FYI
You want my trust? My vote?
How 'bout having your office actually respond to citizens' damn complaints?
Published on 3/27/14
Updated 4/6/14
For more details, see the blog posts listed at the bottom of the page.
Shoot! Exactly what does it take to get your office to pay
attention to a business predator located under six miles from your office?
I made my initial complaint against Camelback Consign &
Design on 10/17/13. I provided a copy of my contract and additional documentation.
I subsequently provided additional information on at least
two occasions, by mail.
I received an initial notification of your outreach effort
to the predatory business, dated 11/12/13.
The letter said, "We are in
the process of contacting the company to request a response. When we receive
the response, we will send a copy of it to you."
I forwarded a status inquiry letter on 2/19/14. I provided information that showed other folks were having
issues similar to my own with the same firm. I even shared a screen shot of the
BBB Business Review showing that the firm had recently earned a BBB rating of F
on a scale of A+ to F. The BBB Review noted, "Business has failed to
resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints."
Result? I received a duplicate of the original notification of
contact, dated 3/20/14. Son of a gun!
Does the Office of the Attorney General of Arizona really need more than 18 weeks to elicit an initial response
from a company located, per MapQuest, 5.84 miles away? Has no one in your
office heard of the telephone or email?
Or is the Attorney General's reputation as a consumer advocate and law
enforcement agency so bad that predatory businesses in your own backyard can ignore it with impunity? That's some damn management style, tell you what!
Or is it
the case that the management of your office is so incredibly weak that staff
can get away with mailing the same old form letter to taxpaying citizens with
real issues and concerns, again and again...well, every four months? To this
question, the answer is quite obviously and definitively: YES.
At a
minimum, I must conclude that your office just doesn’t give a damn about this
citizen… or the other folks who have reported complaints about the same
predator.
Look, I know you're not paid what you're worth. $90,000.00 is not an appropriate salary for a man of your standing, experience, responsibility and credentials. It's not!
A quick calculation suggests that your 2013 budget of $102,000,000, divided by the 900 employees you manage (per azcentral.com), can't go very far. If my math is right, that amounts to an average annual salary of only $11,333.33... with nothing left over for postage and form letters.
Perhaps if you encouraged your staff to go paperless, and call or email the firms and folks you're now sending form letters to, you could save money and time, increase the odds of getting a response and do a little more good, too! It's just a suggestion.
On the other hand, spending a little more on ass-kicken' and less on web site re-design might do a world of good for all of us. Come on, Mr. Horne, how many folks have to suffer before your staff puts a little elbow grease into the legal fisticuffs?
Arizona and its citizens surly deserve more care and protection
than this.
I have enclosed copies of my original complaint, your
office’s initial and subsequent responses (duplicate copies of the same form
letter), copies of complaints from the website of the BBB and others from Yelp,
Yahoo and Google Reviews. The latter includes a copy of the BBB Business Review
for Camelback Consign & Design.
I can report that I've had multiple conversations with and
promises of resolution by Michael Burns since I first complained. Most recently…
- On February 8, 2014,
he and I sat down to look at the numbers. I agreed to accept $3,724.93, later
the same day for items sold on my behalf as of October 9th, when our
contract concluded.
- We agreed that I was
due 65% of $19,710.00 ($12,811.50) at which we valued the items the disposition
of which Camelback Consign & Design could not account for, less documented
expenses for repair of specific items. Mike agreed to pay me this sum on February
10, 2013.
- We agreed that he
would either return two items previously reported sold but for which I was not
paid in full – in the same condition as they were received, plus crating and
moving expenses – or pay me 65% of the value ($7900) less monies already
received ($900) of those two items on February 14th.
- Total value of
promised payments: $21,036.43.
- I actually wrote up a
corresponding contract, at the request of Mike Burns, and delivered it later
the same day.
Result: No payment. At all. Didn’t happen. And this was the
second time I fell for this gambit.
I dare say that you have received multiple complaints about
Michael Burns of Camelback Consign & Design. Exactly how much money must
consumers report losing before your office will act? How many checks must
bounce?
A quick inquiry on your part to Chase Bank about the number
of checks bounced by Camelback Consign & Design ought to be easy to do and eye-opening,
too.
Sincerely yours,
Glenn S. Michaels
AKA one more very unhappy victim of a predatory business
operating in plain sight just 5.84 miles from your offices.
Published on 3/27/14
Updated 4/6/14
For all of the juicy details the BBB has to offer, use this link.
DON'T KID YOURSELF.
Mike Burns wasn't born yesterday. He wasn't born on the Fourth of July, either. NOPE. Mike Burns was born on 9/11 in 1952.
I don't know if the truth will set you free. But fuss loud enough with a big 'nough bunch a friends and I swear folks 'll do near anything to get you to shut up. Fast as they can.
