of this situation. Others felt Alan needed to be cut yet more slack. But at this point, unless Alan has a really darned good excuse (which, of course, he should long ago have shared with Meaghan), the press should be on its way to Meaghan no later than the end of this week. Enough is enough.

Wowee!! I just read the other thread on this subject, and I must say it’s pretty shocking that you have been waiting for a resolution for so long! I can just imagine your frustration!!

I agree with Clothdog…the press should be crated & shipped within the week!!

Or perhaps, and I know it sounds crazy, hard to believe, but maybe if he occasionally wrote her a note. Like once a week…

Preston

2 years is a very long time. I think I would have saved up cash and flew to New Jersey if I were you. It’s ridiculous.

How about contacting the state’s consumer fraud division? I am sure it is listed on the state website. Alan appears to be all blow and no show.

Alan,

The 1000’s of members that use this forum and I now know you as the person who is ok with taking someone elses money for whatever period of time you want with nothing but hollow promises and personal excuses and no communication. It certainly appears to me and probably to all who read the forums that despite your last post, your wallet continues to be more important than your integrity. This is a terrible story and it’s being played out in front of the entire worldwide letterpress community. Meaghan has asked for her money back and deserves it back with interest. I’m asking for her also. How about it Alan? Could you just end this saga by sending her back her money? Your time to perform was up a long, long time ago.

(moved to other thread)

Thank you Meaghan, for calling the other day. Direct communication is far better than posting brief messages on any web forum. But your title is misleading. You have always known exactly where I am and how to reach me, and we both know that I have always responded to your emails and accepted your calls.

These folks are posting some strong opinions based on very little information which might well mislead the casual reader. I hope that our conversation answered your questions and sorted out some misunderstandings.

BTW - for those of you who might be curious about the facts of this situation, here are some snippets of an email I sent to Meaghan back when this all began:

========================
from my email to Meaghan:

“….it would be helpful if you could send me $500 now to cover the cost of buying the rollers for the press and the lumber for the crate… “
and
“…If you’d prefer to wait … that would be fine, too. I don’t want to get too far ahead and take any of your money until I am 100% certain that everything will get done as I plan.”
========================

Well, as the entire world now knows, everything did not get done as I had planned. Yes, as soon as the funds arrived, I did buy $380 worth of new rollers plus the lumber to build the crate. I did move this press into my shop area, and spent weeks cleaning it up, servicing it and printing with it before agreeing to sell it to her. But crating and shipping and learning the ins and outs of exporting equipment to Australia turned out to be a bit more than I had anticipated.

And, I *never* requested $3,000 and was somewhat distressed when it all arrived at one time. I thought that might cause some problems later on, but I had no idea that this transaction would drag on for so long and result in such a public controversy.

- Alan

Alan, Meaghan, and BP readers,

Knowing only what has been posted on this site I do not want to take sides. It appears that both parties have made their mistakes—hopefully we as a community can do something to mediate and resolve rather than exacerbate the situation.

It sounds like the press is pretty much ready to go, but the problem is with getting it out of the country. Perhaps it would be a good idea to post the issues that you are having shipping the press to Australia. Among the myriads of readers on this site, I am sure there is someone who has experienced the issues that are keeping this press from Meaghan. Maybe we can help find a solution.

Alan, this summer I was hoping to take a trip north, and was considering a stop at your shop. If you would like to PM me I may be able to work out a day that I could come give you a hand if you still need help crating this beast. I am just up the road in Virginia, and always look forward to talking with other printers.

Lengthy explanations, excuses, and apologies from Alan Runfeldt are an insufficient substitute for doing the right thing and returning her money.

The members of this board should make sure that the name Alan Runfeldt is known throughout the letterpress community.

Alan,
We have met and done business and I believe that you mean well, but Meaghan has stated that she wants a refund.

Given the elapse of time and the breakdown in trust and communication, it’d be best to grant her that.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Alan,

Yes - you bought rollers, but you told me that they were the wrong kind and you were going to send them back.

Yes - you told me you bought lumber and repeatedly promised to show me pictures of it - I still haven’t seen it.

We could go backwards and forwards with he said and she did’s.

I gave you $3000 and I trusted you, now I want my money back.

You promised to deposit $1000 into my account by the end of this week.

If it isn’t deposited by the end of the week, I will be forced to take legal action to recover this money.

