Post by jwm649 on Jul 7, 2015 19:57:22 GMT
Sorry for the spam but I decided to create a new thread in case this didn't get seen on the one about buying a hotrod national.
I dropped in here to report that Lenny is still not doing honest business and to warn people not to buy from him or consign with him.
Last year I sent him a 1932 style 2 National Tricone for consignment. When I didn't receive the consignment agreement promised or any confirmation of his receipt of the instrument I emailed him but got no response. I then called but only got voice mail and, again, no response. So, I left a very angry message and another email saying I needed to know if he had the guitar. He then emailed back with a bunch of excuses and said he had it and would send me the agreement which he eventually did but it took another week.
I reduced the price twice and, after a year, decided he wasn't going to sell it and so I emailed him asking that he take it off the list and send it back. When I got no response I called but his voice mailbox was full. I then located his real estate office web page which had another phone number and was able to contact him. He said he'd sold the guitar but had lost all of my contact information due to a computer crash. After some shucking and jiving he said if I sent him my contact info he'd send me a check right away.
Three days later I got an email from Paypal saying he'd sent me $500 (he owed me $2200) and was mailing a check for the balance that day. I don't have or want a Paypal account and we never discussed anything other than he writing me a check. So, again I email and call saying I just wanted the check he promised and, again, I finally connected by phone (not the National number which he didn't answer) and he babbled some story about just thinking he'd send me "something" right away because he had "a little money in that account". I told him to send me the check for the full amount and he said he'd mail it the next day. That was July 1 so of course there was the holiday mail delay.
Yesterday I got the check which was written on his real estate company account - i.e. not Vintage Nationals - and took it to the bank first thing this morning to see if I could cash it as I didn't trust him. Sure enough there were insufficient funds. So, back to the phone. His real estate business number was "not available" so I left a message on the Vintage National voice mail letting him know his check bounced and that I would pursue all avenues of making his life unhappy. He called me back in a bit and gave me some story about how his wife must have taken some cash out of the account, that he only kept a small amount in there, and said he'd go down to the bank today and deposit enough to cover it and call me when that was done.
We'll see (and I'll report what happened) but I don't trust this guy one bit and don't want to see anybody else go through something like this. At best he is a very poor businessman and record keeper but, given his history reported on this forum and others and at the Better Business Bureau I think it goes beyond just poor practices. My street sense just talking to him on the phone is that he isn't to be believed. I've filed a complaint with the BBB (not that it'll do any good) and will pursue criminal charges for the bounced check if he doesn't make good on it today. Unfortunately, as I do not live in Santa Barbara, trying to pursue small claims is prohibitively costly and complicated (which he likely knows).
Bottom line: don't do business with this guy or let anybody you like do so either. If you do, you had good warning.
