shame on you Alan Runfeldt

Please tell the world when you plan to give me the rest of my money back?

Would you like to know how much interest I have paid to the bank for the loan I took out to borrow the $3000 I sent to you?

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Meaghan, all,
Alan, and his partner Lou, are less than honorable, and operate, in our opinion, with complete abandon, against honest people and their worthy machines, misleading innocent folks that are just new to the art and hobby of letterpress, leaving a trail of discontent, broken dreams and disgust, just to line their pockets.
Our so dear and honorable letterpress forefathers, such as Ben Franklin and Mark Twain, would certainly agree with you, Meaghan “…shame is truly, and necessarily due…”
Thank you, I think we members should start a fund for victims of this fraud, to bring a sense of honor back to the letterpress community. We cannot, as good members, allow this to stand with good concience.
So, I personally will start with a $50.00 commitment to make Meaghan whole.
And I will match $ .25 to each $ 2.50 (10%) for each commitment from here out. We, as a community, can, and should, do this.
Alan will have ample opprotunity to reimburse the community fund, but our valued member down under will be cared for, and will no longer be made to publicly suffer her insult.
We will need a voulteer to manage the fund. Elizabeth, others, can you advise?
Thank you, truly.

Alan said in this post it would only be 3-4 days. Notice the date and year

Alan Runfeldton 4 Dec 09 (15:56)
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… ;)

At the very least, Briarpress should permanently ban Runfeldt from this site. Please note that in December, while trying to worm out of the jam he created, he made note of his “increasingly popular starter kits,” and self-servingly called himself a “good printer.” Benjamin Franklin is spinning in his grave.

This is a great website, and no one has the right to use it as a personal debt collector. I consider Meaghan’s post spam, and I believe she should be banned.

Meaghan -

One of my past students emailed me tonight to let me know about this new thread. These are the third and fourth threads you have created in your repeated attempts to publicly discredit and embarrass me.

I understand your frustration and I realize that my inability to promptly return payment in full after you told me you did not want the press has been hard on you.

And I am embarrassed. It’s not easy admitting my inability to take care of this promptly. But believe me, it’s been hard on me as well. I am doing the best I can under the circumstances and, as I have told you many times before, I will return all that you sent me.

But please do keep in mind that I never asked you to send so much. All I had asked for was $500 - enough to cover the cost of the three new ink rollers I bought for the press and the wood I bought to build the crate so that this press could be safely shipped halfway around the world. But that was long before I learned of the complexitities involved in shipping a 2,000 pound cast-iron press to Australia.

If anything went wrong - as it did - returning $500 would have been much easier than returning nearly $3,000 has proven to be.

I received your email yesterday, but before I could even reply, you have come to Briar Press, and began not one, but two new threads to publicly attack me once again.

This helps no one. Now Kevin and Wildh have jumped on the attack as well. I’m sure that they are well-meaning, but they are expressing opinions and making points based on only to what they have read in your threads.

They don’t even know me - and they certainly would not have been so aggressive in their attacks had they spoken with any of the people I have worked with and trained and supported and helped in other ways over the years.

All they know is what they have read in these posts - comments which serve no other purpose than to discredit me and exist only because of the frustration you feel as a result of this one unforgettable deal that went bad - for both of us.

As great a service as this forum serves many people interested in letterpress printing, the record here is by no means, a complete and accurate portrayal of what has occurred since that day you called and asked to buy my press.

- Alan

Wow, get out the hip waders.

Wildh2000 & Kevin -

Although you both may be well-intentioned, I am sure that you are not so well-informed. You should get your facts straight before making such rash and inaccurate statements about me or about Louis.

Your conclusions are incorrect.

I print. I fix presses. I teach people about letterpress printing. I help them get started. I answer a lot of questions and help people solve problems related to letterpress printing. I help a lot of people and get paid for only a part of it.

Lou restores presses to better than factory new condition. He puts a lot into his restorations and they are the best you can find.

We treat people right and make friends doing it. But neither of us are getting rich doing what we do. It’s simply not profitable work. We get by. And we are proud of the work we do and the services we provide.

What happened with Meaghan was very much out of the ordinary and in no way represents the way either of us run our separate, but related businesses. What happened with Meaghan’s press purchase was a mistake compounded by difficult circumstances.

There is no fraud. There was no fraud. There was never any intention to take Meaghan’s money and keep this spare press tying up precious space in my shop. It’s in the way and has become an albatross around my neck. A press I don’t need, tying up space I do need, many, many hours spent returning it to good operating condition, and what do I get? Flames from people who do not know the facts.

And your dig about the starter kits? The whole reason I began selling starter kits - which, by the way is not a particularly profitable venture either, but was all I could do with supplies I had on hand - was to raise money to send to Meaghan.

So. What’s the sense and benefit of your posts?

-

Meaghan and Alan need a mediator. No good resolution can come for either of them from this internet kibbitzing.

I’ve closed commenting on this post because Discussion is intended for the free exchange of ideas of general interest. This is an unfortunate situation, but this topic has been adequately aired and now needs to be handled privately between the two parties involved.