Meaghan

If Alan would like to talk about time and cost, may I remind him that I have called him many times, even from my own cell phone - these calls are international calls and I have spent quite a bit of time with him on phone all at my own expense.

I borrowed money from a bank to send him $3000 and I am now paying this loan back to the bank, with interest and at a variable rate currently at around 11.5% over five years.

And I could go on…

Al,,, 2 years… make it right….

Thousandpound Press -

You’re most welcome to come visit at any time - after the weather warms up a bit - and to see the 1500 pound press that has been tying up much-needed space in my crowded little shop for the past two years.. and causing Meaghan & I both so much grief. However by then, I doubt that crating it will be on the to-do list…

- Alan

alncarter -

I do hope that my name continues to be well-known throughout the letterpress community - but for the good I have done and the people I have helped, rather than for this one great failure and the one person whose patience and understanding have been exhausted.

- Alan

Dan -

Yes, but… Meaghan has changed her mind. When she began this thread, she wanted the press, so I continued with my plans to get the wood treated so that it would be accepted by Australian insect control and could be used to rebuild the crate to Australian import specifications.

But now she’s getting married, spent too much on the wedding and her new home and has learned to print on her Heidelberg. Now she wants the money instead.

And I have sent Meaghan the first $1,000 as I had promised to do, but she does not seem to want to acknowledge that - or to acknowledge the email confirmation I sent her as a followup to our conversation on 1/13.

Sure, two years is a very long time - but I kept in touch - and sent more than 85 email messages to keep her informed of progress and problems I encountered.

But now I’m beginning to wonder if she’s being pushed by some outside pressures that did not exist when we began this plan… - just as I have been…

- Alan

Meaghan - re: Rollers -

Yes. The first thing I did when I received your transfer was to order a new - and rather expensive - set of rubber rollers for your press. I did it immediately because I wanted to make sure that I bought them before the money was diverted to pay some frivolous bills - like the rent, phone or electricity…

But I received Vinylith rollers instead of the rubber rollers I had requested - and I told you that I was concerned and could not initially recommend Vinylith because I had never used them myself and that I had read some negative reports about them here on Briar Press.

But rather than make a fuss, and ship them back and complain, I decided to try them myself and learn the truth about Vinylith on a 10x15 - specifically so that I could report my experience here on the forum and help inform others about their performance.

What I learned from my own experience is that those other posts were misinformed and were misleading.

These rollers print fine and have held up well for the past 18 months or so - in all sorts of weather - hot, cold, humid and dry - and have been cleaned with a variety of common print shop solvents.

They still look and work as good as new.

For you, I would have bought a new set of rubber rollers - just to ease your mind. But since now you don’t want the press, I won’t need to.

- Alan

Obviously, this is an extremely regrettable situation that I would not wish to be on either end of… I visited Alan and Excelsior Press a couple months ago when I had a few big jobs on my plate and no rollers to print them with (that’s a whole other story). Alan generously offered to lend me a set of rollers to use to get me through the work. (Hey Alan, I want to get them back to you!). I feel for Meaghan- I would be insanely frustrated and upset with this situation and hope that it gets resolved for her soon.

However, from the short time I spent at Excelsior Press I can definitively say that Alan is not a crook or a fraud like some have posted on this forum.

Meaghan - re: lumber

Well, I hardly felt the need to send you a photo of a stack of lumber - I actually thought that you would believe me when I told you I had bought it.

But I did photograph it when I made the purchase and have now tracked down and posted the photo of the lumber - and a photo I took one night while working out the crate design - on the bottom of http://www.excelsiorpress.org/forsale/meaghan/

Re: Rollers I loaned to Colleen

For the record, the rollers I loaned to Colleen were for her 12x18 press. Just in case anyone is concerned, these are not the 10x15 rollers I bought for Meaghan’s press.

Oops. Sorry I should have specified. Don’t want to add fuel to the fire.

No worries, Colleen. This whole hubub will eventually be seen as basically just a blip on the radar screen; a mistake of overconfidence on my part which was compounded by external economic forces, long-distance communication and the far-too rapid passage of time…

Update to anyone monitoring this thread and curious as to recent developments:

Through tutoring, printing and selling parts, supplies and small press starter kits, I have earned and sent Meaghan over $2,500 in small payments towards reimbursing the $3,000 AUD she initially sent to me for this press.

- Alan