I was shocked!

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reflections607

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Jan 28, 2005
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Papillion Nebraska
NOt sure if this belongs here or warped but yesterday we had a gentleman come in with a picture that belonged to his mom. Apparently, she had taken the picture to one of the more well known framers in the area and wasn't happy with what they had done so she took it to another weel-known framer and when she got it back her non-glare glass was no longer non-glare. He brought it to us to fix the glass. We opened up the back of the frame and found corrugated cardboard as filler. The photo was ATG'd all the was across the top to another piece of cardboard. The mats were smashed so tight into the frame they were starting to buckle and the glass was in the frame wrong, etched side in. Kim and I were completely shocked! How could 2 reputable framers do that to someone and then charge them what they did for the work?!!! It just boggles the mind!
We fixed all the problems and the gentleman was quite pleased with the work we did.

Julie
who is still shocked and appalled!
 
One was a local independent and one was a chain but I wouldn't consider it a big box. It was the independent that really blew me away because of the reputation they have here.

Julie
 
What makes me sick is that the customer didn't hold the 1st framer accountable, and then did it again! Or did he take it back and they refused to make it right? That would be even worse!
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This topic seems to relate very strongly to all those threads that want associations to be Framing Police. Even if they were all to do it ( which they can't ) this seems to prove that it is a personal matter for each shop to regulate ( I think they call it INTEGRITY).But No group or individual will ever be able to police all the violators .It is up to each of us to do the BEST WE KNOW OF ,while instructing the public why our's is better so that consumers will not return to those who do anything less.IMHO

Unless that agency that someone reported in another thread which regulates those who fail to do what they advertise becomes more accepted and known.( I even forgot the name but a search should reveal it.)
BUDDY
 
Regulations.......... The finance systems and banking systems were long in being sort of regulated. We don't have enough money at stake for most customers to have them want this small industry regulated.

Remember it is the customer pressure that dictates thge need for regulation, not the industry itself.
 
Jerry, the begs the question of what they don't know won't hurt them. When we put the backing on the frame how is the customer to know that there isn't cardboard, glue, silly putty, inside the package?

For that matter when we sell the customer specialty glazing how do they know that the glass does what we say it does?

I don't want a Big Brother watching over my back, but I do want the customer to be treated fairly by us.

If the frame shop states that "conservation materials" are used, then they should be held responsible for the use of those materials. Otherwise what's to stop me from putting TruVue stickers on frames I put regular glass into?

If years from now we find out that the materials we used today weren't as good as we claimed they were, I don't think we should be responsible for the lack (brown bumpons anyone
) as long as we weren't aiming to decieve. Or we were using materials that were to the best of our knowledge conservation materials. Italics because if I were a CPF then obviously I would be responsible for having more knowledge than a "framer" and should be held responsible for the knowledge of the day.

But opening a frame today and finding cardboard is inexcusable from a professional framer. A hobbyist can get away with it (for a short period!) but not a professional touting industry credentials.
 
At the first frame shop I worked at "Conservation" meant that we added barier paper between the art and the cardboard backing.

To be honest I'm glad that there are shops like that out there.It allows me to be able to explain to my clients why it is they should be coming to me and not those other shops. I am disheartened that art is being treated this way just the same.

Unfortunately picture framers don't have a great enough public visibilty to create an easily recognized organization to provide national guidlines. Like "Diamond Certified" for the framing industry. I guess you set the standards that you have to live up to in this world. It's just up to us to live up to the standards that we tell our clients we do.
 
All right what the **** is going on! Today a customer came in to get a family portrait reframed. (A competitor in "the next town up" had done it last year) I opened it up and yep, cardboard backing!

And not acid free either! Straight up cardboard. This guy is a small shop, and has been around for 30+ years, I hope in 30 years time I will continue to learn and use better practices. Maybe I should give this guy a call and turn him on to the Grumble! Or take out an ad in his town saying we're willing to repair others work!
 
The work you're talking about was very common (maybe even standard) 25-30 years ago. So when you're talking about a 30-year veteran using corrugated backing, you may be talking about someone who hasn't learned anything new in three decades.

That, in itself, is very common. Most framers don't go to trade shows, read PFM, visit The Grumble . . .

These people aren't crooks, they just need to get out a little more.
 
Bob, maybe a better ad campaign would be to start a series of conservation framing educational ads. You'll come out the hero. Possibly once a week in the paper for 6-8 weeks and then scale it back to eventually once a month. People will still think you're in every week once they become accustomed to the ads. You may even be able to not have to pay for this exposure by offering to write a weekly/monthly column...editors love it when someone makes their job easier.

Couple that with speaking to art groups, Rotary Clubs and other service organizations about proper framing techniques. Always take the high road and you'll come out the acknowledged expert in your area.

Dave Makielski
 
I, too, have come across reframing jobs where I find corregated cardboard used as a mounting board. I just cringe when I see it - a few of those prints had the corregated cardboard pattern 'burned' into the back of them.

I'm curious, like Sue, to know whether the customer went back to the original framer, or even the second framer, to express her displeasure. It is mind boggling to hear that not one, but two framers, messed up! I certainly would want to know if a customer was dissatisfied with any of my framing and I would most definitely try to fix any problem (but that's just me and I'm sure all of you other grumblers out there).

Karen
 
I don't believe she went back, it was the customers mother and when she told her son that her non-glare glass became clear when she washed it and that she had taken it to 2 other places he brought it to us. I'm still shaking my head over the whole thing.

Julie
 
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